Current Science

Open Access Open Access  Restricted Access Subscription Access

Heavy metals abundance and distribution in soil, groundwater and vegetables in parts of Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, India: implication for human health risk assessment


Affiliations
1 Department of Geology, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh 202 001, India, India
 

Anthropogenic activities impact the natural environment, leading to the deterioration of its suitability for living organisms and human health. The present study investigated the concentration and distribution of potentially harmful elements Fe, Cr, Cu, Mn, Ni, Pb and Cd in the soil, groundwater and vegetables, and the consequent human health risk effects. Results revea­led high content of Cu (mean = 331 mg kg–1) and Zn (mean = 348.4 mg kg–1) in the soils and exceeded permissible limits. Geo-accumulation Index (Igeo) values were high in respect of Cu (Igeo = 3.86, 3.16), and Zn (Igeo = 2.4, 1.6), indicating pollution in the industrial training institute (ITI) and Gular areas in Aligarh res­pectively. Groundwater from ITI and Gular recorded maximum content of Cr, Cu, Ni, Mn, Zn, Pb and Cd. Ni and Pb contents exceeded the highest permissible limits. Heavy metal pollution index (HPI) with mean HPI = 806.08 indicated serious groundwater contamination in the ITI and Gular areas. Content of heavy metals in vegetables appeared to be under permissible limit with some exception for Ni and Zn. Finally, the assessment of hazard index (HI) indicated that there was no potential risk to human health upon consumption of vegetables, whereas water ingestion posed serious human health hazard (HI = 2.62) in parts of Aligarh

Keywords

Groundwater, hazard index, heavy metals, human health risk, soil, vegetables
User
Notifications
Font Size

  • Golia, E. E., Dimirkou, A. and Mitsios, I. K., Influence of some soil parameters on heavy metals accumulation by vegetables grown in agricultural soils of different soil orders. Bull. Environ. Contam. Toxicol., 2008, 81, 80–84.

  • Goudie, A. S., Human Impact on the Natural Environment, John Wiley, 2018.

  • Rai, P. K., Lee, S. S., Zhang, M., Tsang, Y. F. and Kim, K.-H., Heavy metals in food crops: Health risks, fate, mechanisms, and management. Environ. Int., 2019, 125, 365–385.

  • Antoniadis, V., Golia, E. E., Liu, Y.-T., Wang, S.-L., Shaheen, S. M. and Rinklebe, J., Soil and maize contamination by trace elements and associated health risk assessment in the industrial area of volos, Greece. Environ. Int., 2019, 124, 79–88.

  • Khalid, S., Shahid, M., Niazi, N. K., Murtaza, B., Bibi, I. and Dumat, C., A comparison of technologies for remediation of heavy metal contaminated soils. J. Geochem. Explor., 2017, 182, 247–268.

  • Dotaniya, M. L., Meena, V. D., Rajendiran, S., Coumar, M. V., Saha, J. K., Kundu, S. and Patra, A. K., Geo-accumulation indices of heavy metals in soil and groundwater of Kanpur, India under long term irrigation of tannery effluent. Bull. Environ. Contam. Toxicol., 2017, 98, 706–711.

  • Dwivedi, A. K. and Vankar, P. S., Source identification study of heavy metal contamination in the industrial hub of Unnao, India. Environ. Monit. Assess., 2014, 186, 3531–3539.

  • Rezaei, A., Hassani, H., Hassani, S., Jabbari, N., Fard Mousavi, S. B. and Rezaei, S., Evaluation of groundwater quality and heavy metal pollution indices in bazman basin, southeastern Iran. Groundwater Sustain. Dev., 2019, 9, 100245.

  • Thukral, R. K., Uttar Pradesh District Factbook: Aligarh District, Datanet India Pvt Ltd, New Delhi, 2020.

  • WEF, Standard methods for the examination of water and wastewater. American Public Health Association (APHA), Washington, DC, USA, 2005.

  • Alam, R., Ahmed, Z. and Howladar, M. F., Evaluation of heavy metal contamination in water, soil and plant around the open landfill site Mogla Bazar in Sylhet, Bangladesh. Groundwater Sustain. Dev., 2020, 10, 100311.

  • Garg, V. K., Yadav, P., Mor, S., Singh, B. and Pulhani, V., Heavy metals bioconcentration from soil to vegetables and assessment of health risk caused by their ingestion. Biol. Trace Elem. Res., 2014, 157, 256–265.

  • Muller, G., Index of geoaccumulation in sediments of the rhine river. Geojournal, 1969, 2, 108–118.

  • Turekian, K. K. and Wedepohl, K. H., Distribution of the elements in some major units of the earth’s crust. GSA Bull., 1961, 72, 175–192.

  • Kumar, V. et al., Global evaluation of heavy metal content in surface water bodies: a meta-analysis using heavy metal pollution indices and multivariate statistical analyses. Chemosphere, 2019, 236, 124364.

  • WHO, Guidelines for Drinking-Water quality: First Addendum to the Fourth Edition, Geneva, 2017.

  • USEPA, Regional Screening Level (RSL) Summary Table, Washington DC, USA, 2013.

  • USEPA, Guidelines for the Health Risk Assessment of Chemical Mixtures. Federal Register, 1986, vol. 51, pp. 34014–34025.

  • Holm, O., Hansen, E., Lassen, C., Stuer-Lauridsen, F. and Kjolholt, J., European Commission, Directorate General for Environment, E3, Heavy Metals Waste–Final Report, 2002.

  • Awashthi, S. K., Prevention of food adulteration act no 37 of 1954. In Central and State Rules as Amended for 1999, Ashoka Law, New Delhi, 1999.

  • USEPA, Drinking water standards and health advisories. In EPA 822-R-09-011 (ed. Water, O. O.), Washington, DC, USA, USEPA, 2009.

  • Kumar, M. and Puri, A., A review of permissible limits of drinking water. Indian J. Occup. Environ. Med., 2012, 16, 40–44.

  • FAO/WHO, Joint FAO/WHO food standard programme codex alimentarius commission (report of the thirty eight session of the codex committee on food hygiene). In Codex, Codex, Adhoc Intergovernmental, Task Force On, Houston, USA, 2007.

  • Mirecki, N., Agic, R., Šunić, L., Milenkovic, L. and Ilic, Z., Transfer factor as indicator of heavy metals content in plants. Fresen. Environ. Bull., 2015, 24, 4212–4219.

  • Khan, K. et al., Heavy metals in agricultural soils and crops and their health risks in swat district, northern Pakistan. Food Chem. Toxicol., 2013, 58, 449–458.

  • Singh, A., Sharma, R. K., Agrawal, M. and Marshall, F. M., Health risk assessment of heavy metals via dietary intake of foodstuffs from the wastewater irrigated site of a dry tropical area of India. Food Chem. Toxicol., 2010, 48, 611–619.


Abstract Views: 425

PDF Views: 141




  • Heavy metals abundance and distribution in soil, groundwater and vegetables in parts of Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, India: implication for human health risk assessment

Abstract Views: 425  |  PDF Views: 141

Authors

Khalid Mohammed Ghasera
Department of Geology, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh 202 001, India, India
Shaik A. Rashid
Department of Geology, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh 202 001, India, India
Khyati Gupta
Department of Geology, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh 202 001, India, India

Abstract


Anthropogenic activities impact the natural environment, leading to the deterioration of its suitability for living organisms and human health. The present study investigated the concentration and distribution of potentially harmful elements Fe, Cr, Cu, Mn, Ni, Pb and Cd in the soil, groundwater and vegetables, and the consequent human health risk effects. Results revea­led high content of Cu (mean = 331 mg kg–1) and Zn (mean = 348.4 mg kg–1) in the soils and exceeded permissible limits. Geo-accumulation Index (Igeo) values were high in respect of Cu (Igeo = 3.86, 3.16), and Zn (Igeo = 2.4, 1.6), indicating pollution in the industrial training institute (ITI) and Gular areas in Aligarh res­pectively. Groundwater from ITI and Gular recorded maximum content of Cr, Cu, Ni, Mn, Zn, Pb and Cd. Ni and Pb contents exceeded the highest permissible limits. Heavy metal pollution index (HPI) with mean HPI = 806.08 indicated serious groundwater contamination in the ITI and Gular areas. Content of heavy metals in vegetables appeared to be under permissible limit with some exception for Ni and Zn. Finally, the assessment of hazard index (HI) indicated that there was no potential risk to human health upon consumption of vegetables, whereas water ingestion posed serious human health hazard (HI = 2.62) in parts of Aligarh

Keywords


Groundwater, hazard index, heavy metals, human health risk, soil, vegetables

References





DOI: https://doi.org/10.18520/cs%2Fv121%2Fi8%2F1056-1063