Human Health Risk Assessment of Heavy Metals from Bhalaswa Landfill, New Delhi, India - Management of Natural Resources in a Changing Environment - page 213

Conclusions
This study conducted qualitative and quantitative assessments of probable health
risks from the heavy metals to residents near the Bhalaswa landfill. Human expo-
sure to two metals (lead and zinc) through drinking subsurface water was consid-
ered and published data were used to estimate risks during exposures of lead and
zinc metals. Initial estimation showed that zinc concentration was within the accept-
able limits and thus it was not included in the systematic risk assessment. However,
lead concentrations were higher than the permissible limits and hence included in
the exposure assessment. Cancer risks for lead acetate and lead sub-acetate were
found to be 1.742 × 10 −4 and 2.364 × 10 −5 , respectively, exceeding the USEPA guide-
line for annual incremental risk of cancer (i.e., 10 −6 ). The hazard quotient for non-
carcinogenic risk was found to be 5.3, indicating potential risks to residential
population. Using this information, zoning of area in these incremental risk-zones
was proposed for risk management and public communication. It is important to
note here that findings of this preliminary study depends on data reported in the
Bhalaswa Lok Shakti Manch and thus further more data are required to reach con-
clusive results.
Acknowledgements The authors would like to thank the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi for
supporting this study.
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