Influence of Water Treatment and Wastewater Treatment on the Changes in Residues of Important Elements in Drinking Water

Abstract

Drinking water is the essential medium for food production, and is also needed for direct consumption; while it must be free of harmful substances, it also must have a composition that is beneficial to health. The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of water and wastewater treatment on reducing the concentrations of zinc (Zn), nickel (Ni), iron (Fe), manganese (Mn), copper (Cu), lead (Pb), and arsenic (As) in the Western Pomerania Voivodeship in Poland. The research was carried out in 2017–2019. The analysis was performed with inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrophotometry (ICP-AES). The concentrations of trace elements in drinking water were below maximum acceptable concentrations (MACs). Reductions in the most dangerous elements during water treatment fluctuated from 48.5% (As) to 97% (Pb). Wastewater treatment reduced the concentrations of analyzed elements by a range of 28.6 to 60.8%, and the most toxic elements (Pb and As) by over 50%. Trace element concentrations in treated wastewater were below MAC values, and ranged from 1.15% (Pb) to 6.23% (As) of MACs for toxic elements. The concentrations of both essential elements (Zn, Ni, Fe, Mn, Cu) and toxic elements (Pb, As) in drinking water were below the MACs. Water treatment had a significant (p < 0.05) effect on decreasing trace element concentrations.

Analysis of Residues in Environmental Samples

“…The concentrations of both the essential elements (Zn, Ni, Fe, Mn, and Cu) and the toxic elements (Pb, As) in drinking water were below the MACs. This study confirms the necessity of continuing research on the effectiveness of various water treatment methods and filtration beds, as well as that considering drinking water along with the food that humans consume when estimating sources of trace elements’ intake [ 5 ].…”

Evaluation of the Characteristics of Pollutant Discharge in Tomato Hydroponic Wastewater (HWW) for Sustainable Water Management in Korea

“…However, the correlation coefficients were not high. It is very difficult to determine the relationship between pH and fertilizer composition [149], and more research needs to be carried out. Based on the correlation analysis, we checked whether the concentration of the analytes could be estimated through the trend equation (Table 6).…”

A Portable Microplasma Optical Emission Spectrometric Device with Online Digestion Function for Field and Sensitive Determination of Lead in Biological Samples

“…Pb is a powerful developmental neurotoxin, which can reduce children’s intelligence quotient even at an extremely low level of exposure, cause acute or chronic damage to the immune, digestive, and nervous systems, and even lead to cancer. − Therefore, accurate detection and screening of Pb in biological samples is helpful to assess and prevent the harm of Pb pollution to human health and guide humans to take corresponding countermeasures. Atomic spectroscopy is alternative as the benchmark methods for the determination of trace Pb. − However, the conventional atomic spectroscopic instruments are usually bulky, cumbersome, and high power consumption, which are difficult to meet the needs of rapid determination in the field. In addition, the lack of portable pretreatment equipment for biological samples is also an important limiting factor for field determination of trace Pb.…”