Department of Oceanography, Noakhali Science and Technology University, Noakhali, 3814, Bangladesh.
Department of Geology, University of Dhaka, Dhaka, 1000, Bangladesh.
Environ Sci Pollut Res Int. 2021 May;28(17):21964-21977. doi: 10.1007/s11356-020-11682-3. Epub 2021 Jan 7.
High concentrations of naturally-occurring and man-accentuated boron in groundwater possess a potential threat to the health and well-being of humans worldwide. In Bangladesh, only a few studies focused on the health risks of boron-containing groundwater. Therefore, the present study investigated the spatiotemporal distribution of boron concentrations in groundwater and its associated health risks in the coastal districts of Bangladesh. A total of 268 samples from the shallow and deep wells during the wet and dry season (137 and 131 samples, respectively) were collected to determine the level of boron concentrations and health risk status. The groundwater boron concentrations ranged from 0 to 4.10 mg/L with an average concentration of 0.68 mg/L, which was much lower than the WHO and the values of Bangladesh drinking water standard guideline. The boron concentrations in the shallow wells override the deep ones with insignificant seasonal variation. Boron contamination affected 10% of the shallow wells in the wet season and only 6% of them in the dry season, whereas only 1% of deep wells exceeds the WHO guideline values of 2.40 mg/L during the wet and dry season, respectively. The human health risk of boron was determined by computing estimated daily intake (EDI) and hazard quotient (HQ) values for infants, children, teenagers, and adults. The average HQ value delimitated that children have high risk followed by teenagers, adults, and infants. About 90-95% of the studied samples were free from boron contamination because of having HQ values < 1 and the rest of the samples possess a high risk for children. For the overall study area, the deep wells were found safer than the shallow wells, which were more susceptible to boron contamination aided by localized freshwater inputs.
高浓度的天然存在和人为增强的硼在地水中对全球人类的健康和福祉构成潜在威胁。在孟加拉国，只有少数研究关注含硼地下水的健康风险。因此，本研究调查了孟加拉国沿海地区地水中硼浓度的时空分布及其相关的健康风险。在雨季和旱季期间，共采集了浅层和深层水井中的 268 个样本（分别为 137 个和 131 个样本），以确定硼浓度水平和健康风险状况。地下水硼浓度范围为 0 至 4.10 毫克/升，平均浓度为 0.68 毫克/升，远低于世界卫生组织和孟加拉国饮用水标准指南的值。浅层水井中的硼浓度高于深层水井，且季节性变化不显著。硼污染影响了雨季浅层水井的 10%，而旱季只有 6%，而雨季和旱季深层水井中只有 1%的硼浓度超过世界卫生组织 2.40 毫克/升的指导值。通过计算婴儿、儿童、青少年和成年人的估计每日摄入量（EDI）和危害商（HQ）值，确定了硼的人体健康风险。平均 HQ 值表明儿童风险最高，其次是青少年、成年人和婴儿。大约 90-95%的研究样本由于 HQ 值<1 而没有受到硼污染，其余样本对儿童具有高风险。就整个研究区域而言，深层水井比浅层水井更安全，浅层水井更容易受到局部淡水输入的影响而受到硼污染。
