Humans, animals, and plants need copper for growth and development, but it can be an irritant to humans. The daily maximum limit of copper for humans is 10-12 µg day-1 and excess concentrations of copper can cause nausea, diarrhea, and anorexia. In plants, excess copper concentrations cause chlorosis, stunted growth, and denaturing of macromolecules. Only 10 mg kg-1 of copper can be accumulated by plants. The maximum allowable concentration in agricultural soils is 6.6 mg kg-1. The concentration of copper in drinking water should not exceed 1 mg L-1. When copper concentrations exceed an action level of 1.3 ppm in more than 10% of customer taps sampled, several additional controlling measures must be undertaken. In waste, the allowable concentration is 16 mg kg-1. The hypothesis of the study was that copper would be found in the vegetables grown from the agricultural soils. Cabbage, green pepper, spinach, and tomato were grown for thirteen weeks. The soil and vegetables were digested, and the copper concentrations were measured using an Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy (AAS). The highest total and extractable copper concentrations found in the soil were 73 mg kg-1 and 26 mg kg-1, respectively. More than 20 and 32 mg kg-1 of copper was found in the shoot and roots of the vegetables, respectively. More than 11 mg L-1 of copper was found in the tap water. The results indicated that the copper concentrations from the soil, water, and vegetables exceeded the allowable concentrations.
| Published in | American Journal of Environmental Protection (Volume 12, Issue 1) |
| DOI | 10.11648/j.ajep.20231201.13 |
| Page(s) | 18-22 |
| Creative Commons |
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited. |
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Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group |
Copper, Vegetables, Tap Water, Extractable, Lugelweni, Soil
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APA Style
Hlalanathi Gwanya, Jennifer Laifa. (2023). Copper Concentrations Found from Drinking Water, Soils, and Vegetables. American Journal of Environmental Protection, 12(1), 18-22. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajep.20231201.13
ACS Style
Hlalanathi Gwanya; Jennifer Laifa. Copper Concentrations Found from Drinking Water, Soils, and Vegetables. Am. J. Environ. Prot. 2023, 12(1), 18-22. doi: 10.11648/j.ajep.20231201.13
AMA Style
Hlalanathi Gwanya, Jennifer Laifa. Copper Concentrations Found from Drinking Water, Soils, and Vegetables. Am J Environ Prot. 2023;12(1):18-22. doi: 10.11648/j.ajep.20231201.13
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Download@article{10.11648/j.ajep.20231201.13,
author = {Hlalanathi Gwanya and Jennifer Laifa},
title = {Copper Concentrations Found from Drinking Water, Soils, and Vegetables},
journal = {American Journal of Environmental Protection},
volume = {12},
number = {1},
pages = {18-22},
doi = {10.11648/j.ajep.20231201.13},
url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajep.20231201.13},
eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ajep.20231201.13},
abstract = {Humans, animals, and plants need copper for growth and development, but it can be an irritant to humans. The daily maximum limit of copper for humans is 10-12 µg day-1 and excess concentrations of copper can cause nausea, diarrhea, and anorexia. In plants, excess copper concentrations cause chlorosis, stunted growth, and denaturing of macromolecules. Only 10 mg kg-1 of copper can be accumulated by plants. The maximum allowable concentration in agricultural soils is 6.6 mg kg-1. The concentration of copper in drinking water should not exceed 1 mg L-1. When copper concentrations exceed an action level of 1.3 ppm in more than 10% of customer taps sampled, several additional controlling measures must be undertaken. In waste, the allowable concentration is 16 mg kg-1. The hypothesis of the study was that copper would be found in the vegetables grown from the agricultural soils. Cabbage, green pepper, spinach, and tomato were grown for thirteen weeks. The soil and vegetables were digested, and the copper concentrations were measured using an Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy (AAS). The highest total and extractable copper concentrations found in the soil were 73 mg kg-1 and 26 mg kg-1, respectively. More than 20 and 32 mg kg-1 of copper was found in the shoot and roots of the vegetables, respectively. More than 11 mg L-1 of copper was found in the tap water. The results indicated that the copper concentrations from the soil, water, and vegetables exceeded the allowable concentrations.},
year = {2023}
}
TY - JOUR T1 - Copper Concentrations Found from Drinking Water, Soils, and Vegetables AU - Hlalanathi Gwanya AU - Jennifer Laifa Y1 - 2023/02/14 PY - 2023 N1 - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajep.20231201.13 DO - 10.11648/j.ajep.20231201.13 T2 - American Journal of Environmental Protection JF - American Journal of Environmental Protection JO - American Journal of Environmental Protection SP - 18 EP - 22 PB - Science Publishing Group SN - 2328-5699 UR - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajep.20231201.13 AB - Humans, animals, and plants need copper for growth and development, but it can be an irritant to humans. The daily maximum limit of copper for humans is 10-12 µg day-1 and excess concentrations of copper can cause nausea, diarrhea, and anorexia. In plants, excess copper concentrations cause chlorosis, stunted growth, and denaturing of macromolecules. Only 10 mg kg-1 of copper can be accumulated by plants. The maximum allowable concentration in agricultural soils is 6.6 mg kg-1. The concentration of copper in drinking water should not exceed 1 mg L-1. When copper concentrations exceed an action level of 1.3 ppm in more than 10% of customer taps sampled, several additional controlling measures must be undertaken. In waste, the allowable concentration is 16 mg kg-1. The hypothesis of the study was that copper would be found in the vegetables grown from the agricultural soils. Cabbage, green pepper, spinach, and tomato were grown for thirteen weeks. The soil and vegetables were digested, and the copper concentrations were measured using an Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy (AAS). The highest total and extractable copper concentrations found in the soil were 73 mg kg-1 and 26 mg kg-1, respectively. More than 20 and 32 mg kg-1 of copper was found in the shoot and roots of the vegetables, respectively. More than 11 mg L-1 of copper was found in the tap water. The results indicated that the copper concentrations from the soil, water, and vegetables exceeded the allowable concentrations. VL - 12 IS - 1 ER -
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