Title: Winter exposure assessment of copper, zinc and arsenic in drinking water of inhabitants in Beijing, China

Authors: Shengbiao Huang, Peng Xu, Gustavo E. Lagos, Zijian Wang

Addresses: State Key Laboratory of Environmental Aquatic Chemistry, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China. ' College of Science of Beijing Forestry University, Beijing, China. ' Mining Centre, Faculty of Engineering, School of Engineering, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile Santiago, Chile. ' State Key Laboratory of Environmental Aquatic Chemistry, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shuangqing Rd 18, Haidian District, Beijing 100085, China

Abstract: Human exposure to Cu, Zn and As from drinking water in Beijing, China was estimated in winter. Cu, Zn and As were detected at 6.1, 400 and 0.6 µg/L on average in stagnant water, significantly different from those in the actually ingested boiled tap water, 5.1, 130 and 2.4 µg/L, respectively. Daily intake of Cu, Zn and As from drinking water was 0.8%, 7.7% and 28.5% of the minimum for adults recommended by WHO and varied among different age groups, as the highest occurred in the 64-year-old group, followed by the 20-64-year-old group.

Keywords: human exposure; exposure assessment; winter exposure; drinking water; heavy metals; copper; zinc; arsenic; water pollution; water quality; Beijing; China.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEP.2011.039096

International Journal of Environment and Pollution, 2011 Vol.45 No.1/2/3, pp.197 - 214

Published online: 29 Apr 2015 *

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