Iranian Journal of

Background and Objective: In countries such as Iran that are facing with water scarcity and water crisis, paying attention to the quantity, quality and sustainable use of water resources is very significant. Petrochemical processes discharge pollutants into the environment, contaminating surface water resources. Therefore, treatment of the wastewater of these industries is necessary. Due to the capabilities of AHP process such as generalization, consideration of various parameters, multi-dimensional selection and quantifying the qualitative parameters by experts, the current study was carried out to select the best wastewater treatment alternative for HDPE plant of petrochemical research and technology company-Arak center based on AHP in 2016.
Materials and Methods: In this study, both sequencing batch reactors (SBR) and extended aeration activated sludge (EAAS) systems based on environmental, technical-functional, economic and management criteria's according to the expert's opinion were weighted. Then, the paired comparisons of the selected wastewater treatment systems for each criterion were developed. Finally, the results were analyzed to select the best wastewater treatment systems for HDPE unit of petrochemical industries using Expert Choice 11 Software.
Results: The results showed that the SBR wastewater treatment system was the best method for the wastewater treatment of HDPE plant of petrochemical research and technology company-Arak center as compared with the ESSA system. Also, consistency ratio was ranged from 0 to 0.10 in all emphases. Based on the results of the sensitivity analysis, the SBR system had the highest priority of economic and environmental criteria. The ESSA system had the highest priority of technical-functional and management criteria.
Conclusion: Based on the results, although ESSA method requires more maintainance and management than the SBR method, due to increasing requirement for the compliance of the output effluent quality with permissible limits and the need for less land for the establishment of the treatment plant, the SBR method was selected to be the most suitable process for HDPE plant wastewater treatment.
 
 

Background and Objective: Mercury (Hg) contamination in marine ecosystems is a major threat to human health in the developing countries like Iran. The main route of mercury exposure is from consumption of fish and seafood. Upon entering mercury in human bodies, Hg is converted into methyl mercury, which may lead to serious implications including neurological disorders, reproductive abnormalities, kidney failure, emotional instability, gingivitis and tremors. Therefore, research on mercury concentrations in marine ecosystems (water and fishes) can be help to protect human health and reduce the risks of mercury contamination.
Materials and Methods: In this study in order to evaluate the concentrations of Hg in water and fish, water samples (36 stations), fish tissue livers (n=33) and muscles (n=33) of four fish species from the Caspian Sea (southern coasts) were collected and analyzed. For determination of Hg in water and fish samples, Voltammetry and GF-AAS techniques were used, respectively.
Results: The results showed that the average Hg concentration detected in water samples was 1.657 (μg/L) and in fish muscle and liver tissues were 68.636 and 125.606 (μg/g.dw), respectively. The bioaccumulation factor showed that mercury concentrations from water to fish are in the range of 14 to 80 times. The highest levels of mercury in water and fish were observed in the southwest coasts of the Caspian Sea.
Conclusion: According to USEPA and SPPA (China) standards, more than 58 % of the water samples collected from the southern coasts of the Sea was polluted by mercury. However, the average concentrations of mercury in fish samples were less than the standards by WHO and EPA. 
 

Background and Objective: Drought and water shortage in recent years caused rice farmers to use maximum groundwater as a secure source. However, the rice is affected not only by the quantity but also by the quality of water. The purpose of this study was to evaluate trend of quality parameters of groundwater in wet and dry periods in 4 plains including Astaneh, Talesh, Lahijan and Foumanat, which are all located in Gilan province.
Materials and Methods: In this investigation, data was collected for quality parameters from 15 groundwater of the 4 plains of Gilan province from 2003 to 2014. The data was collected from 15 piezometer wells of Astaneh, 41 piezometer wells in Talesh, 24 piezometer wells in Lahijan and 44 piezometer wells in Foumanat. For each well, two time series of 15 quality parameters in wet and dry periods were created in SPSS software. The trend was evaluated by Mann- Kendall test that is a nonparametric method.
Results: The results showed that in both periods, the trend of most quality parameters was declined, However, the quality decline in wet period was more severe. In both periods, the pH and Na % were increasing. Additionally, in dry period, the increasing trend of SAR and SO₄ was observed. Overall, the water quality of wells in Talesh plain for cultivation of rice was better than the other plains.
Conclusion: Consumption of groundwater of all the plains in both wet and dry periods for agricultural purposes and especially rice cultivation was without limitation. According to the decreased concentration of the measured parameters during the studied period, it can be expected that groundwater quality of Gilan province plains has been improved.
 

Background and Objective: Irrigation of agricultural lands with treated wastewater in the main part of the Varamin plain, the highly populated urban areas of the middle part of the plain, and the presence of industries have increased the actual risk of heavy metal contamination of groundwater. Therefore, the concentrations of heavy metals were investigated in this study in order to assess the risk of using groundwater of Varamin aquifer for drinking purposes.
Materials and Methods: A total of 78 groundwater samples were collected to measure the concentrations of Cu, Pb, Zn, Cr, Cd, Fe, Co, and Mn ions. The bivariate correlation analysis has been used to describe the correlation between hydrochemical parameters in the Varamin area. Heavy Metal Evaluation Index (HEI) and Heavy Metal Pollution Index (HPI) of the groundwater were determined to determine the feasibility of drinking supply in Varamin plain.
Results: The average concentrations of cadmium in dry and wet periods were 7.5 and 8 μg/L, respectively. In the wet period, the average concentration of lead in the groundwater of the Varamin plain was 12.5 μg/L. The concentrations of both heavy metals were more than the permissible amount for drinking. Pearson correlation analysis of qualitative data of the water samples of the Varamin plain showed a strong correlation between some heavy metals such as Pb and Co with Cd, Cu and Mn. This reflected a similar source of contamination of the groundwater, inter-correlations, and the same mobility behaviors in the aquifer media. The results obtained from HEI and HPI showed that the pollution of Varamin aquifer in most parts was not dangerous with respect to the heavy metals concentrations, but in some areas, significant variations in the concentrations of some metals can be observed.
Conclusion: It may be expected that the risk of groundwater contamination continues with respect to heavy metals due to the persistence of contamination sources in the Varamin plain. Hence, some measured should be taken with regards to the agricultural recycle water, dispose of domestic and industrial wastewater, and the quality of transferring treated effluent from Tehran to the plain.
 

Background and Objective: Supply of safe drinking water to each community is one of the most important challenges in improving the general community’s health. Considering the importance of the research on water quality, identification of water quality research gaps was performed by reviewing the relevant studies through a systematic review for Iran. 
Materials and Methods: In this study 638, 166, 300 and 1000 relevant articles were found on Scopus, SID, Magiran and Iranmedex databases, respectively. Out of 2104 articles, 1394 articles were excluded from the study. Finally, 710 articles were further reviewed.
Results: Monitoring of pollutants by a descriptive study was the main objective of the most studies   (36.62%). Around 13% of the studies were performed on a laboratory scale. Organic pollutants in Iran have been concerned only in 17 provinces, and other provinces have not participated in this regard. Nitrate is studied in around one fifth of the total studies. Heavy metals were also considered as a parameter of concern in the studies carried out on monitoring drinking water resource quality.
Conclusion: This study reflects the research gaps and provides a basis for prioritizing water quality research in Iran. More actions and sound planning should be taken to monitor organic and inorganic pollutants. Chemical and microbial risk assessment, tracing the fate of pollutants and assessment of their ecological effects, investigations on advanced water purification processes, the use of bioremediation methods, identification of biological contaminant using biomarkers and molecular identification techniques are the most important research priorities that require more investigations.
 
 

Background and Objective: Determination of quality parameters of drinkable water is important, especially in developing countries, to increase the productivity and better management and planning of water resources. The aim of current study was to apply CART decision tree data mining technique to determine the most effective factors on drinkable water quality in Kazeroon plain, located west of Fars province, Iran.
Materials and Methods: Qualitative parameters of 60 drinkable wells such as SAR, Na, Cl, SO₄, TH, TDS, pH, NO₃, CaCO₃, HCO₃, Ca, Mg, K and EC were taken in the study area. The most effective factors on quality of drinkable water were determined with 90% accuracy, using CART decision tree data mining technique in Clementine 12.0 software.
Results: The results showed that total dissolved solids (TDS) and calcium content (Ca) had the highest impact on quality of drinking water. Therefore, when the TDS of water in this plain is equal or less than 495 mg/L and the calcium content is equal or less than 6.150 meq/L, the water is suitable for drinking.
Conclusion: The TDS and Ca content were the most effective parameters on the quality of drinkable water in this plain, due to its geological formation and the existence of CaCO₃ in its structure. The water purification, reduction of soluble material concentration, and monitoring of wells in this plain are recommended.
 

Background and Objective: Ultrasonic disintegration is a pretreatment process before stabilization and dewatering that degrades sludge and changes its physical and chemical characteristics. The aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of ultrasonic in enhancing hydrolyses, stabilization and dewatering of municipal raw activated sludge.
Materials and Methods:  The samples were taken from returned activated sludge and then they were exposed to ultrasonic (Frequency: 20 and 40 kHz) in different times (0.5, 1, 3, 5, 10, 15, 30, and 60 min). The effectiveness of ultrasonic for hydrolysis, stabilization and dewatering processes were determined with measuring TS, TSS, CST, SRF, VS, nVS, VSss, and VSsol.
Results: VSsol was increased by 73% in 15 min and at frequency of 20 kHz, whereas VSsol increas was100% at 10 min and 40 kHz. The reduction of VS was observed at 15 min and 20 kHz. Then after, it was reached 18% after 60 min. For 40 kHz, VS reduction started at 10 min and reached 24% after 60 min. Specific resistance of sludge at two frequencies of 20 and 40 kHz and contact time of 1 min were decreased by 25 and 20% respectively. The capillary suction time at the frequencies of 20 and 40 kHz and contact time of 1 min was decreased 28 and 21%, respectively.
Conclusion: The optimum effectiveness of ultrasonic in hydrolysis of organic matter of raw biological sludge was at the contact time of 10 min and frequency of 40 kHz. The highest stabilization at the frequency of 40 kHz was observed at 60 min contact time. The best condition for sludge dewatering was at frequency of 20 kHz and contact time of 1 min.
 

Background and Objective: Water quality assessment is an important step for optimal and proper use of water resources for drinking and selection of suitable and consistent water quality patterns. Therefore, the necessity of studying water quality characteristics in water resource management programs has been highly considered.
Materials and Methods: In this study, the hydrogeochemical quality of groundwater resources in the Siahoo region of Bandar Abbas was studied for drinking, agricultural and industrial purposes. Qualitative parameters of three wells, three springs, one juicy aqueduct and one surface water sample were used as input data. Water quality characteristics and charts were evaluated using Aq.qa and AquaChem software.
Results: Groundwater of the studied area was in the category of very hard water. According to the PIPER chart, the dominant hydrochemical facies were sulfatecolic and chloroformate species. According to the Willcox and Schuller qualitative index, groundwater for agricultural use was moderate and was acceptable for drinking water. In terms of the saturation index of islands, the existing water resources are corrosive to the sediment.
Conclusion: The data of this study indicate that one of the problems of the available water resources in Siahoo region is the high amount of salt and soluble materials, which show the effect of geological formations (evaporation, Chile, carbonates) and salt domes on the groundwater resources and reduction of the quality of water resources.
 

Background and Objective: Groundwater resources are very important for the survival of living beings. Hence, groundwater modeling has a special importance in water management and planning of each region .In this study, numerically simulation of Hamedan–Bahar aquifer flow path was done by GMS software using geological, hydraulic and hydrologic information.
Materials and Methods: First, a 3D hydrogeological model of the aquifer was prepared and then the aquifer flow was simulated by MODFLOW numerical code. The model was calibrated using a trial and error method. Estimation of groundwater flow path was done with MODPATH numeric code. Finally, the capture area was studied and piezometers and direction of groundwater movement in different time were built.
Results: The results of calibration showed that the difference between observed head and computed head was in allowable range (  35 m). Estimation of pollution with MODPATH numeric code indicated that in forward moving, the longest way of pollution transport was 43400 m and in backward moveing, the longest way of flow transport was 8270.65 m. The results of the groundwater flow path indicated that the flow transport direction was from southwest to northeast in line with the hydraulic gradient.
Conclusion: It can be concluded that the current trend of groundwater flow will increase aquifer pollution level, which will damage groundwater aquifer.
 

Background and Objective: Due to the vulnerability of water resources, quality control of surface water is one of the key issues in environmental conservation programs. In recent years, Anzali wetland has been exposed to numerous threats, including environmental pollutants. TOPSIS is an efficient and reliable way to assess the quality of water resources.
Materials and Methods: In order to evaluate water quality condition, Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD), Dissolved Oxygen (DO), temperature, pH, turbidity, Total Suspended Solid (TSS), phosphate (PO₄^-), nitrate (NO₃^-) and Fecal Coliforms (FC) were measured seasonally from 10 sites of Anzali International Wetland in 2014 and the water quality condition was estimated using TOPSIS method.

Results: The highest BOD₅, phosphate, temperature and fecal coliform were measured at station 8. Comparison of TOPSIS values in different sampling stations showed the minimum (0.339) and maximum values (0.689) at the stations 5 and 8, respectively. According to the result, the station 5 (Sorkhankal) had the best water quality condition and station 8 (Pirbazar) had the lowest one. Also, seasonal results of TOPSIS values showed that the maximum value was at spring (0.742).
Conclusion: Discharge of effluents from land uses, agricultural and industrial activities located along the stream, could be considered as important reasons for decreasing water quality. Our results showed that TOPSIS method was clearly able to demonstrate the qualitative changes of water resources, indicating a moderate water quality for Anzali international wetland.

Background and Objective: Water quality is one of the issues that is of great importance to economic and social development due to the high costs of providing healthy drinking water and its risk to human health and the environment. For instance, although only a short time has passed since the construction of the Shirin-darreh dam, the problems arising from its exploitation have challenged the environmental sector and the health of the water.
Materials and Methods: Water quality is affected by complex processes and various variables. Accordingly, NSFWQI input variables at monthly intervals collected at the dam reservoir during December 2011 - November 2012 was used to evaluate the water quality of the reservoir based on the grey relational analysis process. The results were compared with the results of the NSFWQI method. Also, the Shannon Entropy method was used, considering the importance of weight of variables in different methods.
Results: The results showed that the water quality in the grey analysis method from November 2011 to May 2012 and in the NSFWQI method from October 2011 to April 2012 was moderate and in the remaining months was bad. In the grey analysis method, the highest reservoir value was related to Station 3 and month of February 2012 with a value of 64.2 and the worst water quality was related to Station 4 and month of August 2012 with a value of 39.2. Also, In NSFWQI method, the highest reservoir value was related to station 3 and month of February 2012 with a value of 68.7, and the worst water quality was related to Station 1 and month of August 2012 with a value of 39.1.
Conclusion: Although there was no significant difference between the two methods, due to the greater adaptability of the results of the gray analysis method with the weather events and upstream conditions of the dam, this method is recommended. Due to the relative inadequacy of Shirin-darreh reservoir water in some months, it is essential that the source of pollutants from upstream areas is identified. After identification of the hotspots and preparation of the critical areas map, the appropriate control measures could be implemented.
 

Background and Objective: Climate change in recent years has led to a crisis of drought in many countries around the world, including Iran. In such a situation, the supply of safe drinking water is very important and knowing the climate impacts on the chemical quality of these resources can play a significant role in their proper exploitation.
Materials and Methods: Using GIS geomorphology models, the effect of climatic factors including minimum and maximum temperatures, mean precipitation, evaporation, transpiration and vegetation index on the quality of groundwater resources of Varamin Plain include pH, electrical conductivity, total dissolved solid, anions and cations concentrations and total hardness were studied and their maps were produced. Correlation between these factors was investigated using spatial correlation analysis tool at a confidence level of 0.95 (p = 0.05).
Results: The results showed that these parameters (except pH) along the plain are highly variable and the spatial distribution of data in this region is not normal around the mean, and the frequency of pixels with values ​​less than the spatial mean of the region is higher. Spatial distribution of the factors showed that their amounts (except pH) are low in the central area of ​​the plain and reach its peak in the western and northwest regions. The spatial distribution of pH was almost uniform in all the plain.
Conclusion: Correlation analysis showed that the quality of water resources is influenced by climatic factors and the maximum temperature has the highest impact.
 

Background and Objective: Treatment of hospital wastewaters has an important role in reducing the discharge of organics and pharmaceutical compounds into aquatic environments. Nowadays, advanced oxidation processes were extensively used for the removal of organic compounds from treated effluents. The study aimed to examine organic compounds removal from real treated effluent of a hospital treatment plant using a lab scale UV/H₂O₂/TiO₂ process by optimizing the process.
Materials and Methods: The effluent characteristics including COD, TOC and DOC were measured and recorded. A hybrid advanced oxidation process (UV/H₂O₂/TiO₂) was used for the removal of organic compounds. The experiments were designed using surface response methodology (RSM). The effects of the independent factors including pH, duration of UV irradiation, H₂O₂ and TiO₂ concentrations on COD, TOC, DOC and the approximate cost of treatment were assessed by analysis of variance (ANOVA).
Results: The optimal condition was 7.2 for pH, 50 mg/L for H₂O₂, 100 mg/L for TiO₂ and 19.65 min for irradiation time. This condition provided the maximum removal percentage for organic compounds with a minimum cost. The removal efficiency for TOC, DOC and COD were 63.9, 52.9, and 64.7%, respectively. The treatment cost was approximated to be $ 0.71 per one liter of the effluent.
Conclusion: Irradiation and H₂O₂ concentration had the greatest impact on the cost of the treatment. UV/H₂O₂/TiO₂ process seems to be an expensive process for tertiary treatment of wastewater. However, further investigations are required to evaluate the cost effectiveness of the process for a full scale operation.
 
 

Background and Objective: The main objective of this study was to evaluate the surface and deep distribution of Pb, Ni and Cu in the wastewater-irrigated area of south of Tehran using GIS and Hydrus. It was expected to find a comprehensive information of heavy metals distribution and their accumulation in the soil. 
Materials and Methods: This study was carried out in wastewater-irrigated area of south of Tehran. Soil sampling from the top surface layer (0-15 cm) and wastewater channels was done. After sample analysis, ordinary Kriging method using different variogram in GIS was applied to explore the surface distribution of Ni, Pb and Cu heavy metals. Moreover, the deep percolation of heavy metals in the soil profile was simulated by Hydrus-1D in a duration of 210 days and the heavy metals concentrations in the soil were estimated.
Results: Exploration of the distribution of Pb using spherical model showed that the variation of this element was in the range of 20-70 mg/kg. This amount varied to 50-60 mg/kg for Cu and about 30 mg/kg for Ni. Moreover, the simulation of heavy metals deep percolation using Hydrus revealed that the most accumulation of heavy metals happened in the 0-15 cm soil surface layer and for deeper layer, this trend was descending.
Conclusion: Comparing the concentration of Pb, Cu and Ni with the maximum allowable amounts of WHO standards demonstrated that Pb concentration was more than the threshold limit. Finally, the applied models could simulate soil’s heavy metals content for both surface and deep distribution in the studied area.
 

Background and Objective: Antibiotics are a group of emerging contaminants in the aquatic environment. Antibiotic residues threaten the human health and ecosystem in the low concentrations found in the environment. Hence, the present work has been conducted to investigate the occurrence and removal efficiency of most prescribed antibiotics including amoxicillin, penicillin, cefixime, cephalexin, ciprofloxacin, erythromycin and azithromycin detected in two urban wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) in Tehran.
Materials and Methods: The present work is an applied research based on USEPA method no. 1694, to investigate pharmaceuticals residues in water by HPLC/MS/MS in year 2016. The differences between target antibiotics residues were investigated statistically. After the calculation of the removal efficiencies, the normality of the data was assessed. Then, parametric and non-parametric tests were used to compare the removal efficiencies in both WWTPs.
Results: There was not a significant difference between the influent and effluent concentrations of cefixime and azithromycin (in Ekbatan WWTP) and cefixime (in southern Tehran WWTP). There is a significant difference between the removal efficiencies of cephalexin (p=0.005) and erythromycin (p=0.002) in two WWTPs. The Highest median removal efficiencies were observed for cephalexin 94.41 and 99.47 in Ekbatan WWTP and southern Tehran WWTP, respectively.
Conclusion: In addition to the type of treatment processes, it is physicochemical properties of the selected compound has a significant influence on removal efficiencies.
 

Background and Objective: Coagulation, which is carried out by mixing coagulants such as alum, ferric chloride and poly aluminum chloride PAC with raw water, is one of the main processes in conventional water treatment plants. Sludge from this process contains high amounts of coagulants with high economic value. Therefore, if these coagulants are recovered, in addition to reducing the risks relate to sludge disposal, the expenses related to the supply of fresh coagulant in water or wastewater treatment plant may decrease.
Materials and Methods: To access related documentation, ScienceDirect, Google scholar and other databases were searched using keywords such as “coagulant recovery”, “water residuals management”, etc. More than one hundred fifty documents were investigated based on the content validity and thematic relation. Gathered contents were classified and summarized under the titles of “recovery methods”, “repeated recoveries”, “recovery regarding economic aspect” and “advantages and disadvantages of methods”.
Results: Use of new methods such as combination of membrane and chemical processes or ion exchange membrane processes leads to the recovery of coagulants with a similar quality to the commercial ones. In case of using conventional and less costly methods such as acid digestion, quality of recovered coagulants is not comparable with those of commercial ones, which are used in water treatment.
Conclusion: Different coagulants recovery methods were investigated to determine the reuse strategies. It is likely that using of recovered coagulants through conventional methods is in accordance with the related regulations of the wastewater treatment plants. Industrial use of novel processes for recovery of coagulants with higher quality needs precise technical and economical investigations.
 

Background and Objective: Chahnimeh water reservoirs in Sistan and Baluchestan Province are the most important sources for drinking water and irrigation purposes. Many factors such as precipitation, the geography of the watershed, atmosphere, geology and Human activities affect on the chemical, physical, and biological compositions of Chahnimeh water reservoirs. Therefore, the main goal of the present study was to monitor and assess water quality in four Chahnimeh reservoirs during two sampling periods.
Materials and Methods: 84 water samples were taken based on the standard methods (in September 2017 and April 2018) for measurement of the most important physicochemical parameters including major anions, total coliform, BOD, EC, TDS, pH and nitrate. Water quality index (WQI) was used to evaluate the overall water quality status in the Chahnimeh reservoirs.
Results:  The results of hydro-geochemical analysis indicated that the water type changed from sodic bicarbonate and sulfur dioxide to radicle chloride during sampling periods. The Gibbs chart showed that weathering of rocks mainly controlled the chemistry of the main water ions. The results of statistical analyses revealed that there was a high correlation between parameters such as chlorophyll, nitrate, sulfate and chlorine with water quality index. Water quality zoning results based on the WQI index indicated a decrease in the water quality of the wells by 3, 2, 1, and 4, respectively.
Conclusion: In this study, the use of WQI was helpful for fast data interpretation for drinking water purposes in the area. Based on the WQI classification, majority of the samples are falling under good to poor water category.
 

Background and Objective: Rural wastewater management is recognized as one of the pillars of sustainable development. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to assess needs and prioritization of establishment of rural wastewater management facilities in order to supply a safe and alternative water source in the provinces of Iran experiencing severe water stress.
Materials and Methods: This is a cross-sectional descriptive study which was carried out in rural areas of the provinces with severe water stress (South Khorasan, Khorasan Razavi, Fars, Isfahan, Yazd, Semnan, Qom, Sistan and Baluchistan) in 2017-2018. In this study, the number of sample rural areas was calculated by Cochran method and the determination of the sample rural area was done by stratified sampling. The data related to the sample rural area was collected using a validated constructor questionnaire.
Results: The results of this study showed that the difference among all the studied provinces in terms of their priority in establishing rural waste water management facilities to provide a safe and alternative water source was very low. The provinces of Isfahan, Semnan and Fars were rated at 76 out of 100, while the provinces of South Khorasan and Sistan and Baluchestan scored 71 points.
Conclusion: With emphasis on comprehensive decision making criteria based on sustainable development, the results of this study showed that the provinces with severe water stress have a high priority regarding the establishment of rural sewage management projects in order to provide a safe and alternative water sources.
 

Background and Objective: Nowadays, swimming pools as a sport and entertainment center have found more popularity. Violation of health based standards in terms of physicochemical, microbial and environmental health indices can turn pools into a potential source of disease transmission and spread. Due to the importance of maintaining swimmers’ comfort, health, and safety, the present study was aimed to consider environmental health status and physicochemical and microbial quality of swimming pools water in Tabriz.
Materials and Methods: In this descriptive cross-sectional study, the official checklists of swimming pools (consisting 10 public and 22 private swimming pools) were obtained from Tabriz Health Center. According to the inspections conducted in February 2017 and August 2017, the related information was extracted from the checklist. Data were analyzed using Excel software, SPSS version 23 and Chi-Square test.
Results: The average accordance of the physicochemical parameters with the standards for public and private pools was 67.5% and 65%, respectively. Among the physicochemical parameters, the residual free chlorine showed less accordance with the standards. On average, in the summer 49.5% and in the winter 28% of the pools showed microbial contamination.
Conclusion: The residual free chlorine values ​​in the pool, Jacuzzi and chiller indicated a weak management of pools and a high potential for pathogenicity. Therefore, continual surveillance of the environmental health status and planning for an objective inspection program by the local authorities, especially in private sector, is suggested.