Health Risk Assessment of Drinking Water with Reference to Microbial and Heavy Metal Contamination: A Case Study on The Medical Center, Khulna

Since every living thing on Earth depends on water to thrive, water is life in the most basic sense. Unhygienic water causes cholera, diarrhea, dysentery, hepatitis A, typhoid, polio, and other ailments. Considering this, for microbiological and heavy metal analysis 40 drinking water samples were collected from different medical centers in and around Khulna city. For the microbial analysis (e.g., TC, FC, and EC) the Membrane filtration technique and for heavy metal (e.g., As, Cr, Fe, and Pb) AAS methods was used to explore the consumption pattern. Microbial water quality indicators like TC, FC, and EC insight the highest concentration of 250, 78, and 98 CFU/100mL respectively. Besides, heavy metal concentration was found at levels Fe>Pb>Cr>As (66.31%, 27.55%, 3.36%, and 2.78%) from the heavy metal analysis. Exposure assessment found the mean chronic daily intake (CDI) followed by 0.0003±0.0007, 1.30×10^-5 ±3.60×10^-5, 1.08×10^-5± 3.15×10^-5, 0.0001±0.0003 µgkg^-1day^-1 for Fe, Cr, As and Pb consecutively. Although the HQ level indicates no negative effects will be experienced by the receptor population that has been exposed there is a risk of heavy metal and microbial contamination in some water samples. The findings also warranted safeguarding ourselves against waterborne pathogens and suggested proper treatment and hygienic consumption behavior of the people. 

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