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Nitrate in groundwater and agricultural products: intake and risk assessment in northeastern Iran
The suitability of groundwater and agricultural products for human consumption requires determining levels and assessing the health risks associated with potential pollutants. Here, particularly pollution with nitrate still remains a challenge, especially for those urban areas suffering from insuffi...
Autores principales: | , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
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Springer Berlin Heidelberg
2022
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9587111/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35691946 http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-20831-9 |
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author | Zendehbad, Mohammad Mostaghelchi, Majid Mojganfar, Mohsen Cepuder, Peter Loiskandl, Willibald |
author_facet | Zendehbad, Mohammad Mostaghelchi, Majid Mojganfar, Mohsen Cepuder, Peter Loiskandl, Willibald |
author_sort | Zendehbad, Mohammad |
collection | PubMed |
description | The suitability of groundwater and agricultural products for human consumption requires determining levels and assessing the health risks associated with potential pollutants. Here, particularly pollution with nitrate still remains a challenge, especially for those urban areas suffering from insufficient sewage collection systems, resulting in contaminating soil, endangering food safety, and deteriorating drinking water quality. In the present study, nitrate concentrations in the commonly consumed fruit and vegetable species were determined, and the results, together with the groundwater nitrate levels, were used to assess the associated health risks for Mashhad city residents. For this assessment, 261 water samples and 16 produce types were used to compute the daily intake of nitrate. Nitrate in groundwater was analyzed using a spectrophotometer, and produce species were examined using High-Performance Liquid Chromatography. Ward’s hierarchical cluster analysis was applied for categorizing produce samples with regard to their nitrate content. Additionally, to account for the sanitation hazards associated with groundwater quality for drinking purposes, total coliform and turbidity were also assessed using the membrane filter (MF) technique and a nephelometer, respectively. Nitrate concentrations exceeded the prescribed permissible limits in 42% of the groundwater wells. The outcomes also exhibit significantly higher nitrate accumulation levels in root-tuber vegetables and leafy vegetables compared to fruit vegetables and fruits. Using cluster analysis, the accumulation of nitrate in vegetables and fruits was categorized into four clusters, specifying that radish contributes to 65.8% of the total content of nitrate in all samples. The Estimated Daily Intake (EDI) of nitrate and Health Risk Index (HRI) associated with consumption of groundwater exceeded the prescribed limit for the children’s target group in Mashhad’s south and central parts. Likewise, EDI and HRI values for produce consumption, in most samples, were found to be in the tolerable range, except for radish, lettuce, and cabbage, potentially posing risks for both children and adult consumers. The total coliforms in groundwater were found to violate the prescribed limit at 78.93% of the sampling locations and were generally much higher over the city’s central and southern areas. A relatively strong correlation (R(2) = 0.6307) between total coliform and nitrate concentrations suggests the release of anthropogenic pollution (i.e., sewage and manure) in the central and southern Mashhad. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-9587111 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2022 |
publisher | Springer Berlin Heidelberg |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-95871112022-10-23 Nitrate in groundwater and agricultural products: intake and risk assessment in northeastern Iran Zendehbad, Mohammad Mostaghelchi, Majid Mojganfar, Mohsen Cepuder, Peter Loiskandl, Willibald Environ Sci Pollut Res Int Research Article The suitability of groundwater and agricultural products for human consumption requires determining levels and assessing the health risks associated with potential pollutants. Here, particularly pollution with nitrate still remains a challenge, especially for those urban areas suffering from insufficient sewage collection systems, resulting in contaminating soil, endangering food safety, and deteriorating drinking water quality. In the present study, nitrate concentrations in the commonly consumed fruit and vegetable species were determined, and the results, together with the groundwater nitrate levels, were used to assess the associated health risks for Mashhad city residents. For this assessment, 261 water samples and 16 produce types were used to compute the daily intake of nitrate. Nitrate in groundwater was analyzed using a spectrophotometer, and produce species were examined using High-Performance Liquid Chromatography. Ward’s hierarchical cluster analysis was applied for categorizing produce samples with regard to their nitrate content. Additionally, to account for the sanitation hazards associated with groundwater quality for drinking purposes, total coliform and turbidity were also assessed using the membrane filter (MF) technique and a nephelometer, respectively. Nitrate concentrations exceeded the prescribed permissible limits in 42% of the groundwater wells. The outcomes also exhibit significantly higher nitrate accumulation levels in root-tuber vegetables and leafy vegetables compared to fruit vegetables and fruits. Using cluster analysis, the accumulation of nitrate in vegetables and fruits was categorized into four clusters, specifying that radish contributes to 65.8% of the total content of nitrate in all samples. The Estimated Daily Intake (EDI) of nitrate and Health Risk Index (HRI) associated with consumption of groundwater exceeded the prescribed limit for the children’s target group in Mashhad’s south and central parts. Likewise, EDI and HRI values for produce consumption, in most samples, were found to be in the tolerable range, except for radish, lettuce, and cabbage, potentially posing risks for both children and adult consumers. The total coliforms in groundwater were found to violate the prescribed limit at 78.93% of the sampling locations and were generally much higher over the city’s central and southern areas. A relatively strong correlation (R(2) = 0.6307) between total coliform and nitrate concentrations suggests the release of anthropogenic pollution (i.e., sewage and manure) in the central and southern Mashhad. Springer Berlin Heidelberg 2022-06-13 2022 /pmc/articles/PMC9587111/ /pubmed/35691946 http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-20831-9 Text en © The Author(s) 2022 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Open AccessThis article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) . |
spellingShingle | Research Article Zendehbad, Mohammad Mostaghelchi, Majid Mojganfar, Mohsen Cepuder, Peter Loiskandl, Willibald Nitrate in groundwater and agricultural products: intake and risk assessment in northeastern Iran |
title | Nitrate in groundwater and agricultural products: intake and risk assessment in northeastern Iran |
title_full | Nitrate in groundwater and agricultural products: intake and risk assessment in northeastern Iran |
title_fullStr | Nitrate in groundwater and agricultural products: intake and risk assessment in northeastern Iran |
title_full_unstemmed | Nitrate in groundwater and agricultural products: intake and risk assessment in northeastern Iran |
title_short | Nitrate in groundwater and agricultural products: intake and risk assessment in northeastern Iran |
title_sort | nitrate in groundwater and agricultural products: intake and risk assessment in northeastern iran |
topic | Research Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9587111/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35691946 http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-20831-9 |
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