Quality and Health Risk Assessment in Drinking Water of Cankiri, Turkey

The aim of this study is to identify the quality and potential health or carcinogenic risks of raw and purified water of Cankiri/Turkey. Firstly, the water parameters were compared with the permissible limits. As, Hg and Ni levels were found to be above the Turkish and WHO permissible limits. Then, using physicochemical parameters, the water quality index (WQI) rating determined that the quality of the water was good. When heavy metals were used to calculate the WQI value, the water quality was determined to be low or very low quality due to the high levels of heavy metals in the samples. The oral and dermal hazard coefficient (HQ) and hazard index (HI) of heavy metals were evaluated for health risk assessment. HQing and HI indices of As and Hg were higher than one. It is also carcinogenic risk assessments indicated that As, B[ghi]P, total PAHs and THMs were also found >10−5. These assessments have revealed the potential risks to humans and can be used by managers to determine the necessary drinking water treatment strategy to ensure the safety of consumers.