title: Human exposure risks for metals in soil near a coal-fired power-generating plant.
abstract: Coal-fired thermal power stations (TPSs) may contaminate the surrounding soil and could lead to pollution levels that can affect human health. Soil samples collected from the immediate vicinity of a TPS were analysed for heavy metals. TPS soils were enriched with arsenic (As), strontium (Sr), copper (Cu), mercury (Hg), barium (Ba), vanadium (V), beryllium (Be), cadmium (Cd), cobalt (Co), chromium (Cr), and nickel (Ni). Enrichment factor, principal component, and cluster analyses suggest that As, Cd, Co, Cr, and Hg in TPS soils originated from the TPS, whereas Pb and Zn were from vehicular/traffic-related emissions. The human exposure risk assessment based on different exposure pathways showed that the hazard index (HI) was <1.0 for all of the elements. The relative exposure risk was greater for toddlers. Although the overall risk was within the acceptable limit of 1.00, the HIs of Co (0.15) and Cr (0.082) were close to the threshold limits, which over the long-term may pose a health risk.
authors.affiliation: Environmental Management Division, CSIR-Central Institute of Mining and Fuel Research (Digwadih Campus), Dhanbad, 828108, India.
authors.forename: Joshy
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: George
authors.forename: Reginald E
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Masto
authors.forename: Lal C
authors.initials: LC
authors.lastname: Ram
authors.forename: Tarit B
authors.initials: TB
authors.lastname: Das
authors.forename: Tofan K
authors.initials: TK
authors.lastname: Rout
authors.forename: Mahesh
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mohan
mesh_terms: D003031:Coal; D004781:Environmental Exposure / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004787:Environmental Pollution / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D019216:Metals, Heavy / Q000032:analysis*; D011210:Power Plants; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012987:Soil / Q000737:chemistry; D012989:Soil Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D003031:Coal; D019216:Metals, Heavy; D012987:Soil; D012989:Soil Pollutants