IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jlands/v11y2022i10p1663-d926109.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Assessment of the Ecological and Health Risks of Potentially Toxic Metals in Agricultural Soils from the Drosh-Shishi Valley, Pakistan

Author

Listed:
  • Muhammad Sarim

    (State Key Laboratory of Continental Dynamics, Department of Geology, Northwest University, Xi’an 710069, China)

  • Tayyab Jan

    (National Centre of Excellence in Geology, University of Peshawar, Peshawar 25130, Pakistan)

  • Seema Anjum Khattak

    (National Centre of Excellence in Geology, University of Peshawar, Peshawar 25130, Pakistan)

  • Adil Mihoub

    (Center for Scientific and Technical Research on Arid Regions, Biophysical Environment Station, Touggourt 30240, Algeria)

  • Aftab Jamal

    (Key Laboratory of Arable Land Conservation (Middle and Lower Reaches of the Yangtze River), Ministry of Agriculture, College of Resources and Environment, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, China)

  • Muhammad Farhan Saeed

    (Department of Environmental Sciences, COMSATS University Islamabad, Vehari Campus, Vehari 61100, Pakistan)

  • Somayeh Soltani-Gerdefaramarzi

    (Department of Water Sciences and Engineering, Collage of Agriculture and Natural Resource Ardakan University, Ardakan 95491-89518, Iran)

  • Saadia Rashid Tariq

    (Department of Chemistry, Lahore College for Women University, Lahore 54000, Pakistan)

  • Manuel Pulido Fernández

    (Grupo de Investigación Geo Ambiental, Universidad de Extremadura, 10071 Cáceres, Spain)

  • Roberto Mancinelli

    (Department of Agricultural and Forestry Sciences (DAFNE), University of Tuscia, 01011 Viterbo, Italy)

  • Emanuele Radicetti

    (Department of Chemical, Pharmaceutical and Agricultural Sciences (DOCPAS), University of Ferrara, 44121 Ferrara, Italy)

Abstract

Soil pollution is a highlighted concern of modern society, particularly in developing countries. The Drosh-Shishi valley, which is a hilly region near Afghanistan with a land area of around 15,000 km 2 , is situated in the south of Chitral District (Pakistan) and has a population of approximately 450,000. Nowadays, this region is being explored for soil pollution, specifically heavy metals which pose a potential risk to human health. Therefore, our main goal was to investigate possible sources of heavy metals’ spread and to assess the content levels in soil and the associated risks for human. We collected 34 representative samples from transported sediments and 31 from agricultural crops. We analyzed the soil samples for the contents of Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Mn, Ni, Pb, and Zn using ICP-OES analyzers. These values were used to obtain the contamination factor (CF) and to estimate the potential health risk caused by heavy metals according to the USEPA dose–response model. Our results suggest that the heavy metal pollution has a geogenic source, but it is also aggregated by chemical fertilizers used in farming. Regarding levels, most of the metals except Pb showed contents above the permissible level, with CF values from moderate to high. Overall, Cu and Ni showed a significant total cancer risk (TCR > 1 × 10 −4 ) in children. Therefore, we conclude that heavy metal pollution is causing a serious threat to humans in this area, and we recommend that authorities should make more efforts in monitoring the heavy metals content in soils to reduce potential health risks.

Suggested Citation

  • Muhammad Sarim & Tayyab Jan & Seema Anjum Khattak & Adil Mihoub & Aftab Jamal & Muhammad Farhan Saeed & Somayeh Soltani-Gerdefaramarzi & Saadia Rashid Tariq & Manuel Pulido Fernández & Roberto Mancine, 2022. "Assessment of the Ecological and Health Risks of Potentially Toxic Metals in Agricultural Soils from the Drosh-Shishi Valley, Pakistan," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(10), pages 1-12, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jlands:v:11:y:2022:i:10:p:1663-:d:926109
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/11/10/1663/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/11/10/1663/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jose Navarro-Pedreño & María Belén Almendro-Candel & Ignacio Gómez Lucas & Manuel M. Jordán Vidal & Jaume Bech Borras & Antonis A. Zorpas, 2018. "Trace Metal Content and Availability of Essential Metals in Agricultural Soils of Alicante (Spain)," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-11, December.
    2. Muhammad Iqbal & Saeed Ahmed & Wajid Rehman & Farid Menaa & Malik Aman Ullah, 2020. "Heavy Metal Levels in Vegetables Cultivated in Pakistan Soil Irrigated with Untreated Wastewater: Preliminary Results," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(21), pages 1-19, October.
    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. Shahbaz Rasool & Iftikhar Ahmad & Aftab Jamal & Muhammad Farhan Saeed & Ali Zakir & Ghulam Abbas & Mahmoud F. Seleiman & Andrés Caballero-Calvo, 2023. "Evaluation of Phytoremediation Potential of an Aquatic Macrophyte ( Eichhornia crassipes ) in Wastewater Treatment," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(15), pages 1-16, July.
    2. Nukshab Zeeshan & Zia Ur Rahman Farooqi & Iftikhar Ahmad & Ghulam Murtaza & Aftab Jamal & Saifullah & Ayesha Abdul Qadir & Emanuele Radicetti, 2023. "Trace Metals in Rice Grains and Their Associated Health Risks from Conventional and Non-Conventional Rice Growing Areas in Punjab-Pakistan," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(9), pages 1-16, April.
    3. Yuxin Ren & Xiaotong Feng & Kun Ma & Wen Zhai & Jihong Dong, 2023. "Precise Identification of Site Characteristics and Risk Management of Ningdong Coal Power Base," Land, MDPI, vol. 13(1), pages 1-17, December.

    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. Elżbieta Rolka & Andrzej Cezary Żołnowski & Mirosław Wyszkowski & Weronika Zych & Anna Skorwider-Namiotko, 2023. "Wood Biomass Ash (WBA) from the Heat Production Process as a Mineral Amendment for Improving Selected Soil Properties," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(13), pages 1-17, July.
    2. Farid Ul Haque & Faridullah Faridullah & Muhammad Irshad & Aziz-Ur-Rahim Bacha & Zahid Ullah & Muhammad Fawad & Farhan Hafeez & Akhtar Iqbal & Rashid Nazir & Abdulwahed Fahad Alrefaei & Mikhlid H. Alm, 2023. "Distribution and Speciation of Trace Elements in Soils of Four Land-Use Systems," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(10), pages 1-13, October.
    3. Fatemeh Samaei & Fatemeh Yazdian & Farid Menaa & Ashrafalsadat Hatamian-Zarmi, 2022. "Bioremediation of Vanadium from Contaminated Water in Bioreactor Using Methylocystis hirsuta Bacterium: Comparisons with In Silico 2D and 3D Simulations," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(14), pages 1-10, July.
    4. Petru Cârdei & Cătălina Tudora & Valentin Vlăduț & Mirabela Augustina Pruteanu & Iuliana Găgeanu & Dan Cujbescu & Despina-Maria Bordean & Nicoleta Ungureanu & George Ipate & Oana Diana Cristea, 2021. "Mathematical Model to Simulate the Transfer of Heavy Metals from Soil to Plant," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-18, May.

    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:jlands:v:11:y:2022:i:10:p:1663-:d:926109. 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.