Road Environments: Impact of Metals on Human Health in Heavily Congested Cities of Poland

Abstract

Road dust as a by-product of exhaust and non-exhaust emissions can be a major cause of systemic oxidative stress and multiple disorders. Substantial amounts of road dust are repeatedly resuspended, in particular at traffic lights and junctions where more braking is involved, causing potential threat to pedestrians, especially children. In order to determine the degree of contamination in the heavily traffic-congested cities of Poland, a total of 148 samples of road dust (RD), sludge from storm drains (SL) and roadside soil (RS) were collected. Sixteen metals were analysed using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-OES) and atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS) in all samples. Chemical evaluation followed by Principal Component Analysis (PCA) revealed that road environments have been severely contaminated with traffic-related elements. Concentration of copper in all road-environment samples is even higher, exceeding even up to 15 times its average concentrations established for the surrounding soils. Non-carcinogenic health risk assessment revealed that the hazard index (HI) for children in all road-environment samples exceeds the safe level of 1. Therefore, greater attention should be paid to potential health risks caused by the ingestion of traffic-related particles during outdoor activities.

Human Health Risk Assessment associated with contaminants in the finest fraction of sidewalk dust collected in proximity to trafficked roads

“…In order to assess non-carcinogenic risk for children and adults an average daily intake dose of deleterious substances and exposure through ingestion (ADD ing ), dermal contact (ADD derm ) and inhalation (ADD inh ) were calculated for sidewalk dust according to USEPA 30 based on exposure factors provided by Regional Screening Levels (RSLs) - Generic tables 31 and data as well as formulas provided by authors 25,32–34,36 (Table 1) (Eqs 2, 3 and 4). …”

“…Since as much as 50% of non-exhaust particles can undergo resuspension 20,22,24 and be deposited on road surface, sidewalks or nearby, they should also be considered as a secondary source of pollution. Moreover considering the fact that road dust is enriched with heavy metals especially in close vicinity to heavily congested and stop/start areas of the cities 25,26 , it seems therefore reasonable to assess potential health risk associated with the exposition of inhabitants of big, congested cities to sidewalk dust.…”

Rainwater as a Source of Drinking Water: Health Impacts and Rainwater Treatment

“…The HI index for selected metals, for example, Cd, Cu, Co, and Pb, for adults fell within the safe value. However, in the case of children, the HI values exceeded the safe level of 1.0 for road dust, sludge from storm drains, and roadside topsoil in all investigated cities [39].…”

Human Health Risk Assessment of Air Pollution in the Regions of Unsustainable Heating Sources. Case Study—The Tourist Areas of Southern Poland

“…The matter of persistent air pollution and its related impact on health has been discussed for a number of years not only by health and environmental activists but also by researchers [43][44][45][46][47][48][49]. That issue remains especially urgent in the countries that have a lot to do in terms of environmental protection.…”