Health-Based Risk Assessment of a Simple Landfilled Sludge Site

Abstract

Based on the methods of health-based risk assessment of contaminated sites and the analysis of heavy metal pollution in a simple landfill sludge site, we assessed the integrated human health risk of soil contamination. It is concluded that the main pollutant is heavy metal. There are three exposure pathways identified: workers inside the site, residents working on the farmland and those living down of the site. This assessment indicates that workers would suffer non-carcinogenic impacts with total multi-pathways non-carcinogenic hazard index for heavy metal being 0.397,and the carcinogenic impacts being 2.2×10-7. The residents working on the farmland would suffer non-carcinogenic impacts with total multi-pathways non-carcinogenic hazard index for heavy metal being 0.788, and the carcinogenic impacts being 4.5×10-7. The residents living downslope of the site would suffer non-carcinogenic impacts with total multi-pathways non-carcinogenic hazard index for heavy metal being 6.22 for adults and 1.25 for children, and the carcinogenic impacts being 3.4×10-6 for adult and 7.5×10-7 for children. Non-carcinogenic index of the site and farmland areas are less than 1, while the non-carcinogenic health risk is negligible. Their carcinogenic index is less than 10-6, and the cancer health risk is small. The adults living downslope of the site have a greater risk of non-carcinogenic and carcinogenic risk. The children have non-carcinogenic risk and dont have carcinogenic risk.