Receptor model-based sources and risks appraisal of potentially toxic elements in the urban soils of Bangladesh

Tapos Kumar Chakraborty; Md Shahnul Islam; Gopal Chandra Ghosh; Prianka Ghosh; Samina Zaman; Md Ripon Hossain; Ahsan Habib; Md Simoon Nice; Md Sozibur Rahman; Khandakar Rashedul Islam; Baytune Nahar Netema; Suvasish Das Shuvo; Nazmul Hossain; Abu Shamim Khan

doi:10.1016/j.toxrep.2023.02.011

Receptor model-based sources and risks appraisal of potentially toxic elements in the urban soils of Bangladesh

Toxicol Rep. 2023 Feb 24:10:308-319. doi: 10.1016/j.toxrep.2023.02.011. eCollection 2023.

Affiliations

¹ Department of Environmental Science and Technology, Jashore University of Science and Technology, Jashore 7408, Bangladesh.
² Department of Nutrition and Food Technology, Jashore University of Science and Technology, Jashore 7408, Bangladesh.
³ Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Jashore University of Science and Technology, Jashore 7408, Bangladesh.
⁴ Environmental Laboratory, Asia Arsenic Network, Jashore 7400, Bangladesh.

Abstract

Rapid urbanization and industrial development have prompted potentially toxic elements (PTEs) in urban soil in Bangladesh, which is a great concern for ecological and public health matters. The present study explored the receptor-based sources, probable human health and ecological risks of PTEs (As, Cd, Pb, Cr, Ni, and Cu) in the urban soil of the Jashore district, Bangladesh. The USEPA modified method 3050B and atomic absorption spectrophotometers were used to digest and evaluate the PTEs concentration in 71 soil samples collected from eleven different land use areas, respectively. The concentration ranges of As, Cd, Pb, Cr, Ni, and Cu in the studied soils were 1.8-18.09, 0.1-3.58, 0.4-113.26, 0.9-72.09, 2.1-68.23, and 3.82-212.57 mg/kg, respectively. The contamination factor (CF), pollution load index (PLI), and enrichment factor (EF) were applied to evaluate the ecological risk posed by PTEs in soils. Soil quality evaluation indices showed that Cd was a great contributor to soil pollution. The PLI values range was 0.48-2.82, indicating base levels to continuous soil degradation. The positive matrix factorization (PMF) model showed that As (50.3 %), Cd (38.8 %), Cu (64.7 %), Pb (81.8 %) and Ni (47.2 %) were derived from industrial sources and mixed anthropogenic sources, while Cr (78.1 %) from natural sources. The highest contamination was found in the metal workshop, followed by the industrial area, and brick filed site. Soil from all land use types revealed moderate to high ecological risk after evaluating probable ecological risks, and the descending order of single metal potential ecological risk was Cd > As > Pb > Cu > Ni > Cr. Ingestion was the primary route of exposure to potentially toxic elements for both adults and children from the study area soil. The overall non-cancer risk to human health is caused by PTEs for children (HI=0.65 ± 0.1) and adults (HI=0.09 ± 0.03) under USEPA safe limit (HI>1), while the cancer risks from exclusively ingesting As through soil were 2.10E-03 and 2.74E-04 for children and adults, respectively, exceeding the USEPA acceptable standard (>1E-04).

Keywords: Bangladesh; Ecological risk; Hazardous elements; Public health; Urban land use.