Assessment of environmental arsenic levels in Prievidza district

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Abstract
A coal-burning power station in the Nitra Valley in central Slovakia annually emitted large quantities of arsenic (up to 200 tonnes) between 1953 and 1989. Since then, pollution-control measures have reduced arsenic emissions to less than 2 tonnes a year. However, the power station was still a source of airborne arsenic pollution. As part of an EU-funded study on exposure to arsenic and cancer risk in central and Eastern Europe we carried out a study of environmental levels of arsenic in the homes and gardens of residents of the district. Garden soil samples (n=210), house dust samples (n=210) and composite house dust samples (n=109) were collected and analysed using inductively coupled plasma atomic absorption spectroscopy (ICP-AES) at Imperial College. The mean arsenic content of coal and ash in samples taken from the plant was 519 μg/g (n=19) and 863 μg/g (n=22), respectively. The geometric mean (GM) arsenic concentration of garden soils was 26 μg/g (range 8.8–139.0 μg/g), for house dust 11.6 μg/g (range 2.1–170 μg/g) and for composite house dust 9.4 μg/g (range 2.3–61.5 μg/g). The correlation between the arsenic levels in soil and in house dust was 0.3 (PP<0.01 for both), i.e., were moderate. Arsenic levels in both house dust and soil decreased with distance from the power station. Overall, levels in both fell by half 5 km from the point source. Weak correlations were seen between the total urinary arsenic concentrations and arsenic concentrations in composite house dust.
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