Drinking water represents a major pathway for human exposure to heavy metals, which are associated with long-term and cumulative health risks. This study investigated eight heavy metals (Ba, V, Cr(VI), Mn, Mo, Ni, Cu, Fe) in three centralized drinking water sources in southwest Guizhou from January 2021 to December 2023. Overall, the measured heavy metal concentrations complied with relevant national standards; however, transient exceedances of the Class I surface water standard were observed for Cu and Cr(VI) in certain months, with the most pronounced deviations occurring in 2022. Significant temporal variations were observed for Mn, Ni, Cu, and Fe, likely influenced by anthropogenic activities such as sewage discharge and agriculture, while Cr(VI), Mo, Ba, and V showed notable spatial differences linked to the region’s geological features. Health risk assessments showed that the non-carcinogenic risks for both adults and children remained below the maximum acceptable level of 5.0 × 10−5 a−1, with Cu, Mo, Ba, and V contributing most to the risks. In contrast, the carcinogenic risk associated with Cr(VI) exceeded the ICRP-recommended benchmark of 1.0 × 10−6 a−1, with estimated risks for children approximately 1.6 times higher than those for adults. In 2022, the carcinogenic risk was highest across all sources. Autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) based forecasts suggest that Cr(VI)-related carcinogenic risk is likely to remain above acceptable levels in the near future, with an increasing trend projected for Mulanghe Reservoir, a declining trend for Xingxihu Reservoir, and relatively stable conditions for Weishanhu Reservoir. These findings underscore the need for targeted interventions, particularly in controlling Cr(VI) concentrations and protecting vulnerable populations.
Wang et al. (2026) studied this question.