Abstract
Human exposure to phthalate esters (PAEs) via drinking water has generated public health concerns due to their endocrine disruptive abilities. This study reports on the occurrence and fate of six PAEs in raw and tap water samples collected from provincial waterworks located in Songkhla Province, Southern Thailand. In addition, the daily exposure and cumulative health risk of susceptible populations due to drinking tap water were evaluated by using four different reference dose (RfDs) sources. The maximum concentrations of PAEs in raw water were between 1.68 and 4.84 and 0.52 and 1.24 µg/L in tap water. Moreover, the levels of PAEs in the tap water samples indicated the poor PAEs removal efficiency of the conventional treatment process (59.9–69.1%). The contribution of water to the daily intake of PAEs did not exceed 0.37% in all the groups. Furthermore, both the individual and cumulative risk assessment showed negligible noncarcinogenic and antiandrogenic risk for all the groups. Nevertheless, the cumulative risk showed an increasing trend in the order of infants > lactating mothers > pregnant women > nonpregnant women, suggesting that infants are more vulnerable. In additional, the newly proposed RfDAA yielded higher hazard quotient and hazard index estimates, which indicates it is a more sensitive tool than other RfDs for the assessment of the individual and mixture risk of pollutants. The carcinogenic risk of DEHP was acceptable in every group. However, we recommend a future cumulative risk assessment of vulnerable groups considering their simultaneous exposure to all chemicals that have antiandrogenic effects via tap water.
Highlights
Introduction iationsPhthalate esters (PAEs) are synthetic compounds that have evoked interest in recent decades due to their ubiquitous environmental contamination, endocrine-disrupting effects, and potential adverse effects on public health
The maximum concentrations of di-2-ethyl hexyl phthalate (DEHP) (4.48 μg/L) and di-n-butyl phthalate (DBP) (3.36 μg/L) in raw water samples were higher than standard values stipulated by United State Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) (PAEs, 3.0 μg/L) and World Health Organization (WHO) (DEHP, 1.3 μg/L) for surface water quality values
Our findings indicate that exposure to phthalate esters (PAEs) via tap water in vulnerable groups and non-pregnant women is low and can be considered safe for even in tap water samples collected from Hat Yai (HY), the waterworks with the highest maximum concentration (MC) levels of PAEs
Summary
Phthalate esters (PAEs) are synthetic compounds that have evoked interest in recent decades due to their ubiquitous environmental contamination, endocrine-disrupting effects, and potential adverse effects on public health. PAEs are endocrinedisrupting chemicals (EDCs), whose effects may not appear until long-term exposure [4,5,6]. Prolonged exposure to PAEs, especially through drinking water, may result in adverse health conditions, including endocrine system disruption, cancer, developmental abnormalities, and polyneuropathy [7,8,9,10]. Chronic consumption of PAE-contaminated water has been associated with endocrine-disrupting activity [6,9,10,11]. To reduce the public health risk of PAE contamination in drinking water, some international
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