Spatially Resolved Distribution, Sources, Exposure Levels, and Health Risks of Heavy Metals in <63 μm Size-Fractionated Road Dust from Lucknow City, North India

Vidhu Gupta (), Lalita Bisht, Ajay Kumar Arya, Ajay Pratap Singh and Sneha Gautam ()
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Vidhu Gupta: Department of Environmental Sciences, Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna Garhwal University, Srinagar 246174, Uttarakhand, India
Lalita Bisht: Department of Environmental Sciences, Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna Garhwal University, Srinagar 246174, Uttarakhand, India
Ajay Kumar Arya: Department of Geology, University of Lucknow, Lucknow 226007, Uttar Pradesh, India
Ajay Pratap Singh: Department of Geology, University of Lucknow, Lucknow 226007, Uttar Pradesh, India
Sneha Gautam: Department of Civil Engineering, Karunya Institute of Technology and Sciences Coimbatore, Coimbatore 641114, Tamil Nadu, India

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 19, 1-23

Abstract: In the present study, a total of 64 road dust samples were collected from five different functional areas (residential, commercial, parks, high-traffic, and industrial) in urban Lucknow to assess the accumulation, distribution, and health risk of heavy metals (HMs) (i.e., Fe, Mn, Zn, Cu, Pb, Cd, As, Cr and Ni). Acid digestion methods were used to analyze HMs, followed by inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICPMS). The ascending frequency of HMs was Cd < As < Ni < Cr < Pb < Cu < Zn < Mn < Fe for all different functional areas. Almost all HMs exceed the limits of Indian natural soil background values (INSB) across all functional areas. The pollution assessment results reveal that the urban road dust of Lucknow is highly enriched with Zn and Pb, causing deterioration of dust quality. The spatial distribution of HMs shows that road dust found in the central and southwestern zones of the Lucknow urban area are more contaminated than in other areas. The ecological risk assessment demonstrates that Cd was the highest risk contributor, followed by Pb, Zn and Cu. The result of the health risk assessment i.e., the cumulative hazard index (HI) and the cumulative lifetime cancer risk (LCR), reveal that children (mean HI children = 1.26, LCR children = 0.000187) are more vulnerable to HM exposure than adults (HI adults = 0.14, LCR adults = 0.0000804). For carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic risk, ingestion appears to be the major pathway of HM exposure in both age groups. It is alarming that all studied four carcinogenic HMs were found in concentrations higher than 1 × 10 −6 (the permissible limit for humans). This indicates slight chances of developing cancer for both age groups in all functional areas.

Keywords: road dust; heavy metals; pollution assessment; spatial distribution; potential ecological risk; health risk assessment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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