Deciphering the origin of Cu, Pb and Zn contamination in school dust and soil of Dhaka, a megacity in Bangladesh

In recent decades, anthropogenic activities have resulted in road dust and roadside soil hosted metal(oid)s pollution in the urban environment. In the South-Asian megacity "Dhaka", schools are situated in the areas with high population density and high traffic emissions. As the school-going children are the most vulnerable receptor, school premises in Dhaka city represent an important yet overlooked exposure point to contaminated dust and soil. Therefore, the present study investigated the metal(oid)s (Cu, Pb, Zn and As) pollution in dust and soil at school compounds, explored their possible sources and estimated the associated human health risk. This study revealed that dust contained higher concentration of metal(oid)s than soil, and the Azimpur Govt. Girls School & College was identified as the…