Assessment of risk to health caused by the exposure to mining soil contaminated with

mercury in Queretaro, México.

M.G. Maribel1, F.V. Georgina2
1
Faculty of Engineering, National Autonomous University of Mexico, México City, México, 04510, México
Keywords: health risk assessment, mercury, mining, soil contamination.
Presenting author email: lebiram.zo@comunidad.unam.mx

Introduction
Mercury is a toxic and non-essential metal for humans, it is considered worldwide as one of the main pollutants
that exist in the environment. It can cause severe damage to humans, especially affecting the nervous system,
kidney, skin, and can even cause cancer (Park and Zheng, 2012). In the environment, mercury usually exists in
insignificant concentrations, however, the amount of mercury that can be found in soils contaminated with
hazardous waste generated by human activity can be more than 200,000 times the natural levels (ATSDR, 1999).
Mining activities represent a significant source of mercury input to the soil, because these activities produce
considerable amounts of mining waste, which in most cases, are abandoned in the environment without first
offering any remedial treatment (Wang et al. al., 2012). The health risk in areas where the population is exposed
to pollutants due to such activities can be high; to quantify the probability of an environmental stress factor
resulting in effects on human health, the USEPA (1991) suggests carrying out the process of human health risk
assessment which is made up of four stages: hazard identification, dose-response assessment, exposure
assessment and risk characterization. To perform the calculation of health risk, the equation established by the
USEPA (1991) the total risk of non-cancer effects is established in a HQ (hazard quotient) for each chemical
substance in a medium in particular, if the HQ is greater than 1, then adverse health effects are possible, so if the
value of the HQ is less than 1, it will be considered as non-dangerous or safe. In the present work, the SADA
(Spatial Analysis and Decision Assistance) software was
used, which uses the equations and parameters established
by the USEPA to calculate risk.

Study area
The study area is located in the northwest of the
Mexican state of Querétaro, in the municipalities of Pinal
de Amoles and Peñamiller. Both municipalities are within
the Sierra Gorda region, which has important deposits of
cinnabar; this mineral is considered the main mercury ore
worldwide, because its chemical composition is mercury
sulfide (HgS) metal (Pérez et al., 2013).
Figure 1 Location map of the study area (Modified from
INEGI, 2005; SGM, 2019).
Methodology
The samples used to carry out the risk characterization were taken from the work of Huerta (2020), in
said work the selection of the site was carried out, in situ sampling campaigns as well as exploratory campaigns
and deep ¿?. Later the analysis of samples was completed, in which the total concentration of mercury was
determined by means of atomic absorption spectrometry coupled with generation of hydrides, the concentration
obtained was reported in mg/Kg.
To perform the health risk analysis, we selected three different sites within the state of Querétaro. The
first site is located in Puerta de Cielo and it located far from the mercury exploitation sites. This area was
classified as residential type land since in the area there are cabins of inhabitants of the local population. The
second site is located in the Soledad mine, which is located in the town of San Gaspar. This site was classified as
industrial-type soil since the points were taken within the mercury exploitation zone. Finally, the third site is
located in the Camargo mine, in the community of the same name. This area was classified as land for industrial
use since the area is used to carry out mercury mining work.
For each of the sites, the health risk assessment was carried out and in all cases the same parameters and
the same working conditions were taken, with the exception of land use, which was different for one site to the
others. Cinnabar (HgS) was defined as a contaminant because the area has important deposits of this mineral,
which is the main mercury ore (SGM, 2019). Due to the fact that this compound is classified as non-carcinogenic
according to the SADA software, the Danger Index was defined with a value of 1 and to carry out the
calculations, the UCL95 was taken into account, which has as an upper confidence limit of 95% in the mean
concentration of a normal distribution and is the value recommended by the USEPA (2002). The exposure
parameters used for the calculations, as well as the physicochemical and toxicological data for mercury sulfide.
These data are previously loaded into the software and are taken from the official values of the USEPA. In the
case of this study, only the parameters for residential and industrial land use were used, due to the nature of the
sampling sites described above.

Results

The results of the calculation of health risk in the first

site are shown in Figure 2. In this image it is observed that,
for residential use, by ingestion, the value of the index is
greater than 1 for both adults and children; for the dermal
case, as well as ingestion of vegetables, the risk is also greater
than 1. Therefore, the sum of the risks is greater than 1, which
indicates that exposure to this contaminant is not safe and
therefore may have adverse health effects under the
Figure 2 Results of the Puerta del Cielo risk calculation with the SADA software
conditions evaluated.
In the case of the second site, the results of the risk
calculation are shown in figure 3. For industrial land use
through the ingestion route of exposure, as well as dermal
exposure, the risk is greater than 1, therefore, the sum of the
risks is greater than 1. This indicates that the exposure of this
contaminant under the specific conditions is not safe and can
have serious health consequences for people who work in the
area.
Finally, the results of the risk calculation for site Figure 2 Results of the Soledad mine risk calculation with the SADA software
number three are presented in figure 4. For this case, we
worked in land with industrial use and the results under this
scenario show that there is a health risk through ingestion, as
well as dermal, since the risk value is greater than 1.
Therefore, the sum of risks is greater than 1, which indicates
that exposure to mercury in the area under such conditions
can be detrimental to the health of site workers.
Figure 3 Results of the Camargo mine risk calculation with the SADA software
Conclusions

According to the risk calculations of the SADA software, the concentration of mercury present in soils in
the state of Querétaro is classified as risky, for residential and industrial use scenarios. This was done by
simulating different routes of exposure of which only ingestion, dermal and vegetables were risky. This was
modeled using mercuric sulfide as the contaminant.
The analysis of risk to human health shows an approximation of the conditions to which the people who
work in the area are exposed, as well as the inhabitants of neighboring communities, however, due to the nature
of the data, it is recommended to carry out more studies, specific ones that consider data exclusive to the
problem area in order to have a more complete and precise study.

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