Performance Evaluation of Point of Use Water Treatment System in Health Risk Reduction of Trace Metals in Drinking Water Publisher



Rezaienia S^{1, 2} ; Nasseri S^{1, 3} ; Gholami M^{2, 4} ; Farzadkia M^{2, 4} ; Esrafili A^{2, 4} Show Affiliations
Source: Desalination and Water Treatment Published:2019

Abstract

In this study, the concentrations of six trace metals (TM) are determined in tap water and point of use water treatment system (POU-WTS) water samples of Tehran city. The non-carcinogenic risk with ingestion TM was also assessed in four groups including an infant, children, women, and men. Average concentrations of Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, and Zn were 6.03, 12.64, 21.20, 1.42, 2.13, and 291.80 μg/L, respectively in tap water and 1.27, 7.76, 8.59, 0.76, 1.16, and 136.11 μg/L in POU system. All these values were below the permissible limit of WHO and EPA. Cluster analysis result revealed that anthropogenic activities and pipeline corrosion were major source of tap water pollution. The highest hazard quotients (HQ) in the tap water and POU system among trace metals studied were associated to Cr and Zn. The order of hazard Index (HI) in different groups was children > infants > women > men in both two water types. HI in children was more than twice in comparison with other groups, indicating that the children were more vulnerable to TM exposure. Index of HQ and HI was lower than 1.0, suggesting that TM posed negligible hazards to the public health of Tehran residents. Since total HI of the POU-WTS for each group was significantly lower HI of tap water, suggesting that the use of POU-WTS can effectively reduce the non-carcinogenic risk. © 2019 Desalination Publications. All rights reserved.