Heavy metals and health risk assessment of agricultural soil form central Saudi Arabia

Abstract

The primary objective of this study was to evaluate the potential human health risks associated with As, Pb, V, Cu, Ni, Zn, Co, Fe, and Mn present in the agricultural soil of the Al Majma'ah area in central Saudi Arabia. In order to assess risks related to ingestion, skin contact, and inhalation, various parameters, including chronic daily intake (CDI), hazard quotient (HQ), hazard index (HI), cancer risk (CR), and total lifetime cancer risk (LCR), were computed for 34 soil samples. The average CDI values for adults and children were determined, following the sequence of CDIing > CDIder > CDIinh, with the descending order of Fe ˃ Mn ˃ Zn ˃ Ni ˃ V ˃ Cu ˃ Pb ˃ Co ˃ As. HI values ranged from 0.0375 (Fe) to 0.00019 (Zn) for adults and from 0.3497 (Fe) to 0.0018 (Zn) for children. All HI values for HMs in the study area were below 1.0, suggesting that residents in the Al Majma’ah area are not significantly at a non-carcinogenic risk. LCR values varied for adults and children, ranging from 8.37345E-06 to 7.79963E-05 for As, and 7.49565E-08 to 6.98199E-07 for Pb, respectively. LCR values of As and Pb ranged between 1 × 10-4 and 1 × 10-6 or were lower than 1 × 10-6, suggesting acceptable or tolerable carcinogenic risk with no significant health hazards.