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Fluoride contamination, spatial variation, and health risk assessment of groundwater using GIS: a high-density survey sampling in Weifang City, North China

Abstract

The present study, with the aid of GIS, utilizes high-density groundwater (GW) sampling data (1398 samples) to analyze the spatial variation characteristics of GW fluoride in Weifang City (WFC), and evaluate the health risks associated with drinking water routes. The concentration of fluoride in the GW of WFC is observed to be between 0.08 and 9.16 mg/L, with a mean value of 0.62 mg/L. The fluoride concentration of a total of 192 GW samples exceeded the limit of China’s GW quality standards (1 mg/L), accounting for 14.74%. The GW fluoride concentration in most areas of WFC is less than 1 mg/L. However, the relatively high-value zones are mostly concentrated in the upper reaches of Wen River, the east of Shouguang, the southeast of Anqiu, the east of Qingzhou, the east of Fangzi, and the southeast and northwest of Gaomi. The hydrochemical types of GW in WFC are mostly HCO3-Ca·Mg and SO4·Cl-Ca·Mg, while GW samples with hydrochemical types HCO3-Na and SO4·Cl-Na are characterized by high fluoride content. The hydrochemical characteristics of GW in WFC are mostly dominated by rock weathering. In addition, the northern coastal plain is evidently influenced by seawater intrusion. The concentration of fluoride in GW is affected by the dissolution of fluorine-containing minerals, cation exchange, and alkaline environmental factors. The effect of GW by seawater intrusion and very high content of Na+ will decrease the fluoride content of the GW through cation exchange. Health risk assessment demonstrated that the mean values of non-carcinogenic hazard quotient (HQ) for infants, children, teenagers, and adults were 0.52, 0.35, 0.31, and 0.30, respectively. In addition, the distribution characteristics of GW fluoride in high health risk areas (HQ > 1) in WFC are further consistent with the spatial variation of GW fluoride content. Overall, the health risk distribution area of GW fluoride in WFC is decreasing in the following order: infants > children > teenagers > adults.

The present study, with the aid of GIS, utilizes high-density groundwater (GW) sampling data (1398 samples) to analyze the spatial variation characteristics of GW fluoride in Weifang City (WFC), and evaluate the health risks associated with drinking water routes. The concentration of fluoride in the GW of WFC is observed to be between 0.08 and 9.16 mg/L, with a mean value of 0.62 mg/L. The fluoride concentration of a total of 192 GW samples exceeded the limit of China’s GW quality standards (1 mg/L), accounting for 14.74%. The GW fluoride concentration in most areas of WFC is less than 1 mg/L. However, the relatively high-value zones are mostly concentrated in the upper reaches of Wen River, the east of Shouguang, the southeast of Anqiu, the east of Qingzhou, the east of Fangzi, and the southeast and northwest of Gaomi. The hydrochemical types of GW in WFC are mostly HCO3-Ca·Mg and SO4·Cl-Ca·Mg, while GW samples with hydrochemical types HCO3-Na and SO4·Cl-Na are characterized by high fluoride content. The hydrochemical characteristics of GW in WFC are mostly dominated by rock weathering. In addition, the northern coastal plain is evidently influenced by seawater intrusion. The concentration of fluoride in GW is affected by the dissolution of fluorine-containing minerals, cation exchange, and alkaline environmental factors. The effect of GW by seawater intrusion and very high content of Na+ will decrease the fluoride content of the GW through cation exchange. Health risk assessment demonstrated that the mean values of non-carcinogenic hazard quotient (HQ) for infants, children, teenagers, and adults were 0.52, 0.35, 0.31, and 0.30, respectively. In addition, the distribution characteristics of GW fluoride in high health risk areas (HQ > 1) in WFC are further consistent with the spatial variation of GW fluoride content. Overall, the health risk distribution area of GW fluoride in WFC is decreasing in the following order: infants > children > teenagers?> adults.

Availability of data and materials

The datasets utilized and analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the anonymous reviewers and editors for their valuable comments, which helped improve the overall flow of the manuscript.

Funding

This work was financially supported by the general projects of Shandong Natural Science Foundation (ZR2020MD109), the bureau-controlled geological survey and scientific and technological innovation project “Integration and Application of Land Quality Geochemical Survey and Evaluation Results in Weifang City” (202005) of the Shandong Provincial Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources, “Study on Major Geological Environmental Issues in the Coastal Zone of Shandong Province (KY201911),” and the scientific and technological innovation project “Exploitation of underground brine on the south bank of Laizhou Bay and analysis of resource and environmental effects” (KJ2106) of No. 4 Exploration Institute of Geology and Mineral Resources.

Author information

Affiliations

  1. College of Energy and Mining Engineering, Shandong University of Science and Technology, Qingdao, 266590, China

    Jiutan Liu

  2. Qingdao Geological and Mineral Geotechnical Engineering Co. Ltd, Qingdao, 266100, China

    Yuanyuan Ma

  3. College of Earth Science and Engineering, Shandong University of Science and Technology, Qingdao, 266590, China

    Zongjun Gao & Yuqi Zhang

  4. No 4 Exploration Institute of Geology and Mineral Resources, Weifang, 261021, China

    Zengbing Sun, Tianzhu Sun, Haibin Fan, Bin Wu & Mingbo Li

  5. Key Laboratory of Coastal Zone Geological Environment Protection, Shandong Geology and Mineral Exploration and Development Bureau, Weifang, 261021, China

    Zengbing Sun, Tianzhu Sun, Haibin Fan, Bin Wu & Mingbo Li

  6. Tai’an Hydrological Center, Tai’an, 271000, China

    Lili Qian

Contributions

Jiutan Liu: formal analysis, software, methodology, writing—original draft; Yuanyuan Ma: software, writing—original draft; Zongjun Gao: supervision, conceptualization, writing—review and editing; Yuqi Zhang: software, methodology; Zengbing Sun: investigation, resources; Tianzhu Sun: investigation, resources; Haibin Fan: investigation, resources; Bin Wu: investigation, resources; Mingbo Li: investigation, resources; Lili Qian: software.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Zongjun Gao.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare no competing interests.

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*Original abstract online at https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11356-021-18443-w