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Heavy Metal Occurrence, Pathways, and Associated Socio-ecological Risks in Riverine Water: Application of Geographic Information System, Multivariate Statistics, and Risk Assessment Models

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Abstract

Heavy metal (HM) pollution is one of the major issues of concern in the world due to its serious health consequences on humans and ecology. In this study, riverine water from the River Kabul in Pakistan was studied using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) to determine the variation, routes, and possible socio-ecological hazards of chromium (Cr), manganese (Mn), cobalt (Co), nickel (Ni), copper (Cu), zinc (Zn) cadmium (Cd), mercury (Hg), and lead (Pb). The results revealed significant HMs variation (p < 0.05) in the sequence of Cr > Zn > Ni > Cu > Cd > Pb > Mn > Co > Hg, indicating prevalent metal contaminations in the river. Multivariate statistics showed significant strong positive correlations (p ≤ 0.01) between the individual HMs contents along the monitoring sites. The strong-moderate levels of Cu, Co, Zn, Mn, Pb, and Cd in riverine systems were observed to be caused by surrounding industrial, agrochemicals, mining, and domestic wastewater discharges along with geogenic sources, the weak levels of Cr and Ni could be induced by erosion of mafic and ultramafic rocks, and mining activities, whereas the low contamination of Hg suggests minimal atmospheric deposition with fewer industrial discharges in the environment. The overall mass flux of the ∑HMs was estimated to be around 164.10 kg/year, with significant HM pollution index (HPI) and pollution index (PI) variations along the river characterizing the potential risk of HMs in decreasing order of Cd > Hg > Cr > Ni > Co > Pb > Mn > Cu > Zn and Cd > Hg > Ni > Pb > Cr > Co > Cu > Mn > Zn, respectively. Individual HM contamination was within the ecological risk threshold (ERI < 110), where, the chronic daily intake (CDIs), hazard quotients (HQs), health indices (HIs), and cancer risks (CRs) of Cd, Ni, Co, Cr, and Pb by daily riverine water ingestion and dermal contact posing considerable human health concerns. To protect the environment and public health, our findings suggest that untreated anthropogenic wastewater discharge into the river system be strictly controlled and regulated through public awareness campaigns and legislation prohibiting the use of herbicides and fertilizers containing high levels of Cr, Ni, Co, Cd, and Pb.

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Data Availability

Possible resultant data supporting the findings of this study are accessible in the Supplemental Information, where the additional data that support the findings of this study will be made available upon request from the corresponding author.

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Funding

This work was supported by the Researchers Supporting Project number (RSP2023R100), King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Along with this, this work was also financially supported by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS)-President’s International Fellowship Initiative (PIFI).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100085, China

    Kifayatullah Khan

  2. Department of Environmental and Conservation Sciences, University of Swat, Swat, Charbagh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 19120, Pakistan

    Kifayatullah Khan, Muhammad Younas, Muhammad Sajawal Khan, Sana Ullah, Muhammad Ayaz & Akhtar Zeb Khan

  3. Institute of Quality Standard and Testing Technology, Beijing Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences, Beijing, 100097, China

    Xu Li

  4. Department of Environmental Sciences, The University of Haripur, Haripur, 22620, Pakistan

    Muhammad Fawad

  5. Department of Environmental Sciences, COMSATS University Islamabad, Vehari Campus, Vehari, 61100, Pakistan

    Noor Samad Shah

  6. Jilin Provincial Key Laboratory of Water Resources and Environment, Jilin University, Changchun, 130021, China

    Jafar Ali

  7. Department of Environmental Science-ACES-b (Institutionen för miljövetenskap), Stockholm University, Stockholm, 106 91, Sweden

    Afsheen Maryam

  8. School of Environmental Studies, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, 430078, China

    Asmat Ali

  9. Department of Biochemistry, College of Science, King Saud University, P.O. Box: 2455, Riyadh, 11451, Saudi Arabia

    Sobhy Mostafa Ibrahim

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  1. Kifayatullah Khan
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  2. Muhammad Younas
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  3. Muhammad Sajawal Khan
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  9. Muhammad Ayaz
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  11. Asmat Ali
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Contributions

Conception and design of the study: Kifayatullah Khan and Muhammad Younas; acquisition of data: Kifayatullah Khan; analysis and/or interpretation of data: Kifayatullah Khan, Muhammad Younas, Akhtar Zeb Khan, Muhammad Sajawal Khan Sobhy Mostafa Ibrahim, Sana Ullah, Muhammad Ayaz, Afsheen Maryam, Noor Samad Shah, Muhammad Fawad, Xu Li, Jafar Ali, and Asmat Ali; drafting the manuscript: Kifayatullah Khan and Muhammad Younas; revising the manuscript critically for important intellectual content: Muhammad Sajawal Khan, Xu Li, Jafar Ali, Sobhy Mostafa Ibrahim, Afsheen Maryam, Muhammad Fawad, Sana Ullah, Noor Samad Shah, Muhammad Ayaz, Asmat Ali, and Akhtar Zeb Khan; approval of the version of the manuscript to be published: Kifayatullah Khan, Muhammad Younas, Muhammad Sajawal Khan, Xu Li, Muhammad Fawad, Noor Samad Shah, Jafar Ali, Sana Ullah, Muhammad Ayaz, Afsheen Maryam, Asmat Ali, Akhtar Zeb Khan, and Sobhy Mostafa Ibrahim.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kifayatullah Khan.

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This is an observational study and does not involve any human subjects. The concerned University of Swat Research Ethics Committee has confirmed that no ethical approval is required.

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Highlights

• 9-HMs occurrence, routes, and related risks were evaluated in the River Kabul.

• HM contamination and average flow were assessed using pollution indices.

• Anthropogenic effluents and geogenic activities were examined as the potential sources.

• HPI&PI were computed for HMs variation to evaluate the aquatic risk and management.

• CR via river water exposure was significantly high for Cd followed by Ni > Co > Cr > Pb.

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Khan, K., Younas, M., Khan, M.S. et al. Heavy Metal Occurrence, Pathways, and Associated Socio-ecological Risks in Riverine Water: Application of Geographic Information System, Multivariate Statistics, and Risk Assessment Models. Water Air Soil Pollut 234, 449 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-023-06427-0

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