Street Dust-Bound Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in a Saudi Coastal City: Status, Profile, Sources, and Human Health Risk Assessment.

Ibrahim I Shabbaj,Mansour A Alghamdi,Mamdouh I Khoder

doi:10.3390/ijerph15112397

Abstract

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in street dust pose a serious problem threatening both the environment and human health. Street dust samples were collected from five different land use patterns (traffic areas TRA, urban area URA, residential areas REA, mixed residential commercial areas MCRA and suburban areas SUA) in Jeddah, a Saudi coastal city, and one in in Hada Al Sham, a rural area (RUA). This study aimed to investigate the status, profile, sources of PAHs and estimate their human health risk. The results revealed an average concentration of total PAHs of 3320 ng/g in street dust of Jeddah and 223 ng/g in RUA dust. PAHs with high molecular weight represented 83.38% of total PAHs in street dust of Jeddah, while the carcinogenic PAH compounds accounted 57.84%. The highest average concentration of total PAHs in street dust of Jeddah was found in TRA (4980 ng/g) and the lowest in REA (1660 ng/g). PAHs ratios indicated that the principal source of PAHs in street dust of Jeddah is pyrogenic, mainly traffic emission. Benzo(a)anthracene/chrysene (BaA/CHR) ratio suggests that PAHs in street dusts of Jeddah come mainly from emission of local sources, while PAHs in RUA might be transported from the surrounding urban areas. The estimated Incremental Lifetime Cancer Risk (ILCR) associated with exposure to PAHs in street dusts indicated that both dermal contact and ingestion pathways are major contributed to cancer risk for both children and adults. Based on BaPequivalence concentrations of total PAHs, ILCRIngestion, ILCRdermal and cancer risk values for children and adults exposed to PAHs in street dust of different areas in Jeddah were found between 10−6 and 10−4, indicating potential risk. The sequence of cancer risk was TRA > URA > MCRA > SUA > REA. Only exposure to BaP and DBA compounds had potential risk for both children and adults.

Highlights

Surface street dust particles are considered to be one of the most important sources of fine aerosols in urban atmospheres and can become airborne through wind dispersion [1,2,3].Atmospheric aerosols and their contaminants from anthropogenic sources settle on the surfaces by atmospheric dry and/or wet deposition, and are transferred to the surface of the soil or incorporated into the surface dusts
Based on BaPequivalence concentrations of total Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), ILCRIngestion, ILCRdermal and cancer risk values for children and adults exposed to PAHs in street dust of different areas in Jeddah were found between 10−6 and 10−4, indicating potential risk
PAH compounds with five aromatic rings showed the highest concentration (95.10 ng/g) followed by six aromatic rings (55.00 ng/g), four aromatic rings (53.60 ng/g), three aromatic rings (17.05 ng/g) and two aromatic rings (2.20 ng/g) in surface street dust of rural area (RUA)

Summary

Introduction

Surface street dust particles are considered to be one of the most important sources of fine aerosols in urban atmospheres and can become airborne through wind dispersion [1,2,3]. Atmospheric aerosols and their contaminants from anthropogenic sources settle on the surfaces by atmospheric dry and/or wet deposition, and are transferred to the surface of the soil or incorporated into the surface dusts. Tire dust, spillages and leaks from vehicles, road surface erosion material and vegetative plant fragments, garden soil, and litter are the sources of deposited. Public Health 2018, 15, 2397; doi:10.3390/ijerph15112397 www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph

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