Hygienic assessment of drinking water quality and its impact on the health of the population of the Republic of Kalmykia

Introduction. Assessment of the quality of drinking water and its impact on human health is of primary importance for regions with arid and semi-arid climates, due to the limited availability of water of acceptable quality.

Objective of the study. Conduct a hygienic assessment of the quality of drinking water in the territory of a number of municipal districts of the Republic of Kalmykia and assess the impact of the quality of drinking water on the health of the population.

Materials and methods. Drinking water samples were collected from consumer taps in the Republic of Kalmykia, in accordance with the Federal requirements according to GOST 56237–2014. Data on population morbidity for the period from 2018 to 2024 were provided by the Medical Information and Analytical Center of the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Kalmykia. The assessment of non-carcinogenic risk to public health when consuming drinking water was carried out in accordance with R 2.1.10.3968–23.

Results. The quality of drinking water supplied to the population of the Republic of Kalmykia does not meet hygienic standards in Sarpinsky, Ketchenerovsky, and Tselinny districts, as well as in the city of Elista for such indicators as sodium, magnesium, boron, chloride, and sulfate ions. Consumption of water supplied from the Yergeni artesian basin creates a risk to public health at a minimum level of exposure. At the same time, no connection has been found between the incidence of diseases in the population and the quality of drinking water.

Limitations. The limitations of this work are related to the relatively small sample sizes in the study.

Conclusions. The quality of drinking water from the centralized water supply system in the studied areas of the Republic of Kalmykia was found to be inconsistent with hygienic standards, which creates a risk for public health. However, no connection was found between the incidence in the population and the quality of drinking water, which may be due to the small proportion of the population using drinking water from centralized water supply systems for drinking needs.

Compliance with ethical standards. The study was approved by the local ethics committee of the Saratov Medical Scientific Center of Hygiene of the Federal Scientific Center of Medical and Preventive Technologies for Health Risk Management of the Population (minutes of meeting No. 21 of 09/01/2022), conducted in accordance with the generally accepted scientific principles of the Helsinki Declaration of the World Medical Association (2013 edition).

Contribution:
Erdniev L.P. – collection and processing of material, writing text;
Mikerov A.N. – the concept and design of the study, editing;
Moiseeva Ye.M. – editing;
Kuzyanov D.A. – processing of results, writing text.
All authors are responsible for the integrity of all parts of the manuscript and approval of the manuscript final version.

Conflict of interest. The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Funding. The study had no sponsorship.

Received: September 3, 2025 / Revised: September 9, 2025 / Accepted:  November 3, 2025 / Published: December 19, 2025

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