Nuclear Chemistry and Environmental Research Center, National Nuclear Research Institute, GAEC, Box LG 80, Legon-Accra, Ghana; Graduate School of Nuclear and Allied Sciences, Ghana Atomic Energy Commission, Box AE 1, Accra, Ghana.
Nuclear Chemistry and Environmental Research Center, National Nuclear Research Institute, GAEC, Box LG 80, Legon-Accra, Ghana.
Chemosphere. 2019 Oct;233:862-872. doi: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2019.05.276. Epub 2019 Jun 4.
Groundwater fluoride contamination has long been recognized as a water-related health issue in some parts of Ghana. However, the extent of fluoride contamination and the related human health risk to the communities in the fluoride endemic areas are not adequately studied. In this paper, fluoride concentrations in existing and newly drilled wells were assessed. Probabilistic non carcinogenic human health risk assessment, uncertainty and sensitivity analysis for three age groups (Group A: 0-10 years; Group B: 11-20 years; Group C: 21-72 years) was also carried out using Monte Carlo simulation technique. The results showed that, 27.27% and 15.38% of the existing wells in the Bongo and Kassena Nankana West districts have fluoride values above the guideline value 1.5 mg L respectively. The non-carcinogenic risk of fluoride associated with oral ingestion recorded a mean Hazard Quotient (HQ) > 1 for younger age group (0-10 years) in all the study areas signifying potential health risk to this age group. Additionally, when the upper 95th percentile is used for the HQ, the oral ingestion for all the age categories recorded an HQ > 1. Sensitivity analyses indicated that fluoride concentration in the drinking water and ingestion rate were the most relevant variables in the model to reduce the potential health effect. The study established the basis for a strong advocacy and public awareness on the effect of water quality on human health and proposed some management strategies to guide future groundwater resources management to reduce the potential health risk to the population.
加纳部分地区的地下水氟污染长期以来一直被认为是与水有关的健康问题。然而，氟污染的程度以及氟病区社区所面临的相关人类健康风险尚未得到充分研究。本文评估了现有和新钻井中的氟浓度。还使用蒙特卡罗模拟技术对三个年龄组（A 组：0-10 岁；B 组：11-20 岁；C 组：21-72 岁）进行了概率性非致癌人类健康风险评估、不确定性和敏感性分析。结果表明，邦戈和卡塞纳-南卡纳西区分别有 27.27%和 15.38%的现有水井中的氟含量超过 1.5mg/L 的指导值。与口服摄入相关的氟的非致癌风险在所有研究区域中，对于年龄较小的（0-10 岁）年龄组，记录的平均危害系数（HQ）>1，表明该年龄组存在潜在的健康风险。此外，当 HQ 使用上限 95%时，所有年龄段的口服摄入都记录了 HQ>1。敏感性分析表明，饮用水中的氟浓度和摄入率是模型中最相关的变量，可以降低潜在的健康影响。该研究为就水质对人类健康的影响进行强有力的宣传和公众意识奠定了基础，并提出了一些管理策略，以指导未来的地下水管理，降低人口面临的潜在健康风险。
