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Contamination and ecological risk assessment of heavy metals in street dust of Tehran, Iran

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Abstract

Heavy metals are introduced in human tissue through breathing air, food chain and human skin. They can cause damage to the nervous system and internal organs. In the present study, sixty street dust samples were collected from the central area of Tehran and were digested in the laboratory to determine the content of Zn, Ni, Cd, Cr, Cu and Pb, using inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES). The level of contamination with the analyzed metals was determined according to the following indices: geo-accumulation index (I geo), enrichment factor (EF), pollution index (PI), integrated pollution index (IPI) and potential ecological risk index (RI). The average concentration of heavy metals found was in the order of Zn > Cu > Pb > Ni > Cr > Cd. The average I geo values for Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb and Zn were 1.53, −1.88, 2.68, −0.67, 1.62 and 2.70, respectively. Among the investigated heavy metals, zinc and copper had the maximum average EF values and were placed into the “very severe enrichment” class. Potential ecological risk factor (E r) also indicated that Cd had the highest risk, and it was classified as of considerable potential ecological risk. Therefore, it is necessary to pay more attention to the appearance of Cd in the human environment. The calculated potential ecological risk index values also illustrated that the street dust samples presented a “moderate ecological risk.” The calculated IPI values showed that the pollution levels of the street dust samples ranged from high to extremely high.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Science for the financial support of this study.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Health Promotion Research Center, Zahedan University of Medical Sciences, Zahedan, Iran

    H. Kamani

  2. Centre for Solid Waste Research, Institute for Environmental Research, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    A. H. Mahvi

  3. Department of Environmental Engineering, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran

    M. Seyedsalehi

  4. School of Health, Guilan University of Medical Sciences, Rasht, Iran

    J. Jaafari & S. D. Ashrafi

  5. Department of Environmental Health Engineering, School of Health, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran

    M. Hoseini

  6. Department of Environmental Health Engineering, School of Public Health, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran

    G. H. Safari & H. Aslani

  7. Environmental Science and Technology Research Center, Department of Environmental Health Engineering, School of Public Health, Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences, Yazd, Iran

    A. Dalvand

  8. Department of Environmental Health Engineering, Faculty of Health, Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, Iran

    N. Mirzaei

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  1. H. Kamani
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  2. A. H. Mahvi
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  3. M. Seyedsalehi
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  4. J. Jaafari
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  5. M. Hoseini
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  6. G. H. Safari
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  7. A. Dalvand
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  8. H. Aslani
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  9. N. Mirzaei
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  10. S. D. Ashrafi
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Correspondence to S. D. Ashrafi.

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Editorial responsibility: M. Abbaspour

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Kamani, H., Mahvi, A.H., Seyedsalehi, M. et al. Contamination and ecological risk assessment of heavy metals in street dust of Tehran, Iran. Int. J. Environ. Sci. Technol. 14, 2675–2682 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13762-017-1327-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13762-017-1327-x

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