Abstract
Groundwater is a valuable water source for drinking and irrigation purposes in semiarid regions. Groundwater pollution may affect human health if it is not pretreated and provided for human use. This study investigated the hydrochemical characteristics driving groundwater quality for drinking and irrigation purposes and potential human health risks in the Xinzhou Basin, Shanxi Province, North China. More specifically, we first investigated hydrochemical characteristics using a descriptive statistical analysis method. We then classified the hydrochemical types and analyzed the evolution mechanisms of groundwater using Piper and Gibbs diagrams. Finally, we appraised the groundwater quality for drinking and irrigation purposes using the entropy water quality index (EWQI). We assessed the associated human health risks for different age and sex groups through drinking intake and dermal contact pathways. Overall, we found that (1) Ca-HCO3 and Ca·Mg-HCO3 were the dominant hydrochemical types and were mainly governed by rock weathering and water–rock interactions. (2) Based on the EWQI classifications, 67.74% of the groundwater samples were classified as medium quality and acceptable for drinking purpose. According to the values of sodium adsorption ratio (SAR), residual sodium carbonate (RSC) and soluble sodium percentage (%Na), 90.32% of the samples were suitable for irrigation, while the remaining samples were unfit for irrigation because of the high salinity in the groundwater. (3) Some contaminants in the groundwater, such as NO3−, NO2− and F−, exceeded the standard limits and may cause potential risks to human health. Our work presented in this paper could establish reasonable management strategies for sustainable groundwater quality protection to protect public health.
Highlights
Groundwater resources are indispensable for domestic drinking water supplies, irrigation resources and industrial activities, especially in arid and semiarid regions, owing to the shortage of surface water [1,2,3]
The issue of groundwater quality and safety has attracted the attention of many researchers, and groundwater quality assessments associated with health risk evaluations have received considerable amounts of attention worldwide, including in China, India and Iran [14,15,16,17]
This paper presents a case study assessing the groundwater quality used for drinking and irrigation and its potential risks to human health
Summary
Groundwater resources are indispensable for domestic drinking water supplies, irrigation resources and industrial activities, especially in arid and semiarid regions, owing to the shortage of surface water [1,2,3]. Groundwater contamination has become a severe issue affecting human health and life in many countries and regions in recent years, with population growth and agriculture and industry development [4,5]. Most common contaminants in groundwater mainly include fluoride, nitrogen and many others. If they exceed the standard limits for drinking water and are released untreated for direct human use, they may have harmful effects on human health [6,7,8,9]. Long-term water consumption with fluoride concentrations exceeding the standard limits will lead to dental and skeletal fluorosis [12]. The issue of groundwater quality and safety has attracted the attention of many researchers, and groundwater quality assessments associated with health risk evaluations have received considerable amounts of attention worldwide, including in China, India and Iran [14,15,16,17]
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