School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Nanyang Technological University (NTU), 50 Nanyang Avenue, Singapore 639798, Singapore.
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA; Centre for Environmental Sensing and Modeling (CENSAM), Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART), 1 Create Way, Singapore 138602, Singapore.
Water Res. 2015 May 15;75:270-81. doi: 10.1016/j.watres.2015.02.037. Epub 2015 Mar 3.
Surface water contamination by human faecal wastes is a widespread hazard for human health. Faecal indicator bacteria (FIB) are the most widely used indicators to assess surface water quality but are less-human-specific and have the potential to survive longer and/or occur naturally in tropical areas. In this study, 13 wastewater chemicals (chloride, boron, orthosphophate, detergents as methylene blue active substances, cholesterol, cholestanol, coprostanol, diethylhexyl phthalate, caffeine, acetaminophen, ibuprofen, sucralose and saccharin) were investigated in order to evaluate tracers for human faecal and sewage contamination in tropical urban catchments. Surface water samples were collected at an hourly interval from sampling locations with distinct major land uses: high-density residential, low-density residential, commercial and industrial. Measured concentrations were analysed to investigate the association among indicators and tracers for each land-use category. Better correlations were found between different indicators and tracers in each land-use dataset than in the dataset for all land uses, which shows that land use is an important determinant of drain water quality. Data were further segregated based on the hourly FIB concentrations. There were better correlations between FIB and chemical tracers when FIB concentrations were higher. Therefore, sampling programs must be designed carefully to take the time of sampling and land use into account in order to effectively assess human faecal and sewage contamination in urban catchments. FIB is recommended as the first tier in assessment of surface water quality impairment and chemical tracers as the second tier. Acetaminophen and coprostanol are recommended as chemical tracers for high-density residential areas, while chloride, coprostanol and caffeine are recommended for low-density residential areas.
地表水污染是人类粪便废物造成的，这对人类健康构成了广泛的威胁。粪便指示菌（FIB）是评估地表水水质最广泛使用的指标，但它们对人类的特异性较低，并且有可能在热带地区存活更长时间和/或自然存在。在这项研究中，研究了 13 种废水化学物质（氯化物、硼、正磷酸盐、作为亚甲蓝活性物质的洗涤剂、胆固醇、胆甾醇、粪甾醇、邻苯二甲酸二辛酯、咖啡因、对乙酰氨基酚、布洛芬、蔗糖素和糖精），以评估热带城市集水区中人类粪便和污水污染的示踪剂。从具有明显主要土地用途的采样点以每小时的间隔采集地表水样本：高密度住宅区、低密度住宅区、商业区和工业区。分析了测量浓度，以研究每种土地利用类别中指示物和示踪物之间的关联。在每个土地利用数据集内，不同指示物和示踪物之间的相关性优于所有土地利用数据集，这表明土地利用是污水水质的重要决定因素。根据每小时 FIB 浓度进一步细分数据。在 FIB 浓度较高时，FIB 与化学示踪剂之间的相关性更好。因此，采样计划必须精心设计，考虑采样时间和土地利用，以便有效地评估城市集水区中的人类粪便和污水污染。建议将 FIB 作为评估地表水水质受损的第一级指标，将化学示踪剂作为第二级指标。建议将对乙酰氨基酚和粪甾醇作为高密度住宅区的化学示踪剂，而将氯化物、粪甾醇和咖啡因作为低密度住宅区的化学示踪剂。
