Assessment of Roadsides Polluted with Heavy Metals in Mosul City, Iraq

Omer Alobaydy

doi:10.4025/actascianimsci.v48i1.72118

Omer Alobaydy University of Mosul https://orcid.org/0009-0006-1221-0832

DOI: https://doi.org/10.4025/actascianimsci.v48i1.72118

Keywords: Contamination factor; Degree of contamination; Potential risk index.

Abstract

A major challenge in soil pollution research is the accumulation of heavy metals from human activities, which threatens environmental integrity and public health. Transport vehicles contribute significantly to metallic particles, such as nickel and cadmium, from the wear and tear of brakes and tires. The study aimed to determine the content of heavy metals in the roadside soils of crowded roads in Mosul city. The study was conducted on 51 roadside soil samples collected from seventeen crowded roads. The samples analyzed by X-ray fluorescence spectrometer. The contamination and level of pollution risk were assessed using the contamination factor, pollution load index, ecological risk, potential risk index, and the degree of contamination. The results of the study revealed that the mean of heavy metals was 2.60, 0.20, 25.87, 36.40, 125.57, 113.05, 8.36, and 5.81 ppm for Pb, Cd, Zn, Cu, Ni, Cr, Co, and As, respectively. The contamination factor values were within no pollution and moderate pollution levels for the majority of elements except Ni, which was within very high pollution levels in some sites, which led to a rise in the degree of contamination. A low risk level was recorded by calculating the potential ecological risk index because the individual ecological risk factor had a low value at all sites. The pollution load index values at all sites were within the pollution level, except for two.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Abdaki, M., Alobaydy, O., Al-Samman, S., & Ahmed, H. (2024). Spatiotemporal analysis of extreme climate indices in Nineveh Governorate, northern Iraq: Four decades study from 1981 to 2022 using NASA-Power dataset. Modeling Earth Systems and Environment, 10(4), 5553–5572.

Abou El-Anwar, E. A. (2019). Assessment of heavy metal pollution in soil and bottom sediment of Upper Egypt: Comparison study. Bulletin of the National Research Centre, 43, 1–11.

Agbaje, W. B., Fakunle, M. A., Azeez, L. A., Olabode, O. A., & Akintade, O. O. (2023). Road construction and vehicular activities as indicators for heavy metal pollution in Osogbo metropolis, South West Nigeria. Suan Sunandha Sci Technol J, 10(1), 92–104.

Ahirvar, B. P., Das, P., Srivastava, V., & Kumar, M. (2023). Perspectives of heavy metal pollution indices for soil, sediment, and water pollution evaluation: An insight. Total Environment Research Themes, 6, 100039.

Ajayi, S. A., Adams, C. A., Dumedah, G., Adebanji, O. A., Ababio-Donkor, A., Ackaah, W., & Kehinde, A. (2023). Public perceptions of vehicular traffic emissions on health risk in Lagos metropolis Nigeria: A critical survey. Heliyon, 9(5).

Al-Afify, A. D. G., & Abdel-Satar, A. M. (2022). Heavy metal contamination of the River Nile environment, Rosetta branch, Egypt. Water, Air, & Soil Pollution, 233(8), 302.

Al-Jawadi, A. S., Ali, S. H., & Adeeb, H. G. M. (2022). Engineering investigation of the geological problems for Old Mosul City by remote sensing and GIS. IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science, 1080(1), 12018.

Al-Obeidi, A. H., & Al-Jumaily, H. A. A. (2020). Geochemistry and environmental assessment of heavy metals in surface soil in Al-Hawija, southwest Kirkuk. The Iraqi Geological Journal, 36–61.

Alvarenga, P. (2022). Soil pollution assessment and sustainable remediation strategies. In Environments, 9(4), p. 46. MDPI.

Anaman, R., Peng, C., Jiang, Z., Liu, X., Zhou, Z., Guo, Z., & Xiao, X. (2022).1 Identifying sources and transport routes of heavy metals in soil with different land uses around a smelting site by GIS based PCA and PMF. Science of the Total Environment, 823, 153759.

Bhutiani, R., Kulkarni, D. B., Khanna, D. R., & Gautam, A. (2017). Geochemical distribution and environmental risk assessment of heavy metals in groundwater of an industrial area and its surroundings, Haridwar, India. Energy, Ecology and Environment, 2, 155–167.

Briffa, J., Blundell, R., Sinagra, E., & Grech, J. (2022). Validation of X-ray fluorescence spectrometer technique to determine heavy metal concentrations in soil samples. Global Journals Inc.

Dibert, K. L., Goffri, M. C. K., Ofosu, F. G., & Nuviadenu, C. K. (2019). Heavy metal concentrations in road dust in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire. Research Journal of Environmental and Earth Sciences, 11(2), 14–18.

Diganta, M. T. M., Sharmi, T. T., Saifullah, A. S. M., Uddin, M. J., & Sajib, A. M. (2020). Appraisal of heavy metal contamination in road dust and human health risk in a municipality of Bangladesh. Environmental Engineering & Management Journal (EEMJ), 19(12).

Duan, H., Peng, C., Liu, Y., Guo, C., Wang, Y., & Wang, Y. (2024). Spatial distribution, risk assessment and sources of heavy metals in roadside soils exposed to the Zhengzhou-Kaifeng intercity railway in Huanghuai Plain, China. Soil and Sediment Contamination: An International Journal, 1–22.

Dytłow, S., & Górka-Kostrubiec, B. (2021). Concentration of heavy metals in street dust: An implication of using different geochemical background data in estimating the level of heavy metal pollution. Environmental Geochemistry and Health, 43, 521–535.

Emenike, C. P., Okwuonu, E. J., Tenebe, I. T., Omole, D. O., Nwani, M., Afolayan, O. D., & Oniemayin, B. I. (2019). Ecological risk estimation of heavy metal pollution in roadside dust of Ado-Odo Ota, Southwestern Nigeria. IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering, 640(1), 12100.

Faisal, R. M., & Abdaki, M. (2021). Multi-criteria analysis for selecting suitable sites of water harvesting in northern Al Tharthar watershed. J. Sustain. Sci. Manag, 16, 218–236.

Goya-Heredia, A. V., Zafra-Mejía, C. A., & Rondón-Quintana, H. A. (2023). Spatial analysis of heavy metal pollution in road-deposited sediments based on the traffic intensity of a megacity. Atmosphere, 14(6), 1033.

Guagliardi, I., Astel, A. M., & Cicchella, D. (2022). Exploring soil pollution patterns using self-organizing maps. Toxics, 10(8), 416.

Hakanson, L. (1980).2 An ecological risk index for aquatic pollution control. A sedimentological approach. Water Research, 14(8), 975–1001.

He, Y., Zhang, Y., Peng, C., Wan, X., Guo, Z., & Xiao, X. (2021). Distribution characteristics and risk assessment of heavy metals in soil and street dust with different land uses, a case in Changsha, China. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(20), 10733.

Hoque, M. M., Islam, A., Islam, A. R. M. T., Pal, S. C., Mahammad, S., & Alam, E. (2023). Assessment of soil heavy metal pollution and associated ecological risk of agriculture dominated mid-channel bars in a subtropical river basin. Scientific Reports, 13(1), 11104.

Hu, J., Wu, Y., Irfan, M., & Hu, M. (2023). Has the ecological civilization pilot promoted the transformation of industrial structure in China? Ecological Indicators, 155, 111053.

Jin, R., Zheng, M., Yang, L., Zhang, Q., Fu, J., Yang, R., Liu, Q., Shi, J., Liu, G., & Jiang, G. (2021). Indoor exposure to products of incomplete combustion of household fuels in rural Tibetan Plateau. Environmental Science & Technology, 56(8), 4711–4714.

Kaur, J., Bhat, S. A., Singh, N., Bhatti, S. S., Kaur, V., & Katnoria, J. K. (2022). Assessment of the heavy metal contamination of roadside soils alongside Buddha Nullah, Ludhiana,(Punjab) India. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(3), 1596.

Korzeniowska, J. (2022). Heavy metal content in the soil along the Road No. 7 near chyżne. Atmosphere, 14(1), 2.

Kuklová, M., Kukla, J., Hniličková, H., Hnilička, F., & Pivková, I. (2022). Impact of car traffic on metal accumulation in soils and plants growing close to a motorway (Eastern Slovakia). Toxics, 10(4), 183.

Kumar, R., Kumar, V., Sharma, A., Singh, N., Kumar, R., Katnoria, J. K., Bhardwaj, R., Thukral, A. K., & Rodrigo-Comino, J. (2019). Assessment of pollution in roadside soils by using multivariate statistical techniques and contamination indices. SN Applied Sciences, 1, 1–11.

Leventeli, Y., & Yalcin, F. (2021). Data analysis of heavy metal content in riverwater: Multivariate statistical analysis and inequality expressions. Journal of Inequalities and Applications, 2021(1), 14.

Li, Y., Liu, J., Wang, Y., Tang, X., Xu, J., & Liu, X. (2023). Contribution of components in natural soil to Cd and Pb competitive adsorption: Semi-quantitative to quantitative analysis. Journal of Hazardous Materials, 441, 129883.

Majeed, O. S., & Ibraheem, A. K. (2024). Using heavy metals pollution indices for assessment of Tigris River water within Al-Tarmiya City, Northern Baghdad, Iraq.3 Ecological Engineering & Environmental Technology, 25(3), 113–123.

Malta, D. C., de Aquino, É. C., Veloso, G. A., Teixeira, R. A., Cunningham, M., de Magalhães Cardoso, L. S., de Morais Neto, O. L., & Naghavi, M. (2023). Mortality by road transport injury in Brazilian municipalities between 2000 and 2018. Public Health, 220, 120–126.

Miranzadeh Mahabadi, H., Ramroudi, M., Asgharipour, M. R., Rahmani, H. R., & Afyuni, M. (2020). Evaluation of the ecological risk index (Er) of heavy metals (HMs) pollution in urban field soils. SN Applied Sciences, 2(8), 1420.

Movafagh, A., Mansouri, N., Moattar, F., & Vafaeinejad, A. R. (2018). Distribution and ecological risk assessment of heavy metals in roadside soil along the Hemat highway of Tehran, Iran. Environment Protection Engineering, 44(3).

Negahban, S., & Mokarram, M. (2021). Potential ecological risk assessment of Ni, Cu, Zn, Cd, and Pb in roadside soils. Earth and Space Science, 8(4), e2020EA001120.

Newaz, K. K., Pal, S. K., Hossain, S., & Karim, A. (2021). Evaluation of heavy metal pollution risk associated with road sediment. Environmental Engineering Research, 26(3).

Paltseva, A. A., & Neaman, A. (2020). An emerging frontier: Metal (loid) soil pollution threat under global climate change. Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, 39(9), 1653–1654.

Priya, A. K., Muruganandam, M., Ali, S. S., & Kornaros, M. (2023). Clean-up of heavy metals from contaminated soil by phytoremediation: A multidisciplinary and eco-friendly approach. Toxics, 11(5), 422.

Sahoo, B. P., & Sahu, H. B. (2022). Assessment of metal pollution in surface water using pollution indices and multivariate statistics: A case study of Talcher coalfield area, India. Applied Water Science, 12(9), 223.

Skorbiłowicz, M., Skorbiłowicz, E., & Rogowska, W. (2021). Heavy metal concentrations in roadside soils on the Białystok-Budzisko route in northeastern Poland. Minerals, 11(11), 1290.

Su, Q., Zhang, X., Zhang, Y., Sun, G., Li, Z., Xiang, L., & Cai, J. (2023). Risk assessment of heavy metal pollution in agricultural soil surrounding a typical pharmaceutical manufacturing complex. Frontiers in Environmental Science, 10, 1105910.

Sulaiman, M. B., Santuraki, A. H., & Babayo, A. U. (2018). Ecological risk assessment of some heavy metals in roadside soils at traffic circles in Gombe, Northern Nigeria. Journal of Applied Sciences and Environmental Management, 22(6), 999–1003.

Tamanna, T., Tonni, S., Shammi, R. S., Khan, M. M. H., Islam, M. S., Hoque, M. M. M., Meghla, N. T., & Kabir, M. H. (2023). Comprehensive evaluation of heavy metals in surface water of the upper Banar River, Bangladesh. International Journal of Agricultural Research, Innovation and Technology (IJARIT), 13(1), 110–122.

Usmanova, R. M., Sattarova, N. A., & Boyko, N. N. (2021). Influence of automobiles on environmental pollution. IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering, 1079(6), 62040.

Villaveces, A., Sanhueza, A., Henríquez Roldán, C. F., Escamilla-Cejudo, J. A., & Rodrigues, E. M. S. (2020). Transport modes and road traffic mortality in the Americas: Deaths among pedestrian and motorcycle users through the lifespan. International Journal of Injury Control and Safety Promotion, 28(1), 103–112.

Weber, C. J., Santowski, A., & Chifflard, P. (2020). Spatial variability of heavy metal concentration in urban pavement joints–A case study. SOIL Discussions, 2020, 1–26.

Xia, F., Fan, T., Chen, Y., Ding, D., Wei, J., Jiang, D., & Deng, S. (2022). Prediction of heavy metal concentrations in contaminated sites from portable X-ray fluorescence spectrometer data using machine learning. Processes, 10(3), 536.

Yu, G., Chen, F., Zhang, H., & Wang, Z. (2021). Pollution and health risk assessment of heavy metals in soils of Guizhou, China. Ecosystem Health and Sustainability, 7(1), 1859948.

Zhao, L., & Jin, S. (2021). Research on the impact of ecological civilization construction on environmental pollution control in China—based on differential game theory. Discrete Dynamics in Nature and Society, 2021(1), 5552069.