Surfactants (surface-active agents) are a diverse group of chemicals consisting of a polar, water soluble head group and a nonpolar hydrocarbon tail group, which is not as soluble in water. Massive quantities of surfactants are being used in households and industry every day, and most end up dispersed in different environmental compartments (soil, water, sediment). Linear Alkylbenzene Sulphonate (LAS) is a major anionic surfactant used in detergents worldwide due to its effectiveness, cost/performance ratio versatility and environmental safety record. It is the most widely used synthetic anionic surfactant and is therefore an omnipresent water contaminant. The annual global production of LAS has been reported at 2.5 million tons out of 15 million tons of surfactant production worldwide. Chronic and sublethal toxicity of LAS on aquatic organisms has been reported in marine species at less than 1 mg/L, whereas ranges of LAS concentrations exceeding the toxicity level (i.e., >1 mg/L) have been detected in surface worldwide. Therefore, the high contamination of LAS in the surface water indicates the discharge of untreated sewage. The application of surfactants can also produce environmental pollution and raises a series of problems for wastewater treatment plants. The target of surfactant analysis would be twofold: quality assurance for commercial products and pollution control in environment. Regarding the importance of this issue, this paper deals with the calculation of the health risk of LAS on drinking water in different age groups. We calculated an age-dependent risk quotient (RQ) for each detected LAS by dividing the maximum measured concentration in the water (MC) by the corresponding drinking water equivalent level (DWEL) (equation (1)). RQ = MC/DWEL Often, it is easier to convert the acceptable daily intake (ADI) into a corresponding water concentration, such as DWEL, so that the comparison of chemical concentrations measured in drinking water to ADIs is simpl
