aCAS-Key Laboratory of Crust-Mantle Materials and the Environments, School of Earth and Space Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, 230026, PR China
Papers open inside SciRah from the original publisher or repository; SciRah never hosts them.
Abstract
Toxic metal pollution is a renowned environmental concern, especially to sensitive environments like school classrooms and their association with children's health. The study was planned to determine the pollution characteristics of 13 potentially toxic metal (oid)s (PTMs) and their associated children's health risk assessment from school dust samples of considerably three land-use types (residential, roadside, and industrial areas) of Lahore, Pakistan. Geo-accumulation (Igeo), pollution (PI), integrated pollution (IPI) and pollution load (PLI) indexes were used to determine the PTMs contamination and USEPA health risk assessment models were employed to assess the health risks in children. The mean concentrations of Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, and Zn for three land-use types were found much higher than the permissible limits. Results of pollution indices revealed that school dust was strongly contaminated with Cd, Pb, and Zn whilst moderately contaminated with Cr and Cu. Moreover, the health risk assessment models revealed no significant non-cancerous risks in children with predominantly highest hazardous index (HI) of Cr in industrial (4.61E-01) and Pb in both roadside (4.30E-01) and residential (2.26E-01) area schools. According to cumulative HI of all PTMs and exposure routes, the land-use areas were in descending order as industrial > roadside > residential. The calculations of hazardous quotient (HQ) showed ingestion was the leading pathway of PTMs exposure through school dust. For carcinogenic health risk (CR), the most prominent PTM was Cr with values of 1.53E-06 in industrial area schools, found close to the tolerable range (1.0E-06). Hence, school dust of Lahore prominently contaminated with eminent PTMs triggering slight health risks predominantly by ingestion exposure to children.
TL;DRResults of pollution indices revealed that school dust was strongly contaminated with Cd, Pb, and Zn whilst moderately contaminated with Cr and Cu; and ingestion was the leading pathway of PTMs exposure through school dust. (Semantic Scholar)
Plain-language summary
Discussion
State Key Laboratory of Loess and Quaternary Geology, Institute of Earth Environment, The Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xi'an, Shaanxi, 710075, PR China. Electronic address: abdulrehman008@mail.ustc.edu.cn
cState Key Laboratory of Loess and Quaternary Geology, Institute of Earth Environment, The Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xi'an, Shaanxi, 710075, PR China
dState Key Laboratory of Loess and Quaternary Geology, Institute of Earth Environment, The Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xi'an, Shaanxi, 710075, PR China. Electronic address: lgj@ustc.edu.cn
eCAS-Key Laboratory of Crust-Mantle Materials and the Environments, School of Earth and Space Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, 230026, PR China. Electronic address: balal@ustc.edu.cn
fInstitute of Soil and Environmental Sciences, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, 38000, Punjab, Pakistan. Electronic address: ziasindhu1399@gmail.com
gInstitute of Soil and Environmental Sciences, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, 38000, Punjab, Pakistan
hCAS-Key Laboratory of Crust-Mantle Materials and the Environments, School of Earth and Space Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, 230026, PR China. Electronic address: ubaid@mail.ustc.edu.cn
iCAS-Key Laboratory of Crust-Mantle Materials and the Environments, School of Earth and Space Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, 230026, PR China. Electronic address: saqibssr@mail.ustc.edu.cn
jAdvanced Laboratory for Functional Agriculture, Suzhou Institute for Advanced Study, University of Science and Technology of China, Suzhou, 215123, Jiangsu, PR China. Electronic address: mrazamaan@mail.ustc.edu.cn
kAdvanced Laboratory for Functional Agriculture, Suzhou Institute for Advanced Study, University of Science and Technology of China, Suzhou, 215123, Jiangsu, PR China
lSchool of Environmental Science and Engineering, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing 210044, PR China. Electronic address: zeeshan@mail.ustc.edu.cn
mSchool of Environmental Science and Engineering, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing 210044, PR China
