Copyright © 2018 Authors. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. International Journal of Engineering & Technology, 7 (3.30) (2018) 15-18 International Journal of Engineering & Technology Website: www.sciencepubco.com/index.php/IJET Research paper Health Risks Assessment of Rainwater Pollutants in Jengka, Pahang, Malaysia Siti Nadzifah Ghazali 1,2 *, Fazrul Razman Sulaiman 2 , Mohd Zahari Abdullah 2 1 Faculty of Applied Sciences, Universiti Teknologi MARA Shah Alam, Malaysia 2 Faculty of Applied Sciences, Universiti Teknologi MARA Cawangan Pahang, Malaysia *Corresponding author E-mail: nadzifahghazali@yahoo.com Abstract Rainwater samples were collected in Jengka, Pahang Malaysia. Temperature, pH, TDS, EC, Al, Cu, Mn, and Zn were measured. The concentrations of heavy metals (Al, Cu, Mn and Zn) in thirty-eight samples were analysed using inductively coupled plasma-mass spec- trometry (ICP-MS). Statistical analysis results indicate that pH, TDS, and EC showed significant differences between wet and dry sea- sons. However, no significant difference was observed seasonally for heavy metals (HMs). All parameters, except pH, were below the Malaysian Drinking Water Guidelines (MDWG) value and the health risk assessment for HMs indicates the safe levels. Principal com- ponent analysis (PCA) suggests that HMs in rainwater in Jengka, Pahang were originated from natural and anthropogenic sources. Keywords: Aluminium; Copper; Manganese; PCA; Stormwater; Zinc 1. Introduction Development and human activities generate a various type of pol- lutant loads. Among the various pollutants, chemical pollutants such as heavy metals (HMs) has been a concerning issue over decades because of their toxicity for animal, plant and human beings (1). The assessment of HMs in rainwater attracts great attention as HMs could pose serious health risks to the human population and contribute to surface water pollution. Rainwater could be collected for potable and non-potable usage and there is a risk of the exposure of HMs in rainwater through the oral intake and dermal contact. Risk assessment proposed by United States Environmental Protec- tion Agency (USEPA) has proved successful in determining the water safety level and has been adopted worldwide (2). There are two types of the environmental risk assessment which are a health- based risk and ecological risk assessments. The presence of HMs in rainwater could lead to non-carcinogenic and carcinogenic health effects on a human that in contact with rainwater. Some HMs could give significant adverse health effects. For example, Cu and Zn are known as essential metals for the human body. However, an excessive intake of Cu and Zn results in vomiting, nausea and can contribute to organs damage (3). The accumulation of Al in the human body can damage the nervous systems (4-5). Hazard index (HI) is commonly used in calculating the risk posed by HMs in water. Although HI does not provide an indication of the cancer effects from rainwater exposure, it does provide an indication of the risk level to an individual that exposed to rainwa- ter. HI has commonly been used in recent environmental studies [6–8] and has been shown to be valid and useful. HI generally increases with the increase of rainwater pollutants. The contami- nation of rainwater is likely related to human activities. For exam- ple, a comparative study of rainwater quality in the rural and urban area shows that the level of rainwater contamination in an urban area is much higher than in a rural area, in which the level of rainwater contamination is related to human activities (9). There- fore, it is important to identify the pollutant sources and to ensure the concentrations of HMs in rainwater were within the water safety levels. This study aims to assess the health risk posed by HMs in rainwater. The seasonal variation and source of pollutants that influenced HMs in rainwater and HI were assessed. 2. Methodology 2.1. Sampling and Analysis A total of thirty-eight rainwater samples were collected in Univer- siti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) Cawangan Pahang, Jengka Campus, Pahang Malaysia. The sampling area located in a suburban area in the middle east region of Pahang, Malaysia. There is a wood fac- tory as well as construction activity within the university area. Therefore, this study was done to investigate whether human ac- tivities affect the rainwater quality and subsequently assess the health risk assessment for individual adults that in contact with rainwater. The sampling activities were carried out in wet and dry seasons to monitor the quality of rainwater and changes caused by the season. The wet season is related to Northeast Monsoon which occurs in between November to February. The dry season takes place during Southwest Monsoon which is from March to August. The samples were collected using pre-wash polyethylene container to avoid unpredicted dissolved heavy metals from the sampling container. The collected rainwater was directly transported to the laboratory for physicochemical analysis, namely: temperature, pH, total dis- solved solids (TDS), and electroconductivity (EC). The physico- chemical parameters were measured using YSI 600. The concen- trations of heavy metals (Al, Mn, Cu, and Zn) were analysed using Inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS).