A new hazard assessment workflow to assess soil contamination from large and artisanal scale gold mining.

Gold mining activities are undertaken both at large and artisanal scale, often resulting in serious 'collateral' environmental issues, including environmental pollution and hazard to human and ecosystem health. Furthermore, some of these activities are poorly regulated, which can produce long-lasting damage to the environment and local livelihoods. The aim of this study was to identify a new workflow model to discriminate anthropogenic versus geogenic enrichment in soils of gold mining regions. The Kedougou region (Senegal, West Africa) was used as a case study. Ninety-four soil samples (76 topsoils and 18 bottom soils) were collected over an area of 6,742 km2 and analysed for 53 chemical elements. Robust spatial mapping, compositional and geostatistical models were employed to evaluate sources and elemental footprint associated with geology and mining activities. Multivariate approaches highlighted anomalies in arsenic (As) and mercury (Hg) distribution in several areas. However, further interpretation with enrichment factor (EFs) and index of geoaccumulation (IGeo) emphasised high contamination levels in areas approximately coinciding with the ones where artisanal and small scale mining (ASGM) activities occur, and robust compositional contamination index (RCCI) isolated potentially harmful elements (PHE) contamination levels in very specific areas of the Kedougou mining region. The study underlined the importance of complementary approaches to identify anomalies and, more significantly, contamination by hazardous material. In particular, the analyses helped to identify discrete areas that would require to be surveyed in more detail to allow a comprehensive and thorough risk assessment, to investigate potential impacts to both human and ecosystem health.

Assessment of bioaccessibility and health risk of mercury within soil of artisanal gold mine sites, Niger, North-central part of Nigeria.

The occurrence of mercury (Hg) in the environment globally has been linked largely to its use for gold processing. In this research, ore samples, agricultural soil and mine wastes were taken within the vicinity of an artisanal gold mine and processing sites in Niger state, a north-central part of Nigeria to determine Hg contamination in the environment and estimate the potential hazard to health. The values of Hg measured in ore, agricultural soil and mine wastes ranged between 0.03 and 5.9, 0.002 and 5.57 and 0.19 and 20.99 mg/kg, respectively, with the majority of samples observed above the crustal average values of 0.003 mg/kg. All of the samples were 100 times greater than the USEPA residential soil screening level of 0.0023 mg/kg, but were lower than comparable mine sites within the same region. Contamination indices were used to demonstrate the potential exposure to Hg contamination in the study area which ranged from a medium to high level of contamination. Average daily dose and hazard quotient (HQ) were calculated for adults and children in the study area and decreased in the following order: ADDvapour > ADDingestion > ADDdermal > ADDinhalation. The non-carcinogenic health risk index (HI) of Hg calculated for children and adults in the study area was children: 7.42, 2.19, 1.49 and adults: 4.45, 1.26, 1.19, for mine wastes, agricultural soil and ore, respectively. All of these values were higher than a considered safe level (= 1) and therefore showed that Hg posed a serious non-carcinogenic HI for both adults and children exposed to the soil in the study area. The bioaccessible fraction as a measure of ingestion for Hg was generally < 13% across all sample matrices, suggesting a low bioaccessibility. An HQ incorporating bioaccessible data (BHQ) ranged between 0.000005 and 4.06 with a mean value of 0.62. Values for the BHQ were still > 1, threshold limit in some samples and showed that Hg could present a risk to health via ingestion, although further research is required to assess dermal and inhalation bioaccessibility to assess fully the risk to residents. However, the values were lower than the non-carcinogenic health risk index, which is assumed to be overestimated.

Evaluating spatio-temporal soil erosion dynamics in the Winam Gulf catchment, Kenya for enhanced decision making in the land-lake interface.

Soil erosion accelerated by poor agricultural practices, land degradation, deprived infrastructure development and other anthropogenic activities has important implications for nutrient cycling, land and lake productivity, loss of livelihoods and ecosystem services, as well as socioeconomic disruption. Enhanced knowledge of dynamic factors influencing soil erosion is critical for policymakers engaged in land use decision-making. This study presents the first spatio-temporal assessment of soil erosion risk modelling in the Winam Gulf, Kenya using the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) within a geospatial framework at a monthly resolution between January 2017 and June 2020. Dynamic rainfall erosivity and land cover management factors were derived from existing datasets to determine their effect on average monthly soil loss by water erosion. By assessing soil erosion rates with enhanced temporal resolution, it is possible to provide greater knowledge regarding months that are particularly susceptible to soil erosion and can better inform future strategies for targeted mitigation measures. Whilst the pseudo monthly average soil loss was calculated (0.80 t ha-1 month-1), the application of this value would lead to misrepresentation of monthly soil loss throughout the year. Our results indicate that the highest erosion rates occur between February and April (average 0.95 t ha-1 month-1). In contrast, between May and August, there is a significantly reduced risk (average 0.72 t ha-1 month-1) due to the low rainfall erosivity and increased vegetation cover as a result of the long rainy season. The mean annual gross soil loss by water erosion in the Winam Gulf catchment amounts to 10.71 Mt year-1, with a mean soil loss rate of 9.63 t ha-1 year-1. These findings highlight the need to consider dynamic factors within the RUSLE model and can prove vital for identifying areas of high erosion risk for future targeted investigation and conservation action.

Heavy metals in urban road dusts from Kolkata and Bengaluru, India: implications for human health.

Air pollution and dust pollution are major urban environmental issues, with road dust being a potential source and a pathway for human exposure. The developing megacities of India, where the population may spend a significant portion of their working lives close to the roadside, including consuming street food, have obvious source-pathway-receptor linkages. The aim of this study in Kolkata and Bengaluru, India, was to evaluate the risk to human health from inorganic components of road dust. Samples were collected and analysed from a cross section of urban environments for a wide range of anthropogenic and geogenic elements, some such as antimony showing an increase in response to vehicle activity. Calculated enrichment factors relative to crustal abundance demonstrated significant enrichment in common heavy metals and less commonly reported elements, e.g. molybdenum, antimony, that may be used as contaminant markers. Factor analysis gave multielement signatures associated with geography, vehicle traffic and local industry. The bio-accessibility of road dusts in terms of ingestion was determined using the BARGE method with more than 50% of zinc and lead being available in some cases. A formal human health risk assessment using the US EPA framework showed that lead in Kolkata and chromium in Bengaluru were the elements of most concern amongst chromium, nickel, copper, zinc and lead. However, the only risk combination (hazard index) shown to be significant was lead exposure to children in Kolkata. Ingestion dominated the risk pathways, being significantly greater than dermal and inhalation routes.

Method development for rapid quantification of Rn-222 in surface water and groundwater.

Understanding the risks of a developing unconventional hydrocarbons industry, including shale gas, to the chemical quality of surface water and groundwater involves firstly establishing baseline compositions against which any future changes can be assessed. Contaminants of geogenic origin are of particular interest and radon has been identified as one potential contaminant from shale sources. Robust measurement and monitoring of radon in water at environmental concentrations is essential for ensuring protection of water sources and maintaining public confidence. Traditional techniques for Rn-222 determination in water, such as inference by gamma spectrometry and direct alpha counting, are impractical for direct field measurement, and the relatively short half-life of Rn-222 (~ 3.82 days) means that longer analytical protocols from field to the laboratory may result in greater uncertainty for Rn-222 activity. Therefore, a rapid and low-cost method would be beneficial. We have developed and refined a laboratory procedure for Rn-222 monitoring using liquid scintillation counting (LSC). The accuracy of Rn-222 activities obtained via this procedure was evaluated by the analysis of almost 200 water samples collected from streams and boreholes as part of a detailed baseline investigation in the Vale of Pickering, Yorkshire, one potential location for future shale gas exploration. LSC was preferred for measurement of Rn-222 and had comparable accuracy to gamma spectrometry and direct alpha counting. The methodology provided a rapid, portable and low-maintenance option relative to the two established techniques and is shown to be a favourable choice for the measurement of radon in surface water and groundwater at environmental concentrations.

Source apportionment of micronutrients in the diets of Kilimanjaro,Tanzania and Counties of Western Kenya.

Soil, water and food supply composition data have been combined to primarily estimate micronutrient intakes and subsequent risk of deficiencies in each of the regions studied by generating new data to supplement and update existing food balance sheets. These data capture environmental influences, such as soil chemistry and the drinking water sources to provide spatially resolved crop and drinking water composition data, where combined information is currently limited, to better inform intervention strategies to target micronutrient deficiencies. Approximately 1500 crop samples were analysed, representing 86 food items across 50 sites in Tanzania in 2013 and >230 sites in Western Kenya between 2014 and 2018. Samples were analysed by ICP-MS for 58 elements, with this paper focussing on calcium (Ca), copper (Cu), iron (Fe), magnesium (Mg), selenium (Se), iodine (I), zinc (Zn) and molybdenum (Mo). In general, micronutrient supply from food groups was higher from Kilimanjaro,Tanzania than Counties in Western Kenya, albeit from a smaller sample. For both countries leafy vegetable and vegetable food groups consistently contained higher median micronutrient concentrations compared to other plant based food groups. Overall, calculated deficiency rates were <1% for Cu and Mo and close to or >90% for Ca, Zn and I in both countries. For Mg, a slightly lower risk of deficiency was calculated for Tanzania at 0 to 1% across simplified soil classifications and for female/males, compared to 3 to 20% for Kenya. A significant difference was observed for Se, where a 3 to 28% risk of deficiency was calculated for Tanzania compared to 93 to 100% in Kenya. Overall, 11 soil predictor variables, including pH and organic matter accounted for a small proportion of the variance in the elemental concentration of food. Tanzanian drinking water presented several opportunities for delivering greater than 10% of the estimated average requirement (EAR) for micronutrients. For example, 1 to 56% of the EAR for I and up to 10% for Se or 37% for Zn could be contributed via drinking water.

Intra-household agreement of urinary elemental concentrations in Tanzania and Kenya: potential surrogates in case-control studies.

Element deficiencies and excesses play important roles in non-communicable disease aetiology. When investigating their roles in epidemiologic studies without prospective designs, reverse-causality limits the utility of transient biomarkers in cases. This study aimed to investigate whether surrogate participants may provide viable proxies by assessing concentration correlations within households. We obtained spot urine samples from 245 Tanzanian and Kenyan adults (including 101 household pairs) to investigate intra-household correlations of urinary elements (As, Ba, Ca, Cd, Co, Cs, Cu, Fe, Li, Mn, Mo, Ni, Pb, Rb, S, Se, Sr, Tl, V and Zn) and concentrations (also available for: Bi, Ce, Sb, Sn and U) relative to external population-levels and health-based values. Moderate-strong correlations were observed for As (r = 0.65), Cs (r = 0.67), Li (r = 0.56), Mo (r = 0.57), Se (r = 0.68) and Tl (r = 0.67). Remaining correlations were <0.41. Median Se concentrations in Tanzania (29 µg/L) and Kenya (24 µg/L) were low relative to 5738 Canadians (59 µg/L). Exceedances (of reference 95th percentiles) were observed for: Co, Mn, Mo, Ni and U. Compared to health-based values, exceedances were present for As, Co, Mo and Se but deficiencies were also present for Mo and Se. For well correlated elements, household members in East African settings provide feasible surrogate cases to investigate element deficiencies/excesses in relation to non-communicable diseases.