Pollution Characteristics and Health Risk Assessment of Heavy Metals in Agricultural Soils over the Past Five Years in Zhejiang, Southeast China

Jie Xiang; Peiwei Xu; Weizhong Chen; Xiaofeng Wang; Zhijian Chen; Dandan Xu; Yuan Chen; Mingluan Xing; Ping Cheng; Lizhi Wu; Bing Zhu

doi:10.3390/ijerph192214642

Pollution Characteristics and Health Risk Assessment of Heavy Metals in Agricultural Soils over the Past Five Years in Zhejiang, Southeast China

Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Nov 8;19(22):14642. doi: 10.3390/ijerph192214642.

Authors

Jie Xiang¹, Peiwei Xu¹, Weizhong Chen¹, Xiaofeng Wang¹, Zhijian Chen¹, Dandan Xu¹, Yuan Chen¹, Mingluan Xing¹, Ping Cheng¹, Lizhi Wu¹, Bing Zhu²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Environmental Health, Zhejiang Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Hangzhou 310000, China.
² Hangzhou Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Hangzhou 310000, China.

Abstract

Heavy metal contamination in agricultural soils has attracted increasing attention in recent years. In this study, 1999 agricultural soil samples were collected from 11 cities in Zhejiang Province from 2016 to 2020, and the spatial and temporal variation characteristics of 3 of the most important heavy metals, i.e., lead (Pb), cadmium (Cd), and chromium (Cr) were analyzed. The results showed that Cd had a slightly higher sample over-standard rate of 12.06%. Spatial distribution and temporal trends showed that the Pb concentrations overall increased from 2016 to 2020 and mainly accumulated in southern Zhejiang. In addition, multiple exposure routes were evaluated for human health risks. Children are more susceptible to the adverse effects of heavy metals in agricultural soils, and oral ingestion was the major exposure route. Cr poses higher human health risks to humans than Pb and Cd in agricultural soils. Therefore, more rigid environmental monitoring and related soil remediation counter-measures for some sites with high concentrations of heavy metals are necessary to limit the potential threat to human health.

Keywords: agricultural soils; health risk assessment; heavy metals; spatiotemporal distribution.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Cadmium
Child
Chromium
Humans
Lead
Metals, Heavy* / analysis
Risk Assessment
Soil
Soil Pollutants* / analysis

Substances

Soil
Soil Pollutants
Cadmium
Lead
Metals, Heavy
Chromium

Grants and funding

This research was funded by the Foundation of the Ministry of Health and Science and Technology [grant numbers WKJ-ZJ-1606], National Natural Science Foundation of China [grant number 81502786]; the National Natural Science Foundation of Zhejiang [grant number LQ14H260003]; and the Medical Science and Technology Project of Zhejiang Province [grant numbers 2020KY514, 2021KY621, 2022RC121, 2022RC122, 2023KY644, 2023KY647]. Additionally, we are all very grateful to the study participants and to everyone else who contributed to this project.