Assessment of arsenic and fluoride pollution in groundwater in Dawukou area, Northwest China, and the associated health risk for inhabitants

Exposure to arsenic and fluoride through contaminated drinking water can cause serious health effects. In this study, the sources and occurrence of arsenic and fluoride contaminants in groundwater are analyzed in Dawukou area, northwest China, where inhabitants rely on groundwater as the source of drinking water. The triangular fuzzy numbers approach is adopted to assess health risk. The fuzzy risk assessment model incorporates the uncertainties that are caused by data gaps and variability in the degree of exposure to contaminants. The results showed that arsenic and fluoride in groundwater were mainly controlled by the dissolution–precipitation of Ca-arsenate and fluorite under weakly alkaline conditions. The arsenic and fluoride concentrations were higher in the shallow groundwater. The most probable risk values for arsenic and fluoride were 4.57 × 10⁻⁴ and 0.4 in the shallow groundwater, and 1.58 × 10⁻⁴ and 0.3 in the deep groundwater. Although the risks of fluoride were almost within the acceptable limit (<1.0), the risk values of arsenic were all beyond the acceptable levels of 10⁻⁶ for drinking water. Further, the local administration should pay more attention to the potential health risk through dietary intake and to the safety of deep water by ensuring it is not contaminated under prolonged pumping conditions. The fuzzy risk model treats the uncertainties associated with a quantitative approach and provides valuable information for decision makers when uncertainties are explicitly acknowledged, particularly for the variability in contaminants. This study can provide a new insight for solving data uncertainties in risk management.