Exposure to airborne pollutants in urban and rural areas: levels of metals and microorganisms in PM10 and gaseous pollutants in ambient air

IF 2.9 4区环境科学与生态学 Q3 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES

Air Quality Atmosphere and Health Pub Date : 2024-09-23 DOI:10.1007/s11869-024-01644-w

Uguru Hilary, Essaghah Arthur Efeoghene, Akpokodje Ovie Issac, Rokayya Sami, Fadi Baakdah, Sunil Pareek

{"title":"Exposure to airborne pollutants in urban and rural areas: levels of metals and microorganisms in PM10 and gaseous pollutants in ambient air","authors":"Uguru Hilary, Essaghah Arthur Efeoghene, Akpokodje Ovie Issac, Rokayya Sami, Fadi Baakdah, Sunil Pareek","doi":"10.1007/s11869-024-01644-w","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div>Assessing air quality is a crucial health concern due to an increase in human activities. This study examined the concentrations of heavy metals (HMs), harmful gaseous compounds and microbial load in rural and urban regions’ outdoor atmospheric air. Eighty atmospheric samples were sampled randomly from 16 locations (8 locations each from urban and rural areas) in southern Nigeria; and their HMs, gaseous compounds (SO2, CO, NO2, VOC, CH4 and NH3), and microbial levels were determined in accordance with standard procedures. The results revealed that the pollutants level in air sampled from urban areas, was significantly higher than the level recorded at the rural areas (p < 0.05). It was noted that Fe had the highest concentration (mean ∼ 2.448 µg/m3) and mercury (Hg) had the lowest concentration (mean ∼ 7.0 × 10− 3 µg/m3). The heavy metals concentration in the outdoor PM10 followed this increasing pattern: Hg < Cd < Ni < As < Co < Cr < Pb < Zn < Fe; and the gaseous components - SO2, CO, NO2, VOC, CH4 and NH3 – levels in the atmospheric samples were 15.13 ± 10.19, 177.48 ± 114.81, 11.65 ± 4.85, 3544.50 ± 1752.70, 2048.00 ± 978.35 and 855.98 ± 323.73, respectively. Likewise, these microorganisms, Escherichia coli, Salmonella, Staphylococcus aurius, Aspergillus spp and Penicillium spp were isolated from the outdoor atmospheric samples. The presence of HMs, gaseous compound and harmful microorganisms in outdoor PM10 highlights the importance of minimizing atmospheric emissions and maintaining good hygiene practices to reduce the health risk associated with exposure to these pollutants. Therefore, town planners and relevant professionals should device means of decongesting the traffic volume in urban areas, and installing adequate waste management systems.</div>","PeriodicalId":49109,"journal":{"name":"Air Quality Atmosphere and Health","volume":"18 2","pages":"317 - 332"},"PeriodicalIF":2.9000,"publicationDate":"2024-09-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Air Quality Atmosphere and Health","FirstCategoryId":"93","ListUrlMain":"https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11869-024-01644-w","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES","Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Abstract

Assessing air quality is a crucial health concern due to an increase in human activities. This study examined the concentrations of heavy metals (HMs), harmful gaseous compounds and microbial load in rural and urban regions’ outdoor atmospheric air. Eighty atmospheric samples were sampled randomly from 16 locations (8 locations each from urban and rural areas) in southern Nigeria; and their HMs, gaseous compounds (SO₂, CO, NO₂, VOC, CH₄ and NH₃), and microbial levels were determined in accordance with standard procedures. The results revealed that the pollutants level in air sampled from urban areas, was significantly higher than the level recorded at the rural areas (p < 0.05). It was noted that Fe had the highest concentration (mean ∼ 2.448 µg/m³) and mercury (Hg) had the lowest concentration (mean ∼ 7.0 × 10^− 3 µg/m³). The heavy metals concentration in the outdoor PM₁₀ followed this increasing pattern: Hg < Cd < Ni < As < Co < Cr < Pb < Zn < Fe; and the gaseous components - SO₂, CO, NO₂, VOC, CH₄ and NH₃ – levels in the atmospheric samples were 15.13 ± 10.19, 177.48 ± 114.81, 11.65 ± 4.85, 3544.50 ± 1752.70, 2048.00 ± 978.35 and 855.98 ± 323.73, respectively. Likewise, these microorganisms, Escherichia coli, Salmonella, Staphylococcus aurius, Aspergillus spp and Penicillium spp were isolated from the outdoor atmospheric samples. The presence of HMs, gaseous compound and harmful microorganisms in outdoor PM₁₀ highlights the importance of minimizing atmospheric emissions and maintaining good hygiene practices to reduce the health risk associated with exposure to these pollutants. Therefore, town planners and relevant professionals should device means of decongesting the traffic volume in urban areas, and installing adequate waste management systems.

查看原文本刊更多论文

城市和农村地区空气污染物暴露：PM10中的金属和微生物水平以及环境空气中的气态污染物水平

由于人类活动的增加，评估空气质量是一个至关重要的健康问题。本研究检测了农村和城市室外大气中重金属、有害气体化合物和微生物负荷的浓度。从尼日利亚南部16个地点（城市和农村各8个地点）随机抽取80份大气样本；按标准程序测定其HMs、气态化合物（SO2、CO、NO2、VOC、CH4和NH3）和微生物水平。结果显示，从城市地区采样的空气中的污染物水平显著高于农村地区的记录水平（p < 0.05）。结果表明，铁的浓度最高（平均~ 2.448µg/m3），汞的浓度最低（平均~ 7.0 × 10−3µg/m3）。室外PM10中重金属浓度的增加规律为：Hg <； Cd < Ni < As < Co < Cr < Pb < Zn < Fe；大气样品中SO2、CO、NO2、VOC、CH4和NH3 -的含量分别为15.13±10.19、177.48±114.81、11.65±4.85、3544.50±1752.70、2048.00±978.35和855.98±323.73。同样，这些微生物，大肠杆菌，沙门氏菌，金黄色葡萄球菌，曲霉菌和青霉菌，从室外大气样品中分离。室外PM10中存在有机污染物、气态化合物和有害微生物，这凸显了尽量减少大气排放和保持良好卫生习惯以减少与接触这些污染物有关的健康风险的重要性。因此，城市规划者和相关专业人员应设法缓解城市地区的交通拥堵，并安装适当的废物管理系统。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

求助全文

约1分钟内获得全文求助全文

来源期刊

Air Quality Atmosphere and Health ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES-

CiteScore

8.80

自引率

2.00%

发文量

146

审稿时长

>12 weeks

期刊介绍： Air Quality, Atmosphere, and Health is a multidisciplinary journal which, by its very name, illustrates the broad range of work it publishes and which focuses on atmospheric consequences of human activities and their implications for human and ecological health. It offers research papers, critical literature reviews and commentaries, as well as special issues devoted to topical subjects or themes. International in scope, the journal presents papers that inform and stimulate a global readership, as the topic addressed are global in their import. Consequently, we do not encourage submission of papers involving local data that relate to local problems. Unless they demonstrate wide applicability, these are better submitted to national or regional journals. Air Quality, Atmosphere & Health addresses such topics as acid precipitation; airborne particulate matter; air quality monitoring and management; exposure assessment; risk assessment; indoor air quality; atmospheric chemistry; atmospheric modeling and prediction; air pollution climatology; climate change and air quality; air pollution measurement; atmospheric impact assessment; forest-fire emissions; atmospheric science; greenhouse gases; health and ecological effects; clean air technology; regional and global change and satellite measurements. This journal benefits a diverse audience of researchers, public health officials and policy makers addressing problems that call for solutions based in evidence from atmospheric and exposure assessment scientists, epidemiologists, and risk assessors. Publication in the journal affords the opportunity to reach beyond defined disciplinary niches to this broader readership.