Non-carcinogenic risks induced by metals in drinking source water of Jiangsu Province, China

Abstract

In this study, we investigated the levels of eight metallic elements in source water of 40 tap water treatment plants (TWTPs) located along Yangtze River, Taihu Lake and Huaihe River in the section of Jiangsu Province, China during 2007–2009 and assessed the non-carcinogenic risks induced by the metals. Among the metals, Fe had the highest concentration (121.5 μg L^− 1) and Pb contributed most (32.4%) to the average hazard index (HI) of 40 TWTPs, followed by Cd (24.7%) and Cr (21.6%). The average concentration of each metal was below the permissible limit of China and USA except for Pb. Both hazard quotients of individual metals and HI of total non-carcinogenic risk in each TWTP were lower than 1.0, suggesting that these pollutants posed negligible hazards to public health of local residents. Temporal and spatial comparisons showed that high HIs occurred more frequently in low water seasons, and the three TWTPs located along Huaihe River (Dongtai, Jinhu and Yishuichang) had relatively higher HIs.