Survey of Bacteriological Quality of the Drinking Water in Rural Areas of Saqqez City

"n "nBackgrounds and Objectives:Safe drinking water providing is one of the main purposes in the community. Development and improvement of community is related to the public health. In this study !we studied the bacteriological quality of 116 villages under coverage of the water and wastewater companies in rural areas of Saqqez in.1386"nMaterial and Methods:Drinking water of these rural areas have provided of deep, semi-depth- wells and spring water sources. Because in numerous rural areas both sources of drinking water and in some of them different sources of drinking water were used (old and new storage water source), in general, 359 samples were collected and transferred to the laboratory for testing to evaluate its quality. We also used linear Regression statistical analysis for collected data."nResults:results show that residual chlorine in drinking water in 33.88 percent of rural areas population were in range 0.2-1 mg/l. For 98.3 percent of the seqqez rural population, the turbidity was lower than the maximum permissible levels of drinking water standards of Iran (5 NTU). There was no any E.coli contamination in 88 percent of drinking water in saqqez rural areas."nConclusion:Based on WHO guidelines concerning the microbial quality of water published in 2006! the average indicator for lack of E.coli in water of rural areas of seqqez was 88 percent and water is safe or good for drinking

Thin-Film Composite Forward-Osmosis Membranes Reinforced on Woven Mesh and Nonwoven Backing Fabric Supports

Thin-film composite (TFC) forward-osmosis (FO) membranes were developed on different woven and nonwoven backing fabrics as support. Embedded backing fabrics have a significant effect on the membrane film sublayer by imparting porosity, membrane mechanical strength, and thickness. Woven and nonwoven backing fabric supports have been used for FO membranes cast on the commercial scale. There are also a few studies on the laboratory scale, but repeating them seems to be a challenge. The results herein show that TFC membranes with nonwoven incorporated substrates gain a higher water flux while keeping the specific reverse salt flux low

Concentration and ecological risk of heavy metal in street dusts of Eslamshahr, Iran

ABSTRACT This study was done to evaluate heavy metal concentrations in street dust samples, to compare measured concentrations in samples to background concentrations in order to make evaluations for pollution indices, and to describe the quality of street dust in the studied area in relation to pollution. A total of 30 cumulative samples were collected from the streets of Eslamshahr City. Concentrations of heavy metals were determined using an Inductively Coupled Plasma-Optical Emission Spectrometry (ICP-OES). Results determined mean concentrations (mg/kg) of the heavy metals Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, and Zn, in collected samples of street dust as 0.34, 35.1, 239, 42.4, 71.3, and 573, respectively. Igeo values for Cd and Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, and Zn showed level of moderately polluted, unpolluted, moderately to strongly polluted, unpolluted, moderately polluted and moderately to strongly polluted, respectively. The pattern of total metal concentrations in the studied area was ranked as follows: Zn and Cu>Pb>Cd>Ni>Cr. The highest values for the monomial potential ecological risk (Er) were observed for Cd (114). The mean level of RI for the studied soil samples was 192 (91.3–244), which is classed as presenting a strong potential ecological risk. KEYWORDS: street dust, heavy metals, geo-accumulation index, integrated pollution index, ecological ris

Synthesis of modified ZnO nanorods and investigation of its application for removal of phthalate from landfill leachate: A case study in Aradkouh landfill site

In this study, zinc oxide nanorods, co-doped with iron and silver, were synthesized in a co-precipitation method. Its properties were determined using X-ray diffraction (XRD), Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FE-SEM), Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET), Dynamic light scattering (DLS) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis. The results of FE-SEM and TEM showed that zinc oxide nanoparticles synthesized and co-doped with iron and silver were formed as separate nanorods. Also, the average values of DBP and DEHP amount of phthalates in the leachate from the landfill site of Aradkouh were obtained 52.5 and 94.69 mg/L, respectively. The highest removal efficiency in real samples for phthalates was found to be 52%. The highest removal efficiency of TOC were was 61%. The synthesized nanostructure could have proper efficiency in removal of phthalates from water sources under the visible light of LED lamp

Investigation of in-cabin volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in taxis; influence of vehicle's age, model, fuel, and refueling

The air pollutant species and concentrations in taxis� cabins can present significant health impacts on health. This study measured the concentrations of benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, xylene (BTEX), formaldehyde, and acetaldehyde in the cabins of four different taxi models. The effects of taxi's age, fuel type, and refueling were investigated. Four taxi models in 3 age groups were fueled with 3 different fuels (gas, compressed natural gas (CNG), and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG)), and the concentrations of 6 air pollutants were measured in the taxi cabins before and after refueling. BTEX, formaldehyde, and acetaldehyde sampling were actively sampled using NIOSH methods 1501, 2541, and 2538, respectively. The average BTEX concentrations for all taxi models were below guideline values. The average concentrations (±SD) of formaldehyde in Model 1 to Model 4 taxis were 889 (±356), 806 (±323), 1144 (±240), and 934 (±167) ppbv, respectively. Acetaldehyde average concentrations (±SD) in Model 1 to Model 4 taxis were 410 (±223), 441 (±241), 443 (±210), and 482 (±91) ppbv, respectively. Refueling increased the in-vehicle concentrations of pollutants primarily the CNG and LPG fuels. BTEX concentrations in all taxi models were significantly higher for gasoline. Taxi age inversely affected formaldehyde and acetaldehyde. In conclusion, it seems that refueling process and substitution of gasoline with CNG and LPG can be considered as solutions to improve in-vehicle air concentrations for taxis. The concentrations of BTEX, formaldehyde and acetaldehyde were measured in 4 taxi models with different ages and fuels. © 201

Application of modified maize hull for removal of Cu(II) ions from aqueous solutions

Discharge of industrial waste containing heavy metals to the environment is a main concern because of their toxicity to many life forms. Adsorption process is one of the conventional methods in order to adsorb heavy metals from wastewater effluents. Therefore, the removal of Cu(II) from aquatic solutions using modified maize hull was investigated. All experiments were performed in batch conditions. The residual Cu(II) concentration was measured by AAS. Upon increasing the adsorbent dosage, pH, and contact time and decreasing Cu(II) concentration, the removal efficiency of Cu(II) ions increased. In optimum conditions, 50% of copper was removed by modified maize hull. The experimental data were best fitted by the Langmuir type 2 model and the adsorption kinetic model followed a pseudo-second order type 1 model. It seems that the use of the modified maize hull to remove Cu(II) ions is very suitable, low-cost, and efficient