Health hazards and risk assessment of the use of fossil fuel electricity generators in suburb of Port Harcourt, Nigeria

Abstract

Study on the health hazards and risk assessment of the use of fossil fuel electricity generators in suburb of Port Harcourt, Nigeria was carried out. The results showed that the concentrations of the metals varied greatly among the vegetable species and locations. It was observed that the vegetables (Telfairia occidentalis and Talinum triangulare) cultivated less than 15m away from fossil fuel generator after analysis showed some level of trace metals concentration. The variation in metal concentrations in the vegetables can be attributed to the metal concentrations in soils. The concentration of the metals in the edible vegetables studied ranged from 0.90 ± 0.01 to 3.20 ± 0.001, Pb; 0.08 ± 0.001 to 0.11 ± 0.01, Cd; 53.10 ± 0.002 to 106.30 ± 0.02, Fe; and 0.40 ± 0.002 to 1.60 ± 0.02, Zn. The difference in the concentration of the metals in the various vegetable can be attributed to the different concentration of the metals in the soils and also the direction at which the vegetation was located. The CDI values of iron for adult and children were all above oral reference dose (RfD) (0.007mg/kg/day). The hazard quotient (HQ) values of the metals in all the stations were greater than 1 except Zn and Cu for children. Lead, Iron, Cadmium and Chromium exceeded 1 for both adult and children while in In all the stations, HQ values were generally high for children, thereby making people living around the area more vulnerable. The high HQ values recorded in this study were as result of high CDI values of the metals involved. These metals pose long term health risk to the land users. All the hazard index (HI) values recorded in this study were well above 1. The long-term health risk is high and the non-carcinogenic adverse effect is not negligible. Health risk assessment for all the sites considered showed that cumulative effect of some of the heavy metal studied, as indicated by the hazard index (HI), calls for concern.