Assessment of health risk and geo-accumulation of toxic heavy metals in side-road dust from urban areas of Baghdad city

Abstract

Introduction Environmental contamination has become a severe problem as a result of urbanization and industrialization, particularly because of the release of heavy metals which have drawn a lot of attention due to their harmful effects, persistence, and bioaccumulation in the environment. Methods The present study, which was conducted from July to October 2019, provides the spatial distribution, contamination levels, and health risks assessment for four heavy metals, Pb, Zn, Cr and Ni, in the urban area within Baghdad city, depending on the type of activity and the nature of land use. Results The results show that the average value of the contamination levels for the four heavy metals were within the reference values of soil in Baghdad city. The pollution assessment indices geo-accumulation index (Igeo) and integrated pollution index (IPI), carcinogenic and noncarcinogenic health index (HI), and hazard quotient (HQ) were studied. The results of Igeo and IPI in Sheikh Omar (industrial area), Baghdad Al-Jadida (commercial area), and Sadr City (high population density) were relatively greater than in the other areas. The IPI value ranged from 1.51 in Sheikh Omar to 0.75 in Taji (agricultural area). Conclusions The values of the health risk assessment indices (HI and HQ) indicate that the levels of the four heavy metals in the studied sites were within the safe limits (<1) and had no significant health risk for the inhabitants.

Keywords

• heavy metals
• health risk assessment
• urban areas
• geo-accumulation index