Heavy Metal Content and Health Risk Assessment of Urban Road Dust from the Historical Center of Havana, Cuba

Abstract

Street road dust samples were collected at 33 stations of the Historical center of Old Havana. Samples were analyzed for the determination of some (Co, Ni, Cu, Zn and Pb) heavy metal concentrations using an X-ray fluorescence (XRF) instrument. The mean concentrations of the elements are Zn (548.7 mg/kg), Pb (60.8 mg/kg), Co (7.0 mg/kg) Ni (60.6 mg/kg) and Cu (73.6 mg/kg) were Zn and Pb showed higher values of the background. The study of the Enrichment Factor (EF), the Pollution Index (IP) and the Integral Pollution Index (IPI), showed some stations with high values of contamination close to construction places. Zn was identified as the major pollutant fallowed by the Pb. Nevertheless, the Hazard Index (HI) and Carcinogenic Risks (CR) values do not show risk of getting non-carcinogenic or carcinogenic diseases associated to the analyzed pollutants.