Human Exposure Estimation of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) Resulting from Bucharest Landfill Leakages

This paper focuses on identifying the human health risks as a result of the presence of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in groundwater due to the Bucharest landfill leakages. The main subjects were neighboring areas as the main receptors. The functional landfill located near the capital of Romania was selected as a case study. Fluorene (Pf), phenanthrene (Phe), anthracene (Ant), fluoranthene (Flu) and pyrene (Pyr) were detected using gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (GC-MS/MS) analysis. The health risks for receptors via ingestion and dermal exposure scenarios were developed considering dermal contact once per day during showering for 20 min and regular ingestion of the groundwater most contaminated with PAHs at a rate of 2 L per day. The concentration ranges of PAHs in groundwater wer <0.0010–0.0037 μg L−1 for Pf, 0.0014–0.0065 μg L−1 for Phe, <0.0010–0.0013 μg L−1 for Ant, <0.0010–0.0011 μg L−1 for Flu, and 0.0030–0.0032 μg L−1 for Pyr. The rest of the PAHs were under the limit of detection. Both the cumulative hazard and risk quotient are well below the value of 1, which indicates a significant low risk for the ingestion of PAH-contaminated groundwater. However, the risk due to daily groundwater consumption and skin contact is minimal.