Abstract
The aim of this study was to identify the risk of population’s exposure, by different exposure routes, to Zn, Ni, Cu, Cr, and Pb in the soil of a condominium. Six sampling points in three campaigns provided thirty-six soil samples, collected at two depths, one superficial, 0.20 m, and the other underground, between 2.00 and 3.00 m. The results show that the levels of metals in the condominium's soil are generally high. Children cannot withstand the same doses as adults since they are more susceptible and risk greater damage to health. The non-carcinogenic risk based on the hazard quotient (HQ) and the health index (HI) values for each exposure pathway and for each metal were observed to be less than (<) 1. The results showed an immediate carcinogenic risk by chromium ingestion for children. Nevertheless the combined effect for each exposure pathway (TCRI) for adults is close to becoming unacceptable after exposure to Cr by ingestion. The results suggest that contamination by metals is more likely to occur among children than adults at similar exposure levels. Thus, the condominium built on an area contaminated by steel industry waste raises concern, requiring the continuous monitoring of its population.
Highlights
The socio-environmental impacts caused by the steel industry have fostered scientific discussions and research on the relationship between humans and the environment, as well as its consequences on a global scale (Masindi and Muedi, 2018).The production processes in the steel industry release a wide variety of hazardous chemicals, posing high risks for the environment and to the health of living beings (Rosenfeld and Feng, 2011)
quality reference value (QRV) is the concentration of a certain substance, which defines soil as clean, used as a reference in the prevention and control of contamination
prevention value (PV) is the concentration above which harmful changes in soil quality can occur, with consequences for humans and animals, and preventive measures against contamination must be used
Summary
The socio-environmental impacts caused by the steel industry have fostered scientific discussions and research on the relationship between humans and the environment, as well as its consequences on a global scale (Masindi and Muedi, 2018).The production processes in the steel industry release a wide variety of hazardous chemicals, posing high risks for the environment and to the health of living beings (Rosenfeld and Feng, 2011). The steel industry releases several substances into the atmosphere, soil, and water, such as particulate matter (PM), nitrogen (NOx) and sulfur oxides (SOx), carbon monoxide (CO), metals, aromatic compounds, dioxins, furans, benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylene (BTEX), and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (HPAs) (Lawton et al, 2014; Hsu et al, 2017). The release of these substances is mainly during the transport and storage of raw materials (charcoal and ore), vehicle traffic, coconut shell charcoal production (loading, coking, oven pushing, and steam generation), sintering (sintering machine), blast furnace (air blowing and heating), steelmaking, casting, and thermoelectric power station (CETEM, 2013a)
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