TITLE:
Assessment of Health Risks Related to Contamination of Groundwater by Trace Metal Elements (Hg, Pb, Cd, As and Fe) in the Department of Zouan-Hounien (West Côte d’Ivoire)
AUTHORS:
Péhégninon Junior Ophélie Djadé, Kéiba Noël Keuméan, Abou Traoré, Gbombélé Soro, Nagnin Soro
KEYWORDS:
Groundwater, MTEs, Health Risks, Contamination, Zouan-Hounien
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Geoscience and Environment Protection,
Vol.9 No.8,
August
30,
2021
ABSTRACT: In the
department of Zouan-Hounien, gold mining is booming. This activity, marked by
the excavation of rocks and the use of chemicals such as mercury, is likely to
contaminate the region’s groundwater resources and expose populations to
serious diseases. This study aims to assess the health risks associated with
the consumption of this water by the population. To this end, 72 groundwater
samples were taken in eight (08) villages of the department at the rate of
forty-six (46) well water samples and twenty-six (26) borehole water samples. A
total of twenty-twenty-three wells and thirteen boreholes were sampled during
two campaigns. An atomic absorption spectrometer (AAS) was used to determine
the concentrations of metallic trace elements (MTEs), such as mercury (Hg),
lead (Pb), cadmium (Cd), Arsenic (As), and iron (Fe) in the different samples.
The daily exposure doses for oral ingestion (CDIing) and skin contact (Expderm)
were calculated. The non-carcinogenic (HQ) and carcinogenic risks (CR) were
estimated. The results show that the mean concentrations of Fe, Pb, Hg, As and
Cd are respectively 2233.48 > 3.10 > 0.60 > 1.18 > 0.08 μg·L-1 in the wells and 2427.94 > 4.08 > 1.27 > 1.76 > 0.08 μg·L-1 in boreholes. Evaluating the risks to human health reveals that the mean values
of hazard quotient (HQ) and cancer risk (CR) for all the elements in the wells
and boreholes are lower than 1 and 10-4 respectively in children and
adults for oral and dermal exposure. However, at the oral exposure level, 9
wells and 6 boreholes recorded HQ and CR above the defined critical limits. These values indicate that the
occurrence of non-cancerous and cancerous diseases in populations
consuming these waters by contamination with mercury and arsenic is not
excluded. Dermal exposure to MTEs also poses no potential health risk to the
population.