Pollution and health risk assessments related to heavy metals on three prominent beaches in Makkah Province, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia: Concerning levels of cadmium pollution

• Published in: PloS one 2024-10, Vol.19 (10), p.e0311189
• Main Authors: Alayyafi, Abdulaziz, Ebqa'ai, Mohammad, Alboqai, Omar, Abotaleb, Ahmed, Eldesoky, Ahmed, Shahawy, Abeer El
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Background levels; Beaches; Biology and Life Sciences; Cadmium; Cadmium - analysis; Chemical contaminants; Cluster analysis; Coastal zone; Coasts; Copper; Desalination; Earth Sciences; Ecology and Environmental Sciences; Emission analysis; Emission spectroscopy; Environmental aspects; Environmental economics; Environmental impact; Environmental Monitoring - methods; Environmental Pollution - adverse effects; Environmental Pollution - analysis; Extreme values; Health aspects; Health problems; Health risk assessment; Health risks; Heavy metals; Humans; Inductively coupled plasma; Industrial development; Industrial plant emissions; Investigations; Iron; Kidney diseases; Lead; Manganese; Medicine and Health Sciences; Metals, Heavy - analysis; Metals, Heavy - toxicity; Microwaves; Optical emission spectroscopy; Osteomalacia; Osteoporosis; Physical Sciences; Pollution; Pollution index; Principal Component Analysis; Principal components analysis; Research and Analysis Methods; Risk Assessment; Saudi Arabia; Sediments; Social Sciences; Soil Pollutants - analysis; Soil pollution; Spectroscopy; Stainless steel; Zinc
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0311189

Beach pollution can impact the health of people living in or visiting coastal areas. The primary goal of this research was to investigate the presence of heavy metal pollutants and associated health risks in three distinct coastal cities, Jeddah, Al-Lith, and Al-Qunfudhah, located along Saudi Arabia's Red Sea coast. Forty-three soil samples were collected from different locations, heavy metals including Fe, Zn, Mn, Cu, Cd, and Pb were isolated, and analyzed using inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy. Various metrics such as pollution indices (PI), integrated pollution indices (IPI), enrichment factors (EF), daily dose averages (ADD), hazard quotients (HQ), and hazard indices (HI), as well as principal component analysis (PCA) and cluster analysis were employed to evaluate the environmental impacts and health risks posed by these heavy metals. The results revealed that Fe, Pb, Cu, Mn, and Zn concentrations in beach zones were below their respective background levels, while concentrations of Cd exceeded corresponding background levels. PCA revealed the highest levels of Pb, Fe, and Mn on Al-Qundudah beach, while Cd and Cu were highest on Al-Lith beach, and Zn was highest on Jeddah beach. PI values highlighted extremely high levels of Cd pollution on all designated beaches. The findings provide a foundational basis for further investigations into health problems potentially related to Cd contamination, such as chronic kidney disease (CKD), osteomalacia, and osteoporosis.