TY - JOUR
T1 - Seasonal variation in culturable bioaerosols in a wastewater treatment plant
AU - Dehghani, Mansooreh
AU - Sorooshian, Armin
AU - Ghorbani, Mohammad
AU - Fazlzadeh, Mehdi
AU - Miri, Mohammad
AU - Badiee, Parisa
AU - Parvizi, Ali
AU - Ansari, Marziye
AU - Baghani, Abbas Norouzian
AU - Delikhoon, Mahdieh
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors are grateful to Shiraz WWTP for providing the sampling locations. Armin Sorooshian acknowledges support from Grant 2 P42 ES04940 from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) Superfund Research Program.
Publisher Copyright:
© Taiwan Association for Aerosol Research.
PY - 2018/11
Y1 - 2018/11
N2 - Bioaerosols produced from Wastewater Treatment Plants (WWTPs) can pose health risks to plant workers and nearby inhabitants. There is a gap in air quality data for WWTPs in developing countries. The present study aimed to measure airborne bacterial and fungal concentrations in a WWTP in southwestern Iran between September 2015 and May 2016. Active sampling was conducted around operational units, and a total of 600 bacterial and fungal samples were collected. Spatial and seasonal comparisons were made. The highest average concentrations of culturable bacterial aerosol at seasonally dependent locations were, in decreasing order, 2581 ± 401 and 1952 ± 390 CFU m–3 for the selector and aeration tanks, respectively, in autumn; 1363 ± 299 CFU m–3 for the aeration tank in winter; and 1738 ± 350 CFU m–3 for the screw pump in spring. Furthermore, the predominant genera of airborne fungi isolated from the air of the WWTP in all three seasons were Cephalotrichum spp., Alternaria spp., Penicillium spp., Monilia spp., and Aspergillus spp. The results of this work emphasize the necessity of controlling WWTP workers’ exposure to bioaerosols when bacteria and fungi become aerosolized during aeration.
AB - Bioaerosols produced from Wastewater Treatment Plants (WWTPs) can pose health risks to plant workers and nearby inhabitants. There is a gap in air quality data for WWTPs in developing countries. The present study aimed to measure airborne bacterial and fungal concentrations in a WWTP in southwestern Iran between September 2015 and May 2016. Active sampling was conducted around operational units, and a total of 600 bacterial and fungal samples were collected. Spatial and seasonal comparisons were made. The highest average concentrations of culturable bacterial aerosol at seasonally dependent locations were, in decreasing order, 2581 ± 401 and 1952 ± 390 CFU m–3 for the selector and aeration tanks, respectively, in autumn; 1363 ± 299 CFU m–3 for the aeration tank in winter; and 1738 ± 350 CFU m–3 for the screw pump in spring. Furthermore, the predominant genera of airborne fungi isolated from the air of the WWTP in all three seasons were Cephalotrichum spp., Alternaria spp., Penicillium spp., Monilia spp., and Aspergillus spp. The results of this work emphasize the necessity of controlling WWTP workers’ exposure to bioaerosols when bacteria and fungi become aerosolized during aeration.
KW - Air contamination
KW - Bioaerosols
KW - Health risk
KW - Iran
KW - Wastewater treatment plant
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U2 - 10.4209/aaqr.2017.11.0466
DO - 10.4209/aaqr.2017.11.0466
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85057803180
VL - 18
SP - 2826
EP - 2839
JO - Aerosol and Air Quality Research
JF - Aerosol and Air Quality Research
SN - 1680-8584
IS - 11
ER -