Evaluating soil metallic pollution and consequent human health hazards in the vicinity of an industrialized zone, case study of Mubarakeh steel complex, Iran.

Zohreh Ghaemi,Amirhesam Hassani,Nematollah Khorasani,Abdolreza Karbassi,Faramarz Moattar

doi:10.1186/s40201-015-0231-x

Abstract

BackgroundBeing established in 1988 in the vicinity of Isfahan city, Mubarakeh Steel complex has imposed adverse environmental and health effects within the area. The study area is covered by lots of farms through which major crops like wheat and rice are provided.MethodsConsidering the imposed pollution load of the complex, the current study has monitored the concentration of metals Fe, Al, Cd, Cr, Ni, Pb, Cu, Zn, Mn, Co, Mo, As in 14 soil samples within the study area. Furthermore, human health hazards of mentioned metals due to consumption of domestic rice and wheat have also been evaluated through different scenarios. In order to evaluate the mobility of metals in soil samples the sequential chemical analysis is performed.ResultsRegarding the accumulation of metals in loose phases the order of metals bioavailability risk level is estimated to be as follows:Co > Cd > Mo > Ba > As > Pb > Mn > Cu > V > Zn > Cr > NiDiscussionAn index approach is also considered to evaluate the severity of metal contamination. Regarding geochemical accumulation index, only cadmium is detected to be in a moderately contaminated status while other metals declare an unpolluted condition. Index of pollution pays more attention to mobility potential of metals and accordingly detects metals Co, Mn, As, Pb, Cd, Ba and Mo to be in a moderately contaminated level. On the other hand, enrichment factor declares all toxic metals except for Co, Ba and V to be enriched.ConclusionsConsidering human health hazard assessment, except for Fe, Ba, Cu and Zn, all metals intakes in different scenarios are considered as hazardous while their CDI values are much more than the respective oral reference doses.

Highlights

Metal contaminated sites contain a potentially hazardous risk for human beings and the environment
Considering human health hazard assessment, except for Fe, Ba, Cu and Zn, all metals intakes in different scenarios are considered as hazardous while their CDI values are much more than the respective oral reference doses
The current study presents the bulk concentration of eight metals (Fe, Al, Cd, Cr, Ni, Pb, Cu, Zn, Mn, Co, Mo, As) in superficial soil samples of Mubarakeh steel complex vicinity, and the chemical partitioning of mentioned elements

Summary

Introduction

Metal contaminated sites contain a potentially hazardous risk for human beings and the environment. The bioavailability of such pollution is sophisticatedly used as an indicator of potential risk [1, 2]. The chemical speciation of metals changes widely. Knowledge on metals bulk concentrations alone may not be sufficient enough to evaluate the adverse effects of contaminated soils while toxic metals are present in different chemical forms in soil ( exchangeable ions, metal carbonates, oxides, sulfides, organometallic compounds, ions in crystal lattices of minerals, etc.), which determine their mobilization capacity and bioavailability [3,4,5]. The study area is covered by lots of farms through which major crops like wheat and rice are provided

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Discussion

Conclusion