Mercury risk assessment scenarios: exposure from fish dietary behaviors of Katingan River Basin community

Abstract

Katingan River has been contaminated by mercury from ASGM activities since the early 2000s. This study aims to assess the risk of mercury exposure from Katingan fish consumption and analyze relationships between exposure variables. We proposed two risk assessment scenarios based on mercury analysis of 74 fish samples and fish consumption questionnaire. The risk assessment result revealed that estimated daily intakes (EDIs) of Scenario 2 were generally 3–4 times higher than Scenario 1. The statistical test results showed significant differences (p < 0.05) in EDI values between scenarios, indicating that variations in fish consumption influenced the mercury intake. Three different health reference-based values (HRVs) were applied in estimating the hazard quotient (HQ) and it influenced the HQ results (p < 0.05), for both scenarios. The relationship analysis between variables presented a strong non-linear correlation between EDI and hair mercury level for both scenarios, but a weak relationship between age and hair mercury level.