Journal of Research in Environmental Health
Year:2019 | Volume:5 | Issue:3|Papers Count:7

Background and Aim: Surface water, especially rivers, are one of the most important water resources that plays an important role to supply water requirements of different activities, and we able to make decisions about their application with their quality monitoring. This study was done to evaluate the southern branches of Haleil Rood River quality using Canadian Water Quality Index (CWQI) and Aquachem software. Materials and methods: In this cross sectional study, water quality parameters were used in three stations in the southern shaft of the Haleil Rood river (Hossein-Abad, Konarueyeh and Kahang-Sheibani) from 1996 to 2016. To determine the water quality of the river and determine the type and characteristics was used of the water quality index CWQI and Aquachem software. Results: The results showed that water qualitative conditions in the two stations of Konarueyeh and Kahang-Sheibani are in high rank for different types of use. Hossein-Abad Station quality was in good condition and in the border range for drinking and aquacultures respectively; it was high rank for recreational activities, irrigation and livestock. In addition, the analysis of the graphs obtained from Aquachem software showed that the river water of the Hossein-Abad station was in good order and the two another stations are in excellent condition. Conclusion: The cross sectional study of the chemical quality of the Haleil Rood river shows that the water river from the upstream to downstream is in excellent condition for drinking water. For agriculture, it is also within the range of high quality water. Based on the Piper diagram, the chemical quality of the river water was dominated by Sodium-Chloride at all three stations. It is expected that such studies can provide valuable information for local people regarding proper use of water resources.

Background and Aim: There are various methods for the disinfection of infectious wastes, which are of great importance due to their health and environmental risks potential and there are different insights about their management in Iran. Hence, the aim of this study was to survey the various aspects of disinfection methods of infectious wastes based on the environmental health specialist insights. Materials and methods: For performing this study, a questionnaire was prepared and the opinions of the specialists were gathered about five disinfection and disposal methods of infectious wastes, and finally the data were analyzed. Moreover, the preferences of the specialists for selecting each method were also asked based on nine various aspects. Results: It was found that health issues received the highest priority (with 26% of desirability) from the specialists in selecting the method, while the lowest priority was assigned for financial issues (with 8% of desirability) and political acceptability (with 6% of desirability). Environmental health specialists believed that autoclaving and waste incinerating with 77. 8% and 44. 1% of desirability, respectively, are the most favorable and undesirable methods for disinfection of the infectious wastes. The results showed that the disinfection is a top priority for the specialists, and with respect to the current situation, they did not make any significant difference between on-site and ex-situ disinfection methods, which is reflected in the scores of 3. 65 and 3. 72 for these two scenarios. Conclusion: Overall, health aspects have the most important priority in the management of infectious wastes. Therefore, autoclaving and microwaving are the most appropriate methods for the disinfection of such wastes. Landfilling and incineration were not suggested for the disposal or treatment of infectious wastes.

Background and Aim: Chlorophenols are one of the toxic compounds in the industries that are resistant to biodegradation and they last a long time in the environment. Therefore, it is necessary to eliminate them and prevent pollution of the receiving waters. The aim of this study was evaluation of ZnO nano-particles efficiency in removal of 2, 4, 6-trichlorophenol from aqueous solution based on the response surface methodology (RSM) model. Materials and methods: Effect of independent variables including pH, catalyst dose, contact time and the initial concentration of 2, 4, 6-trichlorophenol on response variable (removal of 2, 4, 6-trichlorophenolfrom) were evaluated based on the response surface methodology (box-behnken method). In this study, all experiments were carried out in a batch reactor containing ZnO nano-particles under 15 Watt UV lamp. Results: The results showed that the best conditions for the removal of 2, 4, 6-trichlorophenol from aqueous solutions were achieved 95. 85% at pH: 3, nano-particle concentration: 0. 4g/l, reaction time: 74. 72 min and 2, 4, 6-trichlorophenol initial concentration: 50 mg/l. Conclusion: The results showed that photocatalytic process was accelerated in the presence of ZnO nano-particle and enhanced removal of 2, 4, 6-trichlorophenol from aqueous solutions.

Background and purpose: Evaluation of concentration and degree of heavy metal contamination in rivers based on sediment contamination indices is one of the important issues in ecotoxicology research. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to measure the heavy metal concentrations in the sediments of the Siahrood River and to assess the health risk of these pollutants. Another purpose was to determine the status of the river in terms of contamination and non-contamination for ecotoxicology studies. Materials and methods: Acid digestion method was used to prepare the samples. Then the concentrations of Cr, Fe, Zn, As, Se, Ni, Co, Al and Mn were measured using ICP-OES. Pollution and ecological risk indices were also calculated. Results: The mean concentrations of chromium, iron, zinc, arsenic, selenium, nickel, cobalt, aluminum and manganese were 33. 02, 7309. 82, 42. 61, 13. 15, 13. 36, 12. 88, 6. 58, 159. 28 and 384. 51 μ g/g dw, respectively. Most of the studied elements were in the first category of pollution assessment indices. Conclusion: The results based on contamination indices and comparison with sediment quality guidelines showed that concentrations of Cr, Se and As are of concern and could potentially be a threat to the health of organisms. For ecotoxicology studies, this river is considered to be relatively contaminated in terms of Cr, Se and As and non-contaminated for other studied elements. However, further studies and monitoring of pollutants in this ecosystem are essential for making proper and effective management decisions.

Background and purpose: One of the fundamental factors of water quality management plan is guarantee of the qualitative and quantitative stability of fresh water in water supply systems. Water safety plan is a systematic approach that guarantees the continuous supply of drinking water emphasizing the prevention of water pollution from catchment to the consumer. The present study aims to assess the adaptation of Torbat Jam water quality management plan and the water safety plan presented by World Health Organization (WHO). Also, the effective hazards on drinking water quality were detected and analyzed. Materials and methods: WSP-QA TOOL is employed as an instruction in order to assess the safety circumstance and identify vulnerability of water supply system in Torbat Jam; so that the necessary information aligned with WSP approach was provided based on current evidence of water and wastewater company and related organizations along with interview with experts, and then analyzed in Excel. Results: The results of this study showed that there isonly 36. 14% adaptation between the Torbat Jam water quality management plan and the approach proposed by WHO. Among these, the management procedures with 66. 67% and the formation of the WSP team with 10%, dedicated the highest and lowest amounts of the adaptation respectively. Conclusion: There are some hazard potentials to make various contaminations in the water distribution system, especially from vulnerable points due to the inadequacy of the conventional water quality control approach, detecting the contaminations instead of their prevention.

Background and Aim: Nowadays, the incidence of waterborne and foodborne diseases is increasing in the world because of several reasons. Hence, this study was conducted to analyze the data on the prevalence of waterborne and foodborne diseases in Kurdistan province. Materials and methods: This descriptive-analytical study analyzed the outbreaks reported in Kurdistan province from 2011 to 2017. In this study, Chisquare test was applied to assess the relationships between the sources of the outbreaks (water or food) and the studied variables including age, sex, cause of disease, region, place of outbreak, time of outbreak, status of drinking water distribution network, and status of chlorination. STATA software Version 13 was used to perform the statistical analysis. Results: According to the results of this study, 90 cases (23. 08%), 261 cases (66. 92%) were made by water and food respectively, and 39 cases (10%) had an unknown source. Concerning the location 69 cases (76. 67%) and 21 cases (23. 33%) of waterborne outbreaks were in rural and urban areas respectively. Whilst, 147 (56. 32%) and 114 (43. 68%) cases of foodborne outbreaks were in urban and rural areas correspondingly. Also, a significant relationship was observed between the outbreaks and the rural and urban residency (p-value <0. 001). This study investigated the relationship between the frequency of waterborne outbreaks and the availability of drinking water distribution network and the results showed that 15 cases of outbreaks (39. 47%) occurred in households without access to the network and 23 outbreaks (60. 53%) occurred in households with access to water distribution network. There was a statistically significant relationship between the source of drinking water and the frequency of outbreaks (P <0. 001). Conclusion: Based on the results of this research, 66. 9% of the outbreaks reported in Kurdistan province were attributed to food and 23. 08% were made by drinking water. Hence, observing food hygiene during the preparation and cooking of food and monitoring the healthiness of drinking water resources have a significant role in reducing the prevalence of waterborne and foodborne outbreaks.

Background and Aim: Petroleum products such as crude oil, diesel and gasoline are the most commonly used in the world, which is the major pollutants of water. About 10 million tons of oil are used annually in the world. Therefore, the development of new technologies for the elimination and purification of oil pollution is essential. There are several methods for cleaning up oil pollution and its derivatives. In this research, straw adsorbent as an organic one was used to remove diesel oil from wastewater. Materials and methods: The straw characterization was firstly determined using the FT-IR analysis. Then the adsorption experiments were performed discontinuously using diesel oil laboratory’ s solutions. Optimum adsorption conditions were obtained by changing the factors affecting adsorption including pH, initial concentration of contaminant, contact time and adsorbent amount on adsorption at different levels. The oil adsorption was determined by weighting method. Results: The highest adsorbent efficiency was observed in 15 minutes, which did not have any significant differences with other contact times (49. 85% absorbance, P<0. 05), and the lowest value was observed without any significant differences in 3 minutes (37. 19% absorption). The highest rate of adsorption was observed at pH =5, which had a significant difference with other pHs (87. 89% adsorption, P<0. 05) and the lowest percentage of adsorption was observed at pH = 9, which had no significant difference with other pHs (39. 04% absorption; P<0. 05). in The efficiency of the process in adsorbent dosage of 2 g/L was significantly higher than other amounts of adsorbent (51. 48% absorption, P<0. 05), and the lowest percentage of adsorption was significantly different from other values in 0. 25 g/L (38. 30%, P<0. 05). Also, according to the isotherm studies, the adsorption of diesel oil by straw adsorbent was fitted with both Freundwich and Langmuir models with R2 of 0. 99 and 0. 96 respectively. Conclusion: Therefore, it can be concluded that the straw adsorbent, has a high efficiency in adsorption of diesel from wastewater and can be used in the treatment of industrial wastewater.