Abstract
Because of exposure to a wide range of chemical contaminants such as nitrate via potable water resources, the use of the approaches to set standards for drinking water quality and also to do a risk assessment is necessary for maintaining the public health. High levels of nitrate in drinking water can have adverse health effects; primarily for infants and pregnant women. So, the present study aimed to the assessment of nitrate health risk in drinking water resources of the Iranshahr city, Sistan and Baluchistan province and also, evaluation of the uncertainty of nitrate and the probability of contamination occurrence by Monte-Carlo Simulation (MCS) technique. Besides, the geographic information system (Arc GIS, Ver 10.3) was applied to mapping the nitrate concentration in groundwater resources of the studied area. For these aims, the numbers of 66 samples were collected from rural groundwater resources, and nitrate concentration was measured using a Spectrophotometer in wavelength of 220 nm. According to the results, the nitrate concentration was in the range of 6.49 mg/L, and its average level was 6.15 mg/L. Also, the simulation results with 90% confidence showed that the hazard equitant (HQ) in the infant groups, children-teenagers and adults was less than 0.331, 0.311, 0.312, and 0.3, respectively.
Highlights
In recent decades, with the rapid population growth, increasing human activities especially agriculture and industrial development; contamination of groundwater resources, as the primary source of drinking water, by various chemicals has created a severe concern to human health in almost all regions of the world [1,2,3]
The United States Environment Protection Agency (USEPA) defines the human health risk assessment as the systematic approach for an estimating the likelihood of adverse health effects in the exposed population who may be susceptive to specific harmful substances in polluted ecological systems, such as water resources [8]
The aims of present protocol were: (1) to evaluate the nitrate concentrations in the groundwater resources of the Iranshahr area, (2) to assess the human health risk for different exposed groups with both deterministic and probabilistic point of view, (3) Monte-Carlo Simulation (MCS) technique was utilized for sensitivity analysis and quantification of the uncertainties related to the risk, (4) the spatial distribution of nitrate concentration in the study area was carried out using the Inverse distance weighted (IDW) method in the ArcGIS (Ver 10.3) software [20]
Summary
With the rapid population growth, increasing human activities especially agriculture and industrial development; contamination of groundwater resources, as the primary source of drinking water, by various chemicals has created a severe concern to human health in almost all regions of the world [1,2,3]. A simple method to perform MCS is to create the model in Microsoft Excel, use of Crystal Ball ribbon [17] Keeping this in preset, the aims of present protocol were: (1) to evaluate the nitrate concentrations in the groundwater resources of the Iranshahr area, (2) to assess the human health risk for different exposed groups with both deterministic and probabilistic point of view, (3) MCS technique (by using of Crystal Ball software) was utilized for sensitivity analysis and quantification of the uncertainties related to the risk, (4) the spatial distribution of nitrate concentration in the study area was carried out using the Inverse distance weighted (IDW) method in the ArcGIS (Ver 10.3) software [20]. Since nitrogen is a vital nutrient for most plants, nitrate will play a fundamental role in agriculture activities, subsequently, in groundwater resources contamination
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
