Human Health Risk Assessment of Heavy Metals in Kampala (Uganda) Drinking Water

Bamuwamye, Michael; Ogwok, Patrick; Tumuhairwe, Vivian; Eragu, Richard; Nakisozi, Henriettah; Ogwang, Patrick Engeu

doi:10.5539/jfr.v6n4p6

Cited by 65 publications

(65 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…Smedley 1996, Smedley et al 2007, Ahoulé et al 2015, including in some of the countries that were surveyed as part of this study (e.g. Bamuwamye et al 2017). This perhaps reflects the more purposeful nature of sampling designs in many published studies (i.e.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 92%

Drinking water quality from rural handpump-boreholes in Africa

Lapworth

MacDonald

Kebede

et al. 2020

Environ. Res. Lett.

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Groundwater provides a vital source of drinking water for rural communities in many parts of Africa, particularly in the dry season when there are few safe alternative sources. This paper summarises results from a study (n = 428) assessing dry season water quality, both microbiological and inorganic chemistry, in handpump equipped boreholes (HPBs) across the Ethiopia Highlands (n = 142), Malawi (n = 162) and Uganda (n = 124) using a stratified, randomised sampling design. This study seeks to examine general water quality by randomly sampling rural groundwater supplies across larger areas with different geology and climate. The majority, 72%, of HPBs surveyed provide good quality dry season drinking water as defined by WHO drinking water quality criteria. Within this overall picture, the most notable constraints were from thermotolerant coliforms (TTCs), which exceeded the WHO drinking water guideline of zero colony forming units (cfu/100 ml) in 21% of sites (range 0-626 cfu/100 ml). TTC contamination was found to have a significant and positive correlation with annual average rainfall (ρ = 0.2, p = 0.00003). Across all three countries, WHO health based chemical drinking water quality values were exceeded at 9% of sites and were found for manganese (4%), fluoride (2.6%) and nitrate (2.5%); arsenic concentrations were below the guideline value of 10 µg l −1 (range < 0.5-7 µg l −1 ). The high percentage of Mn exceedances (14% ± 5.2% >400 µg l −1 ) found in drinking water sources in Uganda challenges the decision by WHO not to formalise a health-based guideline for Mn. While the overall level of microbiological contamination from HPBs is low, results from this study strongly suggest that at a national and regional level, microbiological contamination rather than chemical contamination will provide a greater barrier to achieving targets set for improved drinking water quality under the UN-SDG 6. Efforts should be made to ensure that boreholes are properly sited and constructed effectively to reduce pathogen contamination.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 92%

Drinking water quality from rural handpump-boreholes in Africa

Lapworth

MacDonald

Kebede

et al. 2020

Environ. Res. Lett.

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“…Where E f = exposure frequency (365 days/year); E d = exposure duration, the average lifetime (58.65 years for an adult Ugandan) [30]; F ir is the fresh food ingestion rate (g/person/day) = 48 for fish and 301.0 and 231.5 for yams for adults and children respectively) [31,32]; C f is the conversion factor (0.208) for fresh weight (F w ) to dry weight (D w ) for fish and 0.085 (to convert fresh yams weight to dry weight; considering it as a vegetable) [33], C hm = heavy metal concentration in foodstuffs (μgg -1 Fw); W ab = average body weight (considered to be 15kg for children [29] and 60 kg for adults [34]) and T aet = average exposure time for non-carcinogens (given by the product of E d and E f ) [35]; S A , the exposed surface area in cm 2 = 4,350 for adults and 2,800 for children [29]; AF is the skin adherence factor in mg/cm 2 /day = 0.7 for adults [36] and 0.2 for children [29]. Health Risk Index (HRI), the total risk of non-carcinogenic element via three exposure pathways was evaluated using Target Hazard Quotient (THQ) in accordance with US EPA Region III riskbased concentration table [37] used in a preceding study [25].…”

Section: Human Health Risk Assessmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mercuric pollution of surface water, superficial sediments, Nile tilapia (Oreochromis nilotica Linnaeus 1758 [Cichlidae]) and yams (Dioscorea alata) in auriferous areas of Namukombe stream, Syanyonja, Busia- Uganda

Omara

Karungi

Kalukusu

et al. 2019

Preprint

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The mercuric content, pollution and contamination characteristics of water, sediments, edible muscles of a non-piscivorous fish (Oreochromis nilotica Linnaeus 1758 [Cichlidae]) and yams (Dioscorea alata) in mercury-based artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) impacted Namukombe stream and its propinquity, Busia gold district, Uganda were evaluated. Human health risk assessment from consumption of the fishes and yams as well as dermal contact with sediments from the stream were performed. Forty-eight (48) samples of water (12), sediments (12), fish (12), and yams (12) were taken at intervals of 0, 10, 20 and 30m from up, middle and down sluices of the stream and analyzed for total mercury (THg) using US EPA method 1631. Results showed that water in the stream is polluted with mercury (Hg) in the range of 0.00 to 1.21±0.070mg/L while sediments contain Hg up to 0.14±0.04ugg-1. THg content of the edible muscles of Oreochromis nilotica ranges from 0.00 to 0.11±0.010ugg-1 while yams contain 0.00 to 0.30±0.001ugg-1 of Hg. The estimated daily intakes (EDIs) ranged from 0.0049 to 0.0183ugg-1day-1 and 0.020 to 0.073ugg-1day-1 for fish consumed by adults and children respectively. The corresponding health risk indices (HRIs) ranged from 0.0123 to 0.04576 and 0.05 to 0.183. EDIs were from 0.0042 to 0.1279ugg-1day-1 and 0.013 to 0.394ugg-1day-1 for yams consumed by adults and children respectively. The HRIs recorded were from 0.011 to 0.320 and to 0.033 to 0.985. All the mean THg contents of the investigated matrices were within acceptable WHO/US EPA limits except for water samples. Consumption of yams grown at 0m up sluice of Namukombe stream may pose deleterious health risks as reflected by the HRI of 0.985 being very close to 1.0. From pollution and risk assessments, Hg usage should be delimited in Syanyonja ASGM areas; solutions to abolish mercury based ASGM in the area ought to be sought at its soonest to avert the accentuating health, economic and ecological disaster arising from the continual discharge of Hg into the surrounding areas. Other safe gold recovery methods such as use of borax should be encouraged. Waste management system for contaminated wastewater, used Hg bottles and tailings should be centralized to enable Hg waste management in ASGM areas in Syanyonja.

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“…Potential non-cancer risk to human health through more than one HM, was measured by the chronic hazard index (HI), which is the sum of all HQ calculated for individual HM (Li, et al, 2013;Bamuwamye, Ogwok, & Tumuhairwe, 2015;Bamuwamye, et al, 2017). Similarly, the total cancer risk was assumed to be the sum of the individual metal incremental risks.…”

Section: Estimation Of Health Risk Associated With Exposure To Heavy mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Environmental pollution may cause the occurrence of excessive amounts of heavy metals in plants and food products. These elements have been found in drinking water (Bamuwamye et al, 2017), tea leaves and brewed black tea infusions (Lasheen, Awwad, El-khalafawy, & Abdel-Rassoul, 2008;Schwalfenberg, Genuis, & Rodushkin, 2013). Tea hence accumulates heavy metals (HM) in concentrations capable of causing toxic effects to human health (Shekoohiyan et al, 2012).…”

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confidence: 99%

Dietary Content and Potential Health Risks of Metals in Commercial Black Tea in Kampala (Uganda)

Bamuwamye¹,

Ogwok²,

Tumuhairwe³

et al. 2017

JFR

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Tea (Camellia sinensis (L.) Kuntze) is among the most widely consumed non-alcoholic beverages. It is a rich source of essential dietary elements mainly potassium and manganese. Tea may also contain toxic metals such as cadmium and lead which pose a threat to human health because of their toxicity. Twenty samples of commercial black tea in Kampala city were randomly obtained and analysed for potassium, sodium, aluminium, arsenic, cadmium, chromium, copper, iron, mercury, manganese, nickel, lead and zinc using Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometry. Human health risks due to exposure to toxic elements from daily consumption of tea were determined using incremental lifetime cancer risk and non-cancer hazard quotient. Metal contents of black tea sold in Kampala were below international regulatory limits. The estimated daily intake of the elements in two grams of black tea was below the recommended values. Hazard quotient and hazard index were within acceptable range. Total cancer risk levels for all the teas were also within United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) acceptable range. Daily consumption of one cup containing two grams of black tea over a lifetime will promote consumer overall health and wellbeing.

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Human Health Risk Assessment of Heavy Metals in Kampala (Uganda) Drinking Water

Cited by 65 publications

References 25 publications

Drinking water quality from rural handpump-boreholes in Africa

Drinking water quality from rural handpump-boreholes in Africa

Mercuric pollution of surface water, superficial sediments, Nile tilapia (Oreochromis nilotica Linnaeus 1758 [Cichlidae]) and yams (Dioscorea alata) in auriferous areas of Namukombe stream, Syanyonja, Busia- Uganda

Dietary Content and Potential Health Risks of Metals in Commercial Black Tea in Kampala (Uganda)

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