RESUMO
Environment problems in rural areas have been increasing dramatically in recent years. Atmospheric particulate mercury has posed increasingly obvious threats to human health. However, there were few studies attaching importance on mercury pollution in rural residential environment. Taking particulate mercury as research objects, the studies in six villages of Hebei Province were carried out in July/August 2009 and October/September 2010. A number of PM10 and PM2.5 samples were taken in 34 typical households, using cold vapor atomic fluorescence to determine the content of particulate mercury. The results showed that the mercury concentration in PM10 in kitchen was about twice that in the courtyard. In the same space, the mercury contents in PM10 in a descending order were as follows: winter (3.004 ng x m(-3)), autumn (1.550 ng x m(-3)), summer (1.127 ng x m(-3)); in the same season, the mercury levels in PM2.5 in a descending order were as follows: kitchen (0.795 ng x m(-3) +/- 0.337 ng x m(-3)), living room (0.398 ngx m(-3) +/- 0.159 ng x m(-3)), yard (0.321 ng x m(-3) +/- 0.143 ng x m(-3)); the Mercury content in PM2.5 accounted for (52.4 +/- 13.5)% of that in PM10. Evaluation of the health risks of mercury in PM2.5 revealed that children were exposed to the highest level, whose average annual excess risk was below 10(-8). Therefore, the health risk of peasants living in rural residential environment was at a negligible level.
