Crop selection reduces potential heavy metal(loid)s health risk in wastewater contaminated agricultural soils

Chun Cao; Ying Yang; Mei-Po Kwan; Zhen-Bang Ma; Raghupathy Karthikeyan; Jun-Jian Wang; Huan Chen

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.152502

Crop selection reduces potential heavy metal(loid)s health risk in wastewater contaminated agricultural soils

Sci Total Environ. 2022 May 1:819:152502. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.152502. Epub 2022 Jan 5.

Authors

Chun Cao¹, Ying Yang¹, Mei-Po Kwan², Zhen-Bang Ma³, Raghupathy Karthikeyan⁴, Jun-Jian Wang⁵, Huan Chen⁶

Affiliations

¹ College of Geography and Environmental Science, Northwest Normal University, Lanzhou 730070, Gansu, China; Key Laboratory of Resource Environment and Sustainable Development of Oasis, Lanzhou 730070, Gansu, China.
² Institute of Space and Earth Information Science, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong 999077, China; Department of Geography and Resource Management, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong 999077, China; Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Utrecht University, 3584 CB Utrecht, The Netherlands.
³ College of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, Gansu, China.
⁴ Department of Agricultural Sciences, Clemson University, SC 29634, United States.
⁵ Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Soil and Groundwater Pollution Control, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518055, China; State Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Integrated Surface Water-Groundwater Pollution Control, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518055, China. Electronic address: wangjj@sustech.edu.cn.
⁶ Department of Environmental Engineering and Earth Science, Clemson University, SC 29634, United States. Electronic address: huanc@clemson.edu.

PMID: 34995610
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.152502

Abstract

Vegetable crops have varied heavy metal(loid)s accumulation rates from soils to their edible tissues. However, crop selection has been seldom evaluated as a strategy for reducing the health risks of ingesting vegetables grown in soils contaminated by treated wastewater (TWW) irrigation. We cultivated twenty commonly grown vegetables using soils with an approximately 50-year history of TWW irrigation, and their ingestion risks were evaluated by the health risk index (HRI). Results showed that twenty vegetable species had varied abilities in accumulating heavy metal(loid)s from soils to their edible parts (e.g., >100 times of difference for Cd). We found higher potential health risks (HRI > 1) due to As, Cd, and Pb for adults ingesting few vegetable species and all the studied vegetables had negligible health risks (HRI < 1) for Cr, Cu, and Zn. These results suggest that remediation strategies should be targeted towards As, Cd, and Pb removal in agricultural soils in this region. Total HRI > 5 was obtained for ingesting spinach, Chinese lettuce, and Chinese chives, suggesting a high potential of severe health risks. Negligible risks (total HRI < 1) were found for tomato, kidney bean, potato, and cabbage. Our study highlights crop selection as a feasible strategy for ensuring food safety in TWW contaminated farmlands.

Keywords: (13)C NMR; Dissolved organic matter; Mining and smelting; Phytoremediation; Sustainable agricultural production.

MeSH terms

Adult
Environmental Monitoring
Humans
Metals, Heavy* / analysis
Risk Assessment
Soil
Soil Pollutants* / analysis
Vegetables
Wastewater / analysis

Substances

Metals, Heavy
Soil
Soil Pollutants
Waste Water