Health risk assessment of potentially harmful elements in subsidence water bodies using a Monte Carlo approach: An example from the Huainan coal mining area, China
Guangzhou Chena b c✉, Xingming Wangd, Ruwei Wange, Guijian Liue f✉
- aAnhui Province Key Laboratory of Water Pollution Control and Wastewater Reuse, Anhui Jianzhu University, Hefei 230601, China
- bSchool of Environment and Energy Engineering, Anhui Jianzhu University, Hefei 230601, China. Electronic address: chgzh@ahjzu.edu.cn
- cSchool of Environment and Energy Engineering, Anhui Jianzhu University, Hefei 230601, China
- dSchool of Earth and Environment, Anhui University of Science and Technology, Huainan 232001, China
- eCAS Key Laboratory of Crust-Mantle Materials and Environment, School of Earth and Space Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China
- fCAS Key Laboratory of Crust-Mantle Materials and Environment, School of Earth and Space Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China. Electronic address: lgj@ustc.edu.cn
- ✉Corresponding author
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Abstract
Enrichment of potentially harmful elements in surface water results in ecological risk to the surrounding environment. Assessing the environmental risk of these elements is of great importance. In this study, surface water samples from 6 different subsidence water bodies in the Huainan coal mining area were collected. The concentrations of Cu, Ni, Pb, Cd, Co, Cr, V, Fe, Mn and Zn were measured by atomic absorption spectrophotometry, and those of As and Hg were analyzed by atomic fluorescence spectrometry. Then, human health risks through the ingestion and dermal contact pathways were assessed and analyzed on the basis of a Monte Carlo simulation. The mean and 95th percentile risks were reported. The results showed that the total carcinogenic risk values in every subsidence water body summed for Cr, Ni and As via two exposure pathways were greater than the maximum acceptable level (1 × 10-4), and Xinji'er water body had the highest carcinogenic risk. Among three elements, Ni was the highest contributor to carcinogenic risk. All non-carcinogenic health risk (hazard quotients) values except for one water area of Co (Xinji'er) were less than 1; however, the total non-carcinogenic health risks of two water bodies (Xinji'er, Xinjiyi) summed for all the elements based on mean concentrations were higher than 1. Xinji'er had the highest hazard index. The extent of the impacts of the total hazard quotients followed the order of Co > As > Cd > Hg > Pb > V >Fe > Ni > Mn > Zn > Cr. Furthermore, the total hazard quotients of Co and As via ingestion pathway summed for the six subsidence water areas were greater than 1, which should be a concern.
TL;DRThe results showed that the total carcinogenic risk values in every subsidence water body summed for Cr, Ni and As via two exposure pathways were greater than the maximum acceptable level (1 × 10-4), and Xinji'er water body had the highest carcinogenicrisk. (Semantic Scholar)