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Health risk assessment of heavy metals and bacterial contamination in drinking water sources: a case study of Malakand Agency, Pakistan

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Abstract

Human beings are frequently exposed to pathogens and heavy metals through ingestion of contaminated drinking water throughout the world particularly in developing countries. The present study aimed to assess the quality of water used for drinking purposes in Malakand Agency, Pakistan. Water samples were collected from different sources (dug wells, bore wells, tube wells, springs, and hand pumps) and analyzed for different physico-chemical parameters and bacterial pathogens (fecal coliform bacteria) using standard methods, while heavy metals were analyzed using atomic absorption spectrophotometry (AAS-PEA-700). In the study area, 70 % of water sources were contaminated with F. coliform representing high bacterial contamination. The heavy metals, such as Cd (29 and 8 %), Ni (16 and 78 %), and Cr (7 %), exceeded their respective safe limits of WHO (2006) and Pak-EPA (2008), respectively, in water sources, while Pb (9 %) only exceeded from WHO safe limit. The risk assessment tools such as daily intake of metals (DIMs) and health risk indexes (HRIs) were used for health risk estimation and were observed in the order of Ni > Cr > Mn > Pb > Cd and Cd > Ni > Pb > Mn > Cr, respectively. The HRI values of heavy metals for both children and adults were <1, showing lack of potential health risk to the local inhabitants of the study area.

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Acknowledgments

The financial support was provided by the Higher Education Commission (HEC) of Pakistan (project no. 21-395/SRGP/R&D/HEC/2014). The authors greatly acknowledge Dr. Roshan Ali (Senior Scientific Officer), Takhta Band Research Station Swat, and also the Chairperson of Soil and Environmental Sciences Department Khyber Pukhtunkhwa Agriculture University, Peshawar, Pakistan, for their lab support and heavy metal analysis.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiamen, 361021, China

    Javed Nawab, Sardar Khan & Jianfeng Tang

  2. Department of Environmental and Conservation Sciences, University of Swat, Swat, 19130, Pakistan

    Javed Nawab, Sharafat Ali, Kifayatullah Khan & Aziz Ahmad

  3. Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Peshawar, Peshawar, 25120, Pakistan

    Javed Nawab & Sardar Khan

  4. Center for Plant Science and Biodiversity University of Swat, Swat, 19130, Pakistan

    Hassan Sher

  5. Department of Microbiology, Abdul Wali Khan University, Mardan, Pakistan

    Ziaur Rahman

Authors
  1. Javed Nawab
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  2. Sardar Khan
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  3. Sharafat Ali
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  4. Hassan Sher
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  7. Jianfeng Tang
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  8. Aziz Ahmad
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Correspondence to Javed Nawab or Jianfeng Tang.

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Nawab, J., Khan, S., Ali, S. et al. Health risk assessment of heavy metals and bacterial contamination in drinking water sources: a case study of Malakand Agency, Pakistan. Environ Monit Assess 188, 286 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-016-5296-1

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