The increasing industrial activities, number of vehicles on road and population in large cities
causes the contamination of air in urban environment, and eventually affect human health.
Therefore, the aim of this study was to collect soil and dust samples from twelve roadside
academic institutions in Dhaka City, Bangladesh. One of the twelve sites is control site for this
study. The elemental (Ca, Fe, K, Ti, Sr, Zn, Zr, Rb, Cr, Ni, Pb and Cu) concentration in soil
and dust samples were analyzed by XRF technique. The metals concentration in dust and soil
samples followed the following order: Fe > Ti > Sr > Zn > Zr > Rb > Pb > Cu, and Fe > Ti >
Zr > Sr > Rb > Zn > Cu > Pb > As, respectively. As expected, the most elemental concentration
at the control site, which was situated inside a village and ~ 1 km far away from the road, was
lower compared with those in soil and dust samples. Average As concentration (16.52 mg/kg)
in soil was observed to be three times higher than its background value. The concentration of
Pb in the dust sample of a school at Sadarghat (136.04 mg/kg) was significantly higher than
the other sites. We observed that the mean concentration for most of the metals had a higher
concentration than the background values set by Chinese Environmental Protection
Administration (CEPA), except for K and Zr. Soil samples were analyzed to determine the
percentage of organic matter by dry combustion technique, and the average amount of organic
matter in soil samples was 1.42%. Conversely, the contamination levels of heavy metals were
assessed based on the geo-accumulation index (Igeo), enrichment factor (EF) and contamination
factor (CF). Subsequently non-carcinogenic health risk was determined using lifetime average
daily dose (LADD). The non-carcinogenic health risk was found to be more prominent for
children than that for adults. No significant carcinogenic health risk was found in the study
area.
- Elemental analysis in surface soil and dust of roadside academic institutions in Dhaka city, Bangladesh and their impact on human health
- PRASHANT KUMAR Professor - University of Surrey, School of Sustainability, Civil and Environmental EngineeringM. Safiur RahmanMohammad UllahYeasmin N. JollyShirin AkhterJamiul KabirBilkis A. BegumAbdus Salam
- Journal of Environmental Chemistry and Ecotoxicology, Vol.3, pp.197-208
- Elsevier B.V
- 06/06/2021
- The authors extend their appreciation to Researchers Supporting Project number RSP2023R425, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
- 99571522502346
- © 2021 The Authors. Publishing services by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of KeAi Communications Co. Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
- School of Sustainability, Civil and Environmental Engineering
- English
- Journal article