Uranium (U) has no known essential biological functions. Furthermore, it is well known for its toxicity, radioactivity, and carcinogenic potency. Impacts on human health due to U exposure have been studied extensively by many researchers. Chronic exposure to low-level U isotopes (radionuclides) may be interlinked with cancer etiology and at high exposure levels, also kidney disease. Other important issues covered U and fertilizers, and also U in soils or human tissues as an easily measurable indicator element in a pathophysiological examination. Furthermore, phosphate fertilization is known as the important source of contamination with U in the agricultural land, mainly due to contamination in the phosphate rock applied for fertilizer manufacture. Therefore, long-term usage of U-bearing fertilizers can substantially increase the concentration of U in fertilized soils. It should also be noted that U is an active redox catalyst for the reaction between DNA and H2O2. This review is aimed to highlight a series on various hydro-geochemical aspects in different water sources and focused on the comparison of different U contents in the drinking water sources and presentation of data in relation to health issues.

中文翻译：

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饮用水中的铀：对公共健康的威胁。

铀（U）没有已知的基本生物学功能。此外，众所周知的是它的毒性，放射性和致癌性。许多研究人员已经广泛研究了由于暴露于U造成的对人体健康的影响。长期暴露于低水平的U同位素（放射性核素）可能与癌症病因有关，高暴露水平也可能与肾脏疾病有关。其他重要问题还包括尿素和化肥，以及土壤或人体组织中的尿素，作为病理生理检查中易于测量的指标元素。此外，磷肥被公认为是农田中U污染的重要来源，这主要是由于用于肥料制造的磷矿石中的污染。因此，长期施用含U肥料可大大增加施肥土壤中的U浓度。还应注意，U是DNA与H2O2之间反应的活性氧化还原催化剂。这篇综述的目的是强调一系列有关不同水源中水文地球化学方面的内容，并着重于比较饮用水源中不同的U含量以及提供有关健康问题的数据。