Recently in South Africa, wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) have come under scrutiny because of increased reports of their ineffectiveness to treat wastewater adequately. This study focused on assessing potential health risks for humans exposed to concentrations of heavy metals in river systems that receive effluents from wastewater treatment plants in the Maluti-a-Phofung municipality. Untreated influents and treated effluents from two plants, one in the town of Phuthaditjhaba, the other in the town of Harrismith, were analysed for heavy metals. Water samples were also collected from the Elands and the Wilge Rivers, which receive effluents from the treatment plants in Phuthaditjhaba and Harrismith, respectively. All samples were analysed for heavy metals; Iron (Fe), Magnesium (Mg), Manganese (Mn), Zinc (Zn), Copper (Cu), Chromium (Cr), Nickel (Ni), Lead (Pb), Cobalt (Co), Arsenic (As), Cadmium (Cd) using Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry. The probabilistic human health risk was estimated using the Total Hazard quotient and Monte Carlo techniques. The results showed that there was no significant difference between treated and untreated wastewater (P > 0.05) in the concentration of heavy metals for both wastewater treatment plants using the student T-test. This indicated the inability of both treatment plants to remove metal contaminants adequately. Projections of non-cancer risk for metals in river water samples indicated a high potential for non-cancer risk for humans upon exposure via ingestion, with Arsenic being a significant contributor to overall risk. The results of this study underscore the need for improved wastewater treatment facilities in this region in order to ensure ecosystem integrity and public health safety.

最近在南非，废水处理厂（WWTP）受到了严格的审查，因为越来越多的报告表明它们不能充分处理废水。这项研究的重点是评估在Maluti-a-Phofung市污水处理厂接收的河流系统中，重金属浓度对人类的潜在健康风险。对两家工厂未经处理的进水和处理过的废水进行了重金属分析，其中一家工厂位于Phuthaditjhaba镇，另一家位于Harrismith镇。还从埃兰兹河和维尔格河收集了水样，它们分别从Phuthaditjhaba和Harrismith的处理厂接收废水。所有样品均进行了重金属分析。铁（Fe），镁（Mg），锰（Mn），锌（Zn），铜（Cu），铬（Cr），使用电感耦合等离子体质谱法测定镍（Ni），铅（Pb），钴（Co），砷（As），镉（Cd）。使用总危险商和蒙特卡洛技术估算了概率性的人类健康风险。结果表明，使用学生T检验，两种废水处理厂的重金属浓度在处理后的废水和未处理的废水之间均无显着差异（P> 0.05）。这表明两个处理厂都无法充分去除金属污染物。对河水样品中金属非癌症风险的预测表明，通过食入暴露对人类而言，非癌症风险很高，而砷是导致整体风险的重要因素。