Exposure of Zabrze residents to heavy metals emitted from post-industrial waste heaps

• Main Authors: Agata Piekut, Lucyna Krzysztofik, Klaudia Gut
• Format: Article
• Language: Polish
• Published: Polish Society of Ecological Engineering (PTIE) 2018-08-01
• Series: Inżynieria Ekologiczna
• Subjects: heavy metals; exposure through non-dietary ingestion; exposure estimation; secondary dusting; heaps
• Online Access: http://www.journalssystem.com/ie/Narazenie-mieszkancow-Zabrza-na-metale-ciezkie-emitowane-z-hald-poprzemyslowych,93487,0,2.html
• ISSN: 2081-139X; 2392-0629

The aim of the study was to assess the non-dietary exposure of Zabrze residents to the heavy metals contained in the post-mining waste stored in this city in the form of heaps. The samples of waste material taken from five heaps located in Zabrze, were subjected to the chemical analysis related to the Cd, Pb, Zn, Hg, As, Ni, Cr, and Cu content. The results of the chemical analysis were used to estimate the exposure of Zabrze residents by non-dietary ingestion to cadmium, lead and mercury and they were the basis for assessing the health risk associated with secondary dusting from post-industrial dumps. The vast majority (70%) of the tested samples taken from the industrial waste in Zabrze showed the concentrations of heavy metals (As, Cd, Pb, Zn) exceeding the highest acceptable values many times, which could constitute a significant source of exposure of the city residents to these metals. In the extreme case, the maximum admissible concentrations were exceeded 27 times. Estimation of the non-dietary exposure of Zabrze inhabitants to the Pb present in the waste collected on one of the dump indicates a significant risk for people walking or running on this area, as a result of secondary dusting. The presence of such high concentrations of heavy metals, especially very toxic and carcinogenic cadmium, lead and arsenic in the analyzed samples indicates the need to protect the surface of waste dumps from secondary dusting and to implement other preventive measures that reduce the exposure of Zabrze residents to heavy metals.