Prospects for using vending machines to improve drinking water quality

Introduction. Ensuring the population has access to drinking water that meets sanitary and epidemiological requirements remains highly important in conditions where existing centralized water supply systems do not always guarantee consistent compliance with hygiene standards. In this context, a priority hygiene task is to assess the safety of alternative sources of drinking water supply, which may include vending machines for water dispensing. A hygiene assessment of water from vending machines and drinking water from the centralized water supply system in the Vladimir Region will help determine the feasibility of using them to optimize the population’s drinking regimen.

Materials and methods. Based on monitoring data for drinking water from the centralized water supply system in the Vladimir Region for 2018–2025 and the results of analyzing twenty five water samples from water vending machines in the city of Vladimir, an instrumental assessment of the chemical composition was carried out using X‑ray fluorescence analysis and capillary electrophoresis, followed by an evaluation of compliance with hygiene standards (SanPiN 1.2.3685–21). The non‑carcinogenic health risk assessment for adult and child populations was performed in accordance with R 2.1.10.3968–23, including the calculation of the hazard quotient (HQ) and hazard index (HI), taking into account age‑related exposure factors.

Results. Drinking water from the centralized water supply system in a number of administrative districts of the Vladimir Region has been established to be characterized by exceeding the maximum permissible concentrations (MPC) for fluoride, phosphates, nitrates, magnesium, and iron. Furthermore, there is an observed exceedance of the acceptable level of non‑carcinogenic health risk for the population, especially children (HQ > 1.0; HI up to 2.21). Water from vending machines in the city of Vladimir complies with the hygiene standards of SanPiN 1.2.3685–21 and is not associated with any health risk. However, its insufficient mineralization has been identified (after passing through the post‑treatment system), which requires correction to ensure physiological adequacy.

Limitations. These findings are related to the assessment of water quality from vending machines, which was carried out on a limited sample (25 samples) collected exclusively in the city of Vladimir. Additionally, the study did not include a microbiological analysis of water from vending machines. The health risk calculations were performed using the maximum concentration values, which may lead to an overestimation of the calculated HQ and HI values.

Conclusion. The consumption of drinking water from vending machines by the population should be accompanied by increased information transparency of water vending machine operators and improvement of the regulatory framework for regulating the quality of tap water.

Compliance with ethical standards. The study does not require a biomedical ethics committee opinion.

Contribution:
Martsev A.A. – concept and design of the study, collection of material and data processing, writing the text and final structuring of the article for publication;
Kosmacheva A.G. – sampling, writing the text;
Selivanov O.G. – sampling, writing the text;
Kurbatov Yu.N. – laboratory research;
Trifonova T.A. – concept and design of the study.
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: July 1, 2025 / Accepted: March 24, 2026 / Published: May 18, 2026

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