Mercury Contamination from Artisanal Small-scale Gold Mining Activities in Simpenan District, Sukabumi Regency, West Java, Indonesia

IF 0.4 Q4 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES

Asian Journal of Water, Environment and Pollution Pub Date : 2024-07-25 DOI:10.3233/ajw240049

C. Nuryanty, Etty Riani, Zaenal Abidin, S. Sutjahjo, Agung Riyadi

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Abstract

Mercury is still used in the amalgamation process in small-scale gold processing. This study aims to evaluate the mercury contamination of various environmental media in the artisanal small-scale gold mining (ASGM) area in the Simpenan District, Sukabumi Regency. The ecological media examined in this study included groundwater, river water, soil, sediment, biota, and plants. The threshold number was determined using APHA 3125 and Indonesian National Standard (SNI) 7387:2009. Meanwhile, the mercury concentration in the ambient air was measured directly using a mercury analyser. Mercury concentrations in the water, soil, sediment, biota, and plant matrices were calculated using a calibration curve. The study found that the levels of mercury in groundwater, river water, and sediment were all below the applicable quality standards of <0.0001, <0.0001 and 0.001 mg/L, respectively. However, the levels of mercury in soil and plants were 27.28 and 0.52 mg/kg, respectively. Additionally, the levels of mercury in four types of fish found in a river adjacent to the ASGM location, namely beunteur (0.33 mg/kg), snakehead (0.05 mg/kg), catfish (0.26 mg/kg) and eel (0.20 mg/kg), exceeded the specified quality standards. In conclusion, mercury contamination is present in the soil, plants, and aquatic biota (fish) in the ASGM area in the Simpenan District, Sukabumi Regency.

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印度尼西亚西爪哇苏卡布米县辛潘南区手工小规模金矿开采活动造成的汞污染

汞仍被用于小规模金矿加工中的汞齐化过程。本研究旨在评估苏卡布米县辛潘南区手工小规模采金（ASGM）地区各种环境介质的汞污染情况。本研究考察的生态介质包括地下水、河水、土壤、沉积物、生物群和植物。阈值数是根据 APHA 3125 和印度尼西亚国家标准 (SNI) 7387:2009 确定的。同时，使用汞分析仪直接测量了环境空气中的汞浓度。水、土壤、沉积物、生物群和植物基质中的汞浓度是通过校准曲线计算得出的。研究发现，地下水、河水和沉积物中的汞含量都低于适用的质量标准，分别为小于 0.0001、小于 0.0001 和 0.001 毫克/升。不过，土壤和植物中的汞含量分别为 27.28 毫克/千克和 0.52 毫克/千克。此外，在 ASGM 地点附近的一条河流中发现的四种鱼类，即黄颡鱼（0.33 毫克/千克）、乌鳢（0.05 毫克/千克）、鲶鱼（0.26 毫克/千克）和鳗鱼（0.20 毫克/千克）中的汞含量超过了规定的质量标准。总之，苏卡布米省辛潘南地区 ASGM 区域的土壤、植物和水生生物群（鱼类）中都存在汞污染。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Asian Journal of Water, Environment and Pollution ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES-

CiteScore

1.00

自引率

20.00%

发文量

期刊介绍： Asia, as a whole region, faces severe stress on water availability, primarily due to high population density. Many regions of the continent face severe problems of water pollution on local as well as regional scale and these have to be tackled with a pan-Asian approach. However, the available literature on the subject is generally based on research done in Europe and North America. Therefore, there is an urgent and strong need for an Asian journal with its focus on the region and wherein the region specific problems are addressed in an intelligent manner. In Asia, besides water, there are several other issues related to environment, such as; global warming and its impact; intense land/use and shifting pattern of agriculture; issues related to fertilizer applications and pesticide residues in soil and water; and solid and liquid waste management particularly in industrial and urban areas. Asia is also a region with intense mining activities whereby serious environmental problems related to land/use, loss of top soil, water pollution and acid mine drainage are faced by various communities. Essentially, Asians are confronted with environmental problems on many fronts. Many pressing issues in the region interlink various aspects of environmental problems faced by population in this densely habited region in the world. Pollution is one such serious issue for many countries since there are many transnational water bodies that spread the pollutants across the entire region. Water, environment and pollution together constitute a three axial problem that all concerned people in the region would like to focus on.