Watershed soils contents of potentially toxics elements in soils from an watershed and human health risk assessment

Soil contamination by potential toxics elements (PTEs) can change the ecosystem structure, its function and can cause risk to human health. PTEs occur naturally in the environment; however human activities such as industrial emissions, urban sewage, animal waste, biosolids, fertilizers and pesticides can increase their concentration. Soil is one of the main pathways to human exposure, so it is important to evaluate the contents of PTEs in soils and their distribution in the watershed in order to assess the human health risk. The effects of PTEs that reach the soil on the diversity and functionality of microorganisms can be evaluated by ecotoxicological tests. Organisms that take part of the biological process can be used as environment quality indicators. One of them is the springtails (Collembola) that are wide spread and have high diversity, being found in all ecosystems. In this study, we evaluated the Arsenic (As), Cadmium (Cd), Cobalt (Co), Copper (Cu), Chromium (Cr), Lead (Pb), Nickel (Ni) and Zinc (Zn) contents in 15 soil from Guamium watershed, located in Piracicaba, state of Sao Paulo, Brazil. To assess the human health risk lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.), cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.), sugar beet (Beta vulgaris L.) and rocket (Eruca sativus Mill.) were cultivated under greenhouse conditions. The effect of As rates on collembola reproduction was also evaluated. Soil samples were collected in the following depths: 0 - 0.1; 0.1 - 0.2; 0.2 - 0.3; 0.3 - 0.4; 0.4 - 0.6; 0.6 - 0.9 e 0.9 - 1.2 m. Contents of PTEs were obtained after microwave extraction by EPA 3051a method (0.5 g soil + 9 mL HNO3 + 3 mL HCl). As and Cu had the highest contents, and their concentration were close or higher than prevention value established by Sao Paulo state environmental agency (Cetesb). As showed high carcinogenic risk, otherwise Cu only represented risk to human health in the most restrictive scenario, when 100% of the vegetables consumed were taken from the contaminated area. There was difference in the As availability between natural soil and artificial soil (ArtS) which was composed by sand, Kaolinite and powdered coconut fiber. As availability was high in the ArtS and it decreased the collembola reproduction. The Lowest Observed Effect Concentration (LOEC) on SAT were 0.25 mg kg-1, while and the No Observed Effect Concentration (LOEC) were less than 0.25 mg kg-1. Otherwise, the LOEC were 8.41 mg kg-1 in the natural soil, but it was not possible to define the NOEC. (AU)