Multiple potentially toxic elements in urban gardens from a Brazilian industrialized city

In this study, the concentration of PTEs (As, Ba, Cd, Co, Cu, Cr, Ni, Mo, Pb, Sb, Se, V and Zn) was evaluated by soil (n = 85) and soil amendments (n = 19) in urban gardens from this municipality. Only barium was above regulatory limits in agricultural soil ranging from 20 to 112 mg kg−1. Geochemical indexes (Igeo, Cf andEr) revealed moderate to severe pollution for As, Ba, Cr, Cu, Pb Se and Zn, especialy in Capuava petrochemical complex gardens. A multivariate statistical approach discriminated Capuava gardens from the others and correlated As, Cr and V as main factors of pollution. However, carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic risks were below the acceptable range for regulatory purposes of 10–6–10–4 for adults. Soil amendments were identified as a possible source of contamination for Ba, Zn and Pb which ranged from 37 to 4137  mg kg−1, 20 to 701  mg kg−1 and 0.7 to 73  mg kg−1, respectively. The results also indicated the presence of six pathogenic bacteria in these amendments. Besides that, the occurrence of antimicrobial resistance forShigella,Enterobacter andCitrobacter isolates suggests that soil management practices improvement is necessary.
Source: Environmental Geochemistry and Health - Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research