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An Inter-disciplinary Approach to Evaluate Human Health Risks Due to Long-Term Exposure to Contaminated Groundwater Near a Chemical Complex

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Abstract

Potentially toxic elements (PTEs) are known to threat human health due to exposure to contaminated groundwater. Some of these PTEs can lead to long-term carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic health risks. The Estarreja Chemical Complex (ECC), NW Portugal, has had an intense industrial activity since the early 1950s, which lead to high levels of soil and groundwater contamination. Local populations traditionally rely on groundwater for human and agricultural uses. Although rehabilitation measures have been implemented for the last 20 years, groundwater contamination levels remain high for some PTEs, whose concentrations may be several orders of magnitude higher than human consumption. Two groundwater-sampling campaigns were conducted showing the temporal evolution of groundwater quality and allowing for the calculation of non-cancer and cancer risks due to exposure to PTEs by the ECC-surrounding population, considering groundwater ingestion and dermal contact as exposure pathways. Hair and urine PTE contents were collected during of the second sampling groundwater campaign and were used as biomonitoring to validate the exposure of local population to PTEs. The results show that As is the contaminant with highest non-cancer and cancer health risks for the exposed population, presenting high values particularly in Veiros, Beduído and Pardilhó localities. The most groundwater-contaminated areas coincided with the localities in which inhabitants exhibit higher hair and urinary PTE concentrations. Hair samples show high levels of As, Hg and Ni, while urine samples show high levels for Al, As, Cd, Hg, Pb, Ni and Zn are elevated in localities close to the ECC. Urine and hair proved to be suitable to evaluate short- and long-term exposure to PTEs, and are strongly correlated groundwater PTEs concentrations.

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Acknowledgements

This research was partly funded by SOIL PRECAIRE—an EU co-funded project by FEDER (Interreg V Sudoe Program). Funding for this research was provided by the Labex DRIIHM, Réseau des Observatoires Hommes-Millieux–Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (ROHM–CNRS) and OHMI-Estarreja, and by the Foundation for Science and the Technology—SFRH/BPD/71030/2010 and the Projects (SFRH/BPD/71030/2010, UID/MAR/04292/2013, and UI/D/GEO/04035/2013). The authors thank also the participants for taking part in this research and the local private institutions of social solidarity for the collaboration (Santa Casa Misericórdia de Estarreja, Associação Humanitária de Salreu, Centro Paroquial Social São Tomé de Canelas, Centro Paroquial Social Avanca, Fundação Cónego Filipe Figueiredo Beduído and Centro Paroquial de Pardilhó). The authors would further like to thank three anonymous reviewers for their comments that greatly helped improve the quality of this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. GeoBioTec, University of Aveiro, Campus de Santiago, 3810-193, Aveiro, Portugal

    Marina M. S. Cabral Pinto, Manuela Inácio & Eduardo A. Ferreira da Silva

  2. University College London Australia, Adelaide, SA, 5001, Australia

    Carlos M. Ordens

  3. Centre for Water in the Minerals Industry, Sustainable Minerals Institute, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, Brisbanef, QLD, 4072, Australia

    Carlos M. Ordens

  4. CERIS, DECivil, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal

    M. Teresa Condesso de Melo

  5. LAQV/REQUIMTE, Department of Chemical Sciences, Laboratory of Applied Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy, Porto University, 4050-313, Porto, Portugal

    Agostinho Almeida & Edgar Pinto

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  1. Marina M. S. Cabral Pinto
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  2. Carlos M. Ordens
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  3. M. Teresa Condesso de Melo
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  4. Manuela Inácio
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  5. Agostinho Almeida
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  6. Edgar Pinto
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  7. Eduardo A. Ferreira da Silva
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Correspondence to Marina M. S. Cabral Pinto.

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Cabral Pinto, M.M.S., Ordens, C.M., Condesso de Melo, M.T. et al. An Inter-disciplinary Approach to Evaluate Human Health Risks Due to Long-Term Exposure to Contaminated Groundwater Near a Chemical Complex. Expo Health 12, 199–214 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12403-019-00305-z

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