Identification of airborne fungi’s concentrations in indoor and outdoor air of municipal wastewater treatment plant
Journal Title: Environmental Health Engineering and Management Journal - Year 2020, Vol 7, Issue 3
Abstract
Background: Airborne fungi play an important role the quality of indoor and outdoor air. The aim of this study was to investigate the concentration of airborne fungi around different parts of the wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) in the west of Ahvaz and its relationship with some important meteorological parameters. Methods: This study was conducted on a WWTP in the west of Ahvaz during 4 months in both cold and warm seasons. Samples were collected from 2- and 10-m intervals of the grit chamber (GCh), primary sludge dewatering basin (PSDB), and aeration tank (AT), as well as 60 m upstream (US), downstream (DS), and administrative building (AB) of the WWTP. Bioaerosols were collected using passive sampling method. Temperature, humidity, wind speed, wind direction, and ultraviolet index (UV) were also measured at the time of sampling. Results: The total concentration of fungi was 46.1 ± 43 CFU/plate/h. The highest concentration of fungi (92.2 ± 28.12 CFU/plate/h) was found 2 m away from the GCh in the cold season and the lowest one (24.6 ± 6.67 CFU/plate/h) was found at the 10-m distance of the AT in the warm season. The dominant fungal genus included Cladosporium, Alternaria, Yeast, and Aspergillus, respectively. Also, there was a significant relationship between the degree of fungal contamination in different units, the US and DS of the WWTP, and there was a negative relationship between the release of fungi and UV. Conclusion: According to the results, grit chamber plays an important role in releasing airborne fungi. Also, airborne fungi were reduced with an increase in distance and UV.
Authors and Affiliations
Nastaran Talepour, Mohammad Sadegh Hassanvand, Effat Abbasi-Montazeri, Seyed Mahmoud Latifi, Neamat Jaafarzadeh Haghighi Fard, Bamshad Shenavar
Keywords
Related Articles
- EP ID EP689125
- DOI -
- Views 218
- Downloads 0
Assessment of pollution and ecological risk of heavy metals in the sediments of the western coast of Persian Gulf: A case study in Dayer port
Background: In recent years, the pollution of heavy metals in the beaches has been noticed due to the increase of human activities. This study aimed to evaluate heavy metal pollution, its ecological risk, and possible...
Outdoor PM2.5 and their water-soluble ions in the Northern part of the Persian Gulf
Background: The environmental conditions potentially predispose the northern part of the Persian Gulf to the occurrence of dust storms. Outdoor PM2.5 and their water-soluble ions in Bushehr port were studied from Decem...
Identification of airborne fungi’s concentrations in indoor and outdoor air of municipal wastewater treatment plant
Background: Airborne fungi play an important role the quality of indoor and outdoor air. The aim of this study was to investigate the concentration of airborne fungi around different parts of the wastewater treatment p...
Health sector’s flood response plan: A comprehensive review
Background: Floods are the most common natural disaster which may have substantial impacts on the human health and life and the environment. In recent years, Iran have faced many floods and it seems that increasing imp...
Accomplishment of water safety plan using quality assurance tool in 2020-2021: A case study in a western city of Gilan province, Iran
Background: Water safety plan is a systematic approach to ensure the quality of water delivered to consumers from catchment to consumption. Methods: This study was conducted on the groundwater system of Talesh, Gilan, i...