Heavy Metal(loid)s Contamination in Ground Dust and Associated Health Risks at a Former Indigenous Zinc Smelting Area

Shan Li, Xiangyang Bi, Zhonggen Li, Heng Wang, Xinyu Li, Xinbin Feng, Guangyi Sun, Ji Chen and Bo Meng
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Shan Li: State Key Laboratory of Environmental Geochemistry, Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guiyang 550081, China
Xiangyang Bi: State Key Laboratory of Biogeology and Environmental Geology, School of Earth Sciences, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, China
Zhonggen Li: State Key Laboratory of Environmental Geochemistry, Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guiyang 550081, China
Heng Wang: School of Public Management, Guizhou University of Finance and Economics, Guiyang 550025, China
Xinyu Li: State Key Laboratory of Environmental Geochemistry, Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guiyang 550081, China
Xinbin Feng: State Key Laboratory of Environmental Geochemistry, Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guiyang 550081, China
Guangyi Sun: State Key Laboratory of Environmental Geochemistry, Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guiyang 550081, China
Ji Chen: State Key Laboratory of Environmental Geochemistry, Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guiyang 550081, China
Bo Meng: State Key Laboratory of Environmental Geochemistry, Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guiyang 550081, China

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 3, 1-15

Abstract: Indigenous zinc smelting (IZS) is a backward technique that releases a great deal of heavy metal(loid)s into the environment. However, the contamination of heavy metal(loid)s in ground dust and the associated health risks in such areas are poorly known. In this study, a former IZS area in Guizhou, China, was surveyed during 2008–2018 with 15 elements (Ag, As, Bi, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Hg, In, Ni, Pb, Sb, Sn, Tl, Zn) being analyzed. The results indicate that most elements (e.g., Ag, As, Cd, Cu, Pb, Sb, Sn, Zn) in ground dust decreased significantly after the cessation of the IZS in 2006; nevertheless, some elements still remained at relatively high levels in 2018, e.g., Pb (average: 762 ± 647 mg/kg), Zn (average: 1287 ± 753 mg/kg), Cd (average: 7.76 ± 5.06 mg/kg), and As (average: 41.9 ± 34.8 mg/kg), indicating they might come from the local contaminated soils, slag residues and smelting potteries. In terms of the impacts on human health, children have both higher non-carcinogenic and carcinogenic risks than that of adults, with the latter subpopulation having a lower risk than the threshold values. Pb and As were the two elements with the highest non-carcinogenic risk for children, the hazard index of local children was still higher than the threshold of 1 (e.g., 1.43 for As, 2.09 for Pb) in 2018. The carcinogenic risk of As exposure to children dropped more than two times to 6.42 × 10 −7 in 2018, which falls below the tolerable range (10 −6 –10 −4 ). This study revealed that although the concentration of heavy metal(loid)s in ground dust and linked health risk in the IZS area has reduced dramatically after the cessation of IZS, continued removal of slag residues and smelting potteries is necessary for further decreasing the human health risk.

Keywords: zinc smelting activities; ground dust; contamination level; exposure risks; temporal changes (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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