• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
• /
• v.40 no.1
• /
• pp.19-35
• /
• 2024

The global pandemic, coronavirus disease caused by Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has led to the implementation of wastewater surveillance as a means to monitor the spread of SARS-CoV-2 prevalence in the community. The challenging aspect of establishing wastewater surveillance requires a well-equipped laboratory for wastewater sample analysis. According to previous studies, RT-PCR-based molecular tests are the most widely used and popular detection method worldwide. However, this approach for the detection or quantification of SARS-CoV-2 from wastewater demands a specialized laboratory, skilled personnel, expensive instruments, and a workflow that typically takes 6 to 8 hours to provide results for a few samples. Rapid and reliable alternative detection methods are needed to enable less-well-qualified practitioners to set up and provide sensitive detection of SARS-CoV-2 within wastewater at regional laboratories. In some cases, the structural and molecular characteristics of SARS-CoV-2 are unknown, and various strategies for the correct diagnosis of COVID-19 have been proposed by research laboratories. The ongoing research and development of alternative and rapid technologies, namely RT-LAMP, ELISA, Biosensors, and GeneXpert, offer a wide range of potential options not only for SARS-CoV-2 detection but also for other viruses. This study aims to discuss the effective regional rapid detection and quantification methods in community wastewater.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
• /
• v.39 no.3
• /
• pp.260-265
• /
• 2024

During the coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, wastewater-based epidemiology was used for surveying infectious diseases. In this study, wastewater surveillance was employed to monitor COVID-19 outbreaks. Wastewater influent samples were collected from four sewage treatment plants in Ulsan (Gulhwa, Yongyeon, Nongso, and Bangeojin) between August 2022 and August 2023. The samples were concentrated using the polyethylene glycol-sodium chloride pretreatment method. Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) RNA was extracted and detected using real-time polymerase chain reaction. Next generation sequences was used to perform correlation analysis between SARS-CoV-2 concentrations and COVID-19 cases and for COVID-19 variant analysis. A strong correlation was observed between SARS-CoV-2 concentrations and COVID-19 cases (correlation coefficient, r = 0.914). The COVID-19 variant analysis results were similar to the clinical variant genomes of three epidemics during the study period. In conclusion, monitoring COVID-19 via analyzing wastewater facilitates early recognition and prediction of epidemics.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
• /
• v.27 no.6
• /
• pp.723-730
• /
• 2013

Due to the event of hazardous chemical injection into a water storage tank in Hongseong, Chungcheongnam-do in 2012, the Korean Ministry of Environment has revised the enforcement rules of the Water Supply and Waterworks Installation Act to install surveillance equipments such as closed-circuit television(CCTV). However, the enforcement rules still do not provide concrete provision for installation of physical security equipments. Thus we studied vulnerability of small-scale water supplies in Korea and developed guidelines for the physical security system of the facilities. The guidelines include selection and recommendation of the physical security approaches and measures to detect, delay and response to the presence of an intruder in small-scale water supplies. The security features include protection utilities(e.g., fencing and fence topping), exterior intrusion detectors and alarms, locks and padlocks, surveillance utilities(e.g., CCTV), and others.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
• /
• v.37 no.5
• /
• pp.261-269
• /
• 2023

In light of recent social concerns related to issues such as water supply pipe deterioration leading to problems like leaks and degraded water quality, the significance of maintenance efforts to enhance water source quality and ensure a stable water supply has grown substantially. In this study, scan statistic was applied to analyze water quality complaints and water leakage accidents from 2015 to 2021 to present a reasonable method to identify areas requiring improvement in water management. SaTScan, a spatio-temporal statistical analysis program, and ArcGIS were used for spatial information analysis, and clusters with high relative risk (RR) were determined using the maximum log-likelihood ratio, relative risk, and Monte Carlo hypothesis test for I city, the target area. Specifically, in the case of water quality complaints, the analysis results were compared by distinguishing cases occurring before and after the onset of "red water." The period between 2015 and 2019 revealed that preceding the occurrence of red water, the leak cluster at location L2 posed a significantly higher risk (RR: 2.45) than other regions. As for water quality complaints, cluster C2 exhibited a notably elevated RR (RR: 2.21) and appeared concentrated in areas D and S, respectively. On the other hand, post-red water incidents of water quality complaints were predominantly concentrated in area S. The analysis found that the locations of complaint clusters were similar to those of red water incidents. Of these, cluster C7 exhibited a substantial RR of 4.58, signifying more than a twofold increase compared to pre-incident levels. A kernel density map analysis was performed using GIS to identify priority areas for waterworks management based on the central location of clusters and complaint cluster RR data.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
• /
• v.51 no.3
• /
• pp.268-279
• /
• 2023

The pharmaceutical industry in Bangladesh produces a diverse range of antibiotics for human and animal use, however, waste disposal management is inadequate. This results in substantial quantities of antibiotics being discharged into water bodies, which provide suitable environment for the growth of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, capable of spreading resistance genes. This study intended for exploring the bacterial antibiotic resistance profile in adjoining aquatic environmental sources of pharmaceutical manufacturing facilities in Bangladesh. Seven surface water samples were collected from the vicinity of two pharmaceutical industries located in the Savar area and 51 Escherichia coli isolates were identified using both phenotypic and genotypic methods. Antibiotic susceptibility tests revealed the highest percentage of resistance against ampicillin, azithromycin, and nalidixic acid (100%) and the lowest resistance against meropenem (1.96%) out of sixteen different antibiotics tested. 100% of the study E. coli isolates were observed with Multidrug resistance phenotypes, with the Multiple Antibiotic Resistance (MAR) value ranging from 0.6-1.0. Furthermore, 69% of the isolates were Extended Spectrum Beta-Lactamases (ESBL) positive as per the Double Disk Diffusion Synergy Test (DDST). ESBL resistance genes bla_TEM, bla_CTX-M-13, bla_CTX-M-15, and bla_SHV were detected in 70.6% (n = 36), 60.8% (n = 32), 54.9% (n = 28), and 1.96% (n = 1) of the isolates, respectively, by Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR). Additionally, 15.68% (n = 8) of the isolates were positive for E. coli specific virulence genes in PCR. These findings suggest that pharmaceutical wastewater, if not properly treated, could be a formidable source of antibiotic resistance spread in the surrounding aquatic environment. Therefore, continued surveillance for drug resistance among bacterial populations around drug manufacturing facilities in Bangladesh is necessary, along with proper waste disposal management.