Correction: Occurrence and spatial distribution of heavy metals in landfill leachates and impacted freshwater ecosystem: An environmental and human health threat.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0263279.].

Occurrence and spatial distribution of heavy metals in landfill leachates and impacted freshwater ecosystem: An environmental and human health threat.

Municipal landfill leachates are a source of toxic heavy metals that have been shown to have a detrimental effect on human health and the environment. This study aimed to assess heavy metal contamination in leachates, surface water, and sediments from non-sanitary landfills in Uyo, Nigeria, and to identify potential health and environmental effects of leachate contamination. Over the wet and dry seasons, surface water and sediment samples were collected from an impacted freshwater ecosystem, and leachates samples from six monitoring wells. Elemental analyses of samples were conducted following standard analytical procedures and methods. The results indicated that leachate, surface water, and sediment samples all had elevated levels of heavy metals, implying a significant impact from landfills. Pollution indices such as the potential ecological risk index (PERI), pollution load index (PLI), degree of contamination (Cd), modified degree of contamination (mCd), enrichment factor (EF), geoaccumulation index (Igeo), and Nemerov pollution index (NPI) were used to assess the ecological impacts of landfill leachates. The following values were derived: PERI (29.09), PLI (1.96E-07), Cd (0.13), mCd (0.16), EF (0.97-1.79E-03), Igeo (0), and NPI (0.74). Pollution indicators suggested that the sediment samples were low to moderately polluted by chemical contaminants from the non-sanitary landfills, and may pose negative risks due to bioaccumulation. Human health risks were also assessed using standard risk models. For adults, children, and kids, the incremental lifetime cancer rate (ILCR) values were within the acceptable range of 1.00E-06-1.00E-04. The lifetime carcinogenicity risks associated with oral ingestion exposure to heavy metals were 9.09E-05, 1.21E-05, and 3.60 E-05 for kids, adults, and children, respectively. The mean cumulative risk values for dermal exposures were 3.24E-07, 1.89E-06, and 1.17E-05 for adults, children, and kids, respectively. These findings emphasized the risks of human and biota exposure to contaminants from landfills.

Micronutrient dynamics in some wetland soils of south-eastern Nigeria.

The inventory of profile distribution of total iron (Fe), zinc (Zn), manganese(Mn) and copper(Cu) were determined in three different soil horizons each of the wetland soils selected form Mbiabet(MB), Nkari (NK) and Nkana(NA) in Ini Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State. Total Fe ranged between 3.25 and 4.15 ppm. The average contents were 3.72, 3.91 and 3.62 ppm in Mbiabet(MB), Nkari(NK) and Nkana(NA) soils respectively. The total value of Zn also ranged between 2.4 and 4.9 ppm with the average content in each soil being 28.27, 17.73 and 36.53 ppm respectively. The amount of Fe and Zn in these soil profiles were strongly correlated with the clay content and high levels of organic matter of 3.70%, 2.47% and 2.5% respectively. The content clearly reflected a poor drainage conditions. In all the soil profiles Mn and Cu were detected in at least one of the soil horizons. However, Mn and Cu were not detected in the soil horizons at Nkari. Generally, the relative inventory of these micronutrients appeared to be influenced by pH, drainage pattern, organic matter and clay contents of these soils. The inventory of total values of the wetland soils considered are assessed in the light of establishing a baseline information.