Mansooreh Dehghani1, Armin Sorooshian2,3, Mohammad Ghorbani4, Mehdi Fazlzadeh5,6, Mohammad Miri7, Parisa Badiee8, Ali Parvizi9, Marziye Ansari9, Abbas Norouzian Baghani 5,9, Mahdieh Delikhoon10,11 1 Research Center for Health Sciences, Department of Environmental Health Engineering, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran
2 Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA
3 Department of Hydrology and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA
4 Torbat Heydariyeh University of Medical Sciences, Torbat Heydariyeh, Iran
5 Department of Environmental Health Engineering, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
6 Social Determinants of Health Research Center, Ardabil University of Medical Sciences, Ardabil, Iran
7 Department of Environmental Health Engineering, School of public health, Sabzevar University of Medical Sciences, Sabzevar, Iran
8 Alborzi Clinical Microbiology Research Center, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran
9 Department of Environmental Health Engineering, School of Public Health, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran
10 Department of Occupational Health Engineering, School of Public Health, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran
11 Department of Occupational Health Engineering, School of Public Health, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran
Received:
December 7, 2017
Revised:
August 4, 2018
Accepted:
October 1, 2018
Download Citation:
||https://doi.org/10.4209/aaqr.2017.11.0466
Cite this article:
Dehghani, M., Sorooshian, A., Ghorbani, M., Fazlzadeh, M., Miri, M., Badiee, P., Parvizi, A., Ansari, M., Baghani, A.N. and Delikhoon, M. (2018). Seasonal Variation in Culturable Bioaerosols in a Wastewater Treatment Plant.
Aerosol Air Qual. Res.
18: 2826-2839. https://doi.org/10.4209/aaqr.2017.11.0466
HIGHLIGHTS
ABSTRACT
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.
Keywords:
Air contamination; Bioaerosols; Wastewater treatment plant; Health risk; Iran.
