Potentially toxic elements (PTEs) are known to threat human health due to exposure to contaminated groundwater. Some of these PTEs can lead to long-term carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic health risks. The Estarreja Chemical Complex (ECC), NW Portugal, has had an intense industrial activity since the early 1950s, which lead to high levels of soil and groundwater contamination. Local populations traditionally rely on groundwater for human and agricultural uses. Although rehabilitation measures have been implemented for the last 20 years, groundwater contamination levels remain high for some PTEs, whose concentrations may be several orders of magnitude higher than human consumption. Two groundwater-sampling campaigns were conducted showing the temporal evolution of groundwater quality and allowing for the calculation of non-cancer and cancer risks due to exposure to PTEs by the ECC-surrounding population, considering groundwater ingestion and dermal contact as exposure pathways. Hair and urine PTE contents were collected during of the second sampling groundwater campaign and were used as biomonitoring to validate the exposure of local population to PTEs. The results show that As is the contaminant with highest non-cancer and cancer health risks for the exposed population, presenting high values particularly in Veiros, Beduído and Pardilhó localities. The most groundwater-contaminated areas coincided with the localities in which inhabitants exhibit higher hair and urinary PTE concentrations. Hair samples show high levels of As, Hg and Ni, while urine samples show high levels for Al, As, Cd, Hg, Pb, Ni and Zn are elevated in localities close to the ECC. Urine and hair proved to be suitable to evaluate short- and long-term exposure to PTEs, and are strongly correlated groundwater PTEs concentrations.

中文翻译：

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一种跨学科的方法来评估由于长期暴露在化工厂附近受污染的地下水而造成的人类健康风险

已知由于暴露于受污染的地下水中，潜在的有毒元素（PTE）威胁着人类健康。其中一些PTE可能导致长期的致癌和非致癌健康风险。自1950年代初以来，葡萄牙西北部的Estarreja化学联合厂（ECC）开展了激烈的工业活动，导致土壤和地下水污染水平高。传统上，当地居民将地下水用于人类和农业用途。尽管在过去的20年中已采取了恢复措施，但某些PTE的地下水污染水平仍然很高，其浓度可能比人类消费量高几个数量级。开展了两次地下水采样活动，显示了地下水质量的时间演变，并考虑了由于摄食地下水和皮肤接触而导致的ECC周围人群暴露于PTE所引起的非癌症和癌症风险。在第二次采样地下水运动期间收集了头发和尿液中的PTE，并将其用作生物监测以验证当地居民对PTE的暴露程度。结果表明，对于暴露人群，砷是具有最高非癌症和癌症健康风险的污染物，尤其在威罗斯，贝杜伊多和帕尔迪洛地区具有很高的价值。受地下水污染最严重的地区与居民头发和尿液中PTE浓度较高的地区相吻合。头发样本显示出高水平的砷，汞和镍，而尿液样本显示出高水平的铝，砷，镉，汞，铅，镍和锌在靠近ECC的地方升高。尿液和头发被证明适合评估短期和长期暴露于PTE，并且与地下水PTE浓度密切相关。