Health Risk Assessment of Trace Metals in Bottled Water: Toxicological Indices, Multivariate Modeling, and Monte Carlo Simulation with R software studies in urban population of Awka, Nigeria

Health Risk Assessment of Trace Metals in Bottled Water: Toxicological Indices, Multivariate Modeling, and Monte Carlo Simulation with R software studies in urban population of Awka, Nigeria | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Health Risk Assessment of Trace Metals in Bottled Water: Toxicological Indices, Multivariate Modeling, and Monte Carlo Simulation with R software studies in urban population of Awka, Nigeria David Okechukwu Okeke, Okechukwu N.N. Okoye This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-9001186/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Clean water is the most important inorganic substance for plants and animals, including humans, and the life of all living organisms depends on it. However, water is not naturally found pure, but always contains foreign components. In this study, seven commercial bottled water brands (ranging from 60 to 75 cL) were sampled across Awka city in Anambra State, Nigeria, to determine the concentration of six heavy metals (Manganese, Cadmium, Nickel, Chromium, Lead, Zinc) and evaluate their potential health risks to human consumption. The concentration ranges (in ppm or mg/L) for Mn, Cd, Ni, Cr, Pb and Zn were: 0.047–0.297, 0–0.024, 0.024–0.068, 0.012–0.056, 0.010–0.030 and 0.010–0.016 respectively. The heavy metals (HMs) concentration in this study was compared with other national and international studies on bottled water and other drinking water sources. Additionally, the results of non-carcinogenic health risk assessments using the Hazard Index (HI) and the Incremental Lifetime Cancer Risk (ILCR) indicated that the concentration of HMs in many of the samples pose adverse health effects (particularly in children than in the adults), especially as they bio-accumulate. This then suggests that the consumption of these bottled water brands may result to carcinogenic risks over a lifetime, particularly in children due to their lower body weight. Furthermore, this study contributes to the monitoring of SDG 6 (Clean Water and Sanitation) and SDG 3 (Good Health and Well-being) by identifying critical contamination pathways and evaluating the safety of commercial drinking water in urbanized African settings. Bottled water Heavy metals Health risk assessment Carcinogenic trace metals Full Text Supplementary Files SUPPLEMENTARYINFORMATION.docx Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-9001186","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":599106436,"identity":"9fd474d5-7c57-47a9-baa9-9f39e8028468","order_by":0,"name":"David Okechukwu Okeke","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Nnamdi Azikiwe University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"David","middleName":"Okechukwu","lastName":"Okeke","suffix":""},{"id":599106437,"identity":"de59c99e-c695-4377-9a21-aae1b7e7888d","order_by":1,"name":"Okechukwu N.N. 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However, water is not naturally found pure, but always contains foreign components. In this study, seven commercial bottled water brands (ranging from 60 to 75 cL) were sampled across Awka city in Anambra State, Nigeria, to determine the concentration of six heavy metals (Manganese, Cadmium, Nickel, Chromium, Lead, Zinc) and evaluate their potential health risks to human consumption. The concentration ranges (in ppm or mg/L) for Mn, Cd, Ni, Cr, Pb and Zn were: 0.047\u0026ndash;0.297, 0\u0026ndash;0.024, 0.024\u0026ndash;0.068, 0.012\u0026ndash;0.056, 0.010\u0026ndash;0.030 and 0.010\u0026ndash;0.016 respectively. The heavy metals (HMs) concentration in this study was compared with other national and international studies on bottled water and other drinking water sources. 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