Journal of Ecology and Rural Environment ›› 2023, Vol. 39 ›› Issue (6): 741-749.doi: 10.19741/j.issn.1673-4831.2022.0301

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Source Identification and Health Risk Assessment of Heavy Metals in Groundwater of Yongqing County, Hebei Province

LIU Bin1, CUI Xing-tao1, WANG Xue-qiu2,3, HU Qing-hai2,3   

  1. 1. Institute of Resource and Environmental Engineering, Hebei GEO University, Shijiazhuang 050031, China;
    2. Key Laboratory of Geochemical Exploration, Ministry of Natural Resources/Institute of Geophysical and Geochemical Exploration, Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, Langfang 065000, China;
    3. UNESCO International Centre on Global-scale Geochemistry, Langfang 065000, China
  • Received:2022-04-10 Online:2023-06-25 Published:2023-06-19

Abstract: Yongqing County is the largest "Pollution-Free" vegetable planting base in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, China. The vast majority of irrigation water and some domestic water is taken from groundwater in Yongqing. In order to comprehensively evaluate the content of heavy metals in groundwater and the possible health risks, 370 groundwater samples were systematically collected throughout the county, and seven heavy metal elements including Cu, Pb, Zn, Cd, Ni, Hg and As were analyzed. It is found that the content of Pb, Cd, Ni and As in some groundwater samples exceeded the water quality standard of class Ⅲ (GB/T 14848-2017), and the content of Pb, Cd and Ni in some samples were higher than the water quality standard of farmland irrigation (GB 5084-2021). The sampling points with high heavy metal contents are mainly located in the central and southern parts of the study area. According to the principal component analysis, As and Cd in groundwater are mainly related to agricultural production, while Cu, Zn, Ni and Pb are mostly from transportation and agricultural production, and Hg is mainly affected by natural background. The health risks caused by carcinogenic heavy metals (Cd and As) are higher than those caused by non-carcinogenic heavy metals (Cu, Pb, Zn, Ni and Hg). Cd and As are the main heavy metals that cause health risks, accounted for 79.24% and 20.66% of the total health risk, respectively. The health risk value caused by heavy metals in groundwater exceeds the maximum acceptable level. Therefore, the groundwater safety in the study area should be reasonably planned, and effective measures should be taken to reduce the health risks caused by heavy metals in groundwater.

Key words: Yongqing County, groundwater, heavy metals, health risk assessment

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