Origin and assessment of the health risk index of heavy metals (cadmium and lead) in the dust of buildings of the Science and Research Unit
Document Type : Research Paper
Authors
Department of Environmental Science, Faculty of Natural Resources and Environment, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran
Abstract
The increase in population and the development of urban and industrial infrastructure led to an increase in atmospheric pollutants and numerous environmental problems. The aim of the present study was to determine the origin and measure the health risk index of heavy metals (cadmium and lead) in the dust falling from the buildings of the Science and Research Unit. For this purpose, the sampling of the deposited atmospheric particles (dust) from the interior spaces of the buildings was done in 20 points by the passive method. The obtained concentrations of the studied metals were used to calculate a variety of health risk indices, enrichment index, land accumulation index, ecological risk index, carcinogenic risk index, and HI risk index. The average concentration of studied metals in different stations for cadmium and lead metals was evaluated as 5.4081 ± 0.85 and 170.9257 ± 71.9418 mg/kg, respectively. There was a statistically significant difference between the average concentration of metals in such a way that this significant difference was observed with lead metal (p-value > 0.05) and cadmium metal (p-value < 0.05). The enrichment factor showed a significant difference between lead (p-value > 0.05) and cadmium (p-value < 0.05). The land accumulation index between cadmium (p-value > 0.05) and lead (p-value < 0.05) these differences were significant. The ecological risk index was evaluated as low in all stations except stations 8 and 18, which were high. Daily chronic absorption from the gastrointestinal tract for lead metal was calculated at the highest level. The non-carcinogenicity index of the gastrointestinal tract for lead metal was evaluated as high. The respiratory tract also showed a very low risk. In general, the results showed that the studied area has heavy metal pollution, which has the capacity of carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic risk for sensitive groups of society.
Keywords
)