Soil microorganisms are an important indicator of soil fertility and health. However, our state of knowledge about soil microbial activities, community compositions and carbon use patterns under metal contaminations is still poor. This study aimed to evaluate the influences of heavy metals (Cd and Pb) on soil microorganisms by investigating the microbial community composition and carbon use preferences. Metal pollution was approached both singly and jointly with low (25 and 2500 mg kg-1) and high (50 and 5000 mg kg-1) concentrations of Cd and Pb, respectively, in an artificially contaminated soil. In a laboratory incubation experiment, bio-available and potentially bio-available metal concentrations, selected soil properties (pH, electrical conductivity, total organic carbon and total nitrogen), and microbial parameters (microbial activity as basal respiration, microbial biomass carbon (MBC) and microbial functional groups) were determined at two sampling occasions (7 and 49 days). Metal contamination had no effect on the selected soil properties, while it significantly inhibited both microbial activity and MBC formation. Contaminated soils had higher microbial quotient (qCO2), suggesting there was higher energy demand with less microbially immobilized carbon as MBC. Notably, the efficiency of microbial carbon use was repressed as the metal concentration increased, yet no difference was observed between metal types (p > 0.05). Based on the microbial phospholipid fatty acids (PLFA) analysis, total PLFAs decreased significantly under metal stress at the end of incubation. Heavy metals had a greater negative influence on the fungal population than bacteria with respective 5-35 and 8-32% fall in abundances. The contaminant-driven (metal concentrations and types) variation of soil PLFA biomarkers demonstrated that the heavy metals led to the alteration of soil microbial community compositions and their activities, which consequently had an adverse impact on soil microbial carbon immobilization.

This study determined the total and speciated arsenic (As) concentrations and other health-related water quality parameters for unraveling the health risk of As from drinking water to humans. Groundwater samples (n = 62) were collected from three previously unexplored rural areas (Chichawatni, Vehari, Rahim Yar Khan) of Punjab in Pakistan. The mean and median As concentrations in groundwater were 37.9 and 12.7 µg·L⁻¹ (range = 1.5–201 µg·L⁻¹). Fifty three percent groundwater samples showed higher As value than WHO safe limit of 10 µg·L⁻¹. Speciation of As in groundwater samples (n = 13) showed the presence of inorganic As only; arsenite (As(III)) constituted 13%–67% of total As and arsenate (As(V)) ranged from 33% to 100%. For As health risk assessment, the hazard quotient and cancer risk values were 11–18 and 46–600 times higher than the recommended values of US-EPA (i.e., 1.00 and 10⁻⁶, respectively). In addition to As, various water quality parameters (e.g., electrical conductivity, Na, Ca, Cl⁻, NO₃⁻, SO₄²⁻, Fe, Mn, Pb) also enhanced the health risk. The results show that consumption of As-contaminated groundwater poses an emerging health threat to the communities in the study area, and hence needs urgent remedial and management measures.