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Vol. 7(7), pp. 567-584, July 2013
DOI: 10.5897/AJEST12.197
ISSN 1996-0786 © 2013 Academic Journals
http://www.academicjournals.org/AJEST
African Journal of Environmental Science and
Technology
Review
Heavy metal pollution in drinking water - a global risk
for human health: A review
Fabián Fernández-Luqueño1*, Fernando López-Valdez2, Prócoro Gamero-Melo1, Silvia Luna-
Suárez2, Elsa Nadia Aguilera-González3, Arturo I. Martínez1, María del Socorro García-
Guillermo4, Gildardo Hernández-Martínez5, Raúl Herrera-Mendoza3, Manuel Antonio Álvarez-
Garza3 and Ixchel Rubí Pérez-Velázquez4
1Sustainability of Natural Resources and Energy Group, Cinvestav-Saltillo, Coahuila. C. P. 25900, Mexico.
2CIBA, Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Tepetitla de Lardizábal, C.P. 90700, Tlaxcala, Mexico.
3Mexican Corporation of Materials Investigations, Saltillo, Coahuila, C. P. 25290, Mexico.
4Analytical Chemistry Laboratory, Cinvestav-Saltillo, Coahuila, C. P. 25900, Mexico.
5National Institute of Statistics, Geography and Informatics, Oaxaca, C. P. 68050, Mexico.
Accepted 11 July, 2013
Water resources in the world have been profoundly influenced over the last years by human activities,
whereby the world is currently facing critical water supply and drinking water quality problems. In many
parts of the world heavy metal (HM) concentrations in drinking water are higher than some international
guideline values. Discussing about the HM pollution in drinking water, the incorporation of them into
the food chain, and their implications as a global risk for the human health, are the objectives of this
review. It is known that there are million people with chronic HM poisoning which has become a
worldwide public health issue, while 1.6 million children die each year from diseases for which
contaminated drinking water is a leading cause. There is also evidence of HM in drinking water that are
responsible for causing adverse effect on human health through food chain contamination. A global
effort to offering affordable and healthy drinking water most to be launched throughout the world, while
various laws and regulations to protect and improve the utilization of drinking water resources should
be updated or created throughout the world, including the low income countries; otherwise, the
problem of HM-polluted drinking water will be growing because demand for drinking water is still
growing such as this problem will become even more pressing in the future. Finally, notwithstanding,
additional researches are necessaries about the correlation between HM concentration in drinking
water and human diseases, while the development of robust, cheap and sustainable technologies to
improve the drinking water quality is necessary.
Key words: Groundwater, aquifer, water quality, water pollution, microorganism, water supply, microbial
communities, food chain, disease.
INTRODUCTION
Although, there is no clear definition of what a heavy
metal (HM) is; density is in most cases taken to be the
defining factor. HM are thus commonly defined as those
elements having a specific density of more than 5 g cm-3.
The main threats to human health from HM are
associated with exposure to cadmium, lead, mercury and
arsenic (arsenic is a metalloid, but is usually classified as
a HM), but additionally, there are others 19 elements
*Corresponding author. E-mail: cinves.cp.cha.luqueno@gmail.com. Tel: +52 844 4389625. Fax: +52 844 4389610.
568 Afr. J. Environ. Sci. Technol.
known as HM: antimony, bismuth, cerium, chromium,
cobalt, copper, gallium, gold, iron, manganese, nickel,
platinum, silver, tellurium, thallium, tin, uranium, vana-
dium and zinc. Interestingly, small amounts of HM are
common in our environment and diet, even some of them
are necessary for good health, for example, living
organisms require varying amounts of HM such as iron,
cobalt, copper, manganese, molybdenum and zinc, which
are required by humans too. However, large amounts of
any of them may cause acute or chronic toxicity
(poisoning) (Kabata-Pendias and Mukherjee, 2007). Soils
represents a major sink for HM ions, which can then
enter the food chain via water, plants or leaching into
groundwater. HM toxicity can result in brain damage or
the reduction of mental processes (Gaza et al., 2005) and
central nervous function (Bouchard et al., 2011), lower
energy levels (Holmstrup et al., 2011), damage to DNA
(Jomova et al., 2011), alterations on the gene expression
(Salgado-Bustamante et al., 2010), skin (Burger et al.,
2007), muscle (Visnjic-Jeftic et al., 2010), blood
composition (Di Gioacchino et al., 2008), lungs (Thomas
et al., 2009), kidneys (Johri et al., 2010), liver (Burger et
al., 2007), heart (Otles and Cagindi, 2010), and other vital
organs for humans and other living organisms.
Long-term exposure to HM may result in slowly
progressing physical, muscular and neurological
degenerative processes that mimic Alzheimer's disease,
Parkinson's disease, muscular dystrophy, multiple
sclerosis (Jones and Miller, 2008), gangrene, diabetes
mellitus, hypertension and ischemic heart disease (Otles
and Cagindi, 2010). Allergies are commons and repeated
long-term contact with some HM or their compounds may
even cause cancer (Dietert and Piepenbrink, 2006). For
some HM, toxic levels can be just above the background
concentrations naturally found in nature. However, HM
have been excessively released into the environment
due to rapid industrialization, manufacture of fertilizers
and to the high production of industrial waste (Katsou et
al., 2011) originated from metal plating, mining activities,
smelting, battery manufacture, tanneries, petroleum
refining, paint manufacture, pesticides, pigment manu-
facture, printing or photographic industries (Aguilera et
al., 2010). This has created a major global concern
because they are non-biodegradable and can be
accumulated in living tissues, causing various diseases
and disorders within the food chain. It is well known that
groundwater supplies most drinking water throughout the
world, which the global population is 7 billions of people
(UNFPA, 2011), and whereas about 1.1 billion of them
worldwide lack access to improved drinking water
supplies and use unsafe surface and groundwater
sources. Even people who have access to “improved”
water supplies such as household connections, public
standpipes, and wells may not have safe water (Sobsey
et al., 2008) because it is well known that drinking water
could be polluted with microorganisms (Lugoli et al.,
2011), arsenic (Akter and Ali, 2011), polycyclic aromatic
hydrocarbons (PAHs) (Bruzzoniti et al., 2010), organic
pollutants (Wu et al., 2010), nitrate and nitrite
(Manassaram et al., 2010) and HM (Bourdineaud, 2010).
At our knowledge, there are not reviews summarizing
the global risk for the human health by the HM pollution
in drinking water. The objective of this review is to
discuss about the HM pollution in drinking water and their
implications as a global risk for the human health.
HEAVY METAL POLLUTION IN DRINKING WATER
THROUGHOUT THE WORLD
Pollution is defined as the introduction of elements,
compounds or energy into the environment at
concentrations that impair its biological functioning or
that present an unacceptable risk to humans or other
targets that use or are linked to the environment, while
HM are common pollutants which might be found in
drinking water throughout the seven continents arising
scientific and public concern on human health. The
continents identified by convention rather than any strict
criteria are (from largest in size to smallest): Asia, Africa,
North America, South America, Antarctica, Europe and
Oceania.
The Asian continent
Asia is the largest continent on Earth in which China,
Bangladesh, Vietnam, Taiwan, Thailand, Nepal and India
are located, seven countries where environmental
concerns are arising because large amounts of HM have
been found in drinking water. In these countries, arsenic
is found at high concentration in groundwater, drinking
water and surface soil (Chen, 2006). Roychowdhury et
al. (2003) reported that in India, the arsenic concen-
tration (107 µg L-1) in drinking water was approximately
11 times higher than the World Health Organization
(WHO) guideline value (WHO, 2008) (Table 1), while
concentrations of copper, nickel, manganese, zinc and
selenium were lower than the WHO guideline values
(Table 1). Furthermore, Chatterjee et al. (1995), found
as, in ground water above the maximum permissible limit
in six districts of West Bengal, India, covering an area of
34000 km2 with a population of 30 millions. Ten years
later, on the same area, Von Ehrenstein et al. (2005)
revealed that consumption of arsenic-contaminated
water was associated with respiratory symptoms and
reduce lung function in men, especially among those
people with arsenic-related skin lesions (Table 2), while
Borah et al. (2010) stated that the drinking water sources
in Assam, India, are heavily polluted with lead.
Additionally, Borah et al. (2010) reported that iron
content in the drinking water sources in that area
exceeds the WHO guideline value of 0.3 µg L-1 (Table 1).
Chaudhary and Kumar (2009) revealed that in the villages
Fernández-Luqueño et al. 569
Table 1. Current drinking water quality guidelines (µg L-1) for heavy metals (HM), published by
several organizations, committees or agencies throughout the world. There are no drinking water
quality guidelines for bismuth, cerium, cobalt, gallium, gold, platinum, tellurium, tin and vanadium.
HM
WHOa
USEPAb
ECEc
FTP-CDWd
PCRWRe
ADWGf
NOM-127g
Antimony
20
6
5
6
5
3
---
Arsenic
10
10
10
10
50
10
25
Cadmium
3
5
5
5
10
2
5
Chromium
50
100
50
50
50
50
50
Copper
2000
1300
2000
1000
2000
2000
2000
Iron
---
300
200
300
---
300
300
Lead
10
15
10
10
50
10
10
Manganese
100
50
50
50
500
500
150
Mercury
6
2
1
1
1
1
1
Nickel
70
---
20
---
20
20
---
Silver
---
100
---
---
---
100
---
Thallium
---
2
---
---
---
---
---
Uranium
30
30
---
20
---
17
---
Zinc
---
500
---
5000
5000
3000
5000
a, World Health Organization (WHO 2011); b, United Stated Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA,
2011); c, European Commission Environment (ECE, 1998); d, Federal-Provincial-Territorial Committee on
Drinking Water (CDW), Health Canada (FTP-CDW, 2010); e, Pakistan Council of Research in Water
(PCRWR, 2008); f, Australian Drinking Water Guidelines (DDWG, 2011); g, Norma Official Mexicana
NOM-127-SSA1-1994 (DOF, 1994).
Table 2. Symptoms or diseases associated with humans exposed to high heavy metals (HM) concentrations.
HM
Exposure route
Symptoms or diseases
Reference
Arsenic
Water ingestion
Melanosis, leucomelanosis, keratosis, and cancer
Medeiros et al. (2012)
Water ingestion
Effects on neuronal development
Camacho et al. (2011)
Water ingestion
Damage to DNA, single-strand DNA and double strand
DNA breaks, cerebrovascular diseases, diabetes
mellitus and kidney diseases
Jomova et al. (2011)
and Mo et al. (2009)
Ingestion
Alterations on the gene expression
Salgado-Bustamante et
al. (2010)
Water ingestion
Lesions on skin and liver, hyperkeratosis or
hyperpigmentation, respiratory complications, induces
changes in the hormonal and mucosal immune
responses.
Mosaferi et al. (2008)
Water ingestion
Chronic renal failure, cytogenic damage
Bawaskar et al. (2010)
Water and food ingestion
Lesions on heart, gangrene, diabetes mellitus,
hypertension, and ischemic heart disease
Otles and Cagindi
(2010)
Water consumption
Lung function failure and skin lesions
Von Ehrenstein et al.
(2005)
Smoking cigarettes and water
ingestion
Coughing, chest sounds in the lungs and shortness of
breath
Arain et al. (2009)
Antimony
Inhalation,food and water ingestión,
and occupational exposure
Respiratory irritation, pneumoconiosis, genotoxic and
antimony spots on the skin
Lijima et al. (2010) and
Wu et al. (2011)
Bismuth
Food consumption
Liver and kidney failure
Medeiros et al. (2012)
570 Afr. J. Environ. Sci. Technol.
Table 2. Contd.
HM
Exposure route
Symptoms or diseases
Reference
Cadmium
Nanoparticles
Pneumoconiosis
Cassee et al. (2011)
Nanoparticles
Myocardial infarction
Gómez-Aracena et al.
(2006)
Food consumption
Accumulation in liver, gills and muscles
Medeiros et al. (2012)
Food consumption (lettuce and rice)
Accumulation in liver, gills and muscles
Pereira et al. (2011)
Ingestion
Kidneys failure
Gobe and Crane
(2010)
Water ingestion
Chronic renal failure
Bawaskar et al. (2010)
Water ingestion
It is absorbed via the alimentary tract, penetrates
through placenta during pregnancy, risks of
stillbirth, and damages membranes and DNA
Von Ehrenstein et al.
(2006)
Cerium
Nanoparticles, ingestion and
inhalation
Toxicity
Gaiser et al. (2009)
Chromium
Soil, inhalation, dermal contact
Cancer
Wang et al. (2011)
Water ingestion, meat
Stomach cancer
Smith and Steinmaus
(2009)
Cobalt
Water ingestion
Accumulation in muscle, liver and gills
Visnjic-Jeftic et al.
(2010)
Copper
Ingestion and dermal contact
Alzheimer type II astrocytosis, Parkinsonism,
cognitive dysfunction, and ataxia.
Butterworth (2010) and
Mercer (2001)
Gallium
Occupational exposure, ingestion
Pulmonary toxicity
Chitambar (2010)
Gold
Mining
Pneumotitis, headache, gastro-intestinal bleeding
Castilhos et al. (2006)
Inhalation, water ingestion
Toxicity
Bourdineaud (2010)
Iron
Water ingestion
Alzheimer type II astrocytosis, Parkinsonism,
cognitive dysfunction, and ataxia.
Butterworth (2010)
Water ingestion
Accumulation in muscle, liver and gills
Visnjic-Jeftic et al.
(2010)
Lead
Food consumption
Brain damage and reduction of mental processes
Medeiros et al. (2012)
Water Ingestion
Effects on brain and central nervous function
Struzynska (2009)
Ingestion
Lower energy levels
Holmstrup et al. (2011)
Ingestion and inhalation
Accumulation in lungs
Thomas et al. (2009)
Ingestion
Blood composition
Di Gioacchino et al.
(2008)
Water ingestion
Chronic renal failure
Bawaskar et al. (2010)
Ingestion
Parkinson disease, neurodegenerative disorders
Jones and Miller (2008)
Manganese
Ingestion
Alzheimer type II astrocytosis, Parkinsonism,
cognitive dysfunction, liver diseases, and ataxia.
Butterworth (2010)
Water ingestion
Effects on central nervous functions
Bouchard (2011)
Mercury
Water ingestion
Damage to DNA
Bucio et al. (1999)
Water ingestion
Accumulation in muscle, liver and gills
Visnjic-Jeftic et al.
(2010)
Nickel
Water ingestion
Accumulation in muscle, liver and gills
Visnjic-Jeftic et al.
(2010)
Fernández-Luqueño et al. 571
Table 2. Contd.
HM
Exposure route
Symptoms or diseases
Reference
Nickel
Food and water ingestion
Allergies and cancer
Dietert and Piepenbrink
(2006)
Drinking water and food
Systemic toxicity
Duda-Chodak and
Blaszczyk (2008)
Ingestion and inhalation
Cancer of the lungs, throat, stomach, nose and
sinuses
Duda-Chodak and
Blaszczyk (2008)
Platinum
Water ingestion and vegetables
Accumulation in tissues
Dubiella-Jackowska et
al. (2009)
Silver
Water ingestion
Decreases blood pressure, diarrheal, stomach
irritation and decreased respiration
Drake and Hazelwood
(2005)
Food and water ingestion
Gaiser et al. (2009)
Tellurium
Inhalation, dermal contact
Cancer, apoptosis
Jamier et al. (2010)
Thallium
Food
Fetal demise
Hoffman (2000)
Vegetables
Causes adverse health effects and degenerative
changes in many organs.
Cvjetko et al. (2010)
Tin
Occupational exposure
Lung cancer
Jones et al. (2007)
Uranium
Inhalation, ingestion
Cancer and chronic kidney diseases
Prat et al. (2009)
Water ingestion
Renal dysfunction
Chiba and Fukuda
(2005)
Vanadium
Water Ingestion
Cirrhosis, renal stone disease, distal renal tubular
acidosis, hypokalemic periodic paralysis, and
cancer
AlSaleh (1996)
Zinc
Water ingestion
Accumulation in muscle, liver and gills
Visnjic-Jeftic et al.
(2010)
Food consumption
Accumulation in liver, gills and muscles
Pereira et al. (2011)
villages around Kali river (India), 22 samples exceeded
the limit of iron (0.3 µg L-1) and the possible sources of
the high iron content in drinking water are various iron
industries located close to Kali river. Therefore, it has
been reported that uranium was found to be more than
the safe limit in drinking water samples from India
(Kumar et al., 2006) and Finland (Prat et al., 2009), while
Frisbie et al. (2009) demonstrated that some tube wells
from Bangladesh had concentrations exceeding WHO
health-based drinking water guidelines were U, Mn, As,
Pb, Ni and Cr. Additionally, Lodhi et al. (2003) reported
that HM concentrations in drinking water from Skardu,
Pakistan, followed the order Zn > Fe > Ni > Pb > Co > Cu
> Cr but no survey regarding the potability of water has
been conducted in the past. Furthermore, Nickson et al.
(2005) revealed that drinking water sampled in
Muzaffargarh, Pakistan, reached up to 906 µg L-1 As and
that in 58% of samples > 10 µg L-1 As were found.
Moreover, Maharjan et al. (2005) argued that the tube
wells are the only source for drinking water in Terai,
Nepal, where As ranged from 3 to 1072 µg L-1 with a
mean of 403 µg L-1, therefore, arsenicosis victims counts
up 6.9% of Nepalese population resides. Likewise,
Buschmann et al. (2007) reported seasonal fluctuations
in the arsenic concentration (from 1 to 1340 µg L-1) in
drinking water from wells in Cambodia. In addition, they
stated that regions exhibiting low and elevated arsenic
levels are co-incident with the present low relief topo-
graphy featuring gently increasing elevation to the west
and east of a shallow valley understood as a relict of pre-
Holocene topography. In Vietnam, Buschmann et al.
(2008) stated that groundwater contamination is of
geogenic origin and caused by natural conditions in the
aquifers.
In this area, chronic arsenic poisoning is the most
serious health risk for the similar to 2 million people
drinking this groundwater without treatment, followed by
malfunction in children development through excessive
572 Afr. J. Environ. Sci. Technol.
manganese uptake. Additionally, high concentrations of
Ba, Cd, Ni, Se, Pb and U were presents too. In Sri
Lanka, cadmium is one of the most troublesome toxic
HM which accumulates in the water reservoirs and
agricultural soil as a result of intensive use of Cd
contaminated phosphate fertilizers that causes chronic
renal failure (Bandera et al., 2010) (Table 2). It is known
that Cd is the heavy metal of most environmental
concern in terms of adverse effects from long-term
application of phosphate fertilizers.
Limbong et al. (2004) found concentrations of mercury
in drinking water from Indonesia very close to values
established by WHO (Table 1). Additionally, Cortes-
Maramba et al. (2006) revealed that notwithstanding, in
Philippines, levels of mercury in drinking water and
sediments were within allowable, limits the frequency of
gastrointestinal complaints, was significantly associated
with elevated hair methylmercury levels. It is known that
more than 60,000,000 Bangladeshis are drinking water
with unsafe concentrations of one or more elements such
as As, Mn, U, Pb, Ni and Cr (Frisbie et al., 2009)
notwithstanding the WHO efforts to improve their water
quality. Xu et al. (2006) reported that the mean
concentrations of Cu, Zn and As in drinking water from
Shangai, China were 10.8 µg L-1, 0.29 mg L-1 and 0.91
µg L-1, respectively; which were lower than United States
Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) and WHO
guideline values (Table 1). Chiba and Fukuda (2005)
found that uranium concentrations were high in the water
samples of the Central Asian countries including east
side of the Aral Sea, Kazakhstan, while a high
prevalence of renal dysfunction was also reported by
them.
The African continent
Africa is the second-largest of the world and second
most-populous continent, after Asia. Africa suffers from
many environmental problems including deforestation,
degradation, desertification, air and water pollution, the
loss of soil fertility, a dramatic decline and loss of
biodiversity. Asante et al. (2007) reported contamination
by As, Mn, Hg and Pb in drinking water from Tarkwa,
Ghana. Several water samples showed As and Mn
concentrations above the WHO guideline values for
drinking water (Table 1), suggesting that human health
risk is a great concern for those metals. Similar results
were found by Buamah et al. (2008) in groundwater
within the gold-belt zone of Ghana. They collected and
analyzed 290 well water samples and stated that 5 to
12% of sampled wells had arsenic levels exceeding the
WHO guideline value (Table 1). Eighty per cent of wells
exceeded 0.3 mg L-1 Fe, the drinking water guideline
value for iron and 42% exceeded 0.1 mg L-1 Mn, the
WHO health-based guideline value for manganese
(Table 1). Dzoma et al. (2010) stated that water samples
from Koekemoerspruit, Africa have As and Cd levels of
12 and 10 µg L-1, respectively, those levels are several
magnitudes higher than the WHO maximum permissible
levels for drinking water of 10 and 3 µg L-1, respectively
(Table 1).
The North American continent
In this continent, water pollution is becoming a bigger
issue. Pollution from farms, factories and even the water
conducts may contaminate drinking water. High
concentrations of Cu (88 to 147 µg L-1) and Ni (16-35 µg
L-1) were found in bottled drinking waters sold in Canada
(Dabeka et al., 2002) while McGuigan et al. (2010)
reported that in some provinces and territories from
Canada that is, Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, New
Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia,
Quebec, and Saskatchewan have been found
concentrations of As above 10 µg L-1, the current
guideline level of the Federal-Provincial-Territorial
Committee on Drinking Water (Table 1). It is known that
inorganic arsenic in naturally occurring in groundwater
throughout the United States (Zierold et al., 2004), such
as several national assessments have found that high
arsenic concentrations (> 10 µg L-1) are widespread in
drinking water aquifers in the western United States, the
Great Lakes region and New England (Ryker, 2003).
Chemical data from more than 400 groundwater sites in
the Middle Rio Grande Basin of central New Mexico
indicate that arsenic concentrations exceed 10 µg L-1
across broad areas of the Santa Fe Group aquifer
system, which is currently the most exclusive source of
drinking water supply for residents of the basin (Bexfield
and Plummer, 2003). Peters et al. (2006) pointed out the
importance of quantifying arsenic exposure from private
water supplies and reported that domestic bedrock wells
supply water to 120,000 households, with a median
arsenic concentration of 1.9 µg L-1, domestic surficial
wells provide water to approximately 40,000 households
with a median arsenic concentration of 0.15 µg L-1, and
municipal water systems provide water to 265,000
households with a median arsenic concentration of 0.41
µg L-1.
Nevertheless, Erickson and Barnes (2005) stated that
in the upper Midwest, USA, elevated arsenic
concentrations in public drinking water systems are
associated with the lateral extent of northwest
provenance late Wisconsin-aged drift, where twelve
percent of public water systems located within the
footprint of this drift (212 of 1764) exceed 10 µg L-1 As,
the USEPA drinking water guideline value (Table 1). This
suggests that high-arsenic sediment is not necessary to
cause arsenic-impacted ground water because leaches,
bedrocks, depth and human activities are also important
factors that increase the HM pollution in drinking water.
Lytle et al. (2004) stated that it is well known that the use
of iron solid surfaces to adsorb arsenic has become the
basis for several drinking water treatment approaches
that remove arsenic. It is reasonable to assume that iron-
based solids such as corrosion deposits present in
drinking water distribution systems have similar adsorp-
tive properties and could therefore concentrate arsenic
and potentially re-release it into the distribution system.
They found in iron-based solids collected from drinking
water distribution systems located in Ohio, Michigan and
Indiana arsenic contents ranged from 10 to 13,650 µg g-1
solids. The concentrations of trace elements in water
from Tuskegee Lake (Southeastern of United States)
were investigate by Ikem et al. (2003), they found that
the water quality characteristics were mostly below the
recommended drinking water standards by the USEPA
and the European Union (EU) except for aluminium, iron,
manganese and thallium. In addition, the average values
of Cr, As, Mn, Zn and Cl- in the water samples analyzed
were higher than the respective reference values for
fresh water.
Recently, it has been reported that in Mexico, natural
groundwater As contamination ranked 0.5 to 3.7 mg L-1
(Hossain, 2006). However, Wyatt et al. (1998) reported
that drinking water samples of wells or storage tanks
from Northern Mexico, that is, Sonora state, had 117 µg
L-1As, 50 to 120 µg L-1 Pb, and 1 to 25 µg L-1 Hg, which
appears that As, Hg and Pb contamination in drinking
water for this area is a major concern. Camacho et al.
(2011) stated that in the states of Coahuila and
Chihuahua, Mexico, high As concentrations were found
mainly in groundwater, their source being mostly from
natural origin related to volcanic processes with signi-
ficant anthropogenic contributions near mining and
smelting of ores containing arsenic (Figure 1). Some
details of HM-polluted drinking water from Mexico can be
found in Armienta and Segovia (2008), Camacho et al.
(2011) and McClintock et al. (2012).
The South American continent
Marshall et al. (2007) found that drinking water in region
II of Chile is supplied mainly by rivers that contain
inorganic arsenic at very high concentrations. Before
1958, the arsenic concentration in the water supply in the
main city of region II, Antofagasta, was approximately 90
µg L-1, nearly twice the drinking water standard in much
of the world (50 µg L-1) until the recent lowering of the
level in some countries to 10 µg L-1 in the mayor cases.
Garcia-Sanchez et al. (2008) reported that in the Coyuni
river basin (Venezuela), artisanal gold mining has
caused significant mercury pollution due to the extensive
use of Hg in the Au amalgamation processes. They
recorded high Hg concentrations up to 4.6 µg L-1 in
surface water samples which exceeds the USEPA
recommended value of 2 µg L-1. Madrakian and
Ghazizadeh (2009) detected > 1.1 and < 2.4 µg L-1
Sn(IV) in water samples from Brazil. De Figueiredo et al.
(2007) revealed that integrated studies on environmental
Fernández-Luqueño et al. 573
and anthropogenic sources of As contamination have
been carried out only in three areas from Brazil: 1) the
Southeastern region known as the Iron Quadrangle,
where As was released into the drainage systems, soils
and atmosphere as a result of gold mining; 2) the Ribeira
Valley, where As occurs in Pb-Zn mine wastes and
naturally in As-rich rocks and soils; 3) the Amazon
region, including the Santana area, where As is asso-
ciated with manganese ores mined over the last 50
years. However, they argued that toxicological studies
revealed that the populations were not exposed to
elevated levels of As, with the As concentrations in
surface water in these areas rarely exceeding 10 µg L-1.
A possible reason is the deep weathering of bedrocks
along with formation of Fe/Al-enriched soils and
sediments function as a chemical barrier that prevents
the release of As into water. In addition, the tropical
climate results in high rates of precipitation in the
northern and southeastern regions and, hence, the As
contents in drinking water is diluted. Alonso et al. (2006)
found concentrations of aluminium, arsenic, manganese
and iron above the guideline values of WHO in drinking
water from Bolivia. Recently, the arsenic exposure in
Latin America has been reviewed by McClintock et al.
(2012), they estimated that at least 4.5 million people in
Latin America are chronically exposed to high level of As
that is >50µg L-1, and some as high as 2000 µg L-1 As.
The Antarctican continent
The Antarctica is a terrestrial continent covered in 98%
by ice that averages at least 1.6 km in thickness and it
has reached a temperature −89°C. It is considered a
desert, with annual precipitation of only 200 mm along
the coast and far less inland. Although, Antarctica does
not have stream-river drainage systems, there are many
sub-glacial and sub-aerial lakes, and the summer melting
of snow banks or glacier ice may originate small seeps
and ephemeral streams in coastal areas (Bargagli,
2008). Nevertheless, Antarctica is often considered as
one of the last pristine regions, metals, organic com-
pounds, invasive species and other contaminants enter
the continent through air, water, bird, marine mammals
and by anthropogenic activities (Hughes and Convey,
2012). Significant interannual variations in physical
characteristics of the surface waters, such as sea-ice
coverage and melt water percentage, can affect both the
stability of the water column and the trace metal
distribution and speciation. Heavy metals such as V, Cr,
Mn, Cu, Zn, Co, Ag, Cd, Ba, Pb, Bi and U have been
measured in a series of dated snow samples, covering
the period from 1834 to 1990, collected at remote, low
accumulation sites in Coats Land, Antarctica, but
concentrations are found to be extremely low, down to 3
× 10−15 g g-1 for most metals, then confirming the high
purity of Antarctic snow (Planchon et al., 2002; Rivaro et
574 Afr. J. Environ. Sci. Technol.
Figure 1. Natural or anthropogenic heavy metals sources polluting groundwater and drinking water systems
throughout the world.
al., 2011).
Natural processes such as volcanic activity,
hydrothermal processes and sediment transport are
more important than anthropogenic inputs in accounting
for the metal concentrations measured in sediments at
different places. Findings show that human activities in
the study areas may contribute to negligible levels of
trace metals associated with anthropogenic inputs (for
example, Cr and Zn) in sediments (Guerra et al., 2011).
Eolian deposition from strong winds contributes in an
important way to the trace metallic elements content onto
Antarctic dry valley glacier snow and glacier melt
ecosystems, including supra and proglacial streams. It is
known that lithogenic material is the dominant source of
As, Cd, Cu, Mo, Pb, Sn and Sb to snow (for example,
Taylor Valey). Comparisons of distributions of As, Mo,
Cu and Pb between snow and supra and proglacial melt
streams suggest that eolian deposition is a major source
of these elements to Antarctic dry valley aquatic
ecosystems (Fortner et al., 2011). Mercury is a globally
dispersed toxic metal that affects even remote polar
areas, for example, during seasonal atmospheric
mercury depletion events in polar areas, mercury is
removed from the atmosphere and subsequently
deposited in the surface snows, mainly coldest climatic
stages (Jitaru et al., 2009).
The European continent
Kelepertsis et al. (2006) found elevated concentrations of
As (125 µg L-1) and Sb (21 µg L-1) in the drinking water of
Eastern Thessaly, Greece, where more than 5,000
people drink water containing As and Sb above the
USEPA guidelines, while recently, Jovanovic et al.
(2011) found that 63% of all water samples exceeded
Serbian and European standards for arsenic in drinking
water and Cavar et al. (2005) reported that in three
villages from eastern Croatia, the mean arsenic
concentrations in drinking water samples were 38, 172
and 619 µg L-1 which could present a serious health
threat to around 3% of Croatian population. Tamasi and
Cini (2004) found in South Tuscany, Italy, that As
concentrations were relatively high in drinking water
sampled from the ends of the distribution lines when
compared to values at sources, showing that the quality
of drinking water in town is somewhat worse than that at
one of the main sources, probably due to leaching from
metal pipes. Similar results were found by Etxabe et al.
(2010) in Spain and Haider et al. (2002) in Austria, they
concluded that lead concentration in drinking water
increased as it is released from piping. Tsoumbaris et al.
(2009) and Doulgeris et al. (2007) revealed that in
several samples of drinking water from north-eastern
Greece, manganese and iron concentrations exceeded
the acceptable limits for potable water set by the Hellenic
Joint Ministerial Act Y2/2600/2001 'quality of the water
intended for human consumption'. Additionally, Rajkovic
et al. (2008) reported the presence of radioactive
elements of uranium and strontium of anthropogenic
origin in drinking water-samples of the water-supply
network from Belgrade, Serbia.
Nielsen (2009) reported that in Denmark, nickel was
detected in 3,362 wells and in 221 wells; the local current
drinking water limit at 20 µg L-1 was exceeded. However,
it has to be remembered that the current WHO drinking
water guideline is 70 μg L-1 Ni (Table 1). A total of 908
bottled water samples and 164 tap water samples were
analyzed for HM and their results showed that 4.63% (42
samples) of all bottled water samples exceed the limits
for one or more of the following elements: arsenic (9
samples), manganese (eight samples), nickel (1 sample)
and barium (1 sample). Moreover, ten of the samples
exhibited uranium concentrations above 10 μg L-1 and
127 samples yielded > 2.0 μg L-1 U (Birke et al., 2010).
They also analyzed the Te concentrations in bottled
water which varies between < 0.005 and 0.21 μg L-1,
while in the tap water between < 0.005 and 0.025 μg L-1.
The maximum Te concentration measured in surface
water in Germany was 0.073 μg L-1. Other authors have
observed values between 0.00017 and 0.073 μg L-1 Te in
surface water (Sugimura and Suzuki, 1981) and ranged
values between 0.00051 and 0.0033 μg L-1 Te in rain
water (Andreae, 1984). Although, in Germany, < 0.6% of
all households are estimated to receive drinking water
exceeding the threshold level of 10 µg L-1 U, up to 75 µg
L-1 U have been measured in Bavaria (Friedmann and
Lindenthal, 2009). Prat et al. (2009) reported that eleva-
ted concentrations of uranium have been measured in
water samples from private wells in residential commu-
nities in different countries throughout the world (Greece,
Australia, U.S. and Germany).
Moreover, they found exceptionally high natural
concentrations in drinking water originating from drilled
wells in Southern Finland (from 37 to 3,410 µg L-1, that
is, reach more than 100 times those given in the current
WHO guideline of 30 µg L-1), but no clear clinical
symptoms have been observed among the exposed
population.
The Oceania continent
In countries such as Australia and New Zealand, the
presence of HM in water systems is of local significance.
In these countries, strict quality guidelines have been
developed, particularly for protection of aquatic ecosys-
Fernández-Luqueño et al. 575
tems (Hart et al., 1999). Presence of HM in the Oceania
continent is due to both natural and anthropogenic origin.
It has been found the presence of various naturally-
occurring radium isotopes in water samples from saline
seepages from Australia (Dickson, 1985). The distribu-
tion of Cu, Pb and Zn have been studied in aquatic
systems draining Mount Isa Mine in arid northern
Queensland, Australia, the delivery of HM to riverbanks
and dust entrainment in arid zones may concentrate HM
and ultimately ingested and absorbed by biota (Taylor
and Hudson-Edwards, 2008). Other important source of
contaminations has been detected in Lake Burragorang,
where high concentration of Cu, Pb and Zn (204, 332
and 2460 µg g−1, respectively) were found in fluvial
sediment, this issue was associated to sewage treatment
plant. Additionally, coal-based power stations contribute
considerable to Cu, Ni, Co and Cr pollution (562, 157,
113 and 490 µg g−1, respectively) in fluvial sediments
(Birch et al., 2001). In Australia, rainwater harvesting is
typically used to supplement tap water in Auckland, New
Zealand, a cross-sectional survey was realized to deter-
mine HM concentration and microbiological content, it
was found that 17.6% of the examined collection points
exceeded one or more of the maximum guideline values
for HM of the New Zealand Drinking Water Standards
(NZDWS), and 56.0% points exceeded the microbio-
logical criteria of <1 FC/100 ml. 14.4% exceeded the
NZDWS for lead and copper.
It is known that in Australia, a principal source of
drinking water is the rainwater, however, it has been
found that there exist some health risks linked to HM if
untreated rainwater is consumed (Lye, 2002; Chang et
al., 2004).
HEAVY METAL-POLLUTED DRINKING WATER AND
ITS IMPLICATIONS IN THE HUMAN HEALTH
There are numerous epidemiological studies in humans
that have demonstrated the carcinogenic effects of As
from drinking water (Table 2). The most common sign of
exposure to As is hyperpigmentation, especially on the
trunk and keratosis on the palms and soles of the feet.
These skin lesions generally develop five to ten years
after exposure commences, although, shorter latencies
are possible. Many other signs and symptoms have also
been reported in Bangladesh, that is, chronic cough,
crepitating on the lungs, diabetes mellitus, hypertension
and weakness (Milton et al., 2004). Exposure to arsenic
concentrations in drinking water in excess of 300 µg L-1
is associated with diseases of the circulatory and
respiratory system, several types of cancer (Jarup,
2003), and diabetes while the health consequences of
exposure to low-to-moderate levels of arsenic (10 to 100
µg L-1) are also known that is, elevated mortality rates
were observed for both males and females for all
diseases of the circulatory system, cerebrovascular
diseases, diabetes mellitus and kidney diseases (Meliker
576 Afr. J. Environ. Sci. Technol.
et al., 2007). Additionally, Ghosh et al. (2006) found in
West Bengal, India that cytogenic damage and genetic
variants in individuals are susceptible to arsenic-induced
cancer through drinking water. It is known that
concentration of some HM in drinking water is linked to
the bedrock geology (Birke et al., 2010) (Figure 1).
The skin is quite sensitive to arsenic, and skin lesions
are some of the most common and earliest nonmalignant
effects related to chronic As exposure. The increase of
prevalence in the skin lesions has been observed even
at the exposure levels in the range of 0.005 to 0.01 mg L-1
As in drinking waters (Yoshida et al., 2004). Groundwater
arsenic contamination and illnesses of people have been
reported in half of 18 districts in West Bengal, India
(Chowdhury et al., 2001). Mosaferi et al. (2008) showed
that people which drank arsenic-polluted water in Iran
suffered hyperkeratosis or hyperpigmentation (Table 2).
It is known that since 1990, a large number of people
have been experiencing various health problems from
drinking arsenic contaminated water (50 to 1,860 µg L-1)
in 13 countries of Inner Mongolia, China, where 411,000
people are currently at risk from arsenic poisoning (Guo
et al., 2007a). Wang et al. (2007) reported that in
Bangladesh, the growth and the intelligence quotient
scores of children exposure to arsenic were affected, and
Camacho et al. (2011) found that cognitive development
in children can be affected by arsenic contamination.
Marshall et al. (2007) found a clear latency pattern for
lung and bladder cancer mortality for both men and
women that are consistent with the effects of a large
increase in population exposure to arsenic-polluted
drinking water starting in 1958. Arsenic is known to
generate reactive oxygen species such as hydrogen
peroxide, hydroxyl radical and superoxide anion, which
induce a variety of oxidative DNA adducts and DNA
protein cross-links and single-strand DNA and double
strand DNA breaks (Mo et al., 2009). Chronic exposure
of As via drinking water causes various types of skin
lesions such as melanosis, leucomelanosis and
keratosis. Other manifestations include neurological
effects, obstetric problems, high blood pressure, diabetes
mellitus, diseases of the respiratory system and of blood
vessels including cardiovascular, and cancers typically
involving the skin, lung and bladder. The skin seems to
be quite susceptible to the effects of As. Arsenic-induced
skin lesions seem to be the most common and initial
symptoms of arsenicosis (Rahman et al., 2009).
Arsenic is a multiorgan human carcinogen. The best-
known example of this effect occurred in subgroups of
the Taiwanese population who were chronically exposed
to high levels of naturally occurring arsenic in drinking
water and developed cancers of the skin, lung, urinary
bladder and potentially the kidney (IARC, 2004).
Additionally, blackfoot disease in Taiwanese is attributed
to intake of groundwater contaminated with arsenic from
pesticides (Chen et al., 1992) (Table 2). Additionally,
studies have shown that exposure to high concentration
of arsenic ( 200 µg L-1) during pregnancy increases the
risks of stillbirth, but there was no indication that arsenic
increases rates of spontaneous abortion and infant
mortality (Von Ehrenstein et al., 2006). Although,
Christian et al. (2006) demonstrated that in pregnant
women exposed to arsenic in drinking water, Se intake
may be correlated with urinary As excretion, and Se may
alter As methylation and thereafter, dimethylarsinic acid
is formed, a pentavalent metabolite of inorganic arsenic
which is known as a multiorgan tumor promoter (Hughes,
2009). Likewise, Bouchard et al. (2011) revealed that
exposure to manganese at common levels (the median
was 34 µg L-1) in groundwater is associated with
intellectual impairment in children, while Cortes-
Maramba et al. (2006) reported that the incidence of
elevated diastolic blood pressure increases with elevated
hair total mercury levels. The kidney is the main organ
affected by chronic Cd exposure and toxicity (Johri et al.,
2010). Shirai et al. (2010) found that even a low-level Cd
body burden of general population has slight but
significant negative effect on birthweight of newborns
from 78 pregnant women in Tokio.
The exact mechanisms by which HM causes cancer
are still questionable and needs further investigation. It is
well known that approximately, 35 million people in the
US obtain drinking water from domestic wells; however,
few studies have investigated the risk of arsenic
exposure from this source. Kumar et al. (2010) indicated
that domestic well users accounted for 12% of the US
population, but 23% of overall arsenic exposure from
drinking water. Additionally, they found that domestic
wells and public wells in the western US have the highest
arsenic levels with excess fatality risks estimated to be in
the range of 1 per 9,300 to 1 per 6,600 in these regions.
However, Meliker et al. (2010) did not find evidence of an
association between high-level arsenic exposure and
bladder cancer in Southeastern Michigan, USA, while
neither significant association were found between
exposure to arsenic-polluted drinking water and risk for
cancers of the lung, bladder, liver, kidney, prostate,
colorectum or melanoma skin cancer (Baastrup et al.,
2008). Notwithstanding that Cheng et al. (2010) reported
that chronic arsenic exposure from drinking water is
associated with cancer, diabetes, peripheral vascular
diseases and increases risks of cerebrovascular
diseases (Table 2). Likewise, Lisabeth et al. (2010)
reported that exposure to even low levels of arsenic in
drinking water (1.01 µg L-1) may be associated with a
higher risk of incident stroke. Samadder (2010) reported
that in an area of the district Murshidabad of West
Bengal, India, where 1.25 million people are exposed to
arsenic pollution, more than 26% of the study area is
severely affected as life expectancy of the people living
in this area may reduce considerably by the impact of
arsenic in groundwater if they experience life-long
exposure.
Hayes and Skubala (2009) estimated that about 25%
of EU household will have a lead pipe, meaning that
around 120 million people are potentially exposed to
health risks such as interference with heme biosynthesis,
interference with calcium and vitamin D metabolism,
gastrointestinal irritation, dullness, restlessness,
irritability, poor attention span, headaches, muscle
tremor, abdominal cramps, kidney damage, hallucination,
loss of memory, encephalopathy, hearing impairment,
gonad dysfunction and violent behaviours, but the
greatest health concern associated with lead is the
reduced IQ in infants. Additionally, haemorrhagic
diarrhea and reproductive failure in bonsmara cattle has
been reported in South Africa when they drink water with
high lead concentrations (Elsenbroek et al., 2003). The
use of medicinal products derived from plants
(phytomedicines) has been increasing dramatically in the
past years; such plants may contain HM from their
presence in soil, water and air. Additionally, some of
them do not tolerate higher levels of HM but hyper-
accumulate Cd, Pb or Cu (Diaconu et al., 2009). In
addition, it has been revealed that there is a close
correlation between the average lead concentration in
the tap water from Germany and blood lead
concentrations (n = 142 value pairs, Spearman's rho
0.43, p 0.0001) (Fertmann et al., 2004). The solubility
of Cr is strongly dependent upon its oxidation state. In
addition, to redox conditions, the effect of water
chemistry (pH, competing ions, complexing agents) and
of natural solids (adsorbents) can also be quite
significant (Richard and Bourg, 1991). It is known that
hexavalent chromium contaminates drinking water in
Liaoning Province, China, where Beaumont et al. (2008)
demonstrated that human ingestion of Cr6+ may increase
the risk of stomach cancer.
Similar results were reported by Smith and Steinmaus
(2009) in animals, which showed carcinogenic effects
when ingested drinking water polluted with Cr6+. The
toxicity of cobalt is low and it is considered as an
essential element, which is required in the normal human
diet in the form of vitamin B12, cyanocobalamin (Gil et
al., 2008). However, the ingestion or inhalation of large
doses of this analyte may lead to toxic effects but,
notwithstanding that rocks are associated with Co which
is slowly weathered and dissolute (Meck et al., 2010)
(Table 2). Although, copper is an essential metal as
cobalt for the human diet, in some cases, the ingestion of
copper and long-term overexposure can generate acute
and chronic health effects including gastrointestinal
diseases and liver damage (Nor, 1987), but
notwithstanding that the WHO recommends 2 mg L-1 as
a maximum concentration value for drinking water, there
is no confirmed indication of a liver malfunction in infants
whose food had been prepared using tap water with an
elevated copper concentration that could be found (Zietz
et al., 2003) and, therefore, no indication of a hazard due
to copper pipes connected to public water supplies could
be detected. Additionally, Fewtrell et al. (2002) found in
Fernández-Luqueño et al. 577
England and Wales that population exposed to elevated
Cu level in drinking water that is, 3 mg L-1, are likely to
become ill. It has been observed that theorical and
practical experiences suggest that higher Cu levels in
drinking tap water samples are typically associated with
newer plumbing systems, and levels decrease with
increasing plumbing age.
Similar results were found by Turek et al. (2011); they
found that copper levels in water decreased with
plumbing age in 16 buildings with plumbing ages ranging
from less than 1 to 44 years. However, it is also known
that detachment of nano and micro copper carbonate
hydroxide structures formed on the inner surface of
copper pipes, induced by the shear stress produced by
the fluid flow, which increases the concentration of
dissolved copper in water (Vargas et al., 2010).
Nowadays, gallium, indium, arsenic and another HM are
widely used semiconductor manufacturing elements, and
doubt has been expressed that groundwater is
contaminated via industrial effluents because
contaminated water may be a health risk to people living
nearby. Chen (2007) revealed that in Taiwan gallium,
indium and arsenic were introduced into groundwater via
industrial effluents and their concentration into drinking
water were Ga, 19.34 µg L-1; In, 9.25 µg L-1 and As,
34.19 µg L-1. As concentration in drinking water is
approximately 3.5 times higher than the WHO guideline
values, but there are no criteria or standards for Ga and
In (WHO, 2008). Ikem et al. (2003) reported that
notwithstanding, average values of aluminium, iron,
manganese, and thallium of samples from Tuskegee
Lake were mostly above the recommended drinking
water standards by the USEPA and the EU, the human
health risks for heavy metals in fish caught from
Tuskegee Lake are low for now, and irrespective of the
source of fish, concentrations of metals in muscle tissues
were all below the recommended Food and Agriculture
Organization (FAO) maximum limits in fish. It has to be
remembered that Thallium is more toxic to humans than
mercury, cadmium, lead, copper or zinc.
Additionally, thallium is readily transported through
aqueous routes into the environment (Peter and
Viraraghavan, 2005). Duda-Chodak and Blaszczyk
(2008) reported that inhalation of nickel can cause
cancer of the lungs, throat, stomach, nose and sinuses,
but there are no information about nickel in drinking
water and its effect on the human health. It is well known
that uranium has been measured in drinking water from
different countries throughout the world (Prat et al.,
2009). According to the recent Human Alimentary Tract
model produced by the International Commission on
Radiological Protection (ICRP, 2004), at least 98% of the
uranium ingested in soluble form is discharged in faeces.
Consequently, only a very small part of ingested soluble
uranium (0.1 to 2%) is transferred to the blood because
of the very low level of absorption of uranium by the
gastro-intestinal tract (Prat et al., 2009). They conducted
578 Afr. J. Environ. Sci. Technol.
some studies to identify biological parameters linked to
an uranium-induced chemotoxicity, nevertheless, none
significant clinical effects on health could be found. HM in
living species have been detected throughout the world.
The highest heavy metal concentrations obtained in fish
are as follows: Cd in liver, the mean value was
1.36 ± 0.19 mg kg-1 dry weight (dwt); Pb and Zn in
spleen, the mean values were 3.33 ± 0.86 and
143.97 ± 16.17 mg kg-1 dwt, respectively; Cu in gills,
3.76 ± 1.16 mgkg-1 dwt; and Mn in scales,
14.80 ± 4.77 mgkg-1 dwt (Beltcheva et al., 2011).
Concentrations of Al, Cr, Mn, Fe, Ni, Cu, Zn, As, Se,
Cd and Pb were determined in feathers of penguin
collected in the Antarctic Peninsula. The highest levels of
several elements were found in samples from King
George Island (8.08, 20.29 and 1.76 µg g-1 dwt for Cr, Cu
and Pb, respectively) and Deception Island (203.13, 3.26
and 164.26 µg g-1 dwt for Al, Mn and Fe, respectively),
where probably human activities and large-scale
transport of pollutants contribute to increase HM levels.
Concentrations of Cr, Mn, Cu, Se or Pb, which are
similar to others, found in different regions of the world,
show that some areas in Antarctica are not utterly
pristine (Runcie and Riddle, 2004; Jerez et al., 2011).
DISCUSSION
Water is an essential substance for life. Freshwater
comprises 3% of the total water on earth, but only a
small percentage (0.01%) of this freshwater is available
for human use (Hinrichsen and Tacio, 2002).
Unfortunately, even this small proportion of freshwater is
under immense stress due to rapid population growth,
urbanization and unsustainable consumption of water in
industry and agriculture (Azizullah et al., 2011). Accor-
ding to United Nations report, the world population is
increasing exponentially while the availability of fresh-
water is declining. Additionally, the most problematic
challenge of current water research is dealing with
elevated arsenic concentration in drinking water
(Smedley and Kinniburgh, 2002); currently, the most
serious problem globally is the intoxication of millions of
people with drinking water containing too much As
(Hirner and Hippler, 2011), while many countries in
Africa, Middle East and South Asia will have serious
threats of water shortage in the next two decades, while
in developing countries the problem is further aggravated
due to the lack of proper management, unavailability of
professionals and financial constraint (PCRWR, 2005). It
is known that 1.6 million children die every year from
diseases associated with contaminated drinking water.
Water resources in the world have been profoundly
influenced over the last years by human activities,
including the construction of dams and canals, large
irrigation and drainage systems, changes of land cover in
most watersheds, high inputs of chemicals from industry
and agriculture into surface and groundwater, and
depletion of aquifers. As a result, problems of overuse,
depletion and pollution have become evident and more
and more conflicts are developing between various uses
and users (GEO, 2000, 2011). Although, the drinking
water demand is increasing throughout the world, the
capacity of local drinking water resource is not, which is
even decreasing in many areas of the world. Additionally,
pollution with HM is a serious concern, due to these
elements entering in to the soil, where they can be
present for a long time, HM are potential contamination-
source of drinking water.
In Pakistan, as well as in the whole world, drinking
water comes from ground and surface water including
rivers, lakes and reservoirs. The present free style way of
disposing agricultural, industrial and domestic effluents
into natural water-bodies results in serious surface and
groundwater contamination. Run-off from agricultural
land and saline seeps subject the most vulnerable water
bodies to pollution and increased salinity, so the
freshwater lakes are highly impacted (Bekiroglu and
Eker, 2011). Environmental exposure to heavy metals in
terms of public health is receiving increasing attention
worldwide following cases of massive contamination in
different parts of the world. This problem exists all over
South America due to the lack of laws and restrictions
made and enforced by the governments in these
countries. In some places, sewage treatment plants are
almost non-existent and the ones that do exist are out-
dated and not in working condition, whereby the water is
delivered in natural water bodies or soils polluting the
environment and the drinking water sources. Although,
difficult to implement, a centralized and standardized
source of drinking water quality data is urgently needed
to determine the effects of HM and other contaminants
on human health. In some cases, people have been
exposed for years to water that did not meet those
guidelines. The real problem is how to get pure drinking
water safely and inexpensively. Independent studies
suggest that millions of people throughout the world
become sick every year by drinking contaminated water,
with maladies from upset stomachs to cancer and birth
defects. Additionally, in some regions, like the drought-
affected areas throughout the world, people already have
no fresh water for drinking and are compelled to drink
brackish water (Ullah et al., 2009).
The latest implies that the HM-exposed population may
be larger than that already identified. Arsenic is a toxic
metalloid of global concern. It usually originates
geogenically but can be intensified by human activities
such as applications of pesticides and wood
preservatives, mining and smelting operations, and coal
combustion. Arsenic-contaminated food is a widespread
problem worldwide (Otles and Cagindi, 2010). Chronic
arsenic toxicity due to drinking of arsenic contaminated
water causes significant morbidity in children in different
parts of the world (Mazumder, 2007), whereby social
conscience about health risks and consequences of
environmental pollution may be developed and the actual
situation must be taken into account by authorities to
achieve a definite solution to the problem. Although, the
carcinogenicity of arsenic in humans has been known for
more than 100 years, there is no definitive understanding
of the mechanism of action for this effect (Hughes,
2009). Nowadays, there are some questions about how
some HM can cause cancer? Do they act as arsenic?
How spread is the HM pollution in drinking water? How
many places with high HM concentration in drinking
water have been not identified yet? How many countries
or cities have serious problems with their water quality
but according to political or economic convenience the
results are changed or hidden? The answers to these
questions are not so clear whereby additional researches
are necessaries. Moreover, in order to reach water-
quality standards, water-quality policies, new
technologies, water management strategies and human
resources are necessaries in many countries and cities
throughout the world.
Water pollution is most often due to human activities
(Hammer, 1986). However, the sources of these
contaminants are unclear and merit further investigation.
The major ones are indiscriminate disposal of industrial,
municipal and domestic wastes in water channels, rivers,
streams and lakes (Kahlown and Majeed, 2003), for
example, an estimated 2 million tons of sewage and
other effluents are discharged into the world-waters
every day (Azizullah et al., 2011). The World is currently
facing critical water supply and drinking water quality
problems, whereby, in many parts of the world, water
supplies are threatened by contamination and future
water supplies are uncertain. High arsenic levels are
often used to indicate improper well construction or the
location or overuse of chemical fertilizers or herbicides
(Borah et al., 2010). Thus, suitable protective measures
for drinking water sources in the area are recommended.
Arsenic contamination of drinking water has been a
worldwide challenge (An et al., 2005), because arsenic
has been associated with skin, lung, bladder and kidney
cancers (NRC, 2001). It was reported that from 45 to 57
million people in Bangladesh and 13 million in the United
States have been exposed to unsafe levels of arsenic
(WHO, 2006). There is a need for new recommendations
about HM maximum values, and sometimes also for HM
minimum values for essential HM elements.
CONCLUSIONS
There are millions of people with chronic HM poisoning
which has become a worldwide public health issue. The
existence of hazardous metal ions (released or not by
anthropogenic activities) in the environment is a potential
problem to water and soil quality due to their high toxicity
to plant, animal and human life. Special attention should
consequently be given to drinking water because it is,
Fernández-Luqueño et al. 579
besides oxygen, the most important requirement for
physiological and hygienic needs. Monitoring all drinking
water sources for HM should be considered throughout
the world, but good test methods must to be established,
whereby measurement quality should include both
sampling and analysis. The needed measurement quality
can be achieved by validation that the test method is fit
for the intended purpose and by establishing traceability
of the results to stated references and an estimate of the
uncertainly of measurement; however, to reach the
requirements described earlier, technical knowledge,
infrastructure, and analytical technologies are needed,
which are not easy to get in low economic development
areas or countries. The World is currently facing critical
water supply and drinking water quality problems,
whereby drinking water quality policies, technologies,
drinking water management strategies and human
resources to satisfy water-quality standards are
necessaries in many countries and cities throughout the
world. Additional work to understand how to combine
interventions and transition to greater level of service as
incomes rise remain an important area of police-relevant
work between governments, healthcare services,
industries and drinking water-wells owners.
A global effort to offering affordable and healthy
drinking water most to be launched around the globe,
while various laws and regulations to protect and
improve the utilization of drinking water resources should
be updated or created throughout the world, including the
low income countries; otherwise, the problem of HM-
polluted drinking water will be growing because demand
for drinking water is still growing such as this problem will
become even more pressing in the future. Politic,
industrial and public education programs are required on
awareness of health risks associated with HM-polluted
drinking water. Finally, the development of robust, cheap
and sustainable technologies to improve the drinking
water quality is necessary, especially for rural or low-
income households.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The research was funded by FOMIX CONACyT-Coahuila
Projects COAH-2010-C14-149610 and COAH-2010-C14-
149646. F.F-L, F.L-V, A.I-M, and P.G-M received grant-
aided support from ‘Sistema Nacional de Investigadores
(SNI)’, México.
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