Arsenic and fluoride occurrence in groundwater of an alluvial fan-delta junction zone in an arid climate: Implication for potential health risk and irrigation water quality.

Alluvial fans and deltas are two environments with different hydrochemical conditions. Their junction zones, as mixing environments, are variably influenced by different processes, leading to variable environmental conditions. The purpose of this study is to investigate groundwater quality in the junction zone of these environments in the northern part of the Jazmourian depression (known as the Rudbar plain) in southeastern Iran to determine the dominant processes, assess arsenic and fluoride health risks, and evaluate irrigation water quality. A total of 33 samples from deep drilled wells were taken, and the concentrations of major ions and elements were determined. Additionally, statistical and hydrochemical analyses were undertaken. The dominant processes in the delta are evaporation and ion exchange, while the dominant process in the fan environment is silicate hydrolysis. Among the samples, 26.7% were mainly affected by the delta, and 73.3% were mainly affected by fan conditions. Although the majority of groundwater samples were suitable for irrigation based on quality standards, a significant portion exceeded the acceptable level for Na%. Non-carcinogenic health risk assessments indicated that arsenic hazard risks exceeded thresholds in 63.3% of cases for children and 36% for adults. Carcinogenic health risks associated with arsenic and fluoride exceeded acceptable levels in 4 and 2 stations, respectively. Elevated As concentrations contribute to a greater average health risk in parts of fans environment.

Determining the Factors Affecting the Retrofitting of Health-Care Facilities: A Qualitative Study.

OBJECTIVE: Health services are the first and most important demand for the affected people after disasters. Hospitals and staff of health centers are directly affected by disasters, and this issue is more critical due to the hospital conditions, such as the presence of patients, medical facilities, and equipment. Therefore, it is necessary to make hospitals retrofit against disasters. METHODS: This study was conducted qualitatively to extract experts' opinions about the factors affecting the retrofitting of health-care facilities in 2021. Semi-structured interviews were the basis of the data. In addition, to obtain data from different sources (triangulation), a focus group discussion (FGD) was held after the interviews. RESULTS: The findings of this study were extracted from interviewees and FGD in the form of 2 categories, 6 subcategories, and 23 codes. Main categories included external and internal factors. The subcategories of external factors were General government policies to reduce risk, The Programs of the Ministry of Health, and medical universities for retrofitting and Uncontrollable external factors. The subcategories of internal factors were Exposure of managers and staff of health-care organizations to various disasters, determining the types of vulnerabilities in health-care facilities, and Factors related to managerial actions. CONCLUSIONS: Retrofitting health-care facilities is one of the requirements for designing and constructing these facilities. The role of governments in this issue is more than other stakeholders because governments are the trustee of the health system and are responsible for the people's health. Therefore, governments must plan for the retrofitting of health facilities according to the disaster risk analysis and prioritization and their resources. Although, external factors play a very important role in influencing retrofitting policies, the role of internal factors should not be neglected. None of the internal and external factors alone can have a significant effect on retrofitting activities. For this purpose, a suitable combination of factors should be determined and the goal of the system should be to achieve resistant and resilient facilities against disasters.

Risk analysis and safety assessment of hospitals against disasters: A systematic review.

Both natural and man-made disasters are increasing in occurrence at the world. Hospitals and health-care centers are very complex and have a high potential for vulnerability depending on external and internal factors. Unfortunately, past experiences show that health-care centers and the health system are vulnerable to disasters. Therefore, risk analysis and safety assessment studies of hospitals and other health-care centers are absolutely necessary. This systematic review study was conducted on the basis of the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines. English language international databases (Pub Med, Scopus, Embase, Web of Science, and Google Scholar) were searched through January 1, 2000 up to June 20, 2019. The quality of the studies was assessed using the International Narrative Systematic Assessment tool. From 3630 titles identified in this search, 24 studies were selected. The important findings of this study were grouped into five main categories: risk analysis method, type of disaster, hospital safety methods, hospital components and key outcomes of risk analysis, and hospital safety assessments. The nature of disasters is a threat to the lives and property of the people, and therefore hospitals must be available at the incidents and disasters and they must be able to respond to the needs of the disaster-affected community. The probability of an incident and its consequences can never be reduced to zero; because the severity of many natural and even man-made disasters is unpredictable and the probability of their occurrence is different; however, it is possible to identify weaknesses and strengths through risk analysis studies as well as hospital safety assessments and implement retrofitting programs based on the type of risks and safety status and reduce the level of risk to an acceptable level.

Data on arsenic contamination in groundwater of Rafsanjan plain, Iran.

This data article focuses on the arsenic in the groundwater of Rafsanjan plain in Kerman Province of Iran where the groundwater is being extensively used for drinking and irrigation of pistachio gardens. The measured arsenic concentrations range from 4 to 278 µg/L (with an average of 59 µg/L). About 85.3% of water samples have arsenic concentrations above 10 µg/L provided by the World Health Organization, WHO, guideline value. This data article provides also map showing the concentration of arsenic in groundwater of Rafsanjan area based on the situation of the sampling points in Rafsanjan region.

Hydrogeochemical controls on arsenic mobility in an arid inland basin, Southeast of Iran: The role of alkaline conditions and salt water intrusion.

Elevated inorganic arsenic concentrations in groundwater has become a major public and environmental health concern in different parts of the world. Currently, As-contaminated groundwater issue in many countries and regions is a major topic for publications at global level. However, there are many regions worldwide where the problem has still not been resolved or fully understood due to inadequate hydrogeochemical investigations. Hence, this study evaluates for the first time the hydrogeochemical behavior of the arid and previously unexplored inland basin of Sirjan Plain, south east (SE) Iran, in order to assess the controlling factors which influence arsenic (As) mobility and its distribution through groundwater resources. Total inorganic arsenic concentration was measured using inductive-coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES). Arsenic content in groundwater of this region ranged between 2.4 and 545.8 µg/L (mean value: 86.6 µg/L) and 50% of the samples exceeded the World Health Organization (WHO) guideline value of 10 µg/L in drinking water. Groundwater was mainly of Na-Cl type and alkaline due to silicate weathering, ion exchange and evaporation in arid conditions. Elevated As concentrations were generally observed under weakly alkaline to alkaline conditions (pH > 7.4). Multivariate statistical analysis including cluster analysis and bi-plot grouped As with pH and HCO3 and demonstrated that the secondary minerals including oxyhydroxides of Fe are the main source of As in groundwater in this region. The desorption of As from these mineral phases occurs under alkaline conditions in oxidizing arid environments thereby leading to high levels of As in groundwater. Moreover, evaporation, ion exchange and saltwater intrusion were the secondary processes accelerating As release and its mobility in groundwater. Based on the results of this study, desorption of As from metal oxy-hydroxides surfaces under alkaline conditions, evaporation and intrusion of As-rich saline water are considered to be the major factors causing As enrichment in arid inland basins such as those in southeast Iran. This study proposes the regular monitoring and proper groundwater management practices to mitigate high levels of arsenic in groundwater and related drinking water wells of Sirjan Plain.

Characteristics, distribution, source apportionment, and potential health risk assessment of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in urban street dust of Kerman metropolis, Iran.

In this study, the concentrations of street dust-bound polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in Kerman metropolis as a typical arid urban area were determined to investigate the contamination, molecular composition, toxicity, and sources of PAHs. Sixteen individual PAHs on the United States Environmental Protection Agency priority list were analyzed using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry in street dust samples from 30 sites. ∑PAHs ranged between 165 and 5314.7 µg·kg-1 with a mean of 770.8 µg·kg-1. The most abundant individual PAHs were fluoranthene, phenanthrene, pyrene, and chrysene, respectively. High molecular weight PAHs (4-6 rings) made 74.8% of ∑PAHs mass and were dominant in all sites. Source apportionment was performed using ring classification, diagnostic ratios, and principal component analysis-multiple linear regression. The results indicated that primary contributors of PAHs in the street dust of Kerman could be liquid fossil fuel combustion, natural gas combustion, and petrogenic sources, accounting for 82.4%, 11.5%, and 6.1%, respectively. The calculated incremental lifetime cancer risk is 8.13 × 10-4 for children and 6.27 × 10-4 for adults. Hence, both children and adults in Kerman are potentially exposed to a high carcinogenic risk via ingestion and dermal contact.