1. Ecotoxicological and health risks associated with sediment-bound polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in peri-urban closed and open coastal lagoons.
- Author
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Duker RQ, Asare NK, Obodai EA, Adjei JK, Acheampong E, and Chuku EO
- Subjects
- Ghana, Risk Assessment, Humans, Ecotoxicology, Ecosystem, Urbanization, Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons analysis, Geologic Sediments chemistry, Water Pollutants, Chemical analysis, Environmental Monitoring
- Abstract
Coastal urbanisation has ramifications for the sustainable development of developing nations. There are often unquantified ecological and health risks associated with urbanisation. Sixteen polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were analysed in surface sediment from three peri-urban coastal lagoons in southern Ghana. We found significant spatial variations of sediment PAHs. These variations were attributed to physiography of the lagoons and diverse anthropogenic activities surrounding them. Total PAHs ranged from 20.81 to 24,801.38 μg/kg (dry weight), underscoring a low to very high pollution level. Diagnostic ratios revealed both pyrogenic and petrogenic origins. Over 50 % of individual PAHs were of moderate ecological risk to benthic organisms, and cancer risk to humans was above the World Health Organisation's recommended safety limit (1 × 10
-6 ). These ecological and health risks should be wake-up call for a more integrated urban planning approach to coastal urbanisation as coastal communities largely depend on natural ecosystems for food and livelihood opportunities., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)- Published
- 2024
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