Deterministic and probabilistic human health risk assessment approach of exposure to heavy metals in drinking water sources: A case study of a semi-arid region in the west of Iran

Abstract

In the current study, the concentration of heavy metals (Ba, Mn, Pb, and Cd) in drinking water resources of 328 villages in Hamadan Province were measured using ICP-OES apparatus during two dry (September 2018) and wet (April 2019) seasons. The assessment of the non-carcinogenic risk of selected heavy metals was conducted based on the recommendations of the USEPA. Also, sensitivity analysis and uncertainty of the effective variables were performed using Monte-Carlo simulations. Based on the results, Mn level in drinking water samples ranged 0.08-25.63 μg/L and 0.08-20.03 μg/L in dry and wet seasons, respectively. Similarly, Ba levels in water samples ranged 0.15-70.13 μg/L and 0.84-65 μg/L. Also, Cd and Pb concentrations in all sampling sites were below the limits of detection (LOD) of the ICP-OES apparatus. The hazard index (HI) values for adult and children were 2.17 × 10 −3 and 3.29 × 10 −3 , respectively, which show a lack of non-carcinogenic risk for the examined heavy metals (Mn and Ba) to the local inhabitants. The results of the sensitivity analyses for adults and children revealed that two variables including metal concentration and ingestion rate of drinking water (IR) had the highest positive effects on the noncarcinogenic risk estimates. It was also found that there was no significant non-carcinogenic risk for the local residents in the studied area due to drinking water consumption.

Application of fingernail samples as a biomarker for human exposure to arsenic-contaminated drinking waters

“…To achieve the precision of data, the arsenic levels in groundwater, fingernails, standard solutions (standard solution Fluka-51844, Sigma–Aldrich, Switzerland), and blank samples were examined in triplicate. In all repeated measurements, a relative standard deviation of 5–10% was achieved during the experiments 3 , 24 . Furthermore, to further verify the results, no human fingernail-certified reference material was available for comparison.…”