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Temporospatial variation and health risk assessment of trihalomethanes (THMs) in drinking water (northwest Iran)

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Abstract

Trihalomethanes (THMs) are one of the most common classes of disinfection by-products. In this study, the temporospatial trends and health risks due to exposure to THMs in the Tabriz water distribution network were investigated. THM series were analyzed using gas chromatography equipped with electron capture detector. The non-carcinogenic and carcinogenic risks due to exposure to THMs were calculated using Monte Carlo simulations. Mean concentrations of THMs in winter and spring were 10.2 ± 9.3 μg/l and 252 ± 185.9 μg/l, respectively. More than 80% of THMs identified were bromodichloromethane. The mean values of lifetime cancer risk (LTCR) of THMs were calculated as 4.23E−06 and 2.38E−04 for winter and spring, respectively. This study showed that there were noticeable levels of THMs in Tabriz water distribution network, especially in the center of the city. Although the non-cancer risk through THMs was below permissible recommended levels, the cancer risk likely remains due to high levels of THMs in some locations.

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Data availability

All data generated or analyzed in this study are included in this published article (and its supplementary information files).

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Acknowledgments

We appreciate Mr. Masoud Javadpour for assistance with field sampling, and also Mr. Ali Rahimi (Tabriz County, Environmental Health Department) for support with onsite measurements of some parameters of water samples. We also acknowledge Dr. Jennifer Martay’s help with editing and reorganizing the manuscript.

Funding

This research was funded by the Vice Chancellor for Research at Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran (grant number: 95-3-3/14001).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Health and Environment Research Center, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran

    Mohammad Mosaferi & Hassan Aslani

  2. Tabriz Health Services Management Research Center, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran

    Mohammad Mosaferi

  3. School of Engineering and the Built Environment, Anglia Ruskin University, Chelmsford, United Kingdom

    Mehrdad Asadi

  4. Department of Public Health, Maragheh University of Medical Sciences, Maragheh, Iran

    Amir Mohammadi

  5. Department of Environmental Health Engineering, School of Health, Student Research Committee, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran

    Sanaz Abedi & Sepideh Nemati Mansour

  6. Medical Geography, Ministry of Health, Tehran, Iran

    Shahram Maleki

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  1. Mohammad Mosaferi
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  2. Mehrdad Asadi
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  3. Hassan Aslani
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  4. Amir Mohammadi
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  5. Sanaz Abedi
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Contributions

MM: design of study, data curation, and writing—original draft and correspondence; MA: writing—review and editing; HA: THM analysis, review and editing; AM: risk assessment, review and editing; SA: sampling, data collection, and analysis; SNM: data curation, revision of paper; SHM: spatial analysis and mapping of THM concentration in Tabriz DWS. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mohammad Mosaferi.

Ethics declarations

This study was approved by the Research Ethics Committee of Tabriz University of Medical Sciences (Ethic Code of IR.TBZMED.REC.1395.241).

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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The manuscript does not contain data from any individual person so consent for publication is “not applicable”.

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Responsible Editor: Lotfi Aleya

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Mosaferi, M., Asadi, M., Aslani, H. et al. Temporospatial variation and health risk assessment of trihalomethanes (THMs) in drinking water (northwest Iran). Environ Sci Pollut Res 28, 8168–8180 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-11063-w

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