Anthropogenic Pollution Journal
Volume:6 Issue: 2, Summer-Autumn 2022

Natural and human factors have always threatened the health of Qanats, valuable water sources for arid and semi-arid regions. The present study decided to qualitatively classify eight selected Qanats of East Tehran, Iran, using two multivariate statistical methods, cluster analysis (CA) and principal component analysis (PCA) based on parameters includind pH, TDS, EC, Na2+, Ca2+, Mg2+, K+, Cl-, NO3 and SO42- according to standard methods during the summer of 2020. Data were analyzed by CA and PCA methods, the results of which based on the degree of pollution divided the studied stations into three groups, high pollution (anthropogenic origin), moderate pollution (natural and anthropogenic origin) and low pollution (natural origin). The stations close to each other for quality status were placed in the same group. The eigenvalues obtained from PCA based on the evaluated parameters showed that the first and second components explained more than 58% of changes between the stations. Analyzing the coefficients of each parameter (eigenvectors) for the first and second components revealed that the main causes for the difference between the stations were Cl-, Na2+, Mg2+ and SO42-, TDS and NO3. The two-dimensional display of the stations based on the first two main components confirmed the grouping resulting from the cluster analysis and was able to separate the investigated stations from each other like cluster analysis. The findings of this research highlighted the usefulness and efficiency of two multivariate statistical techniques, CA and PCA, to effectively manage Qanat water quality.

In this study systematic random sampling was conducted. To estimate the sample size, 100 households were selected based on the population of the city using Cochran's formula. Total generated municipal solid waste was consecutively collected, weighed and separated during a week. Then, after providing the required training through face-to-face manner and brochures regarding the economic, social, cultural and environmental importance of source separation to each of the households, once again the generated wastes were collected, weighed and separated. The difference in the composition and amount of waste generated before and after the training was compared by independent t-test. The effect of the demographic characteristics of the head of the household on reducing the amount of generated waste was determined by correlation test. The results highlighted the training as an effective intervention on the weight of produced waste from each household before and after the training (P=0.000). Education increases people's awareness about waste, recycling, harms of waste, definition of separation, benefits of separation, source separation and level of household education. The reduction in the amount of produced waste had no significant correlation with the age (P=0.89), occupation (P=0.16), income (P=0.95) and education level (P=0.36) of the heads of each household. The findings of this research showed that education, regardless of demographic characteristics, is an effective method to change specific behavior and create motivation to reduce the amount of waste at source, underlining the importance of training to improve waste recycling management.

Groundwater quality data for Jajarm district was studied by using the Geographic Information System. The interpolation technique were used for the selected factors: Electric conductivity, Total dissolved substance , Total hardness, SAR, and Cl. These parameters of nearly all the wells in Jajarm district were used for the spatial analysis. In addition these parameters were measured for 14 wells in Jajarm’s central area for the zoning of water quality class based on the Wilcox index. According to this index, four wells (Jajarm, Ghaleh Gazi, Daragh, and Kaftarac) are in the area of average order class of water quality for agricultural use, including 28.57% of wells. Their water quality status is in class S1. The other 10 wells, are in the bad order class, which means that about 71.43% of the wells in Jajarm plain are not suitable for agricultural use. Among these wells, Khoshab and Shah Abad have the worst conditions. By classifying the suitability of water quality for agricultural use based on EC, the water from these stations are classified as class C4, while based on SAR, they are classified as class S4. The results exhibited that the highest decline in water quality was in the south-western parts of the study region, and decline in some parts of the desert such as in the southern region of Jajarm plain was very tangible and specified. The decline in water quality can be attributed to climate change, excess use of water, and the variation and decline in water precipitation.

Risk management embarrasses processes aimed at reducing the hazardous effects of an activity through informed actions to predict and prevent unwanted events. Oil sludge disposal is an integral activity in gas refineries, which, if not implemented safely, can impose environmental pollution, health risks and huge cost. The present applied, cross-sectional, analytical survey aimed to identify and prioritize Health, Safety and Environment (HSE) risks of hydrocarbon-rich sludge in South Pars Gas Complex-First Refinery, Iran. The statistical population included HSE experts and managers of the studied refinery, selected by purposeful sampling (n=31). By reviewing the literature and collecting available information on the technical and process properties of waste management in the studied refinery, the relevant risks were identified using Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA). Delphi technique was used to qualitatively analyze risks and achieve group knowledge. The probability of risk occurrence was determined by performing analytical hierarchy process (AHP) and pairwise comparisons using Expert choice software. Data analysis revealed 17 environmental (n=7), health (n=4) and safety (n=6) risks. Based on the results, the highest risk priority was "Accumulation of radioactive materials deposited on the internal surfaces of pipes, valves, pumps, heat exchangers, tanks, boilers and other equipment and the risk of these materials being dangerous for human health", which were in the health risk category. The lowest priority was the risk of "Contamination of the lands of the gas refinery with burnt oils, catalytic beds, hydrocarbon sludge, amine sludge, soda sludge and refinery sludge".

Today, accidents, explosions, environmental damages and any defects in chemical industry are inevitable events. The ever-increasing of such industries makes effective risk management of these projects necessary to prevent environmental and health pollution and damage. The present study aimed to identify the possible risks caused by chemical industries in the south of Tehran (Iran) by examining the documents available in the health, safety and environment (HSE) units, interviewing experts, and using the Delphi technique and questionnaire. FMEA method was used to prioritize potential risks based on the risk priority number. Data analysis identified 17 risks in four environmental (n=6), health (n=5), safety (n=3) and occupational (n=3) categories. Based on the results of both Delphi and FMEA methods, the highest level of risk was related to three environmental aspects of "air pollution and air quality change", "surface water and groundwater pollution" and "soil pollution". According to the results of the FMEA method, in addition to the three environmental risks mentioned, the occupational risks including "failure to use personal protective equipment by personnel and lack of warning signs for personnel" and "human and operational errors, inappropriate equipment, and failure to comply with workplace safety instructions" were also detected as high-level risks. The findings of the current study revealed that despite the applicability of the FMEA technique in determining the risk factors caused by the activity of the chemical industry, preliminary hazard analysis is also suggested for a more accurate and complete assessment of this process.

Industrial dust has a significant effect on the environment of mines, which leads to an increase in illness among workers. To decrease the impact of dust on the climate, a wet spraying system is useful for controlling dust in mining companies. In this paper, by using the wet (water) spraying system, dust control in the area of the crusher and pellet plant (discharge tower) has been investigated by Goharzamin Iron Ore company. Goharzamin Iron Ore company has an essential role producing of steel in Iran. There are a 15 million tons gyratory crusher, three iron concentrate plants with an annual capacity of 6 million tons, and a pelletizing plant with annual capacity of 5 million tons. The dust was controlled in the gyratory crusher area of Goharzamin Iron Ore company by using a wetting spraying system. Results showed that the rates of PM10 for the east, west, north and south sides of the gyratory crusher and also the center of this system are equal 851.2, 647.5, 643.9 and 781.2, and 1116.3 μg/m3, respectively. Foremore, after turning on the wet spraying system in this area, these values are reduced to 128.3, 112.8, 115.9, 123.7, and 189.9 μg/m3, respectively. The results showed that the water spray system in the gyratory crusher area reduced the PM2.5 (Particulate matter) and PM10 particles by 67% and 80%, respectively.

Sound pollution is known as one of the main disturbances in urban environments. The purpose of this study is to measure the sound level during sports competitions in the vicinity of settlements. For this purpose, Azadi Sports Complex was selected as the largest sports space in the IRAN and the measurements were performed cross-sectional and in two different times, which included days without sports competition and after the end of the sports competition. Measurements were used 5 times by KIMO-DB100. All measurements were made to determine the sound pressure level in network A. The mean data (Leq) was the basis for drawing the maps. To do this, the pattern of changes was entered into the Arc map software and based on the Inverse Distance Weighting method. The results showed that the minimum sound level on the day without exercise was 50 dB and the maximum sound level measured at this time was 80 dB. On the day of the race, the minimum and maximum sound levels were 55 dB and 95 dB, respectively. On a non-racing day, large sections of the study range have sound levels of 50-65 dB, indicating relative calm and compliance with outdoor sound standards. However, on the day of the match and after the spectators left the stadium, none of the sound level stations showed less than 75 dB. This situation continues for about 3 hours after the end of the game and until the study area of spectators and their cars is completely emptied.

The statistical attributes of the non-stationary problems such as air quality and other natural phenomena frequently changed. Type-2 fuzzy logic is a robust and capable model to cope with high-order uncertainties associated with non-stationary time-dependent features. This research's main objective is to present a novel Fuzzy Deep LSTM (IT2FLSTM) model to predict air quality for Tehran and Beijing in a short and long time series scale. The proposed model has been evaluated on a real dataset that contains the one-decade information about outdoor pollutants from April 2011 to November 2020 in Tehran and Beijing. The IT2FLSTM model was evaluated using a ROC curve analysis and validated using 10-fold cross-validation. The results confirm the IT2FLSTM model's superiority with an average area under the ROC curve (AUC) of 97 % and a 95% confidence interval of [95-98] %. The proposed IT2FLSTM model promises to predict complex problems to make strategic prevention decisions to save more lives.

Fire can destroy forest areas along with air pollution and health hazards. The forest parks of the southern slopes of Alborz, Iran, are amazing tourist destinations for people in surrounding cities. Therefore, we determined the capabilities and limitations and formulated the best strategies to prevent and control fires using SWOT-AHP (A'SWOT) combined method. First, SWOT technique detected internal factors (strengths, or S, weaknesses, or W) and external factors (opportunities, or O, threats, or T) based on open-ended questions from local communities and experts. Then, AHP analysis model and Likert scale were performed to prioritize the best strategies as SO, WO, ST, WT solutions. The results showed that the most important factors in fire risk management, in order of the highest relative weight, were "easy access to forest park" (0.77), "lack of budget" (0.459), "existence of road networks" (0.76), "decrease in motivation and interest of volunteer and public forces" (0.417) in the strength, weakness, opportunity and threat groups, respectively. Further, the most important fire risk management strategies from the SWOT matrix and AHP method and scoring with a Likert scale, respectively, were "planning in accordance with the degree of fire risk for each part of the forest park" (0.715), "deploying quick reaction force and firefighting equipment at the appropriate point of the forest park" (0.685) and "updating knowledge in the field of fire risk management" (0.635). The A'SWOT technique was found to be appropriate in identifying the effective factors and providing operational strategies to prevent and control forest fires.

Acidic mine drainage (AMD) contains large amounts of heavy metal ions and SO42, which can pose serious risks to human and environmental health. Anaerobic bioreactors are considered to be suitable methods for the treatment of acidic effluents due to some advantages such as the need for a small area, easy control, and simultaneous removal of sulfate and metals even in low concentrations. In this study, sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB) performance was investigated in a semi-pilot scale down-flow fluidized-bed (DFFB) anaerobic reactor for SO42- and metals removal from the Sungun copper tailings AMD. The results indicated that utilizing SRB in the DFFB anaerobic bioreactor was an efficient, cost-effective, and environmentally friendly method for the treatment of effluents containing large amounts of SO42- and metals. All contaminants except Cr showed more than 70% removal after 24 h. The SO42- and Cu which had the highest initial concentrations showed removal efficiencies of 98.64% and 98.75%, respectively. Besides the removal of hazardous contaminants, the alkalinity of effluent increased remarkably. Also, the SRB had acceptable stability even after six consecutive cycles due to using AC granules as a support in the reactor which is an important parameter in industrial applications.

This research is in the applied research group based on its objective, and the data collection method is descriptive-correlational which evaluates the safety culture and the effect of educational intervention using the BASNEF model to promote the employees’ health and safety of Persian Gulf Yadavaran Gas Refinery Co. (PGYGRC). The statistical population of this research is the employees of Persian Gulf Yadavaran Gas Refinery Co. (PGYGRC) who are 3000 people. The statistical sample was considered 340 people using Cochran’s formula. To collect data, a personal information questionnaire, an educational intervention questionnaire using the BASNEF model, a safety culture questionnaire, and an employees’ health and safety questionnaire were used. The total reliability of questionnaires was obtained at 0.83 using Cronbach’s alpha. In addition, the validity of questionnaires was confirmed as face validity. The results of the research show that safety education is effective in promoting the employees’ safety culture of Persian Gulf Yadavaran Gas Refinery Co. (PGYGRC). There is a relationship between the employees’ health and safety culture of Persian Gulf Yadavaran Gas Refinery Co. (PGYGRC). In addition, the level of safety culture is not the same before and after the educational intervention at Persian Gulf Yadavaran Gas Refinery Co. (PGYGRC). The level of safety culture before the training intervention is not the same as after the training intervention in Yadavaran Persian Gulf Gas Refining Company. Therefore, regarding raising the level of educational intervention in order to improve the level of safety culture, it was suggested to the organization. 

Private sector participation in waste management has always been considered as one of the most important issues in the municipality of district 14. The overall purpose of this study was to design a waste management model based on private sector participation in district 14 municipality. The aim of this study was in the first fundamental stage and in the second stage of application that the statistical population of this study in the first stage was 30 experts of the municipality of district 14 of Tehran that were selected purposefully and in the second stage the statistical population of all municipalities of district 14 of Tehran was 264 people who were selected 169 people based on Cochran formula and randomly selected class. Exploration in SPSS software identified 4 dimensions for these 36 indicators and using confirmatory factor analysis and second-order factor analysis, the validity of these indicators was confirmed and using Cronbach's Alpha Test, the reliability of the researcher-made questionnaire was confirmed and finally Friedman test results showed that legal protections had the first priority and capacity. Capabilities and capabilities have the last priority in waste management based on private sector participation in district 14 municipalities.