Vol.:(0123456789) 1 3 Environmental Earth Sciences (2020) 79:195 https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-020-08939-y ORIGINAL ARTICLE Investigation of physicochemical parameters in drinking water resources and health risk assessment: a case study in NW Iran Mohammad Malakootian 1,2  · Amir Mohammadi 3  · Maryam Faraji 1,2 Received: 30 June 2019 / Accepted: 12 April 2020 © Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2020 Abstract Investigation of the quality of drinking water resources in terms of their effect on the human health is a vital issue. This study aimed to study physicochemical parameters in drinking water resources in NW Iran and made an effort to assess the health risk of these parameters. The study was conducted in winter, 2018 on the 16 sampling points in the vicinity of Lake Urmia, NW Iran. Heavy metals (Pb, As, Cd, Ni, Zn, and Cu) and ions (Na + , Ca 2+ , K + , NO 3 − , SO 4 2− , and Cl − ) were measured by Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectrometer (ICP-OES) and Ion Chromatography (IC), respectively. Non-carcinogenic risk and carcinogenic risk assessments were carried out by probabilistic approach and Monte Carlo simulation, and were expressed by hazard quotient (HQ) and excess lifetime cancer risk (ELCR) criteria, respectively. The mean values of pH, turbidity, and temperature and ions were within the permissible limits for drinking water according to the recommended range by World Health Organization (WHO). HQ values indicated a reasonable non-carcinogenic risk for Zn and Ni and unacceptable risks for As, Cd, and NO 3 − . ELCR levels of As were unacceptably high. Finally, it was concluded that groundwater resources in the studied area did not have an acceptable quality for drinking usages due to the risk posed by As, Cd, and NO 3 − . Therefore, pollution control through finding con- tamination sources and water treatment are recommended before the use of water resources for drinking consumption. Keywords Lake Urmia · Hazard quotient · Excess lifetime cancer risk · Heavy metals · Groundwater Introduction Nowadays, there are over 1 billion people in the world with restricted access to the safe drinking water, especially in rural communities (WHO 2017). Public health and life expectancy are directly afected by insufcient access to safe drinking water (Chabukdhara et al. 2017). Groundwater has been considered as a vital source that is used for drinking, domestic, agricultural, and industrial purposes in the worldwide (Shakerkhatibi et al. 2019). It has been reported that almost one-third of the population are consuming groundwater for diferent uses. Surface water resources have been replaced by groundwater in the Middle East, South, and Southeast Asian countries (Aghapour et al. 2016; Khoshnamvand et al. 2018). The quality of the groundwater is highly affected by either natural or anthropogenic parameters such as geo- logical factors, drought, population growth, urbanization, and industrial and agricultural activities (Hajizadeh and Mohammadi 2017; Sadani et al. 2011). Although the usage of groundwater has reduced waterborne micro- bial diseases, chronic exposure to inorganic toxic con- taminants such as heavy metals is increasing (Aghapour et al. 2016; Bacquart et al. 2015). Heavy metals are one of the most important parameters which determine the water quality for drinking usage (Malakootian et al. 2006, 2016). Several researchers have investigated the status of heavy metals in the groundwater resources. Fallahzadeh * Maryam Faraji m.faraji@kmu.ac.ir; m_faraji28@yahoo.com Mohammad Malakootian m.malakootian@yahoo.com Amir Mohammadi mohammadiurm@gmail.com; amahammadi@gmail.com 1 Environmental Health Engineering Research Center, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran 2 Department of Environmental Health, School of Public Health, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran 3 Department of Public Health, Maragheh University of Medical Sciences, Maragheh, Iran