Trace metals in indoor dust from a university campus in Northeast India: implication for health risk
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Trace metals in indoor dust from a university campus in Northeast India: implication for health risk Mayuree Gohain & Pratibha Deka
Received: 2 July 2020 / Accepted: 15 October 2020 # Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
Abstract This study reports concentrations of trace metals and the associated health risks in settled dust of different microenvironments of a university in Northeast India. Settled dust samples were collected from the most accessible indoor locations by the students of Tezpur University, a rural-residential university of mid Brahmaputra Valley of Assam. Collected samples were digested in an aqua regia–assisted microwave digestion system and analyzed for iron (Fe), nickel (Ni), zinc (Zn), cadmium (Cd), and lead (Pb) using atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS). The highest concentration was obtained for Fe with a mean value of 1353.51 ± 123 mg/kg. Cadmium showed the lowest concentration with a mean value of 0.75 ± 0.57 mg/kg. Cadmium was the highly enriched element followed by Pb, Zn, and Ni. The metals mostly fall in the “extremely high enrichment” category. The study revealed that infiltrated soil or street dust, eroding wall paints, and automotive sources were the main contributing sources of the metals. The calculated Hazard Index (HI) value, 0.39, was lower than the acceptable HI value of 1 indicating no significant non-cancer risk to the students from exposure to these heavy metals at present. The study also
Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-020-08684-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. M. Gohain : P. Deka (*) Department of Environmental Science, Tezpur University, Napaam, Tezpur, Assam 784028, India e-mail: [email protected]
found no carcinogenic risk on exposure to the metals present in the indoor dust samples. Keywords Indoor settled dust . Academic institution . Toxic metals . Health risk assessment
Introduction Indoor air quality poses significant health concern as people spend most of their time (about 80–90%) indoors at homes, offices, workplaces, schools, and transportation vehicles (Sharpe 2004; Tran et al. 2012; Cincinelli and Martellini 2017; Arar et al. 2019). Indoor air calls for research interest due to the fact that it might be significantly polluted than the outdoor air (Lin et al. 2015; Tan et al. 2016). Poor air exchange and specific emission sources often make indoor air a complex and polluted environment (Veysi et al. 2019). Moreover, open doors, windows, and different airflow structures in a building act as the primary routes for infiltration of pollutants from outside to indoor environments (Singh et al. 2014). Among varied sources of indoor air pollution, settled dust might be an important source of heavy metals, indoor contaminants, and hazardous materials (Dundar and Altundağ 2002; Barrio-Parra et al. 2017). Dust is the fine powdery particulate matter observed lying on the floor or over the surfaces of any object, normally carried all around by the wind (A
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