Status, Source and Environmental Pollution Assessment of Some Heavy Metals in Street Dust of Dezful City

Heavy metals in street dust, as one of the most important environmental consequences of human activities, have attracted many researchers' attention in recent years due to their toxicity and sustainability. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the hazard of heavy metals (lead, zinc, copper, chrome, cadmium, nickel, vanadium, arsenic and cobalt) on human health in street dust in Dezful. To this end, 30 dust samples collected from sidewalks of main streets of Dezful were analyzed by Atomic Absorption (AAS). The level of heavy metals pollution was estimated based on the pollution index and Nemro Integrated Pollution Index. Moreover, the spatial pattern of the concentrations of metals in street dust was prepared in GIS. The average concentrations of heavy metals in Pb, Zn, Cu, Cr, Cd, Ni, V, As and Co were 54.2, 223.6, 50.6, 44.4, 0.4, 45.8, 37.8, 3.3 and 7.6 (mg/kg), respectively. The average concentration of all heavy metals except As, V and Co in the samples of dust in the city of Dezful was several times higher than that of the background one. Based on the average EF and PI in the target area, heavy metals of Zn and Pb have high contamination. Based on the evaluation of NIPI, 100% of samples have high degree of contamination. The results showed that the source of pollution of the studied metals such as urban transport and burning of fossil fuels was anthropogenic.