ABSTRACT
In order to clarify the distribution characteristics and risk levels of heavy metals in typical drinking water sources of towns in Dongjiang River Basin, several regular water quality indexes as well as concentrations of Fe, Cu, Mn, Zn, As, Cr, Hg, Pb and Cd were analyzed in the 45 random water samples of 9 towns in the study area. The risk assessment was conducted according to different drinking water types using the environmental health risk assessment model recommended by U. S. EPA. The results indicated that the metal carcinogenic risk is relatively high in this area. The highest carcinogenic risk was from Cr in reservoir water, with the risk for adult people reaching 1.14 x 10(-4) x(-1) and the risk of children reaching 2.14 x 10(-4) x a(-1). Total carcinogenic risk of reservoir, river and underground water exceeded the accepted level of 5.0 x 10(5) x a(-1) as suggested by ICRP while all the non-carcinogenic risk levels were within the acceptable range. The primary control sequence of metal pollution in this area was Cr > As > Pb > Fe > Zn; the risk value of different drinking water sources descended in this order: reservoir > river > underground water > mountain spring.
