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Advisor(s)
Abstract(s)
Surveillance of drinking water quality is extremely important to
human health, assuming greater relevance in hospital environments,
especially to those individuals who are immunocompromised. This
study is aimed to determine the effect of increasing free chlorine (Cl)
concentration in a hospital water network in regard to water quality
monitoring and microbial growth control, between 2010 and 2013 in
Porto. The average of free Cl concentration in the period under
analysis showed some heterogeneity per floor, varying between 0.84
and 1.25 mg/L. In addition, there was a rise in proportion of samples
that exceeded WHO guidelines (free Cl 0.5 mg/L), particularly in
the last two years of the same period. With respect to microbial
analysis, 22.4% of the samples were positive for Legionella spp., 6.4%
for Pseudomonas aeruginosa, 15% and 30.4% for aerobic plate counts
at 36 and 22 C, respectively. The proportion of positive samples
decreased throughout the period under analysis, in particular for
Legionella spp. (41.7% in 2010 vs. non-detectable in 2013) and
P. aeruginosa (10.8% in 2010 vs. 3.3% in 2013). These results are in
accordance with the gradual rise in free Cl concentration (0.78 §
0.94 mg/L in 2010 vs. 1.16 § 0.51 mg/L in 2013). In conclusion, a
suitable plan for drinking water quality was instituted which resulted
in reducing microbiological growth in the waterwork network,
improving public health protection. However, the detection of critical
points associated with lower levels of free Cl were found on certain
floors/points-of-use, requiring the need to improve the monitoring
water treatment system and/or implementation of additional
technologies.
Description
Keywords
Water quality Hospitals Chlorine Legionella spp Pseudomonas aeruginosa
Citation
Publisher
Taylor & Francis