Emergy evaluation of human health losses for water environmental pollution

Abstract

Water pollution in China has not only become one of the most vital factors impeding the social-economic development, but also threatening people's health. In this study, Kaifeng was considered as an example, and the human health risk of drinking water pathway from 2010 to 2017 was evaluated on the basis of drinking water hygiene standards and the human health risk assessment model (HHRA). Besides, the human health loss caused by water pollution was quantitatively evaluated through emergy theory and analysis method. The results showed that the carcinogenic annual risk of carcinogenic pollutants ranged from 2.0 × 10−5 to 6.5 × 10−5, and the average health risk of non-carcinogenic pollutants was about 1.5 × 10−8, but the difference between different pollutants was obvious. Affected by water quality, social-economic development, Medicare, etc., the value of human health loss ranked at the top in 2016 with 8.73 × 1018 sej, equivalent to 9.33 million RMB, while in other years, it was around 6 × 1018 sej. It is indicated that among the factors, water quality is the direct inducement of healthy loss, the socio-economic development is the leading force effecting the value, and the Medicare is the final determinant of the public burden. Highlights A quantitative method of human health loss based on risk is proposed.; The number of cancer caused by water pollution accounts for 10–20% of the total cancer.; The human health loss is affected by water quality, social-economic development, and Medicare.; The loss based on emergy is much smaller than the results calculated by shadow pricing.; Remarkable achievements have been made in water pollution control in China.;

Keywords

• chemical pollutants
• drinking water source
• emergy theory
• health loss
• hhra
• human health risk