Impact of oil well drilling activities on vanadium in soil, ground water, vegetables, fruits, and feed crops: a risk assessment

The global use of petroleum hydrocarbons for the production of various type of energy has been increased, with an extensive release of contaminants into the environment, affecting the soil, groundwater and vegetation. The dispersal of vanadium (V) was evaluated in the soil, vegetables, fruits and animal feeds samples cultivated in agriculture field dressing with waste soil/mud produced during drilling of oil well, termed as test samples. Similar environmental, vegetables and animal feed samples cultivated in agricultural land devoid of any mining and industrial activities were chosen as the controls. The total and bioavailable forms of V were determined in both test and control soils samples. The V in soil, vegetable, grass and fruit was determined by inductive couple plasma omission spectrometry, after acid digestion. The resulted data indicated that the test soil samples have two to three fold higher V than control samples. The results indicated that the concentration of V in test crops was > 2.0 µg/g (optimal recommended limit). The animal feed grown on exposed soil contained V about three folds higher than control samples. The risk was assessed by estimation of daily intake of V via consuming ground water, vegetable and fruit obtained from exposed agricultural land. Graphical abstract