**4. Conclusions**

In this study, groundwater samples from Linfen Basin were collected and analyzed for physicochemical parameters. The water quality index was used to evaluate the groundwater quality, while the health risk was assessed for adults and children concerning different exposure pathways. The main conclusions of the study are as follows:

1. The groundwater in the study area is weakly alkaline, with TH and TDS ranging between 167–869 and 280–1312 mg/L. Compared with the Chinese national standards, 30%, 10%, 20%, 20%, 10%, 10%, and 100% of the total samples exceeded the standard limits of drinking water in terms of TH, TDS, SO<sup>4</sup> <sup>2</sup>−, F−, Fe, Mn, and Pb. Higher TH, TDS, SO<sup>4</sup> <sup>2</sup>−, Fe, and Mn are mainly distributed in the southeastern part of the study area, while a high concentration of F− was observed in the central area of the study.

2. Most groundwater has good water quality and can be used as drinking water. Pb, TH, F−, SO<sup>4</sup> <sup>2</sup>−, and TDS are the most significant parameters affecting groundwater quality. The poor quality of groundwater near Yicheng might be due to the shallow buried depth of groundwater and the good permeability of the aquifer.

3. Contaminated groundwater in the study area can pose human health risks to residents through multiple exposure pathways, including drinking water intake and dermal contact. The total non-carcinogenic health risks for males, females, and children range from 0.302 to 0.902, 0.354–1.051, and 0.719–2.100, respectively. Males do not have associated noncarcinogenic health risks, while females and children face higher non-carcinogenic risks than males. The ranges of the total carcinogenic health risks for males, females, and children are 7.371 <sup>×</sup> <sup>10</sup>−5–1.605 <sup>×</sup> <sup>10</sup>−<sup>4</sup> , 8.541 <sup>×</sup> <sup>10</sup>−5–1.837 <sup>×</sup> <sup>10</sup>−4, and 4.386 <sup>×</sup> <sup>10</sup>−5–9.121 <sup>×</sup> <sup>10</sup>−<sup>5</sup> , respectively. The carcinogenic risk exceeds the acceptable limit recommended by the Ministry of Ecology and Environment of the P. R. China for both adults and children. The great risks (HItotal > 1 and CRtotal > 1 <sup>×</sup> <sup>10</sup>−<sup>6</sup> ) for adults and children all occur in the central study area.

**Author Contributions:** Conceptualization, J.L. and C.S.; investigation, W.C. and Q.Z.; data curation, J.L. and R.L.; writing—original draft preparation, J.L.; writing—review and editing, J.L., C.S., W.C., and Q.Z.; visualization, S.Z. and Y.W.; supervision, C.S. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

**Funding:** This research was funded by the Basic Research Program of Shanxi Province (Free Exploration), grant number 20210302123265 and 20210302123261, and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41807445).

**Institutional Review Board Statement:** Not applicable.

**Informed Consent Statement:** Not applicable.

**Data Availability Statement:** All processed data used in the study have been shown in the article. Raw data may be available on request from the corresponding author.

**Acknowledgments:** We thank the editors and reviewers for their valuable comments and suggestions to improve the quality of the paper.

**Conflicts of Interest:** The authors declare no conflict of interest.
