Distribution, source, water quality and health risk assessment of dissolved heavy metals in major rivers in Wuhan, China

Abstract

Heavy metals are released into the water system through various natural processes and anthropogenic activities, thus indirectly or directly endangering human health. The distribution, source, water quality and health risk assessment of dissolved heavy metals (V, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Zn, As, Mo, Sb) in major rivers in Wuhan were analyzed by correlation analysis (CA), principal component analysis (PCA), heavy metal pollution index (HPI), hazard index (HI) and carcinogenic risk (CR). The results showed that the spatial variability of heavy metal contents was pronounced. PCA and CA results indicated that natural sources controlled Mn, Fe, Co, Ni and Mo, and industrial emissions were the dominant factor for V, Zn and Sb, while As was mainly from the mixed input of urban and agricultural activities. According to the heavy metal pollution index (HPI, ranging from 23.74 to 184.0) analysis, it should be noted that As and Sb contribute most of the HPI values. The health risk assessment using HI and CR showed that V and Sb might have a potential non-carcinogenic risk and As might have a potential carcinogenic risk to adults and children in the study area (CR value exceeded target risk 10−4). At the same time, it was worth noting that As might have a potential non-carcinogenic risk for children around QLR (HI value exceeded the threshold value 1). The secular variation of As and Sb should be monitor in high-risk areas. The results of this study can provide important data for improving water resources management efficiency and heavy metal pollution prevention in Wuhan.

Dissolved Potentially Toxic Elements in the Megacity River Network of Shanghai, China

“…The PTE concentrations in the SRN were reported in a mildly different order than the source of the Yangtze River, Wuhan surface waters, Suzhou surface waters, and world river average . The distinction between these sequences is possibly the result of differences in local land use/cover, economic structure, and lithological background .…”

“…HPI is given as follows HPI = ∑ i = 1 n ( c i s i × 100 ) × ( 1 s i ) ∑ i = 1 n 1 s i where C i and S i represent the measured PTE content (μg/L) and the highest allowable PTE content, respectively. In this study, the value of S i was set as the World Health Organization (WHO) drinking water quality guidelines .…”

“…HQ and HI were calculated as follows , AD D ingestion = c i × IR × EF × ED BW × AT AD D dermal = c i × SA × K normalp × ET × EF × ED × 10 − 3 BW × AT HQ = ADD RfD Rf D dermal = RfD × AB S GI HI = prefix∑ HQs where ADD ingestion and ADD dermal represent the average daily doses via ingestion and skin absorption, respectively, IR means the ingestion rate (L/d), EF means the exposure frequency (d/y), ED represents the exposure duration (years), BW represents the body weight (kg), AT means the average time (days), SA means the exposed skin area (cm 2 ), K p represents the dermal permeability coefficient in water (cm/h), ET means the daily exposure time (h/d), RfD represents the reference dose of each PTE (μg/kg/d), and ABS GI is the gastrointestinal absorption factor (dimensionless). The detailed values of these parameters were obtained from the U.S. EPA guidelines and previous studies. ,, …”

“…Contamination Evaluation of PTEs. The heavy-metal pollution index (HPI) and the Nemerow index (NI) were used to evaluate the PTE contamination level of the SRN.HPI is given as follows29…”

Analysis of Onshore and Offshore Soils in the Lower Xiangjiang River

“…Heavy metal pollution is a common type of pollution in rivers [1][2][3][4][5][6]. Under the natural erosion of river banks by river waters [7][8][9][10], heavy metals in rivers can be absorbed by the soil on the banks through adsorption, sedimentation and complexation [11][12][13][14][15][16].…”