Irrigation with reclaimed wastewater is a growing practice aimed at conserving freshwater sources, especially in arid and semiarid regions. Despite the apparent advantages to water management, the practice of irrigation with reclaimed wastewater exposes the agroenvironment to contaminants of emerging concern (CECs). In this report, we estimated the unintentional dietary exposure of the Israeli population (2808 participants) to CECs from consumption of produce irrigated with reclaimed wastewater using detailed dietary data obtained from a National Health and Nutrition Survey (Rav Mabat adults; 2014–2016). Human health risk analyses were conducted based on acceptable daily intake (ADI) and threshold of toxicological concern (TTC) approaches. The highest unintentional exposure to wastewater-borne CECs was found to occur through the consumption of leafy vegetables. All analyzed CECs exhibited hazard quotients <1 for the mean- and high-exposure scenarios, indicating no human health concerns. However, for the extreme exposure scenario, the anticonvulsant agents lamotrigine and carbamazepine, and the carbamazepine metabolite epoxide-carbamazepine exhibited the highest exposure levels of 29,100, 27,200, and 19,500 ng/person (70 kg) per day, respectively. These exposure levels exceeded the TTC of lamotrigine and the metabolite epoxide-carbamazepine, and the ADI of carbamazepine, resulting in hazard quotients of 2.8, 1.1, and 1.9, respectively. According to the extreme estimated scenario, consumption of produce irrigated with reclaimed wastewater (leafy vegetables in particular) may pose a threat to human health. Minimizing irrigation of leafy vegetables using reclaimed wastewater and/or improving the quality of the reclaimed wastewater using an advanced treatment would significantly reduce human dietary exposure to CECs.

使用再生废水灌溉是一种旨在保护淡水资源的日益增长的做法，特别是在干旱和半干旱地区。尽管水资源管理具有明显的优势，但使用再生废水进行灌溉的做法使农业环境暴露于新兴关注的污染物 (CEC)。在本报告中，我们使用从国家健康和营养调查（Rav Mabat 成人；2014-2016 年）获得的详细膳食数据估计了以色列人口（2808 名参与者）因消费用再生废水灌溉的农产品而无意中膳食暴露于 CEC。基于可接受的每日摄入量 (ADI) 和毒理学关注阈值 (TTC) 方法进行人类健康风险分析。研究发现，通过食用多叶蔬菜，无意中暴露于废水传播的 CEC 的次数最多。所有分析的 CEC 在平均和高暴露情景下均表现出 <1 的危险商，表明没有人类健康问题。然而，对于极端暴露情况，抗惊厥药拉莫三嗪和卡马西平以及卡马西平代谢物环氧化物卡马西平的最高暴露水平分别为 29,100、27,200 和 19,500 ng/人（70 kg）每天。这些暴露水平超过了拉莫三嗪和代谢物环氧化物-卡马西平的 TTC，以及卡马西平的 ADI，导致危险商分别为 2.8、1.1 和 1.9。根据极端估计的情景，消费用再生废水灌溉的农产品（尤其是叶菜类蔬菜）可能对人类健康构成威胁。使用再生废水最大限度地减少叶菜灌溉和/或使用先进处理提高再生废水的质量将显着减少人类饮食中 CEC 的暴露。