Investigation of Heavy Metals Pollution and Assessment the Risk of Apple Fruit Consumption (Case Study: Ayeneh Varazan Damavand Area)

The main purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of sewage discharge from the industrial town on apple orchards in the Ayneh Varzan area of Damavand. The wells water of the region was sampled monthly in two seasons of summer and autumn 2018 and a total of 36 water samples were taken. For apple sampling, ,10 stations in the region were considered and 30 apple samples were harvested. To prepare apple samples, after drying, digestion was performed using nitric acid and hydrogen peroxide in a ratio of 3:1 and 80 ° C. The concentrations of heavy metals lead, cadmium and chromium in solutions were determined by atomic absorption spectrometry. The total mean concentrations of metals in all water samples in the region were lead, cadmium and chromium respectively, 1.609, 1.290 and 2.768 mg / l. Results show chromium and cadmium, higher and Lead is lower than irrigation water standard of Iran. The mean of lead, cadmium and chromium in apple samples were 0.192, 0.261 and 0.156 μg / g, respectively. The average concentration of chromium and cadmium were higher than national standard of Iran. Cadmium concentration in samples obtained more than standard of the World Health Organization. To assess the risk of apple consumption, DI (daily metal uptake) and risk index (HQ) were calculated. The HQ risk index for lead, cadmium, chromium was 0.9914, 0.9990 and 1.009, respectively.