Health risk assessment of groundwater pollution—A case study of typical city in North China plain

• DOI: 10.1007/s12583-012-0260-7
• Publication Date: 2012-06-03T09:15:33Z
• Authors: Mei Yang; Yuhong Fei; Yiwen Ju; Zhen Ma; Huaqi Li
• Keywords: Health Risk Assessment

This article presents an application of assessing human health risk in typical city of North China plain. Combined with water quality and multi-element analysis, Pb, Cd, Cr6+, Mn, NO3−, F−, and As in groundwater samples were chosen to be used for human health risk assessment of drinking water pathway and dermal contact pathway, and results show a good effect. Results indicate that (1) poor water quality is caused by salinity and hardness overstandard; (2) in noncarcinogenic risk, samples that do not pose noncarcinogenic risk only account for 28.46%; in carcinogenic risk, samples that do not pose carcinogenic risk account for 73.08%; (3) the noncarcinogenic risk in the study area decreased in the following order: NO3−>Mn>As>F−>Cr6+>Cd>Pb and the carcinogenic risk of the study area decreased in the following order: As>Cd=NO3−=Mn=F−=Cr6+=Cd=Pb=0, because the slop factors were not available for the other pollutants, except for As; and (4) in terms of whole study area, the main contribute order of drinking water pathway and dermal contact pathway in human body is drinking water pathway>dermal contact pathway.