IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v18y2021i11p5920-d566424.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Spatio-Temporal Distribution of Environmental Health Risk of Heavy Metals in Industrial Wastewater of China during 1999–2018

Author

Listed:
  • Ruru Han

    (School of Energy and Environmental Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083, China)

  • Beihai Zhou

    (School of Energy and Environmental Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083, China)

  • Huilun Chen

    (School of Energy and Environmental Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083, China)

Abstract

In recent decades, environmental health risk caused by heavy metals in industrial wastewater (EHR-IHM) has become a serious issue globally, especially for China. Given the spatial difference of heavy metal emissions, hydrogeography, population distribution, etc., it is essential to estimate China’s EHR-IHM from a high-resolution perspective. Based on the framework of USEtox, this study constructs an environmental health risk assessment method for heavy metals discharged from industrial wastewater by coupling the Pollutant Accumulation Model (PAM). This method also considers the process of heavy metal flows between upstream and downstream areas. Based on this constructed method, we investigate the spatio-temporal distribution of EHR-IHM of As, Cd, Cr(VI), Hg, and Pb in China from 1999 to 2018. Results showed that the EHR-IHM in China increased rapidly during 1999–2007 and decreased gradually during 2007–2018, with the highest Damage Level (DL) of 6.8 × 10 4 disability-adjusted life years (DALY). As and Cr(VI) were the major heavy metal pollutants, which induced 58.9–70.6% and 23.9–36.2% of the total EHR-IHM, respectively. Intake of aquatic products was the dominant exposure route, accounting for over 84.1% of national EHR-IHM, followed by drinking water intake, accounting for 9.5–15.8%. Regarding spatial distribution, the regions with high EHR-IHM are mainly distributed in the middle–lower reaches of the Yangtze River, southeast coastal cities, Bohai Rim, etc.

Suggested Citation

  • Ruru Han & Beihai Zhou & Huilun Chen, 2021. "Spatio-Temporal Distribution of Environmental Health Risk of Heavy Metals in Industrial Wastewater of China during 1999–2018," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(11), pages 1-13, May.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:11:p:5920-:d:566424
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/11/5920/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/11/5920/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Zhouping Liu & Qiaofen Zhang & Tiqian Han & Yanfei Ding & Junwei Sun & Feijuan Wang & Cheng Zhu, 2015. "Heavy Metal Pollution in a Soil-Rice System in the Yangtze River Region of China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 13(1), pages 1-16, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Huanhuan Shi & Min Zeng & Hongxia Peng & Changsheng Huang & Huimin Sun & Qingqin Hou & Pengcheng Pi, 2022. "Health Risk Assessment of Heavy Metals in Groundwater of Hainan Island Using the Monte Carlo Simulation Coupled with the APCS/MLR Model," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(13), pages 1-18, June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Shudi Zuo & Shaoqing Dai & Yaying Li & Jianfeng Tang & Yin Ren, 2018. "Analysis of Heavy Metal Sources in the Soil of Riverbanks Across an Urbanization Gradient," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(10), pages 1-23, October.
    2. Alina Faurat & Galymbek Azhayev & Kazbek Shupshibayev & Kairat Akhmetov & Elmira Boribay & Talgat Abylkhassanov, 2024. "Assessment of Heavy Metal Contamination and Health Risks in “Snow Cover–Soil Cover–Vegetation System” of Urban and Rural Gardens of an Industrial City in Kazakhstan," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 21(8), pages 1-18, July.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:11:p:5920-:d:566424. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.