Non-carcinogenic Health Risk Assessment of Aluminium Ingestion Via Drinking Water in Malaysia

Exposure to aluminium (Al) is inevitable in the daily life because of its abundance in the environmental media through natural processes. Meanwhile, several studies have reported a positive association between Alzheimer's disease and a higher level of Al ingestion through drinking water. The present study is the first of its kind in Malaysia which predicts the human health risk of Al ingestion via drinking water at the Langat River Basin, Malaysia. Water samples were collected during 2015-2016 from the four stages of drinking water supply chain at the basin to determine the concentrations of Al by the Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS). The determined mean concentration of Al in river 2.50E-01 +/- 1.89E-01mg/L crossed the Malaysian drinking water quality standard of 0.2mg/L. The higher concentration of Al in the Langat River might be due to natural weathering of Al-bearing minerals. The mean Al concentrations in the treated water by the treatment plants, household's tap and after filtration water, respectively, were found to be within the Malaysian drinking water quality standard. This study suggests that there is no potential human health risk of Al ingestion through drinking water (HQ=3.81E-03 +/- 1.82E-03) at 95% confidence level in the basin because the hazard quotient (HQ) value is less than 1. However, the authorities need to be careful of excessive ingestion of Al via drinking water because the water treatment plants in the basin follow the conventional method to treat raw water. The turbidity in the tropical Langat River changes very frequently; thus, the doses of Al-2(SO4)(3) for water disinfection are very crucial. Therefore, reverse osmosis technology can be introduced in the treatment plants because the United States Environmental Protection Agency has recommended that it can remove all types of metal>90% from treated water.