Identification of priority sources of potentially hazardous elements from public drinking water fountains in Zaječar/East Serbia

Abstract

Access to clean drinking water is essential for human health, economic development, and environmental sustainability. To effectively preserve water quality and ensure a safe and stable water supply, it is essential to determine the priority control factors of potentially hazardous elements in water. This study focused on public drinking water fountains in Zaječar City (Serbia), examining water hydrochemistry, quality, potential sources of hazardous elements, and the health risks associated with consumption or dermal exposure. Among all potentially hazardous elements, iron showed a deviation from the limit in drinking water prescribed by the World Health Organization, reaching 631 µg/L. However, all samples were categorized as excellent quality for drinking. Water composition was governed by water-rock interactions, distinguishing Na-HCO3 as the dominant water type. A total of 3.3 % and 6.6 % of samples exceeded the threshold of 1 for non-carcinogenic health risk for adults and children, respectively, with the mean HIa value of 0.35 and the mean HIc value of 0.57. However, the carcinogenic risk was within the allowable limits for children, whereas it surpassed the threshold of 1.0 × 10–4 for adults in 10 % of the samples. The positive matrix factorization model identified four sources responsible for water quality, i.e., natural source, industrial source, sewage source, and agricultural source, with contributions of 37.1 %, 35.0 %, 17.8 %, and 10.1 %, respectively. The Monte Carlo simulation of source-specific health risks revealed that the industrial source was the main contributor to both non-carcinogenic and carcinogenic risks, attributed to its high arsenic load