POTENTIAL EFFECTS OF THE CONTAMINATED GROUNDWATER ON HUMAN HEALTH IN SZEGED, SE HUNGARY - Carpathian Journal of Earth And Environmental Sciences

The aim of this study is to present the groundwater contamination in Szeged for seven components (NO₃^-, NH₄⁺, PO₄^3-, Zn, Cu, Pb and Cd) by investigation of twenty groundwater monitoring wells and define human-health risk of irrigation with the contaminated water. According to the results, Zn content is above the limit value (defined by Hungarian joint degree) in the majority of the water samples, often with extremely high concentrations. Pb and Cd extend the limit values in all the samples (the highest Pb concentration (138.3 μg/l) is 14 times higher). Cu and NO₃^- have not exceeded the limits anywhere. NH₄⁺ is ten times higher values than the limit one in two wells (10741μg/l and 12549 μg/l). In the case of PO₄^3- one well contains triply higher concentration (1505 μg/l) than limit value. The most contaminated well is located in the downtown next to the river Tisza, however extremely high metal concentrations were also detected in peripheral urban areas, where inhabitants traditionally irrigate with groundwater. The risk of irrigation with groundwater was modeled by RISC 4.0 in the case of two heavily contaminated gardens with detached houses. Based on the total health risk quotient (HRQ) results, the first well for children and adults is 1.1 and 0.5, respectively; therefore the risk is high for children but moderate for the adults. In the case of the other well modeled the total HRQ belongs to the moderate risk category with 0.85 (for children) and 0.35 (for adults) values. Examining the metals, the highest HRQ can be observed in Zn (0.1 – 0.8) and Cd (0.1 – 0.45), whereas ones of Pb and Cu are negligible. Vegetable consumption of exposure pathways can be risky for children and adults, while the hazard of the other exposure ways (dermal contact, inhalation of volatiles, ingestion) is not so significant.