Heavy metal pollution of street dust in the largest city of Mexico, sources and health risk assessment

Anahi Aguilera,Francisco Bautista,Avto Goguitchaichvili,Rubén Cejudo,Margarita Gutiérrez-Ruiz,Agueda E Ceniceros-Gómez

doi:10.1007/s10661-021-08993-4

Anahi Aguilera, Francisco Bautista + Show 4 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-021-08993-4

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Abstract

In large industrialized cities, tons of particles containing heavy metals are released into the environment and accumulate on street surfaces. Such particles cause a potential risk to human health due to their composition and size. The heavy metal contamination levels, main emission sources, and human health risks were identified in 482 samples of street dust. Heavy metal concentrations were obtained by microwave-assisted acid digestion and ICP-OES. The results indicated that street dust in Mexico City is contaminated mainly with Pb, Zn, and Cu, according to the contamination factor and the geoaccumulation index. The pollution load index of the street dust was made with the concentrations of Pb, Zn, Cu, Cr, and Ni. The main sources of Pb, Zn, Cu, and Cr are anthropic, probably due to vehicular traffic. The highest levels of Cr and Pb in urban dust represent a health risk for children. Contamination limits were proposed for heavy metals in street dust of Mexico City. These limits might be useful to generate and apply public policies to decrease anthropic emissions of the heavy metals studied, particularly Cr and Pb.

Highlights

In several cities around the world, air (Son et al, 2018), soils (Ihl et al, 2015), dusts (Ali et al, 2017; Men et al, 2018; Aguilera et al, 2019), and plant contamination (Aguilar-Reyes et al, 2012) by heavy metals are a serious problem that affects population health (WHO, 2014; Budai & Clement, 2018)
Street dust is a sink of particulate heavy metals that are deposited on the surface of streets, sidewalks, and windows (Rahman et al, 2019)
The results of this study show that the use of the first decile can be limiting by homogenizing the variation for the contamination factors

Summary

Introduction

In several cities around the world, air (Son et al, 2018), soils (Ihl et al, 2015), dusts (Ali et al, 2017; Men et al, 2018; Aguilera et al, 2019), and plant contamination (Aguilar-Reyes et al, 2012) by heavy metals are a serious problem that affects population health (WHO, 2014; Budai & Clement, 2018). Heavy metals in street dust can enter the human body through three routes of exposure: inhalation, ingestion, or dermal. Depending on factors such as toxicity of the element, bioavailability, concentration, etc., as well as socioeconomic issues and the person’s health status, heavy metals can generate adverse health effects (Calderón et al, 2001; Carrizales et al, 2006; Salustri et al, 2010). Establishing the levels and limits of heavy metal contamination in street dust, as well as identifying the sources of heavy metals and the risk to human health in each city, is of utmost importance to propose solution action plans

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