TITLE …………………… 276 Journal homepage: www.fia.usv.ro/fiajournal Journal of Faculty of Food Engineering, Ştefan cel Mare University of Suceava, Romania Volume XIV, Issue 3 - 2015, pag. 276 - 281 ASSESSMENT OF POTENTIAL CONTAMINATION AND HEALTH RISK ASSOCIATED WITH METALS IN DRINKING WATERS FROM COPSA MICA REGION *Maria-Alexandra HOAGHIA1,2, Oana CADAR1, Erika LEVEI1, Cecilia ROMAN1, Lacrimioara SENILA1, Dumitru RISTOIU2 1INCDO-INOE 2000, Research Institute for Analytical Instrumentation, 67 Donath, RO-400293 Cluj-Napoca, Romania, 2Babeş-Bolyai University, Faculty of Environmental Science and Engineering, 30 Fantanele, RO-400294 Cluj-Napoca, Romania, alexandra.hoaghia@icia.ro *Corresponding author: Received September 5th 2015, accepted September 29th 2015 Abstract: Metal contamination of drinking water sources from Copsa Mica region (Copsa Mica village, Tarnava villages and Medias Town, Sibiu County, Romania) was assessed using the Metal Index, while health risk associated with metals from the drinking water sources was assessed using the Chronic Daily Intake and the Hazard Quotient. The MI values increase in following order S1>S3>S2>S4>S5, indicating a possible metal contamination of three drinking water sources from the studied area. However, according to the Hazard Quotient and the Total Hazard Quotient, the studied drinking waters are safe for human consumption. The calculated Hazard Quotients for studied metals decrease in the order: As>Cd>Mn>Zn≥ Cu>Ni ≥ Pb>Cr for sample S1, As>Cu ≥ Mn ≥ Pb>Cd ≥ Ni>Zn>Cr> for sample S2, Cd ≥Mn ≥ Pb>Cu ≥ Ni>As>Cr ≥Zn for sample S3, Zn>Cd ≥ Cu>Mn ≥ Ni>Cr>Pb for sample S4 and Cd ≥Ni>Cu>Mn>Cr ≥Pb ≥Zn>As for sample S5. Keywords: drinking water, Metal Index, Chronical Daily Intake, Hazard Quotient 1. Introduction Drinking water contamination with metals represents a significant issue for the environment and human health [1-3]. Metals content in water sources have anthropogenic (industrial, agricultural activities) and natural origins (weathering, rock erosion) [1-4]. The use of unnapropriate or poorly monitorized water sources (well water, surface water) as drinking water exposes the population to potential health risks. The raise of population awarenes related to the risk of metal contaminated water consumption could avoid noumerous health problems (cancer, kidney damages, heart disease) [4-6]. Drinking water quality monitoring with respect to chemical compounds (metals, pesticides, nitrogen compounds) is important due to the pollution exposure issues which implies potential negative effects on health [7, 8]. For that purpose increasing numbers of studies all over the world were performed [9, 10]. Studies on metal pollution are important due to the metals toxicity, ubiquity and persistence in the environment [11, 12]. Thus, different indices (metal index, chronic daily intake, hazard quotients) for metal pollution, risk assessment and drinking water quality were elaborated and applied in order to http://www.fia.usv.ro/fiajournal mailto:alexandra.hoaghia@icia.ro Food and Environment Safety - Journal of Faculty of Food Engineering, Ştefancel Mare University - Suceava Volume XIV, Issue 3 – 2015 Maria-Alexandra HOAGHIA, Oana CADAR, Erika LEVEI, Cecilia ROMAN, Lacrimioara SENILA, Dumitru RISTOIU, Assessment of potential contamination and health risk associated with metals in drinking waters from CopsaMica region, Food and Environment Safety, Volume XIV, Issue 3 – 2015, pag. 276 – 281 277 assess the chemical status of drinking water soursec [3, 4, 13]. The Metal Index (MI) is an arithmetical tool used to assess the metal pollution status and represents the sum of the ratio between the monitored concentrations and the maximum admissible concentrations (MACs) of the studied metal [4, 13]. To assess the non-carcinogenic risk posed by metal contaminated drinking waters, healh risk indices such as the Chronic Daily Intake (CDI), the Hazard Quotient (HQ) and the Total Hazard Quotient (THQ) are used [3]. Copsa Mica is known as a “hot spot” of pollution, due to the metal industry and its negative effects on human and animal health and on plants, soil, air and water qulity [14]. Presently, the industrial activities ceased, but the chemical compounds still persist in the environment [14]. The aim of the present study is to evaluate the metal contamination status of drinking water sources using the MI and to assess the potential human health risk of metal contaminated waters using the CDI, the HQ, and the THQ indices. 2. Materials and methods Study area and sampling Well water samples from Tarnava village (S2, S3), Copsa village (S4, S5) and a public spring water sample (S1) from the vicinity of Medias Town, Sibiu County, Romania used by inhabitants as drinking water sources were studied (Figure 1). Fig. 1. Study area and drinking water sampling points These villages are close to Copsa Mica Town, known for the environment pollution with Cu, Fe, Zn, Cd, Cu [14]. All water samples were colected in August of 2014 in polyethylene bottles (500 ml) and kept at 4 ºC in a refrigerator until analysis. Chemical analysis Drinking water samples were filtered using 0.45µm filter membrane and acidified with HNO3 before analysis of the As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb and Zn content using DRC II Perkin-Elmer ICP-MS. Metal Index (MI) The Metal Index (MI) is based on total trend assessment of present status [15, 16]. A high metal concentration associated with its MAC indicats a low water quality [15]. The formula (Eq 1) for the MI rating is [16, 17]:      n i i i MAC C MI 1 (1) Food and Environment Safety - Journal of Faculty of Food Engineering, Ştefancel Mare University - Suceava Volume XIV, Issue 3 – 2015 Maria-Alexandra HOAGHIA, Oana CADAR, Erika LEVEI, Cecilia ROMAN, Lacrimioara SENILA, Dumitru RISTOIU, Assessment of potential contamination and health risk associated with metals in drinking waters from CopsaMica region, Food and Environment Safety, Volume XIV, Issue 3 – 2015, pag. 276 – 281 278 Where Ci represents the metal concentration and MAC is the maximum allowable concentration according to Moghaddam [18]. According to the MI results, waters can be classified as potable (MI< 1), non-potable (MI> 1) and water on the threshold of danger (MI= 1) [17, 18]. If MI> 1 it represents a threshold of warning, even if the Ci does not exceed the MACs for all metals [17]. Human health risk assessment indices Chronic Daily Intake (CDI) The CDI was calculated in order to estimate the health risk for adults associated with the consumption of contaminated drinking water. The CDI raiting was calculated using Eq 2 [3, 19, 20]: BW DIC CDI   (2) Where, C represents the metal concentration in water samples (µg/l), DI is the average daily intake rate (2L/day) and the body weight is represented by BW (72 kg) [2, 3]. Hazard quotient (HQ) The HQ is a human health risk assessment index, which quantifies the non- carcinogenic risk (Eq 3) [2, 21]. RfD CDI HQ  (3) Where, CDI is the Chronic Daily Intake and RfD is the oral toxicity reference dose. For the HQ computation the used RfD values were 1.5mg/kg-day for Cr, 5.0 10- 4mg/kg-day for Cd, 3.7 10-2mg/kg-day for Cu, 1.4 10-1mg/kg-day for Mn, 2.0 10- 2mg/kg-day for Ni. 3.6 10-2mg/kg-day for Pb, 3.0 10-1mg/kg-day for Zn and 3.0 10-4mg/kg-day for As [2, 3, 22]. If HQ< 1, the safety of the exposed population is assumed [2, 3, 23, 24]. In case of HQ>1, there might be non- carcinogenic risk and potential for toxic effects for the population [24]. 3. Results and discussion For the MI rating, As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb and Zn were selected in order to evaluate the possible metal contamination of drinking water sources in Copsa Mica region. The MI values revealed possible metal pollution of drinking water samples S1, S2 and S3 with MI values higher than the critical value of 1 (Table 1). Table 1. Metal Index (MI) of the drinking water samples S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 MAC* Cr 5.0 1.5 4.6 3.8 3.4 50 Cd 0.3 0.03 0.1 0.04 0.04 3 Cu 5.8 6.9 6.2 2.8 1.5 1000 Fe 151 94 94.7 50.4 27.2 200 Pb 4.2 0.7 0.8 0.4 0.6 1.5 Zn 38.6 40.9 58 176 21.7 5000 Ni 2.5 1.6 3.9 0.9 1.4 20 As 1.0 0.3 0.9