The Robert H. Smith Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Environment, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, P.O. Box 12, Rehovot 7610001, Israel; Phytor Lab for Drug Development, Hadassah Medical Center Hebrew University Biotechnology Park (JBP), Ein Kerem Campus, Jerusalem 91120, Israel.
The Robert H. Smith Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Environment, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, P.O. Box 12, Rehovot 7610001, Israel; Israel Center for Disease Control, Israel Ministry of Health, Ramat Gan, Israel.
Water Res. 2022 Sep 1;223:118986. doi: 10.1016/j.watres.2022.118986. Epub 2022 Aug 15.
Irrigation with reclaimed wastewater is a growing practice aimed at conserving freshwater sources, especially in arid and semiarid regions. Despite the apparent advantages to water management, the practice of irrigation with reclaimed wastewater exposes the agroenvironment to contaminants of emerging concern (CECs). In this report, we estimated the unintentional dietary exposure of the Israeli population (2808 participants) to CECs from consumption of produce irrigated with reclaimed wastewater using detailed dietary data obtained from a National Health and Nutrition Survey (Rav Mabat adults; 2014-2016). Human health risk analyses were conducted based on acceptable daily intake (ADI) and threshold of toxicological concern (TTC) approaches. The highest unintentional exposure to wastewater-borne CECs was found to occur through the consumption of leafy vegetables. All analyzed CECs exhibited hazard quotients <1 for the mean- and high-exposure scenarios, indicating no human health concerns. However, for the extreme exposure scenario, the anticonvulsant agents lamotrigine and carbamazepine, and the carbamazepine metabolite epoxide-carbamazepine exhibited the highest exposure levels of 29,100, 27,200, and 19,500 ng/person (70 kg) per day, respectively. These exposure levels exceeded the TTC of lamotrigine and the metabolite epoxide-carbamazepine, and the ADI of carbamazepine, resulting in hazard quotients of 2.8, 1.1, and 1.9, respectively. According to the extreme estimated scenario, consumption of produce irrigated with reclaimed wastewater (leafy vegetables in particular) may pose a threat to human health. Minimizing irrigation of leafy vegetables using reclaimed wastewater and/or improving the quality of the reclaimed wastewater using an advanced treatment would significantly reduce human dietary exposure to CECs.
再生水灌溉是一种旨在节约淡水资源的日益普及的做法，特别是在干旱和半干旱地区。尽管这种灌溉方式在水资源管理方面具有明显的优势，但它使农业环境面临新兴关注污染物（CECs）的威胁。在本报告中，我们使用从国家健康和营养调查（Rav Mabat 成年人；2014-2016 年）中获得的详细饮食数据，估计了以色列人口（2808 名参与者）因食用再生水灌溉的农产品而摄入 CECs 的非故意饮食暴露量。基于可接受日摄入量（ADI）和毒理学关注阈值（TTC）方法进行了人类健康风险分析。结果发现，通过食用叶菜类蔬菜，人们对污水携带的 CECs 的非故意暴露量最高。对于平均和高暴露情景，所有分析的 CECs 的危害指数都<1，表明不存在人类健康问题。然而，对于极端暴露情景，抗惊厥药物拉莫三嗪和卡马西平，以及卡马西平代谢物环氧化物-卡马西平的暴露水平最高，分别为 29100、27200 和 19500ng/人（70kg）/天。这些暴露水平超过了拉莫三嗪和代谢物环氧化物-卡马西平的 TTC，以及卡马西平的 ADI，导致危害指数分别为 2.8、1.1 和 1.9。根据极端估计情景，食用再生水灌溉的农产品（特别是叶菜类蔬菜）可能对人类健康构成威胁。通过使用再生水灌溉叶菜类蔬菜，并/或使用先进处理方法提高再生水的质量，可显著降低人类对 CECs 的饮食暴露量。
