Human Health Risk Assessment for Environmental Exposure to Metals in the Catalan Stretch of the Ebro River, Spain

ABSTRACT

The aim of this study was to investigate the environmental impact and the human health risks associated with metals exposure in the Catalan stretch of the Ebro River, Spain. The concentrations of the following elements were determined in soils and tap water: As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Hg, Mn, Ni, and Pb. Carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic risks were separately assessed for adults and children. Relatively low metal concentrations in tap water were found. It indicates that water intake is not a relevant source of metals for human health impact in the area under evaluation. In turn, the levels of metals in soils were similar or less than those found in a number of recent worldwide surveys. The presence of industrial facilities located upstream the Ebro River, including a chloralkali plant, should not mean additional non-carcinogenic risks for the population living in the area. The results of the current study allow us to establish that the concentrations of most carcinogenic elements (with the exception of As) should not mean potential health risks for the local population. However, because of the relatively high levels of geological origin found for As, a continued monitoring of these elements would be desirable.

Key Words:

• metals
• soils
• drinking water
• human health
• risk assessment
• Ebro River

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This study was financially supported by the Spanish Ministry of Environment and the Water Catalan Agency (ACA), Generalitat de Catalunya, through the Mobitrof project.

Notes

^aMean and standard deviation were used for log-normal distributions, low and high for uniform distributions, and mean, low, and high for triangular distributions. nc: Noncarcinogens; ca: Carcinogens; A: Adult; C: Children.

*(Bech et al. 2005)

⁺(Busquet 1997).

¹ Note from HERA editor: Superfund refers to the U.S. Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Law, also called the Superfund law. The law is concerned with remediation of uncontrolled hazardous waste sites.