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Chemical and in vitro bioanalytical assessment of drinking water quality in Manhiça, Mozambique

Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology volume 31, pages 276–288 (2021)Cite this article

Abstract

Background

The chemical quality of drinking water is widely unknown in low-income countries.

Objective

We conducted an exploratory study in Manhiça district (Mozambique) to evaluate drinking water quality using chemical analyses and cell-based assays.

Methods

We measured nitrate, fluoride, metals, pesticides, disinfection by-products, and industrial organochlorinated chemicals, and conducted the bioassays Ames test for mutagenicity, micronuclei assay (MN-FACS), ER-CALUX, and antiAR-CALUX in 20 water samples from protected and unprotected sources.

Results

Nitrate was present in all samples (median 7.5 mg/L). Manganese, cobalt, chromium, aluminium, and barium were present in 90–100% of the samples, with median values of 32, 0.6, 2.0, 61, 250 μg/l, respectively. Manganese was above 50 μg/l (EU guideline) in eight samples. Arsenic, lead, nickel, iron, and selenium median values were below the quantification limit. Antimony, cadmium, copper, mercury, zinc and silver were not present. Trihalomethanes, haloacetic acids, haloacetonitriles and haloketones were present in 5–28% samples at levels ≤4.6 μg/l. DDT, dieldrin, diuron, and pirimiphos-methyl were quantified in 2, 3, 3, and 1 sample, respectively (range 12–60 ng/L). Fluoride was present in one sample (0.11 mg/l). Trichloroethene and tetrachloroethene were not present. Samples were negative in the in vitro assays.

Significance

Results suggest low exposure to chemicals, mutagenicity, genotoxicity and endocrine disruption through drinking water in Manhiça population. High concentration of manganese in some samples warrants confirmatory studies, given the potential link to impaired neurodevelopment.

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Fig. 1: Sampling locations in Manhiça sede, Mozambique, by type of water source, July 2018.
Fig. 2: Sampling locations with manganese levels above 50 μg/L (light green).

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge support from the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities through the ʻCentro de Excelencia Severo Ochoa 2019-2023’ Programme (CEX2018-000806-S), support from the Generalitat de Catalunya through the CERCA Programme, and support from the Centro de Investigaçao em Saúde de Manhiça-CISM, Mozambique.

Funding

Funded by 2017 SGR 801, Agència de Gestió d’Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca, Generalitat de Catalunya, for the Non-Communicable Diseases and Environment research group in ISGlobal.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. ISGlobal, Barcelona, Spain

    Cristina M. Villanueva, Iro Evlampidou & Lourdes Arjona

  2. CIBER epidemiología y salud pública (CIBERESP), Madrid, Spain

    Cristina M. Villanueva, Iro Evlampidou, Fernando Goñi-Irigoyen & Lourdes Arjona

  3. Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain

    Cristina M. Villanueva, Iro Evlampidou & Lourdes Arjona

  4. IMIM (Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute), Barcelona, Spain

    Cristina M. Villanueva & Lourdes Arjona

  5. ISGlobal, Hospital Clínic, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain

    Berta Grau-Pujol & Jose Muñoz

  6. Centro de Investigação em Saúde da Manhiça (CISM), Maputo, Mozambique

    Berta Grau-Pujol, Valdemiro Escola, Ariel Nhacolo & Jose Muñoz

  7. Fundación Mundo Sano, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Berta Grau-Pujol

  8. Health Department of Basque Government, Public Health Laboratory (Gipuzkoa), San Sebastian, Spain

    Fernando Goñi-Irigoyen & Enrique Ulibarrena

  9. Biodonostia Health Research Institute, San Sebastian, Spain

    Fernando Goñi-Irigoyen

  10. Toxicology of Drinking Water and Swimming Pool Water, German Environment Agency, Bad Elster, Germany

    Jochen Kuckelkorn & Tamara Grummt

  11. Health Department of Basque Government, Public Health Laboratory (Bizkaia), Derio, Spain

    Beatriz Lazaro & Arsenio Etxeandia

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  1. Cristina M. Villanueva
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  2. Berta Grau-Pujol
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Correspondence to Cristina M. Villanueva.

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Villanueva, C.M., Grau-Pujol, B., Evlampidou, I. et al. Chemical and in vitro bioanalytical assessment of drinking water quality in Manhiça, Mozambique. J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol 31, 276–288 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41370-020-00282-5

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