To analyze the external exposure levels of nitrate in rural drinking water in Guangdong Province and provide technical support for the safety management of rural water supply.
Monitoring was conducted on the finished water and terminal water from rural drinking water supply units in Guangdong Province from 2018 to 2022. The compliance of nitrate levels in water quality was evaluated according to the Standards for Drinking Water Quality (GB 5749-2022). The Kolmogorov-Smirnov test was used to determine the normality of the data. For non-normally distributed data, the median was used for description. The chisquare test or Fisher’s exact test was employed to analyze differences in rates between groups. The Mann-Whitney U test was used to compare nitrate exposure levels between two groups, and the Kruskal-Wallis H test was applied for comparisons among multiple groups.
A total of 62 998 water samples were monitored, with an overall compliance rate of 99.52%. The nitrate exposure levels ranged from 0.001 to 63.80 mg/L. Significant differences in nitrate exposure levels were observed across different years (H=445.586, P<0.01), regions (H=2 050.151, P<0.01), water source types (Z=-5.268, P<0.01), sample types (Z=-11.888, P<0.05), water supply capacities (Z=-33.794, P<0.01), water treatment methods (H=27.750, P<0.01), and the presence or absence of advanced treatment (Z=-2.121, P<0.05).
The overall compliance rate of nitrate levels in rural drinking water in Guangdong Province is relatively high. However, special attention should be paid to nitrate pollution in certain areas of western and eastern Guangdong, groundwater sources, decentralized and small-scale centralized water supplies, as well as the high exposure risks for infants and young children.
| 科 Family | 属数 Number of genus | 种数 Number of species | 占总种数比例 Percentage of total species (%) | 属 Genus | 种数 Number of species | 占总种数比例 Percentage of total species (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 鹅膏菌科Amanitaceae | 2 | 11 | 5.26 | 鹅膏菌属 Amanita | 10 | 4.78 |
| 小菇科 Mycenaceae | 2 | 12 | 5.74 | 丝盖伞属 Inocybe | 5 | 2.39 |
| 多孔菌科 Polyporaceae | 8 | 14 | 6.70 | 蜡蘑属 Laccaria | 5 | 2.39 |
| 红菇科 Russulaceae | 3 | 23 | 11.00 | 小皮伞属 Marasmius | 6 | 2.87 |
| 小菇属 Mycena | 11 | 5.26 | ||||
| 光柄菇属 Pluteus | 5 | 2.39 | ||||
| 红菇属 Russula | 17 | 8.13 | ||||
| 栓菌属 Trametes | 5 | 2.39 |