Daniela Kaposztasova

Artificial Intelligence in Public Health Prevention of Legionelosis in Drinking Water Systems

Good quality water supplies and safe sanitation in urban areas are a big challenge for governments throughout the world. Providing adequate water quality is a basic requirement for our lives. The colony forming units of the bacterium Legionella pneumophila in potable water represent a big problem which cannot be overlooked for health protection reasons. We analysed several methods to program a virtual hot water tank with AI (artificial intelligence) tools including neuro-fuzzy systems as a precaution against legionelosis. The main goal of this paper is to present research which simulates the temperature profile in the water tank. This research presents a tool for a water management system to simulate conditions which are able to prevent legionelosis outbreaks in a water system. The challenge is to create a virtual water tank simulator including the water environment which can simulate a situation which is common in building water distribution systems. The key feature of the presented system is its adaptation to any hot water tank. While respecting the basic parameters of hot water, a water supplier and building maintainer are required to ensure the predefined quality and water temperature at each sampling site and avoid the growth of Legionella. The presented system is one small contribution how to overcome a situation when legionelosis could find good conditions to spread and jeopardize human lives.

Water Distribution System in Building and Its Microbiological Contamination Minimization

Today we are facing the need to ensure water quality, so the basic requirement of today’s civilization is to assess the water quality and perform the necessary treatment, adapt, transport, and heat it. The water pipes as a major part of the entire water distribution system have undergone considerable technical and technological development. Today we know that the various piping materials that have been used to transport water throughout historical development had a great impact on water quality. Drinking water must not cause any health problems to users. Microbiological contamination of drinking water and the health risk caused by pathogens that colonize the technical systems, however, occasionally causes serious problems. These include, for example, some cases of epidemic outbreaks of deaths that have occurred in the past 10 years in various parts of the world (e.g. cholera, typhus). Legionnaires’ disease legionellosis also belongs to such newer diseases. The first case of Legionella infection from water distribution system was recorded in a patient’s kidney transplantation. Since then, Legionella has begun to be tracked in water systems in different types of buildings, including hotels, homes, factories, and ships. This bacterium was found throughout the water system, from the water source to the outflow fittings. The goal of this chapter is to present hot water tank – a mathematical model which simulates temperature profile of hot water tank and works on obtained approximated function. Temperature and water stagnation are one of the factors that caused microbiological contamination of water, and by knowing the temperature profile, we can reduce the possible risks. While respecting the basic parameters of hot water, it is required for a water supplier and operator of a building to ensure the prescribed quality and water temperature at each sampling site and avoid the Legionella growth.

Surface Runoff in Urban Area – Case Study

The world’s population nowadays is concentrated in urban areas. This change in demography has brought land-use and land-cover changes that have a number of documented effects on stream flow. The most consistent effect is an increase in impervious surfaces within urban catchments, which alters the hydrology and geomorphology of streams. In addition to imperviousness, runoff from urbanized surfaces as well as municipal and industrial discharges results in increasing floods in urbanized areas as it decreasing river bed capacity for flow. Rainwater management should be considered as a sustainable strategy for reconstruction of rural and urban settlements from the aspects of environmental management and social criteria. The paper presents the current state of runoff condition in the study area taking into account the urban development in the last 30 years, mainly newly built hypermarkets. The goal of the study was an evaluation of surface condition, calculation of the runoff coefficient and design of potential measures to stabilize conditions in the drainage basin of Myslavský creek in eastern part of Slovakia.

Water Hygiene Audit and Legionella Control in Hospitals

The multidisciplinary Legionella research has developed hand in hand with the level of science and technology, health care, and other scientific fields. The primary aim of this paper is to present our research focused on the theoretical and experimental analysis of building water distribution systems from the point of view of microbiological risk in hospitals in the Slovak Republic. To assess the potential public health impact of Legionella colonization in hot and cold water, a study was undertaken to identify and qualify the levels of the microorganism. The measures proved that thermal disinfection is not a systematic solution. By applying preventive measures, physical or chemical treatment and the use of risk management, we can obtain a secure system which eliminates costly solutions. The outputs of our goals will be transformed to the hygienic water audit scheme as a tool in the fight against Legionella contamination in the future.

Green Walls as an Approach in Grey Water Treatment

Grey water contributes significantly to waste water parameters such as biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen demand (COD), total suspended solids (TSS), total phosphorus (Ptotal), total nitrogen (Ntotal), ammonium, boron, metals, salts, surfactants, synthetic chemicals, oils and greases, xenobiotic substances and microorganisms. Concentration of these pollutants and the water quality highlights the importance of treatment process in grey water systems. Treatment technologies operating under low energy and maintenance are usually preferred, since they are more cost effective for users. Treatment technologies based on natural processes represent an example of such technology including vegetated wall. Main aim of this paper is to introduce the proposal of vegetated wall managing grey water and brief characteristic of proposed system. Is expected that prepared experiment will establish the purifying ability and the potential of green wall application as an efficient treatment technology.

Research of Infiltration Facility Efficiency and Quality of Rainwater Harvested from Surface Runoff in Real Conditions

Disposal, respectively safe drainage of rainwater runoff is a problem of almost every new building in an urban area and in area with undersized sewage systems . Design and use of infiltration facilities as a sustainable method of rainwater runoff disposal become an integral part of the drainage management and projects of sewerage system of buildings or other paved surfaces. The permeability of infiltration zone is an essential qualitative and quantitative prerequisite for infiltration of rainwater. Permeability is represented by a filtration coefficient kf, which represents the effectiveness of infiltration facilities, respectively ability of subsoil infiltrate incoming rainwater. Therefore, the most important design parameter of the infiltration facilities is to determine the filtration coefficient kf on-site. With the correct design, realization and maintenance of infiltration facilities, it should be operation of this device fluent and without complications. It is therefore necessary that the designer of the infiltration facilities known hydrogeological conditions in the interest area. This article aims to provide an overview of the measured data of infiltration systems at the campus of Technical University of Kosice and describes the effectiveness of infiltration facilities—infiltration shafts in real conditions.