Characteristics of nitrate and heavy metals pollution in Huixian Wetland and its health risk assessment

In order to investigate the main factors that caused the Nitrate increasement in Huixian Wetland, N-15-(NO3) and O-18-(NO3) analysis were conducted. SIAR model was applied to quantitatively test the contribution proportions of kinds of pollutants. Health risk assessment (HRA) was taken to study ten heavy metals of 96 groups samples in the four main waters in Huixian Wetland: Surface River, Subterranean Stream, Blue Hole and Well Water. The main sources of Nitrate were domestic sewage and animal feces, chemical fertilizer, and soil, with the contribution proportions of 39.1%, 32.2%, and 28.5%, respectively. The heavy metals concentration order is that of Mn > Al > Cr > Zn > As > Pb > Cu > Fe > Cd > Hg. The HRA showed that the average annual total health risks-through drinking and skin penetration-order was: Well Water > Blue Hole > Subterranean Stream > Surface River. The drinking water from Well and Blue Hole can cause the cancer risks in children of 7.08 x 10(-5) a(-1) and 7.01 x 10(-5) a(-1), respectively. Both were higher than the recommendation standard (5.0 x 10(-5) a(-1)) from ICRP. As the main element contributed to the health risk of adults and children, the Cr in all the four waters were also over the standard (1 x 10(-6) a(-1)) recommended by the Swedish Environmenta1 Protection Agency and the Dutch Ministry of Construction and Environment and the British Royal Society. The health risk levels of non-carcinogenic metals were 1 x 10(-16)-1 x 10(-10), which were 5-11 order of magnitude lower than the acceptable level. (C) 2022 THE AUTHORS. Published by Elsevier BV on behalf of Faculty of Engineering, Alexandria University.

Automated summary

The main factors causing the increase in nitrate in Huixian Wetland were investigated using N-15-(NO3) and O-18-(NO3) analysis. The main sources of nitrate were found to be domestic sewage and animal feces, chemical fertilizer, and soil. The concentrations of heavy metals followed the order of Mn > Al > Cr > Zn > As > Pb > Cu > Fe > Cd > Hg. Health risk assessment revealed that the drinking water from Well and Blue Hole posed cancer risks to children, and the chromium concentrations in all four waters exceeded the recommended standards.