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Source apportionment and source-specific health risk assessment of heavy metals in size-fractionated road dust from a typical mining and smelting area, Gejiu, China

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Abstract

Source-specific health risk apportionment for heavy metals is critical for pollution prevention and risk management in mining and smelting areas. An integrated method combining health risk assessments with the positive matrix factorization model was proposed to evaluate source-specific health risks for adults and children. A typical mining and smelting area was taken as an example in the present study to apportion the source-specific health risks to humans. A total of 37 road dust samples collected from the industrial (IA) and residential areas (RA) of Gejiu (China) were analyzed for heavy metals (Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, and Zn). The results indicated that road dust in the study area was mainly contaminated with Cd, Cu, Pb, and Zn. Three potential sources, including atmospheric deposition, industrial waste, and natural sources, were identified and quantified, with contributions of 43.32%, 30.83%, and 25.85%, respectively. For non-carcinogenic risks, a similar trend of the source contribution was found for adults and children under the same land use; atmospheric deposition made the greatest contribution to the non-carcinogenic risk in both IA and RA. However, for carcinogenic risk, natural sources were the greatest contributor to human health risks in both IA and RA, followed by atmospheric deposition and industrial waste. The investigation in this study allowed the evaluation of health risks from potential contamination sources and the results provide valuable information on health risk mitigation strategies for environmental managers.

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Data availability

The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Funding

This study was funded by the National Key Technology Research and Development Program of China [grant number 2018YFC1800104].

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, CAS, Beijing, 100101, China

    Guanghui Guo, Degang Zhang &  Wang

  2. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Guanghui Guo, Degang Zhang &  Wang

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  1. Guanghui Guo
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  2. Degang Zhang
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Methodology: Guanghui Guo; data collection and investigation: Degang Zhang; software: Yuntao Wang. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Guanghui Guo. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Guanghui Guo.

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Guo, G., Zhang, D., Yuntao et al. Source apportionment and source-specific health risk assessment of heavy metals in size-fractionated road dust from a typical mining and smelting area, Gejiu, China. Environ Sci Pollut Res 28, 9313–9326 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-11312-y

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