Occurrence and Health Risks of Heavy Metals in Drinking Water of Self-Supplied Wells in Northern China

Miao Bai, Can Zhang (), Yuchao Bai, Tianyi Wang, Shaojuan Qu, Hongjuan Qi, Minglu Zhang, Chaohong Tan and Chuanfu Zhang ()
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Miao Bai: Center for Disease Control and Prevention of Chinese PLA, Beijing 100071, China
Can Zhang: Center for Disease Control and Prevention of Chinese PLA, Beijing 100071, China
Yuchao Bai: Center for Disease Control and Prevention of Chinese PLA, Beijing 100071, China
Tianyi Wang: Center for Disease Control and Prevention of Chinese PLA, Beijing 100071, China
Shaojuan Qu: Center for Disease Control and Prevention of Chinese PLA, Beijing 100071, China
Hongjuan Qi: Center for Disease Control and Prevention of Chinese PLA, Beijing 100071, China
Minglu Zhang: Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, Beijing Technology and Business University, Beijing 100048, China
Chaohong Tan: School of Environment and Energy Engineering, Beijing University of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Beijing 102616, China
Chuanfu Zhang: Center for Disease Control and Prevention of Chinese PLA, Beijing 100071, China

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 19, 1-17

Abstract: Self-supplied wells, an important water resource in remote and scattered regions, are commonly deteriorated by environmental pollution and human activity. In this study, 156 self-supplied well-water samples were collected from remote and scattered areas of Inner Mongolia (NMG), Heilongjiang (HLJ), and the suburbs of Beijing (BJ) in Northern China. Twenty-four heavy metals were identified by using the inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) and inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES), and the associated human health risks were assessed by using standards of the US Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA). The concentrations of four heavy metals (As, Fe, Mn, and Tl) in HLJ, one heavy metal (Tl) in BJ, and ten heavy metals (Al, As, B, Cr, Fe, Mn, Mo, Se, Tl, and Zn) in NMG exceeded the limits set by China or the World Health Organization (WHO). The total carcinogenic risk (TCR) and total non-carcinogenic risk (THQ) exceeding set limits mainly occurred in NMG, compared to HLJ and BJ. Moreover, As accounted for 97.87% and 60.06% of the TCR in HLJ and BJ, respectively, while Cr accounted for 70.83% of the TCR in NMG. The TCR caused by Cd in all three areas had a negligible hazard (<10 −4 ). As accounted for 51.11%, 32.96%, and 40.88% of the THQ in HLJ, BJ, and NMG, respectively. According to the results of the principal component analysis, heavy metals in well water from HLJ and NMG mainly originated from mixed natural processes and anthropogenic sources, whereas, in BJ, most heavy metals probably originated from natural sources. In the future, long-term monitoring of heavy metals in water from self-supplied wells should be conducted for an extensive range of well-water sites, and well water with high As contamination should be monitored more and fully assessed before being used as a drinking-water source.

Keywords: self-supplied wells; groundwater; Northern China; heavy metals; health-risk assessment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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