Risk Assessment and Implication of Human Exposure to Road Dust Heavy Metals in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

Ibrahim I. Shabbaj, Mansour A. Alghamdi, Magdy Shamy, Salwa K. Hassan, Musaab M. Alsharif and Mamdouh I. Khoder
Additional contact information
Ibrahim I. Shabbaj: Department of Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Meteorology, Environment and Arid Land Agriculture, King Abdulaziz University, P.O. Box 80208, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia
Mansour A. Alghamdi: Department of Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Meteorology, Environment and Arid Land Agriculture, King Abdulaziz University, P.O. Box 80208, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia
Magdy Shamy: Department of Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Meteorology, Environment and Arid Land Agriculture, King Abdulaziz University, P.O. Box 80208, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia
Salwa K. Hassan: Air Pollution Department, National Research Centre, El Behooth Str., 12622 Dokki, Giza , Egypt
Musaab M. Alsharif: Faculty of Medicine, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia
Mamdouh I. Khoder: Department of Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Meteorology, Environment and Arid Land Agriculture, King Abdulaziz University, P.O. Box 80208, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia

IJERPH, 2017, vol. 15, issue 1, 1-22

Abstract: Data dealing with the assessment of heavy metal pollution in road dusts in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia and its implication to human health risk of human exposure to heavy metals, are scarce. Road dusts were collected from five different functional areas (traffic areas (TA), parking areas (PA), residential areas (RA), mixed residential commercial areas (MCRA) and suburban areas (SA)) in Jeddah and one in a rural area (RUA) in Hada Al Sham. We aimed to measure the pollution levels of heavy metals and estimate their health risk of human exposure applying risk assessment models described by United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA). Using geo-accumulation index (I geo ), the pollution level of heavy metals in urban road dusts was in the following order Cd > As > Pb > Zn > Cu > Ni > Cr > V > Mn > Co > Fe. Urban road dust was found to be moderately to heavily contaminated with As, Pb and Zn, and heavily to extremely contaminated with Cd. Calculation of enrichment factor (EF) revealed that heavy metals in TA had the highest values compared to that of the other functional areas. Cd, As, Pb, Zn and Cu were severely enriched, while Mn, V, Co, Ni and Cr were moderately enriched. Fe was considered as a natural element and consequently excluded. The concentrations of heavy metals in road dusts of functional areas were in the following order: TA > PA > MCRA > SA > RA > RUA. The study revealed that both children and adults in all studied areas having health quotient (HQ) < 1 are at negligible non-carcinogenic risk. The only exception was for children exposed to As in TA. They had an ingestion health quotient (HQ ing ) 1.18 and a health index (HI) 1.19. The most prominent exposure route was ingestion. The cancer risk for children and adults from exposure to Pb, Cd, Co, Ni, and Cr was found to be negligible (≤1 × 10 −6 ).

Keywords: urban road dust; functional areas; heavy metals; pollution assessment; health risk assessment; Jeddah (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
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