National Engineering Laboratory for Lake Pollution Control and Ecological Restoration, State Environmental Protection Scientific Observation and Research Station for Lake Dongtinghu, Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Beijing, 100012, China.
Key Laboratory of Yangtze River Water Environment, Ministry of Education, College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai, 200092, China.
Sci Rep. 2021 Jan 8;11(1):109. doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-80403-0.
Metal pollution in drinking water source has been under scrutiny as it seriously affects human health. This work examined 12 dissolved metals in the surface and overlying water of the Xiangjiang River, an important drinking water source in southern China, and characterized their distribution, identified their possible sources, assessed their toxicity load, and determined their potential ecological and health risk. No significant difference was found in the metal concentration between surface and overlying water. The average metal concentration fell in the order of Mg > Mn > Ba > Fe > Zn > As > Sb > Ni > Cd > V > Cr > Co, and all was lower than the safety threshold in the drinking water guideline of China. Anthropogenic activities were found to be the main source of metals from correlation analysis, principal component analysis (PCA), and cluster analysis (CA). According to the total heavy metal toxicity load (HMTL), 98.20%, 71.54%, 68.88%, and 7.97% of As, Cd, Sb, and Mn should be removed from the surface water to ensure safety. Most water samples from the surveyed area were found to have high ecological risk as was measured by the ecological risk index (RI). Health risk assessment showed that children are more susceptible than adults to the non-carcinogenic risk of dissolved metals, and the potential carcinogenic risk (CR) of As and Cd should be addressed. The results provide guidance for controlling the metal pollution of the Xiangjiang River and improving its quality as a drinking water source.
饮用水源中的金属污染一直受到关注，因为它严重影响人类健康。本研究调查了中国南方重要饮用水源湘江地表水和覆盖水中的 12 种溶解金属，分析了它们的分布、来源、毒性负荷以及潜在的生态和健康风险。结果表明，地表水和覆盖水中的金属浓度没有显著差异。金属平均浓度的顺序为 Mg>Mn>Ba>Fe>Zn>As>Sb>Ni>Cd>V>Cr>Co，均低于中国饮用水标准中的安全阈值。相关分析、主成分分析（PCA）和聚类分析（CA）表明，人为活动是金属的主要来源。根据重金属总毒性负荷（HMTL），为确保安全，应从地表水中去除 98.20%、71.54%、68.88%和 7.97%的 As、Cd、Sb 和 Mn。调查区域的大多数水样均具有高生态风险，这是通过生态风险指数（RI）来衡量的。健康风险评估表明，儿童比成人更容易受到溶解金属的非致癌风险的影响，应注意 As 和 Cd 的潜在致癌风险（CR）。本研究结果为湘江金属污染控制和改善其作为饮用水源的水质提供了指导。
