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Pollution Levels and Potential Health Risks of Potentially Toxic Elements in Indoor and Outdoor Dust during the COVID-19 Era in Gómez Palacios City, Mexico

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  • Miguel Santoyo-Martínez

    (Laboratorio Universitario de Geofísica Ambiental, Centro de Investigaciones en Geografía Ambiental, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Morelia 58190, Mexico
    Laboratorio de Geoquímica Ambiental, Centro de Investigación en Ciencias Agrícolas, Instituto de Ciencias, Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla, Puebla 72000, Mexico)

  • Anahí Aguilera

    (Laboratorio Universitario de Geofísica Ambiental, Centro de Investigaciones en Geografía Ambiental, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Morelia 58190, Mexico)

  • Ángeles Gallegos

    (Laboratorio Universitario de Geofísica Ambiental, Centro de Investigaciones en Geografía Ambiental, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Morelia 58190, Mexico)

  • Cristo Puente

    (Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Forestales, Agrícolas y Pecuarias, Durango 35079, Mexico)

  • Avto Goguitchaichvili

    (Laboratorio Universitario de Geofísica Ambiental, Centro de Investigaciones en Geografía Ambiental, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Morelia 58190, Mexico
    Geophysics, Department of Physics, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 2E1, Canada)

  • Francisco Bautista

    (Laboratorio Universitario de Geofísica Ambiental, Centro de Investigaciones en Geografía Ambiental, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Morelia 58190, Mexico)

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a decrease in outdoor activities, but an increase in indoor ones. This change in the intensity of land use has caused changes in pollution patterns. Urban dust contaminated with heavy metals can be a risk to the human population. Therefore, the objective of this work was to evaluate the pollution caused by heavy metals in urban dust indoors and outdoors due to changes in land use during the pandemic. Sampling was carried out by the Gomez Palacio citizens. The total number of urban dust samples was 330, 50% indoor samples and 50% outdoor sample. The elements studied were Ca, Cu, Fe, K, Mn, Ni, Pb, Rb, Sr, Ti, Y, Zn, and Zr. The heavy metals were measured through a portable XRF; the contamination factor and the load pollution index were used to assess the pollution level. The human health risk was evaluated with the USEPA methodology. Cu, Pb, and Zn presented higher concentrations indoors than outdoors, probably due to domestic factors, such as the age of the houses and the paint on the walls. Zn presented the highest pollution level among all the metals, outdoors and indoors; spatially, the sites sampled in the northwest, close to agricultural areas, presented the highest Zn pollution. Pb had a moderate pollution level in most of the samples (60%), but some samples showed a high Pb pollution. The health risk was considered within the acceptable levels for Cu, Fe, Ni, Pb, Zn. However, Mn deserves attention because the average of the samples slightly exceeded the USEPA safety limits for children. Children are at higher risk compared to adults. Indoor environments need to be better analyzed because they were shown to represent a higher risk to the population than outdoor ones due to heavy metal pollution by Zn, Cu, and Pb. The pandemic impacted land use intensity; this study reports an apparent effect of the pandemic on the amount and type of heavy metals indoors and outdoors.

Suggested Citation

  • Miguel Santoyo-Martínez & Anahí Aguilera & Ángeles Gallegos & Cristo Puente & Avto Goguitchaichvili & Francisco Bautista, 2022. "Pollution Levels and Potential Health Risks of Potentially Toxic Elements in Indoor and Outdoor Dust during the COVID-19 Era in Gómez Palacios City, Mexico," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(1), pages 1-15, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jlands:v:12:y:2022:i:1:p:29-:d:1011331
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. María José Delgado-Iniesta & Pura Marín-Sanleandro & Elvira Díaz-Pereira & Francisco Bautista & Miriam Romero-Muñoz & Antonio Sánchez-Navarro, 2022. "Estimation of Ecological and Human Health Risks Posed by Heavy Metals in Street Dust of Madrid City (Spain)," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(9), pages 1-16, April.
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