• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.17
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• pp.7479-7484
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• 2015

Diseases related to water impurities may present as major public health burdens. The present study aimed to assess the mutagenicity of drinking water from different zones of Tehran, and evaluate possible health risks through making tea with tea bags, by Ames mutagenicity test using TA 100, TA 98 and YG1029 strains. For this purpose, 450 water samples were collected over the period of July to December 2014 from 5 different zones of Tehran. Except for one sample, no mutagenic potential was detected during these two seasons and the MI scores were almost normal (${\leq}1-1.6$) in TA 100, TA 98 and YG1029 strains. Although no mutagenic effects were considered in TA 98 and TA 100 in the test samples of our three evaluated tea bag brands, one sample from a local company showed mutagenic effects in the YG1029 strain (MI=1.7-1.9 and 2) after prolonged (10-15 min.) steeping. Despite the mild mutagenic effect discovered for one of the brand, this cross sectional study showed relative safety of water samples and black tea bags in Tehran. According to the sensitivity of YG1029 to the mutagenic potential of water and black tea, even without metabolic activation by s9 fraction, this metabolizer strain could be considered as sensitive and applicable to food samples for quantitative analysis of mutagens.

• Journal of Radiation Industry
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.155-166
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• 2024

In this study, a liquid scintillation spectrometer was developed for online continuous monitoring of tritium nuclides in water. The device consists of two photoelectron multiplier tubes (PMT), a simultaneous counting circuit, and a signal processing unit including a multi-channel analyzer (MCA). As a method to verify the performance of the equipment developed in this study, samples were prepared using a standard source, and the spectrum of tritium was measured to evaluate the detector characteristics such as efficiency, background (BKG), and minimum detectable activity (MDA). To evaluate the effect of pretreatment on tritium radioactivity measurement results, the MDA of water (seawater and groundwater) samples before and after pretreatment was calculated and compared. The results of the evaluation confirmed the satisfaction of the reference values of the Nuclear Safety Commission's "Discharge Control Standard in Drainage Water" and the World Health Organization's (WHO) "Tritium Radioactivity Concentration for Drinking Water Standards". The liquid scintillation spectrometer developed in this study, with or without pretreatment, confirmed detection performance equivalent to 1/100th of the discharge control standard for drainage water (40,000 Bq L^-1) and the WHO's drinking water standard for tritium radioactivity (10,000 Bq L^-1).

• Journal of environmental and Sanitary engineering
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.87-104
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• 2007

The objective of this study is to estimate the load of pollutants caused from the forest area among non-point pollutants within the Juam lake. The surveyed forest area was classified into broad-leaved, conifer, mixed and herbage area by forest tree type. Water quality and flux were investigated under rainfall and non-rainfall, respectively. Then, pollutant loading was evaluated by using the values of unit pollutant loading factor of each point and area of forest zone. Water quality analysis results of runoff by forest tree types were as follows. - Annual BOD, $COD_{Mn}\;and\;COD_{Cr}$ concentration of runoff in conifer area was high, and particle and biological recalcitrant compounds were flowed highly. - SS, T-N and T-P concentration was high in runoff from broad-leaved area, and biological degradable compounds was flowed. - Water quality of water from valley was maintained good under non-rainfall and could be utilized as fresh drinking water. Through water quality standard investigation, a countermeasure establishment was necessary to secure a good quality of drinking water - BOD, $COD_{Mn},\;and\;COD_{Cr}$ concentration of Bo-sung river was higher 1.5 times than other 2 streams, and because of high T-N, and T-P concentration in Songgwang stream, the management for this was necessary.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.343-350
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• 2008

Many reports have warned of insufficient water supply in most countries in future and prospected providing safe and clean water become more difficult by lack of access to sustainable drinking water resources. Several facts and figures explained the impact by natural climate change and human activity results in the water scarcity and deterioration. Among many scientific solutions, the seawater desalination using a reverse osmosis membrane, so called SWRO (Seawater Reverse Osmosis) process, has been recognized as one of the most promising alternatives because of its stability and efficiency in producing large amount of drinking water from seawater through desalination by membrane filtration. Recently, in Korea, numerous researches are conducted to develop more productive and cost effective SWRO process for its wide implementation. The objective of this paper is to review the patents concerning SWRO technologies involving the plant engineering, maintenance including pretreatment of seawater and fouling control, module design, and mechanical units development for energy saving. The patents in Korea, U.S., Japan, Europe, and PCT were intensively researched and analyzed to provide the state of the art as well as leading edge technology on SWRO. This information can hopefully suggest meaningful guidelines on future research and development.

• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.91-94
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• 2013

Recently Ibadan in southwestern Nigeria has been facing severe water shortage due to the increase of population, social and economic activities. In order to meet the shortfall, attempts to utilize rainwater harvesting (RWH) have been made to provide an alternative source of water supply. A desk study was conducted to review various RWH technologies locally, regionally and globally. A hydrological analysis was also carried out using rainfall data for 30 years from two meteorological stations, with the aim of providing a more sustainable RWH system for water supply to private individuals, organizations, and government agencies. RWH is found to be technically feasible based on the prevailing rainfall pattern with over 90% of households having a rooftop constructed from technically appropriate materials. Results of the study indicate that an average roof of $80m^2$ will collect 82,835 L/yr (45 L/person/day) for a family of five people which is about the required water demand for drinking and cooking purposes. Hence, the capacity of storage tanks and the catchment area required for an all-purpose water supply system based on RWH are quite large. These can be reduced to affordable sizes, by collecting and storing water for cooking and drinking only while non-potable uses are supplemented by water from other sources. However, it must be highlighted that due to the type of roofing material, rainwater should go through proper treatment in order to be used for potable purposes. This study clearly shows that Ibadan city has a good rainwater harvesting potential.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.397-409
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• 2014

Algal problem in drinking water treatment is being gradually increased by causing deterioration of water supplies therefore, especially taste and odor compounds such as geosmin and 2-MIB occur mainly aesthetic problem by its unpleasant effects resulting in the subsequent onset of complaints from drinking water consumer. Recently, geosmin and 2-MIB are detected frequently at abnormally high concentration level. However, conventional water treatment without advanced water treatment processes such as adsorption and oxidation process, cannot remove these two compounds efficiently. Moreover, it is known that the advanced treatment processes i.e. adsorption and oxidation have also several limits to the removal of geosmin and 2-MIB. Therefore, the purpose of this study was not only to evaluate full scale nanofiltration membrane system with $300m^3/day$ of permeate capacity and 90% of recovery on the removal of geosmin and 2-MIB in spiked natural raw water sources at high feed concentration with a range of approximately 500 to 2,500 ng/L, but also to observe rejection property of the compounds within multi stage NF membrane system. Rejection rate of geosmin and 2-MIB by NF membrane process was 96% that is 4% of passage regardless of the feed water concentration which indicates NF membrane system with an operational values suggested in this research can be employed in drinking water treatment plant to control geosmin and 2-MIB of high concentration. But, according to results of regression analysis in this study it is recommended that feed water concentration of geosmin and 2-MIB would not exceed 220 and 300 ng/L respectively which is not to be perceived in drinking tap water. Also it suggests that the removal rate might be depended on an operating conditions such as feed water characteristics and membrane flux. When each stage of NF membrane system was evaluated relatively higher removal rate was observed at the conditions that is lower flux, higher DOC and TDS, i.e., $2^{nd}$ stage NF membrane systems, possibly due to an interaction mechanisms between compounds and cake layer on the membrane surfaces.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.23-29
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• 2008

Throughout the analysis of field data from water distribution system, valid parameters were determined that can be included in the water service and design plan. This study investigates water consumption patterns to understand the variation of water-demand structures utilizing the pattern analysis of domestic purpose water. Water use data were collected by a public water resources management firm in Korea, Kwater, for 140 houses monitored during three years. Flow meters were installed at the faucet for drinking water, the shower booth, the laundry machine, bathroom sink, toilet, and garden faucet. Data was filtered using multiple physically meaningful criteria to improve analysis credibility. Mann Kendall and Spearman's Rho tests were used to carry out the analysis. Distinct factors of water consumption patterns can be determined for both increasing and decreasing trends of water use. Throughout the data analysis, the characterization of terms was classified and analyzed by the condition of the location of water-demand. Analysis of this data provide a physical basis for the parameter configuration of a reasonable design for a domestic water demand prediction model.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.35 no.5
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• pp.312-320
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• 2013

Particulates in drinking water distribution system (DWDS) are mostly influenced by internal corrosion of metal pipes and sediment in pipelines due to the solution of this effect is limited. The particle size, component and properties of compounds for particulates in distributed water are different and the difference of these characteristics will be occurred by the kind of facilities, pipe condition, external factors and supply system etc. In this study, conducting the investigation of water quality in DWDS researches with particulates in the water. Monitoring sites were each water supply reservoir and the end of water supply area in DWDS. To collect particulate material at each sampling site, $47{\phi}$ glass microfiber filter type GF/C was performed using a filtration. Substances that the effect of the turbidity in the water according to particulate suspended solids and inorganic materials is due to the increasing particulates in the end of DWDS were increased. The result of compounds analysis by using X-ray diffraction (XRD) were Goethite (${\alpha}$-FeOOH), Magnetite ($Fe_3O_4$) in the end of DWDS and Quartz ($SiO_2$), Yeelimite ($Ca_4Al_6O_{12}SO_4$) at the effluent of waterworks and reservoirs. There were differences the compounds and sediments in the releasing or remaining water distribution facilities.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.45 no.5
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• pp.434-442
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• 2019

Objectives: This study was performed in order to report the epidemiological features of a food poisoning outbreak caused by multiple pathogens in a high school in Chungcheongnam-do Province, Korea in April 2019 and to suggest measures to prevent a similar incidence. Methods: A total of 39 patients with diarrhea were examined. Environmental samples were obtained from 6 food handlers, 4 food utensils, 72 preserved foods served during the food poisoning outbreak, 9 door handles, 10 drinking water samples from water dispensers, and 6 ground water samples from water taps. These analyzed to detect viruses and bacteria. Results: Among the 39 patients, 21 cases (53.8%) of enteroaggregative E. coli (EAEC), 7 cases of Staphylococcus aureus (17.9%), and 17 cases of norovirus (43.6%) were positive, and in 16 of the cases a co-infection with at least one other pathogen were observed. EAEC was assumed to be transmitted from contaminated drinking water because it was also detected in the water sample from a water dispenser in the dormitory. Staphylococcus aureus was isolated only in the fecal samples of patients, meaning it was not possible to trace its origin. The genotype of norovirus detected in the drinking water and ground water was consistent with that isolated from patients, and it was determined that the norovirus infection originated from the school's water environment. Conclusions: These findings indicate that a lack of environmental hygiene management related to school meals caused the food poisoning incident. In particular, a lack of management of drinking water, water supply, and personal hygiene should be pointed out. This should be urgently addressed and continuous monitoring should be carried out in the future. In addition, students and staff should be educated and trained to improve their personal hygiene.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.767-777
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• 2012

Annular Biofilm Reactor (ABR) equipped with coupons of three different pipe materials (STS 304, PVC, PE) was used to generate drinking water biofilm samples. The level of assimilable organic carbon (AOC) during the sample generation period was $37.3{\mu}g/L$, and this level did not seem to be low enough to limit the formation of biofilm in this study. Terminal-restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP) analyses determined T-RF profile as early as 3 h of exposure on PVC coupons. Average surface roughness ($R_a$) measured by atomic force microscopic analyses was 125.7 nm for PVC, and this value was higher than for STS (71.6 nm) and PE (74.0 nm). However, biofilm formation was faster on STS (6 h) than on PE (12 h), which indicated that surface roughness might not be the only factor that controlled the initiation of biofilm development. Upon detection of the T-RF peaks, richness (S) and diversity indices such as Shannon (H) and Simpson (1/D) demonstrated a rather slow increase until 48 h followed by rapid increase regardless of the pipe materials. Differences of microbial community structures among the biofilm samples were determined based on the cluster analysis using Jaccard coefficients (Sj). Biofilm communities could be divided into two distinct groups according to the exposure time regardless of the pipe materials. First group contained a young (< 48 h) biofilm samples (10 out of 11) but second group contained a mature (${\geq}$ 48 h) samples (11 out of 14). Results suggested that, due to the complexity of biofilm, the targeting of the first group of cluster was crucial for optimizing the management of drinking water distribution systems and controlling microbial growth.