Content area
Improper emissions from industrial activities pose toxicological risks to groundwater safety. Based on an environmental forensic identification case involving livestock (sheep) damage caused by groundwater pollution in a pastoral area, we comprehensively evaluated groundwater quality risks, toxicological risks, and pollution sources using multivariate statistical methods, the Nemerow index method, and a non-carcinogenic health risk model. The potential specific pollutants in the region mainly included calcium, potassium, sodium, magnesium, manganese, fluoride, chloride, sulfate, ammonia nitrogen, total dissolved solids, and nitrate. An evaluation of the groundwater health risk factors showed that fluoride, nitrate, and manganese pose higher health risks (HQ > 1), as fluoride > nitrate > manganese. This suggests that these three pollutants were the primary causes of livestock damage. Identification of pollution sources using multivariate statistical analysis revealed that the main pollutants in the groundwater originate from two rare earth enterprises in the surrounding industrial park, followed by the emissions from animal husbandry. This study provides guidelines into comprehensive regional toxicological risk assessment and source tracing, offering an identification method for similar forensic environmental damage cases.
Details
Groundwater flow;
Livestock;
Identification methods;
Carcinogens;
Groundwater quality;
Damage detection;
Sheep;
Risk assessment;
Animal husbandry;
Industrial emissions;
Nitrates;
Contamination;
Nitrogen;
Water quality;
Industrial parks;
Precipitation;
Industrial areas;
Environmental degradation;
Health risk assessment;
Multivariate analysis;
Risk factors;
Statistical methods;
Multivariate statistical analysis;
Manganese;
Cluster analysis;
Pollution sources;
Health risks;
Statistics;
Total dissolved solids;
Pollutants;
Forensic science;
Quality control;
Drinking water;
Statistical analysis;
Groundwater pollution;
Fluorides;
Emissions;
Ammonia;
Dissolved solids;
Rain
; Zhao, Qian 1 1 Agro-Environmental Protection Institute, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs/Key Laboratory of Original Agro-Environmental Pollution Prevention and Control, MARA/Tianjin Key Laboratory of Agro-Environment and Agro-Product Safety, Tianjin 300191, China; [email protected] (W.W.); [email protected] (H.C.); [email protected] (Y.Y.); [email protected] (J.S.); [email protected] (X.L.)
2 Ecology and Environment Bureau of Damao Banner, Baotou City, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Baotou 014060, China; [email protected]