Developing a model for risk assessment of arsenic exposure in agricultural regions of Europe

Abstract: Arsenic (As) exposure is a cause of growing global concern. Exposure to As leads to various problems and can be fatal as well. Exposure to arsenic can be due to contact with various components of the environment that are contaminated by As. To remediate the effects of As, it is important to understand how this exposure occurs, and which parameters need to be taken into account for remediation. To do this, it is important to understand the extent and nature of exposure. This can be done through exposure modelling.The aim of this Master thesis is to develop an exposure model to perform risk assessment of As exposure in agricultural lands of Europe. The exposure model was developed in collaboration with KTH Royal Institute of Technology and Kemakta Konsult AB. The research is part of the European Union project AgriAs, ‘Evaluation and Management of Arsenic Contamination in Agricultural Soil and Water’ with six participating organizations from Finland, Germany, France and Sweden. Two target sites were chosen to perform a risk assessment using the developed model. The target sites were Freiberg, Saxony, Germany and Verdun, France. This is a preliminary model to practice the methodology. The final AgriAs model will be compiled together with the AgriAs Consortium and published jointly by all partners involved.The model was developed based on the identified exposure pathways of human exposure to As in agricultural regions, the different types of site-input data, and model-specific parameters. The identified exposure pathways are inhalation of dust, intake of As contaminated food stuff, ingestion of As contaminated water, accidental ingestion of soil, and dermal contact. The exposure model was developed as an equilibrium model, and the pathway equations were based on site-concentration and equilibrium transfer factors. The model was tested and validated by comparing with the Swedish Guideline model. The model was tested for sensitivity to the input parameter values as well. The validated model was then used to perform a Risk Assessment on the two target sites of Germany and France. Recommendations on further development of the model, and data collection required to make the model produce more site-specific results were also given.Keywords: Arsenic, Exposure model, Model development, Risk assessment, Agricultural lands, EuropeNote: Some parts have been removed from the public version of this master thesis until 2019, and the full research will be published by AgriAs in 2019.