Abstract
Potentially toxic element (PTE) contamination in Wainivesi River, Fiji triggered by gold-mining activities is a major public health concern deserving attention. However, chemometric approaches and pattern recognition of PTEs in surface water and sediment are yet hardly studied in Pacific Island countries like Fijian urban River. In this study, twenty-four sediment and eight water sampling sites from the Wainivesi River, Fiji were explored to evaluate the spatial pattern, eco-environmental pollution, and source apportionment of PTEs. This analysis was done using an integrated approach of self-organizing map (SOM), principle component analysis (PCA), hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA), and indexical approaches. The PTE average concentration is decreasing in the order of Fe > Pb > Zn > Ni > Cr > Cu > Mn > Co > Cd for water and Fe > Zn > Pb > Mn > Cr > Ni > Cu > Co > Cd for sediment, respectively. Outcomes of eco-environmental indices including contamination and enrichment factors, and geo-accumulation index differed spatially indicated that majority of the sediment sites were highly polluted by Zn, Cd, and Ni. Cd and Ni contents can cause both ecological and human health risks. According to PCA, both mixed sources (geogenic and anthropogenic such as mine wastes discharge and farming activities) of PTEs for water and sediment were identified in the study area. The SOM analysis identified three spatial patterns, e.g., Cr-Co-Zn-Mn, Fe-Cd, and Ni-Pb-Cu in water and Zn-Cd-Cu-Mn, Cr-Ni and Fe, Co-Pb in sediment. Spatial distribution of entropy water quality index (EWQI) values depicted that northern and northwestern areas possess "poor" to "extremely poor" quality water. The entropy weights indicated Zn, Cd, and Cu as the major pollutants in deteriorating the water quality. This finding provides a baseline database with eco-environmental and health risk measures for the Wainivesi river contamination.
Highlights
In recent years, potentially toxic elements (PTEs) contamination in water and sediments of the aquatic system has attracted global attention owing to their persistence and non-biodegradable nature
The concentrations of the studied PTEs in the sediment samples were compared with the threshold values of the sediment quality guidelines (SQGs): Probable Effect Level (PEL), Threshold Effect Level (TEL), Severe Effect Level (SEL), Effect
This study revealed that the 100% Wainivesi River sediment for Mn concentration was much lower than the two SQGs threshold values (LEL and SEL) (Table 1), which was consistent with the reported results for different river sediment in the world: Bangladesh (Tamim et al, 2016), China (Zhang and Wang, 2001), Russia (Sorokina and Zarubina, 2011), Turkey (Pehlivan, 2010), Angola (Silva et al, 2016), Germany (Brügmann, 1995), Ireland (Jones and Jordan, (1979), Malaysia (Elias et al, 2018), Congo (Atibu et al, 2016)
Summary
Potentially toxic elements (PTEs) contamination in water and sediments of the aquatic system has attracted global attention owing to their persistence and non-biodegradable nature. These PTEs are known to be toxic and poses a major risk to human and ecological health (Ali et al 2016, 2018; Islam et al 2018; 2020a; 2021; Pandey et al 2019; Ustaoğlu and Islam, 2020; Kumar et al, 2021). PTEs may undergo various changes in their speciation due to changes in sediment and water chemistry, reductive dissolution, precipitation, sorption, and complication process (Mohiuddin et al, 2011, 2012; Islam et al, 2015) These changes are effect the fate and transport of the PTEs, and their toxicity. The distribution, possible ecological risks and sources identification of PTEs in the riverine water and sediment is critical for efficient environmental risk perspective (Tepe et al, 2017; Kormoker et al, 2019a)
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