Human health and ecological risk of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in sediment of Woji creek in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria

Abstract

Human health risk was determined by assessing risk due to dermal contact with the sediment and Benzo [a] pyrene -equivalent concentrations (BaP-TEQ- carcinogenic equivalents and BaP-MEQ- mutagenic equivalents). Ecological risk of PAHs in the sediment was determined by comparing PAHs concentrations to effect range low (ERL) and effect range median (ERM); to estimate the risk associated with the combined effects of PAHs, mean ERM quotient (mERMq) was calculated. Results revealed that hazard index (HI) due to dermal contact of the sediment for adults are 596 and 73.84 for children. Similarly, cancer risk for adults was all >10−1 and was within 10−3 ≤ 10−1 for children, for every compound; the sum of cancer risk for adults and children were 8.26 and 1.022 respectively.