Abstract
Herein, the health risk assessment of exposure to fluoride in drinking water of southern province of Iran was performed with a definite and probabilistic approach. The Monte-Carlo simulation and sensitivity analysis were used to explain the impact of risk and uncertainty upon estimations. The results indicated that fluoride concentration was in the range of 0.1–0.9 mg/L with an average of 0.454 ± 0.205 mg/L, and distribution function followed the normality. Moreover, the highest fluoride concentration was observed in the central and northern regions of the province. In the definitive method, hazard quotient (HQ) associated with fluoride in drinking water were lower than 1 (HQ < 1). Conducting Monte-Carlo simulation illustrated that the potential non-carcinogenic risk for children in the 95th percentile exceeded the safe limit of 1, indicating a potential non-carcinogenic in this age group. Sensitivity analysis showed that fluoride concentration and water consumption rate had the most effect in the model. Therefore, consumption of water and foods containing fluoride along with excessive consumption of tea could increase the risk for human health. The results suggested that a continuous monitoring of fluoride in water resources besides proper dietary regime for inhabitants of this province should be taken into consideration.
Highlights
With increasing public concern about water resources and the environment, the importance of groundwater and surface water conservation as a single resource has become apparent
The distribution map and Box plot of fluoride concentration in drinking water in Hormozgan province are presented in Figs 1 and 2
Based on Kruskal-Wallis analysis, there was a significant difference between fluoride concentrations in different sampling points in Hormozgan province (P-value = 0.046)
Summary
With increasing public concern about water resources and the environment, the importance of groundwater and surface water conservation as a single resource has become apparent. Important pollutants in drinking water sources include heavy metals, pesticides, nitrate, fluoride, etc. Small amounts of fluoride are naturally present in water, air, soil, and living organisms. Fluoride concentration in natural waters differs from 0.1–10 mg/l [5]. Different factors such as geological settings, chemical characteristics of groundwater, porosity of aquifer materials, pH, climate condition and well depth affect fluoride concentration [6]. Are involved in the regions with high concentrations of fluoride in groundwater [7, 8] Various regions in China, India, Pakistan, Iran, Mexico, etc. are involved in the regions with high concentrations of fluoride in groundwater [7, 8]
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