Heavy Metals and Related Human Health Risk Assessment for River Waters in the Issyk−Kul Basin, Kyrgyzstan, Central Asia

Wen Liu, Long Ma, Yaoming Li, Jilili Abuduwaili and Salamat Abdyzhapar Uulu
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Wen Liu: State Key Laboratory of Desert and Oasis Ecology, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi 830011, China
Long Ma: State Key Laboratory of Desert and Oasis Ecology, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi 830011, China
Yaoming Li: State Key Laboratory of Desert and Oasis Ecology, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi 830011, China
Jilili Abuduwaili: State Key Laboratory of Desert and Oasis Ecology, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi 830011, China
Salamat Abdyzhapar Uulu: Research Center for Ecology and Environment of Central Asia, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi 830011, China

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 10, 1-13

Abstract: The water resources of Central Asia play an important role in maintaining the fragile balance of ecosystems and the sustainable development of human society. However, the lack of research on the heavy metals in river waters has a far−reaching influence on public health and the sustainable development in Central Asia. In order to reveal the possible sources of the heavy metals and to assess the associated human health risks, thirty−eight water samples were collected from the rivers of the Issyk−Kul Basin during the period with low river flow (May) and the period with high river flow (July and August), and the hydrochemical compositions and major ions of heavy metals were analyzed. No changes in hydrochemical facies were observed between the two periods and the river water type was calcium bicarbonate. Carbonate dissolution and silicate weathering controlled the variation of cations and anions in river waters from the Issyk−Kul Basin. There were some differences in the sources of heavy metals in water bodies between the two periods. During the period with low river flow, heavy metals (Cr) were closely clustered with major ions, indicating that they were mainly affected by water–rock interactions. During the period with high river flow, all heavy metals studied in this paper had different sources of major ions, and the heavy metals maybe influenced by human activities. From the human health risk assessment, the hazard quotients for all samples were less than 1, reflecting that there was no noncarcinogenic risk in the river waters of the Issyk−Kul Basin during the two sampling periods. However, the water samples with carcinogenic risk of arsenic exceeding the threshold (10 −4 ) accounted for 21.1% of the total, indicating that there were some certain carcinogenic hazards for human health via water drinking with direct oral ingestion. The results are of certain significance for the utilization and protection of water resources in the basin as well as the protection of public health.

Keywords: heavy metals; human health risk; river waters; Issyk−Kul Basin; Central Asia (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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