Abstract
The water quality of drinking water sources within the Huaihe River Basin directly affects the life and health of 1/6 of China's population. Identifying and quantifying pollution sources and risks is crucial for water resources management. This study combines Monte-Carlo and Geodetector to analyze the water quality and eutrophication status, the study of heavy metals source and health risk assessment for adults and children. The results showed that the eutrophication degree was serious, with 67.8% of water sources evaluated as mesotrophic and 32.2% as eutrophic. The water quality and eutrophication were better in the southern mountains than in the densely populated areas of the northern region. Adults had a higher carcinogenic risk than children, while children had a higher non-carcinogenic risk than adults. Cr had the highest carcinogenic risk, with more than 99.8% of both adults and children exposed to a higher carcinogenic risk than 1×10− 6, but not exceed 1×10− 4. The non-carcinogenic risk of the metals didn’t exceed 1, except for Pb. As was mainly influenced by agricultural activities and transportation, while Cd, Cr, and Pb were mainly influenced by industrial production, especially by local textile industries, such as knitting and clothing factories. The influence of anthropogenic factors has been significantly increased after interacting with natural factors. This finding indicated that Geodetector can be a helpful method for us to understand the factors affecting the distribution patterns of heavy metals in water, and help provide a universal result for the pollution sources of drinking water sources worldwide.