Occurrence and health risk assessment of trace heavy metals via groundwater in Shizhuyuan Polymetallic Mine in Chenzhou City, China

doi:10.1007/s11783-014-0675-8

Front. Environ. Sci. Eng.

2015, Vol. 9

Issue (3) : 482-493 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11783-014-0675-8

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Occurrence and health risk assessment of trace heavy metals via groundwater in Shizhuyuan Polymetallic Mine in Chenzhou City, China

Bingbing XU¹, Qiujin XU¹(

), Cunzhen LIANG², Li LI³, Lijia JIANG¹

¹. State Key Laboratory of the Environmental Criteria and Risk Assessment, Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Science, Beijing 100012, China
². Department of Environmental Engineering, Beijing Institute of Petrochemical Technology, Beijing 102617, China
³. School of Environmental and Civil Engineering, Jiangnan University, Wuxi 214122, China

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Abstract

The Shizhuyuan Polymetallic Mine in Chen-zhou City is an important multi-metal deposit in China. After a dam accident in 1985, there are still a number of mining plants, smelters and tailing ponds in this area. These had the potential to pollute the surrounding groundwater. In this study, groundwater samples were collected from 20 residents’ wells in this area during both dry and wet seasons. In particular, this study focused on the exposure and the health risk assessment of trace heavy metal in groundwater. Multiple statistical analysis and fuzzy comprehensive method were employed to reveal the distribution characteristics of heavy metal and to assess the groundwater quality. Results indicated that Cr, Fe, Ni, Cu, Zn, As, Cd, Ba, Hg and Pb were widespread with low exposure levels. There were 19 wells with low level exposure and one well with a moderate level exposure in the dry season. All of the wells were in low level exposure during the wet season. As and Mn exhibited potential non-carcinogenic concern, because their maximum hazard quotient (HQ) was higher than 1.0. This may cause adverse health effect on adults in dry season or on children in both seasons. Only As, showed that the maximum carcinogenic risk was more than 10⁻⁴, suggesting a high cancer risk for children in both dry and wet seasons. Therefore, analysis and reduction the concentrations of As and Mn in groundwater are needed in order to protect the health of residents and especially children in the area.

Keywords groundwater heavy metal health risk assessment mine area

Corresponding Author(s): Qiujin XU

Online First Date: 13 March 2014 Issue Date: 30 April 2015

Cite this article:

Bingbing XU,Qiujin XU,Cunzhen LIANG, et al. Occurrence and health risk assessment of trace heavy metals via groundwater in Shizhuyuan Polymetallic Mine in Chenzhou City, China[J]. Front. Environ. Sci. Eng., 2015, 9(3): 482-493.

URL:

https://academic.hep.com.cn/fese/EN/10.1007/s11783-014-0675-8
https://academic.hep.com.cn/fese/EN/Y2015/V9/I3/482

Fig.1 Study area and sampling points

Fig.2 Box plot of heavy metals distribution in the dry (a) and wet (b) season

Tab.1 Analysis of variance of heavy metal exposure in dry and wet seasons

Tab.2 Correlation matrixes of 11 metal elements in dry or wet season

Fig.3 Dendrogram of 11 heavy metals in the dry (a) and wet (b) seasons

Tab.3 Component matrixes for metal elements in dry and wet seasons

season	sampling points	I	II	III	IV	V
dry season	1	9.89 × 10⁻¹	1.13 × 10⁻²	0.00	0.00	0.00
	2	9.95 × 10⁻¹	4.97 × 10⁻³	0.00	0.00	0.00
	3	9.13 × 10⁻¹	8.63 × 10⁻²	2.54 × 10⁻⁴	0.00	0.00
	4	9.80 × 10⁻¹	1.96 × 10⁻²	0.00	0.00	0.00
	5	9.94 × 10⁻¹	6.37 × 10⁻³	0.00	0.00	0.00
	6	9.87 × 10⁻¹	1.31 × 10⁻²	5.26 × 10⁻⁵	0.00	0.00
	7	1.21 × 10⁻²	3.55 × 10⁻²	7.84 × 10⁻¹	1.68 × 10⁻¹	0.00
	8	9.76 × 10⁻¹	2.33 × 10⁻²	8.34 × 10⁻⁵	0.00	0.00
	9	9.88 × 10⁻¹	1.12 × 10⁻²	0.00	0.00	0.00
	10	9.87 × 10⁻¹	1.29 × 10⁻²	1.71 × 10⁻⁴	0.00	0.00
	11	7.54 × 10⁻¹	4.14 × 10⁻³	7.44 × 10⁻⁵	1.67 × 10⁻¹	0.00
	12	8.83 × 10⁻¹	2.61 × 10⁻²	7.74 × 10⁻²	1.32 × 10⁻²	0.00
	13	1.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00
	14	1.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00
	15	9.83 × 10⁻¹	1.71 × 10⁻²	2.95 × 10⁻⁴	0.00	0.00
	16	1.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00
	17	1.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00
	18	9.85 × 10⁻¹	1.52 × 10⁻²	6.10 × 10⁻⁵	0.00	0.00
	19	4.79 × 10⁻¹	5.21 × 10⁻²	0.00	0.00	0.00
	20	8.36 × 10⁻¹	1.01 × 10⁻¹	5.81 × 10⁻²	5.05 × 10⁻³	0.00
wet season	1	9.85 × 10⁻¹	1.46 × 10⁻²	7.36 × 10⁻⁵	0.00	0.00
	2	9.85 × 10⁻¹	1.51 × 10⁻²	1.68 × 10⁻⁴	0.00	0.00
	3	4.77 × 10⁻¹	5.14 × 10⁻¹	8.95 × 10⁻³	0.00	0.00
	4	8.18 × 10⁻¹	1.81 × 10⁻¹	7.12 × 10⁻⁴	0.00	0.00
	5	9.86 × 10⁻¹	1.35 × 10⁻²	1.22 × 10⁻⁴	0.00	0.00
	6	9.84 × 10⁻¹	1.63 × 10⁻²	1.32 × 10⁻⁴	0.00	0.00
	7	7.21 × 10⁻¹	2.79 × 10⁻¹	1.64 × 10⁻⁵	0.00	0.00
	8	9.85 × 10⁻¹	1.46 × 10⁻²	1.34 × 10⁻⁵	0.00	0.00
	9	9.85 × 10⁻¹	1.52 × 10⁻²	3.04 × 10⁻⁵	0.00	0.00
	10	9.83 × 10⁻¹	1.60 × 10⁻²	5.81 × 10⁻⁴	0.00	0.00
	11	1.66 × 10⁻¹	5.70 × 10⁻¹	0.00	0.00	2.64 × 10⁻²
	12	9.95 × 10⁻¹	5.33 × 10⁻³	0.00	0.00	0.00
	13	9.87 × 10⁻¹	1.29 × 10⁻²	1.29 × 10⁻⁵	0.00	0.00
	14	9.84 × 10⁻¹	1.59 × 10⁻²	0.00	0.00	0.00
	15	9.85 × 10⁻¹	1.55 × 10⁻²	1.46 × 10⁻⁵	0.00	0.00
	16	9.97 × 10⁻¹	2.40 × 10⁻³	0.00	0.00	0.00
	17	9.87 × 10⁻¹	1.31 × 10⁻²	0.00	0.00	0.00
	18	9.93 × 10⁻¹	7.33 × 10⁻³	0.00	0.00	0.00
	19	9.91 × 10⁻¹	3.19 × 10⁻³	5.67 × 10⁻³	0.00	0.00
	20	9.89 × 10⁻¹	1.10 × 10⁻²	2.20 × 10⁻⁶	0.00	0.00

Tab.4 Fuzzy comprehensive assessment of 20 sampling wells in dry season or wet season

season	index	Cr	Mn	Fe	Ni	Cu	Zn	As	Cd	Ba	Hg	Pb
dry season	concentrations/(mg·L⁻¹)	0.37–2.45	1.33–723.04	61.29–518.87	0.58–6.76	1.24–9.93	43.22–208.47	0.24–16.09	0.03–0.67	60.74–209.86	0.01–0.82	0.38–4.03
	drinking water limits/(mg·L⁻¹)	50	100	300	20	1000	1000	10	5	700	1	10
	exceeding frequency	–	15%	5%	–	–	–	5%	–	–	–	–
	maximum excessive multiples	–	7.23	1.73	–	–	–	1.61	–	–	–	–
	cancer risk for adult	5.9 × 10⁻⁶–3.9 × 10⁻⁵						1.1 × 10⁻⁵–7.6 × 10⁻⁴	5.8 × 10⁻⁶–1.3 × 10⁻⁴			1.0 × 10⁻⁷–1.1 × 10⁻⁶
	cancer risk for children	9.8 × 10⁻⁶–6.5 × 10⁻⁶						1.9 × 10⁻⁵–1.3 × 10⁻³	9.7 × 10⁻⁶–2.2 × 10⁻⁴			1.7 × 10⁻⁷–1.8 × 10⁻⁶
	HQ for adult	0.00039–0.026	0.0018–0.95	0.0028–0.023	0.00092–0.011	0.00098–0.0079	0.0046–0.022	0.025–1.70	0.0019–0.042	0.0096–0.033	0.0020–0.16	0.0087–0.091
	HQ for children	0.0065–0.043	0.0029–1.59	0.0046–0.039	0.0015–0.018	0.0019–0.013	0.0076–0.037	0.042–2.84	0.0032–0.071	0.016–0.056	0.0033–0.27	0.014–0.15
wet season	concentrations /(mg·L⁻¹)	0.41–0.97	0.93–1471.54	52.70–179.70	0.54–5.89	1.03–4.70	23.94–56.18	0.21–16.07	0.02–0.45	46.35–134.04	0.01–0.10	0.13–2.44
	drinking water limits/(mg·L⁻¹)	50	100	300	20	1000	1000	10	5	700	1	10
	exceeded rate	–	5%	–	–	–	–	10%	–	–	–	–
	maximum excessive multiples	–	7.23	1.73	–	–	–	1.61	–	–	–	–
	cancer risk for adult	6.5 × 10⁻⁶–1.5 × 10⁻⁵						1.0 × 10⁻⁵–7.6 × 10⁻⁴	3.9 × 10⁻⁶–8.7 × 10⁻⁵			3.5 × 10⁻⁸–6.6 × 10-7
	cancer risk for children	1.1 × 10⁻⁵–2.6 × 10⁻⁵						1.7 × 10⁻⁵–1.3 × 10⁻³	6.5 × 10⁻⁶–1.5 × 10⁻⁴			65.8 × 10⁻⁸–1.1 × 10⁻⁶
	HQ for adult	0.0043–0.010	0.0012–1.94	0.0023–0.0081	0.00086–0.0053	0.00082–0.0037	0.0025–0.0059	0.022–1.70	0.0012–0.029	0.0073–0.021	0.0020–0.020	0.0029–0.055
	HQ for children	0.0072–0.017	0.0021–3.24	0.0040–0.014	0.0014–0.016	0.0014–0.0062	0.0042–0.0099	0.037–2.83	0.0021–0.048	0.012–0.035	0.0033–0.033	0.0049–0.092

Tab.5 Carcinogenic risk and non- carcinogenic risk of heavy metals in dry and wet season

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