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Health Risk Assessment for the Residential Area Adjacent to a Former Chemical Plant

Author

Listed:
  • Eleonora Wcisło

    (Institute for Ecology of Industrial Areas, 6 Kossutha St., 40-844 Katowice, Poland)

  • Joachim Bronder

    (Institute for Ecology of Industrial Areas, 6 Kossutha St., 40-844 Katowice, Poland)

Abstract

A health risk assessment was carried out for the residents of Łęgnowo-Wieś settlement adjacent to a former Zachem Chemical Plant, Bydgoszcz, Poland. Due to the unique Zachem site history and contamination profile, an innovative strategy for soil sampling and contaminant selection was applied. The novelty in the developed strategy consisted of selecting substances for the health risk assessment, taking into consideration the location and boundaries of the groundwater contamination plumes in relation to contamination sources. This allowed limiting the number of the analysed contaminants. The risk assessment focused on the surface soil of a residential area, which was divided into 20 sampling sectors and 6 backyards with wells from which water was used for watering edible plants. A total of 80 inorganic and organic substances were determined, including metals, phenol, aniline, BTEX, diphenyl sulphone, chloroaniline, epichlorohydrin, hydroxybiphenyl, nitrobenzene, octylphenols, toluenediamine, toluidine, 16 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, tetrachloroethylene and trichloroethylene. For the health risk assessment, the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s deterministic method was applied. This applies conservative assumptions to obtain risk estimates protective for most of the potential receptors. Three exposure pathways were analysed: (1) incidental soil ingestion, (2) dermal contact with soil and (3) inhalation of fugitive soil particles and volatiles. In all sampling sectors and backyards, the total non-cancer risks (hazard index) were significantly lower than the acceptable level of 1. The acceptable cancer risk level for the single carcinogen of 1 × 10 −5 was only insignificantly exceeded in the case of benzo(a)pyrene in three sectors and one backyard. The total cancer risks were lower than the acceptable level of 1 × 10 −4 in all sampling sectors and all backyards. The findings show that the soil in the entire residential area is safe for the residents’ health and no remedial actions are required. However, since not all possible exposure pathways were analysed in this study, further research focused on assessing the health risk resulting from the consumption of locally grown food is strongly recommended.

Suggested Citation

  • Eleonora Wcisło & Joachim Bronder, 2022. "Health Risk Assessment for the Residential Area Adjacent to a Former Chemical Plant," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(5), pages 1-24, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:5:p:2590-:d:756872
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Tekleweini Gereslassie & Ababo Workineh & Xiaoning Liu & Xue Yan & Jun Wang, 2018. "Occurrence and Ecological and Human Health Risk Assessment of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in Soils from Wuhan, Central China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(12), pages 1-19, December.
    2. Yaya Liang & Xiaoyun Yi & Zhi Dang & Qin Wang & Houmei Luo & Jie Tang, 2017. "Heavy Metal Contamination and Health Risk Assessment in the Vicinity of a Tailing Pond in Guangdong, China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 14(12), pages 1-17, December.
    3. Irina Aura Istrate & Diana Mariana Cocârță & Zucheng Wu & Mihaela Alexandra Stoian, 2018. "Minimizing the Health Risks from Hydrocarbon Contaminated Soils by Using Electric Field-Based Treatment for Soil Remediation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(1), pages 1-13, January.
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    1. Petre Bretcan & Danut Tanislav & Cristiana Radulescu & Gheorghe Serban & Serban Danielescu & Michael Reid & Daniel Dunea, 2022. "Evaluation of Shallow Groundwater Quality at Regional Scales Using Adaptive Water Quality Indices," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(17), pages 1-30, August.
    2. Rafael Rodríguez & Hector Garcia-Gonzalez & Zenaida Hernández & Lluís Sanmiquel, 2024. "Tackling Arsenic and Mercury Contamination: Implications for Sustainable Mining and Occupational Health Risks," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(10), pages 1-17, May.
    3. Agnieszka Zwirowicz-Rutkowska & Joanna Nowak Da Costa & Andrzej Muczyński, 2023. "Managing Health Concerns Related to Post-Industrial Sites Redevelopment: A Warsaw, Poland Case Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(14), pages 1-18, July.

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