IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v14y2022i3p1525-d736678.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Ecological-Health Risks of Potentially Toxic Metals in Mangrove Sediments near Estuaries after Years of Piggery Farming Bans in Peninsular Malaysia

Author

Listed:
  • Chee Kong Yap

    (Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), Serdang 43400, Selangor, Malaysia)

  • Khalid Awadh Al-Mutairi

    (Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, University of Tabuk, Tabuk P.O. Box 741, Saudi Arabia)

Abstract

The Sepang Besar River (SBR) was reported to be highly contaminated with Cu and Zn due to piggery farming wastes before 1998. Following the piggery farming ban (PFB) in 1998 in Bukit Pelanduk, the present study aimed to assess the ecological-health risks of potentially toxic metals (PTMs) (Cu, Pb, and Zn) in the mangrove surface sediments from SBR. Two adjacent rivers, namely the Sepang Kecil River and Lukut River, were also included for comparison purposes. The PTMs of present sediment samples collected in 2007 and 2010 were compared with those reported before and after PFB. The PTMs levels were lower than those of established sediment quality guidelines. Results of bioavailable fractions, individual contamination factor, risk assessment code, potentially ecological risk index (PERI), and non-carcinogenic risk (with HI < 1.0 based on the pathways of Cu, Pb, and Zn and the order: ingestion > dermal contact > inhalation), the present findings indicated that the three rivers had caused no ecological-health risks of Cu, Pb, and Zn. In particular, SBR estuary had drastic lower levels of Zn (7.48–9.40 times lower between 1998 and 2010) and Cu (8.30–36.9 times lower between 1998 and 2010), after 12 years of PFB. Based on the exponential decay model, the PERI values showed that the estuary of SBR has been improved from a “considerable ecological risk” to a “minimal ecological risk” after 12 years of PFB. This is the first paper on the ecological-health risks of Cu, Pb, and Zn in the estuary of SBR. Future monitoring is still necessary for effective risk management of the mangrove ecosystem at SBR.

Suggested Citation

  • Chee Kong Yap & Khalid Awadh Al-Mutairi, 2022. "Ecological-Health Risks of Potentially Toxic Metals in Mangrove Sediments near Estuaries after Years of Piggery Farming Bans in Peninsular Malaysia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(3), pages 1-21, January.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:3:p:1525-:d:736678
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/3/1525/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/3/1525/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:3:p:1525-:d:736678. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.