Eawag, Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, 8600 Dübendorf, Switzerland.
Science. 2013 Aug 23;341(6148):866-8. doi: 10.1126/science.1237484.
Arsenic-contaminated groundwater used for drinking in China is a health threat that was first recognized in the 1960s. However, because of the sheer size of the country, millions of groundwater wells remain to be tested in order to determine the magnitude of the problem. We developed a statistical risk model that classifies safe and unsafe areas with respect to geogenic arsenic contamination in China, using the threshold of 10 micrograms per liter, the World Health Organization guideline and current Chinese standard for drinking water. We estimate that 19.6 million people are at risk of being affected by the consumption of arsenic-contaminated groundwater. Although the results must be confirmed with additional field measurements, our risk model identifies numerous arsenic-affected areas and highlights the potential magnitude of this health threat in China.
在中国，饮用受砷污染的地下水对健康造成了威胁，这一问题最早于 20 世纪 60 年代被发现。然而，由于中国地域辽阔，仍有数百万口地下水井有待检测，以确定问题的严重程度。我们开发了一种统计风险模型，根据 10 微克/升的界限（世界卫生组织的指导标准和中国现行饮用水标准），对中国与地质成因有关的砷污染的安全和不安全地区进行分类。我们估计，有 1960 万人面临因饮用砷污染地下水而受到影响的风险。尽管这些结果需要通过进一步的现场测量来验证，但我们的风险模型确定了许多受砷影响的地区，并突出了这一健康威胁在中国的潜在规模。
