Regional Distribution of Longevity Population and Elements in Drinking Water in Jiangjin District, Chongqing City, China.

In order to determine the spatial variation of longevity population and elements contained in the drinking water of longevity region in Jiangjin and investigate the relationship between the elements in drinking water and longevity, population censuses on township level and 98 drinking water samples from Jiangjin District, Chongqing City in West China were collected and analyzed. Population statistics on township level showed that the number of centenarians per 100,000 inhabitants (OC), centenarity index (CI), and number of centenarians per 10,000 over 65-year-old subjects (UC) present obvious geographic distribution properties, generally Central region > Northern region > Southern region (Kruskal-Wallis test, p < 0.05). Moderate hard water (150 mg/L < total hardness (TH) = 156.17 mg/L < 300 mg/L) was mainly found in drinking water from longevity township (OC > 7.5) in Jiangjin District, whereas soft water (75 mg/L < TH = 111.23 mg/L < 150 mg/L) was mostly in non-longevity township (OC < 7.5). The mean concentration of strontium (Sr) (0.73 mg/L) in drinking water from the longevity township was apparently higher than that of non-longevity township (0.44 mg/L) (Mann-Whitney U test, p = 0.019 < 0.05). The concentrations of Ba, Li, Mn, Ni, and Se in drinking water from longevity township were also higher than those of non-longevity township (Mann-Whitney U test, p < 0.05). The research indicates that exercising strict control over the concentrations of TH, Sr, Ba, Li, Mn, Ni, and Se in drinking water might be good for the health and prolong people's life.