Hygienic evaluation of long-term dynamics of post treated drinking water daily consumption indicators by adolescent population in Vladivostok

BACKGROUND: Domestic water filter systems have been actively used for tap water treatment by many countries of the world in recent years. It is already known that, according to their technical design, such domestic filters simultaneously remove harmful chemicals and biogenic chemical elements that are useful for the human body (such as Ca and Mg) from water. The use of individual post-treatment water systems can have an adverse effect on human health, especially in deficient biogeochemical provinces.

AIM: Hygienic assessment of the long-term dynamics of the daily consumption of post treated drinking tap water in Vladivostok on an adolescent population.

MATERIAL AND METHODS: A prospective research was conducted across 4 separate follow-up periods: February of 2012, 2015, 2017, and 2021. A total of 667 adolescents from Vladivostok of age 14–17 years were examined by interviewing using a specially designed questionnaire. The volume of daily consumption and the frequency of consumption per week of 3 types of water (tap drinking water, treated drinking water on individual filters, bottled drinking and mineral water) were recorded. The number of adolescents who did not consume tap drinking water that was post-treated on household devices was considered separately. Statistical processing of the received materials was performed using the "Data Analysis" package in Microsoft Excel 2019.

RESULTS: The share of post-treated drinking water in the structure of daily drinking water consumption of Vladivostok adolescent population was 7.6–15.8% over the years of observation. Meanwhile, the consumption of post-treated water increased by 4 times among boys and almost by 2.5 times among girls (p <0.001), and the rate of occurrence (per 100 persons) of boys and girls who did not consume post-treated tap water decreased by almost two times (p <0.001).

CONCLUSION: A pronounced long-term increase in the use of household filters for the post-treatment of physiologically inferior, low-mineralized tap drinking water should be recognized as a population risk factor for a possible deterioration of the health status of an adolescent population under the current conditions of the city of Vladivostok, which is located in the zone of a deficient biogeochemical province.