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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Water
Sec. Water and Critical Zone
Volume 7 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/frwa.2025.1548110
This article is part of the Research Topic Groundwater Vulnerability Assessments: Integrating Experimental, Modeling, and Mapping Techniques View all 5 articles
Vulnerability and Risk Assessment of Lead (Pb) Concentrations in Drinking Water via Statistical and Geostatistical Analyses
Provisionally accepted- 1 National University of Modern Languages, Islamabad, Islamabad, Pakistan
- 2 King Saud University, Riyadh, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
The analysis of lead (Pb) concentrations in drinking water from five districts Kohat, Hangu, Dera Ismail Khan (D.I. Khan), Bannu, and Karak revealed significant contamination, with all districts exceeding the WHO permissible exposure limit (PEL) of 0.01 mg/L (10 ppb). The highest mean Pb concentrations were observed in Bannu (0.720 mg/L) and Karak (0.693 mg/L), with maximum values reaching 1.809 mg/L and 1.572 mg/L, respectively. Exceedance rates were 100% in Hangu, Bannu, and Karak. ANOVA analysis (p-value = 8.16 × 10⁻¹¹) confirmed statistically significant variations in Pb levels, while the Shapiro-Wilk normality test (W = 0.742, p-value < 0.0001) indicated non-normal data distribution. Health risk assessment revealed critical risks, particularly for children, as estimated daily intake (EDI) and hazard quotient (HQ) values exceeded safe limits.The highest HQ values were recorded in Bannu and Karak. Geospatial analysis using Inverse Distance Weighting (IDW) modeling identified contamination hotspots, including Jozara Water (Hangu), Mufti Mehmood Circuit House (D.I. Khan), and Kalanger (Bannu). These findings highlight the urgent need for mitigation strategies such as advanced water treatment, strict regulatory measures, and continuous monitoring to reduce public health risks.
Keywords: Lead contamination, Vulnerable population, risk, prediction, Good health and wellbeing
Received: 19 Dec 2024; Accepted: 21 Mar 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Shakoor, Shahab and Alshehri. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Muhammad Shahab, King Saud University, Riyadh, 11451, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
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