Groundwater quality and the potentiality in health risk assessment in Zhengzhou, China
Keywords:
water quality index, non-carcinogenic effect, carcinogenic effectAbstract
Groundwater quality and suitability for drinking purposes in Zhengzhou City were investigated. A total of 30 water samples from 15 major monitoring wells were collected in January (dry season) and July (wet season), 2009. Seven common physicochemical (pH, permanganate index, ammonia, chloride, sulfate, hardness and the total dissolved solids) and 11 toxicological parameters (fluorine, nitrate, Zn, Fe, Mn, Cu, Cd, Pb, Se, Cr (VI) and As) were analyzed. Human health risk assessment for pollutants and water quality index for drinking purposes were also evaluated. The results showed that 6.7% of groundwater samples were considered as permissible for drinking and others as desirable; concentrations of chromium (VI) at site 14 and 15 were lower than the risk-based concentration associated non-carcinogenic effects (0.11 mg l−1), while higher than the standard associated carcinogenic effects (4.5E-5 mg l−1). The carcinogenic risk was 3.75E-6 at site 14 and 4.55E-6 at site 15, which indicated that the risks at both sites were serious. The uncontrolled consumption of poor quality groundwater may be dangerous for local human health. Concentrations of other elements were not detected nor found to be exceeding the highest acceptable limit of World Health Organization. Water quality index indicated that the quality of all the groundwater samples collected was excellent during both dry and wet seasons. Lower water quality indices during the wet season indicated a better quality of the groundwater than the dry season, and the main reasons were external input following seasonal rainfall events and evaporation. Significant variation of water chemistry strongly expressed the impact of surface contamination sources, overexploitation and mineral dissolution.
References
Adekunle, I. M., Adetunji, M. T., Gbadebo, A. M. and Banjoko, O. B. 2007. Assessment of groundwater quality in a typical rural settlement in Southwest Nigeria. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health, 4: 307–318.
Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR). 2008. ToxFAQs for Chromium. Obtained through the Internet: http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/toxfaqs/tf.asp?id=61&tid=17 [Assessed 5/9/2008]
Avvannavar, S. M. and Shrihari, S. 2008. Evaluation of water quality index for drinking purposes for river Netravathi, Mangalore, South India. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, 143: 279–290.
Batayneh, A. T. 2010. Heavy metals in water springs of the Yarmouk Basin, North Jordan and their potentiality in health risk assessment. Internatioal Journal of the Physical Sciences, 5: 997–1003.
Bettencourt, L. and West, G. 2010. A unified theory of urban living. Nature, 467: 912–913.
Chen, L., Chen, M. and Feng, H. 2008. Water source quality evaluation based on health risk assessment. Shui li Xue bao, 39: 235–239. In Chinese
Davies, S. N. and DeWiest, R. J.M. 1966. Hydrogeology, New York: John Wiley and Sons.
De Miguel, E., Iribarren, I., Chacon, E., Ordonez, A. and Charlesworth, S. 2007. Risk-based evaluation of the exposure of children to trace elements in playgrounds in Madrid (Spain). Chemosphere, 66: 505–513.
Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS). 2006. Integrated Risk Information System. http://www.epa.gov/iris/subst (Accessed 6/6/2010)
Jafari, J., Khorasani, N. and Danehkar, A. 2010. Ecological risk assessment of lead (Pb) after waste disposal from metallurgical industries. Research Journal of environmental and earth sciences, 2: 139–145.
Jiang, T., Yang, Z., Huang, Z., Shi, J. and Cai, L. 2010. Tendency and mechanism analysis of total hardness in shallow groundwater in the suburb of Beijing. Hydrogeology and engineering geology, 37: 33–37. In Chinese
Kim, Y., King, J. and Kim, K. 2010. Geochemical characteristics of fluriode in groundwater of Gimcheon, Korea: lithogenic and agricultural origins. Environ Earth Sci., doi:10.1007/s12665-010-0789-7
Ma, J., Ding, Z., Wei, G., Zhao, H. and Huang, T. 2009. Sources of water pollution and evolution of water quality in the Wuwei basin of Shiyang River, Northwest China. Journal of Environmental Management, 90: 1168–1177.
Marghade, D., Malpe, D. B. and Zade, A. B. 2011. Geochemical characterization of groundwater from northeastern part of Nagpur urban, Central India’,. Environ. Earth Sci., 62: 1419–1430.
Mayer, P. 2010. Urban ecosystems research joins mainstream ecology. Nature, 467: 153
Ministry of Environmental Protection of China (MEPPRC). 2002. Standard methods for water and wastewater monitoring and analysis (4th ed.), Beijing, China: China Environment Science Press. In Chinese
Ministry of Health. 2007. Yearbook of Chinese health statistics, Beijing, China: People's Health Press. In Chinese
Nagarajan, R., Rajmohan, N., Mahendran, U. and Senthamilkumar, S. 2010. Evaluation of groundwater quality and its suitability for drinking and agricultural use in Thanjavur city, Tamil Nadu, India. Environ. Monit. Assess., 171: 289–308.
Nosrati, K. and Van Den Eeckhaut, M. 2011. Assessment of groundwater quality using multivariate statistical techniques in Hashtgerd Plain, Iran. Environ. Earth Sci., doi:10.1007/s-12665-011-1092-y
Patrick, D. R. 1994. Risk assessment and risk management. In: Patrick, D.R. (Ed.), Toxic Air Pollution Handbook, New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold.
Qiu, J. 2010. China faces up to groundwater crisis: Researchers call for effective monitoring and management of water resources. Nature, 466: 308
Rajankar, P. N., Tambekar, D. H. and Wate, S. R. 2010. Groundwater quality and water quality index at Bhandara District’,. Environ. Monit. Assess., doi:10.1007/s10661-010-1767-y
Shrivastava, V. S. and Patil, P. R. 2002. Tapti river water pollution by industrial wastes: A statistical approach. Nature, Environment and Pollution Technology, 1: 279–283.
Stamatis, G., Alexakis, D., Gamvroula, D. and Migiros, G. 2011. Groundwater quality assessment in Oropos–Kalamos basin, Attica, Greece. Environ. Earth Sci., doi:DOI 10.1007/s12665- 011-0914-2
Sun, R., Jin, M., Gioradano, M. and Villholth, K. G. 2009. Urban and rural groundwater use in Zhengzhou, China: challenges in joint management. Hydrogeology Journal, 17: 1495–1506.
Thompson, T., Fawell, J., Kunikane, S., Jackson, D., Appleyard, S., Callan, P., Bartram, J. and Kingston, P. 2007. Chemical safety of drinking-water: Assessing priorities for risk management, Geneva: World Health Organization.
United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA). 1999. Guidance for performing aggregate exposure and risk assessments, Washington, DC: US Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Pesticide Programs.
United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA). 2010. Risk-Based concentration table. http://www.epa.gov/reg3hwmd/risk/human/rb-concentration_table/Generic_Tables/index.htm [Accessed 6/5/2010]
United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA). 2012. Basic Information about Chromium in Drinking Water. http://water.epa.gov/drink/contaminants/basicinformation/chromium.cfm [Accessed March 2012]
Vasanthavigar, M., Srinivasamoorthy, K., Vijayaragavan, K., Rajiv Ganthi, R., Chidambaram, S., Anandhan, P., Manivannan, R. and Vasudevan, S. 2010. Application of water quality index for groundwater quality assessment: Thirumanimuttar sub-basin, Tamilnadu, India. Environ. Monit. Assess., 171: 595–609.
Wang, Z., Chai, L., Wang, Y., Yang, Z., Wang, H. and Wu, X. 2010. Potential health risk of arsenic and cadmium in groundwater near Xiangjiang River, China: a case study for risk assessment and management of toxic substances. Environ. Monit. Assess., doi:10.1007/s10661-010-1503-7
Wei, S., Lau, R. K.F., Fung, C. N., Zheng, G. J., Lam, J. C.W., Connell, D. W., Fang, Z., Richardson, B. J. and Lam, P. K.S. 2006. Trace organic contamination in biota collected from the Pearl River Estuary, China: a preliminary risk assessment. Mar. Pollut. Bull., 52: 1682–1694.
World Health Organization (WHO). 2008. Guidelines for drinking-water quality, recommendations , (3nd ed.)., Geneva: World Health Organization.
Wu, B., Zhang, X., Zhang, X., Yasun, A., Zhang, Y., Zhao, D., Ford, T. and Cheng, S. 2009. Semi-volatile reganic compounds and trace elements in the Yangtze River source of drinking water. Ecotoxicology, 18: 707–714.
Yidana, S. M., Yidana and 2010, A. Assessing water quality using water quality index and multivariate analysis. Environ. Earth Sci., 591461–1473.
Zhang, B., Hong, M., Zhao, Y., Lin, X., Zhang, X. and Dong, J. 2003. Distribution and risk assessment of fluoride in drinking water in the west plain region of Jilin province, China. Environmental Geochemistry and Health, 25: 421–431.
Zhang, Y., Yang, J., Liu, Y., Wei, J., Zhao, M., Li, X., Li, K., Li, W. and Zhai, G. 2007. Epidemiological investigation of endemic fluorosis in Zhengzhou. Xian Dai Yu Fang Yi Xue., 19: 172–173. In Chinese
Published
Issue
Section
License
Manuscripts must be original. They must not be published or be under consideration for publication elsewhere, in whole or in part. It is required that the lead author of accepted papers complete and sign the MSU Press AEHM Author Publishing Agreement and provide it to the publisher upon acceptance.
