[Revision of the drinking water regulations]. / Die Novellierung der Trinkwasserverordnung.

The revision the Drinking Water Regulations will come into effect on 01.11.2011. Surveillance authorities and owners of drinking water supply systems had hoped for simplifications and reductions because of the new arrangements. According to the official statement for the revision the legislature intended to create more clarity, consider new scientific findings, to change regulations that have not been proved to close regulatory gaps, to deregulate and to increase the high quality standards. A detailed examination of the regulation text, however, raises doubts. The new classification of water supply systems requires different modalities of registration, water analyses and official observation, which will complicate the work of the authorities. In particular, the implementation of requirements of registration and examination for the owners of commercial and publicly-operated large hot-water systems in accordance with DVGW Worksheet W 551 requires more effort. According to the estimated 30 000 cases of legionellosis in Germany the need for a check of such systems for Legionella, however, is not called into question. Furthermore, the development of sampling plans and the monitoring of mobile water supply systems requires more work for the health authorities.

Cosolvent flushing for the remediation of PAHs from former manufactured gas plants.

Cosolvent flushing is a technique that has been proposed for the removal of hydrophobic organic contaminants in the subsurface. Cosolvents have been shown to dramatically increase the solubility of such compounds compared to the aqueous solubility; however, limited data are available on the effectiveness of cosolvents for field-contaminated media. In this work, we examine cosolvent flushing for the removal of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in soil from a former manufactured gas plant (FMGP). Batch studies confirmed that the relationship between the soil-cosolvent partitioning coefficient (K(i)) and the volume fraction of cosolvent (f(c)) followed a standard log-linear equation. Using methanol at an fc of 0.95, column studies were conducted at varying length scales, ranging from 11.9 to 110 cm. Removal of PAH compounds was determined as a function of pore volumes (PVs) of cosolvent flushed. Despite using a high f(c), rate and chromatographic effects were observed in all the columns. PAH effluent concentrations were modeled using a common two-site sorption model. Model fits were improved by using MeOH breakthrough curves to determine fitted dispersion coefficients. Fitted mass-transfer rates were two to three orders of magnitude lower than predicted values based on published data using artificially contaminated sands.

[Surveillance and testing of domestic installations according to the new drinking water regulations]. / Uberwachung und Beprobung von Hausinstallationen nach der Trinkwasserverordnung.

Effective 1.1.2003 the new drinking water regulation (TrinkwV2001) was enacted. For public health authorities new tasks result, for example the monitoring of house installations with supply of drinking water for the public, in particular in hospitals, old person nursing homes, kindergartens, schools, hotels, restaurants etc. Public health authorities are obligated to establish a monitor programme on the basis of suitable controls by random sampling. The investigations of drinking water are to extend to at least the parameters, which can change in the house installation unfavourably. In view of the multiplicity of the plants which can be supervised the question arises, how far public health authorities can conscientiously fulfil their monitoring obligation. The Ministry of Health MFAS of Lower Saxony initiated country-wide a working group developed for a pattern administrative regulation, which, revised by the "Länderarbeitsgemeinschaft Umweltbezogener Gesundheitsschutz" LAUG, has been published in some Lands of the German Federal Republic with changes. The pattern administrative regulation plans to examine hospitals and old person nursing homes at least 1 x annually, schools and kindergartens every 5 years, other communal facilities, sport and leisure facilities, hotels and restaurants after a risk evaluation by random sampling at least however one plant per 10,000 inhabitants. Restaurants in stations, ports and airports are to be controlled at least once annually. The drinking water investigation is to extend to micro-biological parameters, like E. coli, coliform germs, germs tested at 22 degrees C and 36 degrees C as well as the chemical parameters copper and lead. The investigation on Legionella pneumophila in the warm-water system can be arranged in individual cases. In this article the considerations for these defaults are described, and pointers to a practicable risk assessment are given.

Esporotricosis experimental en ratas / Sporotrichosis experimental on rats

Ratas endocriadas se infectaron por vía intraperitoneal y en la cola con una suspensión de conidios de Sporothrix schenckii. Los frotis coloreados con May Grunwald-Giemsa y Gram Nicolle, así como los cultivos de macerados de los órganos que se biopsiaron: hígado, bazo, pulmón y glándula suprarrenal y de la cola manifestaron a los l5 días de inoculación una diseminación del hongo; no así a los 30 días de infección, excepto el material correspondiente a la cola que presentó en ese tiempo elementos de S.schenckii. Los estudios inmunológicos realizados permitieron la estandarización del exoantígeno preparado, se detectaron anticuerpos en los sueros de las ratas a los 15 y 30 días posteriores a la inoculación. Las intradermorreacciones realizadas en los animales provocaron una buena respuesta frente al exoantígeno preparado. De esta forma, se comprueba que la rata es un animal adecuado para la infección experimental y la estandarización de antígenos de S.schenckii

Esporotricosis experimental en ratas / Sporotrichosis experimental on rats

Ratas endocriadas se infectaron por vía intraperitoneal y en la cola con una suspensión de conidios de Sporothrix schenckii. Los frotis coloreados con May Grunwald-Giemsa y Gram Nicolle, así como los cultivos de macerados de los órganos que se biopsiaron: hígado, bazo, pulmón y glándula suprarrenal y de la cola manifestaron a los l5 días de inoculación una diseminación del hongo; no así a los 30 días de infección, excepto el material correspondiente a la cola que presentó en ese tiempo elementos de S.schenckii. Los estudios inmunológicos realizados permitieron la estandarización del exoantígeno preparado, se detectaron anticuerpos en los sueros de las ratas a los 15 y 30 días posteriores a la inoculación. Las intradermorreacciones realizadas en los animales provocaron una buena respuesta frente al exoantígeno preparado. De esta forma, se comprueba que la rata es un animal adecuado para la infección experimental y la estandarización de antígenos de S.schenckii

[Effects of soil and ground water pollution with perchloroethylene from the public health service viewpoint]. / Auswirkungen einer Boden- und Grundwasserverunreinigung mit Perchloräthylen aus der Sicht des Gesundheitsamtes.

A routine analysis of drinking water conducted in September 1987 in a Rhenish water works revealed a perchloroethylene (PER) content of 3 micrograms/l. Within less than 3 months the concentration in the two northern wells of the entire battery consisting of 4 wells rose to 20 micrograms/l, and hence the complete battery had to be shut off from the water supply network. The pumped-up water was diverted to a draining plant via the precipitation tank of the water works. During the two subsequent months the PER concentration continued to rise, especially in well No. 1, to more than 120 micrograms/l. The present report deals with the measures undertaken to assess the extent of the damage and the effects of the incident on drinking water supply, on the storage of foods in a warehouse, on a planned sewer construction and on the systems installed by various parties for their own water supply, and on wells in private gardens and in a gardening nursery.