Access to clean drinking water is essential for human health,economic development,and environmental sustain-ability.To effectively preserve water quality and ensure a safe and stable water supply,it is essential to de...Access to clean drinking water is essential for human health,economic development,and environmental sustain-ability.To effectively preserve water quality and ensure a safe and stable water supply,it is essential to determine the priority control factors of potentially hazardous elements in water.This study focused on public drinking wa-ter fountains in Zaječar City(Serbia),examining water hydrochemistry,quality,potential sources of hazardous elements,and the health risks associated with consumption or dermal exposure.Among all potentially hazardous elements,iron showed a deviation from the limit in drinking water prescribed by the World Health Organization,reaching 631μg/L.However,all samples were categorized as excellent quality for drinking.Water composition was governed by water-rock interactions,distinguishing Na-HCO_(3)as the dominant water type.A total of 3.3%and 6.6%of samples exceeded the threshold of 1 for non-carcinogenic health risk for adults and children,re-spectively,with the mean HIa value of 0.35 and the mean HIc value of 0.57.However,the carcinogenic risk was within the allowable limits for children,whereas it surpassed the threshold of 1.0×10^(–4)for adults in 10%of the samples.The positive matrix factorization model identified four sources responsible for water quality,i.e.,natural source,industrial source,sewage source,and agricultural source,with contributions of 37.1%,35.0%,17.8%,and 10.1%,respectively.The Monte Carlo simulation of source-specific health risks revealed that the industrial source was the main contributor to both non-carcinogenic and carcinogenic risks,attributed to its high arsenic load.展开更多
基金supported by the Ministry of Science,Technological Development and Innovation of the Republic of Serbia(No.451-03-136/2025-03/200135)。
文摘Access to clean drinking water is essential for human health,economic development,and environmental sustain-ability.To effectively preserve water quality and ensure a safe and stable water supply,it is essential to determine the priority control factors of potentially hazardous elements in water.This study focused on public drinking wa-ter fountains in Zaječar City(Serbia),examining water hydrochemistry,quality,potential sources of hazardous elements,and the health risks associated with consumption or dermal exposure.Among all potentially hazardous elements,iron showed a deviation from the limit in drinking water prescribed by the World Health Organization,reaching 631μg/L.However,all samples were categorized as excellent quality for drinking.Water composition was governed by water-rock interactions,distinguishing Na-HCO_(3)as the dominant water type.A total of 3.3%and 6.6%of samples exceeded the threshold of 1 for non-carcinogenic health risk for adults and children,re-spectively,with the mean HIa value of 0.35 and the mean HIc value of 0.57.However,the carcinogenic risk was within the allowable limits for children,whereas it surpassed the threshold of 1.0×10^(–4)for adults in 10%of the samples.The positive matrix factorization model identified four sources responsible for water quality,i.e.,natural source,industrial source,sewage source,and agricultural source,with contributions of 37.1%,35.0%,17.8%,and 10.1%,respectively.The Monte Carlo simulation of source-specific health risks revealed that the industrial source was the main contributor to both non-carcinogenic and carcinogenic risks,attributed to its high arsenic load.
