Displaying publications 21 - 40 of 197 in total

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  1. Koh MK, Sathiamurthy E, Suratman S, Tahir NM
    Environ Monit Assess, 2012 Dec;184(12):7653-64.
    PMID: 22302401
    Influences of river hydrodynamic behaviours on hydrochemistry (salinity, pH, dissolved oxygen saturations and dissolved phosphorus) were evaluated through high spatial and temporal resolution study of a sandbar-regulated coastal river. River hydrodynamic during sandbar-closed event was characterized by minor dependency on tidal fluctuations, very gradual increase of water level and continual low flow velocity. These hydrodynamic behaviours established a hydrochemistry equilibrium, in which water properties generally were characterized by virtual absence of horizontal gradients while vertical stratifications were significant. In addition, the river was in high trophic status as algae blooms were visible. Conversely, river hydrodynamic in sandbar-opened event was tidal-controlled and showed higher flow velocity. Horizontal gradients of water properties became significant while vertically more homogenised and with lower trophic status. In essence, this study reveals that estuarine sandbar directly regulates river hydrodynamic behaviours which in turn influences river hydrochemistry.
  2. Dada AC, Ahmad A, Usup G, Heng LY
    Environ Monit Assess, 2013 Feb;185(2):1583-99.
    PMID: 22592782 DOI: 10.1007/s10661-012-2653-6
    We report the first study on the occurrence of antibiotic-resistant enterococci in coastal bathing waters in Malaysia. One hundred and sixty-five enterococci isolates recovered from two popular recreational beaches in Malaysia were speciated and screened for antibiotic resistance to a total of eight antibiotics. Prevalence of Enterococcus faecalis and Enterococcus faecium was highest in both beaches. E. faecalis/E. faecium ratio was 0.384:1 and 0.375:1, respectively, for isolates from Port Dickson (PD) and Bagan Lalang (BL). Analysis of Fisher's exact test showed that association of prevalence of E. faecalis and E. faecium with considered locations was not statistically significant (p < 0.05). Chi-square test revealed significant differences (χ(2) = 82.630, df = 20, p < 0.001) in the frequency of occurrence of enterococci isolates from the considered sites. Resistance was highest to nalidixic acid (94.84 %) and least for chloramphenicol (8.38 %). One-way ANOVA using Tukey-Kramer multiple comparison test showed that resistance to ampicillin was higher in PD beach isolates than BL isolates and the difference was extremely statistically significant (p < 0.0001). Frequency of occurrence of multiple antibiotic resistance (MAR) isolates were higher for PD beach water (64.29 %) as compared to BL beach water (13.51 %), while MAR indices ranged between 0.198 and 0.48. The results suggest that samples from Port Dickson may contain MAR bacteria and that this could be due to high-risk faecal contamination from sewage discharge pipes that drain into the sea water.
  3. Santhi VA, Mustafa AM
    Environ Monit Assess, 2013 Feb;185(2):1541-54.
    PMID: 22552495 DOI: 10.1007/s10661-012-2649-2
    A study on the quality of water abstracted for potable use was conducted in the Selangor River basin from November 2008 to July 2009. Seven sampling sites representing the intake points of water treatment plants in the basin were selected to determine the occurrence and level of 15 organochlorine pesticides (OCPs), six phthalate esters (PAEs) and bisphenol A (BPA). Results indicated OCPs were still detected regularly in 66.1 % of the samples with the Σ(15)OCPs ranging from 0.6-25.2 ng/L. The first data on PAEs contamination in the basin revealed Σ(6)PAEs concentrations were between 39.0 and 1,096.6 ng/L with a median concentration of 186.0 ng/L while BPA concentration ranged from <1.2 to 120.0 ng/L. Although di-n-butyl phthalate was detected in all the samples, concentrations of di-ethyl(hexyl)phthalate were higher. Sampling sites located downstream recorded the highest concentrations, together with samples collected during the dry season. Comparison of the detected contaminants with the Department of Environment Water Quality Index (DOE-WQI) showed some agreement between the concentration and the current classification of stream water. While the results suggest that the sites were only slightly polluted and suitable to be used as drinking water source, its presence is cause for concern especially to the fragile firefly "Pteroptyx tener" ecosystem located further downstream.
  4. Abdul-Hadi A, Mansor S, Pradhan B, Tan CK
    Environ Monit Assess, 2013 May;185(5):3977-91.
    PMID: 22930185 DOI: 10.1007/s10661-012-2843-2
    A study was conducted to investigate the influence of Asian monsoon on chlorophyll-a (Chl-a) content in Sabah waters and to identify the related oceanographic conditions that caused phytoplankton blooms at the eastern and western coasts of Sabah, Malaysia. A series of remote sensing measurements including surface Chl-a, sea surface temperature, sea surface height anomaly, wind speed, wind stress curl, and Ekman pumping were analyzed to study the oceanographic conditions that lead to large-scale nutrients enrichment in the surface layer. The results showed that the Chl-a content increased at the northwest coast from December to April due to strong northeasterly wind and coastal upwelling in Kota Kinabalu water. The southwest coast (Labuan water) maintained high concentrations throughout the year due to the effect of Padas River discharge during the rainy season and the changing direction of Baram River plume during the northeast monsoon (NEM). However, with the continuous supply of nutrients from the upwelling area, the high Chl-a batches were maintained at the offshore water off Labuan for a longer time during NEM. On the other side, the northeast coast illustrated a high Chl-a in Sandakan water during NEM, whereas the northern tip off Kudat did not show a pronounced change throughout the year. The southeast coast (Tawau water) was highly influenced by the direction of the surface water transport between the Sulu and Sulawesi Seas and the prevailing surface currents. The study demonstrates the presence of seasonal phytoplankton blooms in Sabah waters which will aid in forecasting the possible biological response and could further assist in marine resource managements.
  5. Fulazzaky MA
    Environ Monit Assess, 2013 Jan;185(1):523-35.
    PMID: 22373956 DOI: 10.1007/s10661-012-2572-6
    Surface water is one of the essential resources for supporting sustainable development. The suitability of such water for a given use depends both on the available quantity and tolerable quality. Temporary status for a surface water quality has been identified extensively. Still the suitability of the water for different purposes needs to be verified. This study proposes a water quality evaluation system to assess the aptitude of the Selangor River water for aquatic biota, drinking water production, leisure and aquatic sport, irrigation use, livestock watering, and aquaculture use. Aptitude of the water has been classified in many parts of the river segment as unsuitable for aquatic biota, drinking water production, leisure and aquatic sport as well as aquaculture use. The water quality aptitude classes of the stream water for nine locations along the river are evaluated to contribute to decision support system. The suitability of the water for five different uses and its aquatic ecosystem are verified.
  6. Fulazzaky MA
    Environ Monit Assess, 2013 Jun;185(6):4721-34.
    PMID: 23001555 DOI: 10.1007/s10661-012-2899-z
    Biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) of the leachates originally from the different types of landfill sites was studied based on the data measured using the two manometric methods. The measurements of BOD using the dilution method were carried out to assess the typical physicochemical and biological characteristics of the leachates together with some other parameters. The linear regression analysis was used to predict rate constants for biochemical reactions and ultimate BOD values of the different leachates. The rate of a biochemical reaction implicated in microbial biodegradation of pollutants depends on the leachate characteristics, mass of contaminant in the leachate, and nature of the leachate. Character of leachate samples for BOD analysis of using the different methods may differ significantly during the experimental period, resulting in different BOD values. This work intends to verify effect of the different dilutions for the manometric method tests on the BOD concentrations of the leachate samples to contribute to the assessment of reaction rate and microbial consumption of oxygen.
  7. Abushammala MF, Basri NE, Basri H, Kadhum AA, El-Shafie AH
    Environ Monit Assess, 2013 Jun;185(6):4919-32.
    PMID: 23054277 DOI: 10.1007/s10661-012-2913-5
    Methane (CH₄) is one of the most relevant greenhouse gases and it has a global warming potential 25 times greater than that of carbon dioxide (CO₂), risking human health and the environment. Microbial CH₄ oxidation in landfill cover soils may constitute a means of controlling CH₄ emissions. The study was intended to quantify CH₄ and CO₂ emissions rates at the Sungai Sedu open dumping landfill during the dry season, characterize their spatial and temporal variations, and measure the CH₄ oxidation associated with the landfill cover soil using a homemade static flux chamber. Concentrations of the gases were analyzed by a Micro-GC CP-4900. Two methods, kriging values and inverse distance weighting (IDW), were found almost identical. The findings of the proposed method show that the ratio of CH₄ to CO₂ emissions was 25.4 %, indicating higher CO₂ emissions than CH₄ emissions. Also, the average CH₄ oxidation in the landfill cover soil was 52.5 %. The CH₄ and CO₂ emissions did not show fixed-pattern temporal variation based on daytime measurements. Statistically, a negative relationship was found between CH₄ emissions and oxidation (R(2) = 0.46). It can be concluded that the variation in the CH₄ oxidation was mainly attributed to the properties of the landfill cover soil.
  8. Pradhan B, Chaudhari A, Adinarayana J, Buchroithner MF
    Environ Monit Assess, 2012 Jan;184(2):715-27.
    PMID: 21509515 DOI: 10.1007/s10661-011-1996-8
    In this paper, an attempt has been made to assess, prognosis and observe dynamism of soil erosion by universal soil loss equation (USLE) method at Penang Island, Malaysia. Multi-source (map-, space- and ground-based) datasets were used to obtain both static and dynamic factors of USLE, and an integrated analysis was carried out in raster format of GIS. A landslide location map was generated on the basis of image elements interpretation from aerial photos, satellite data and field observations and was used to validate soil erosion intensity in the study area. Further, a statistical-based frequency ratio analysis was carried out in the study area for correlation purposes. The results of the statistical correlation showed a satisfactory agreement between the prepared USLE-based soil erosion map and landslide events/locations, and are directly proportional to each other. Prognosis analysis on soil erosion helps the user agencies/decision makers to design proper conservation planning program to reduce soil erosion. Temporal statistics on soil erosion in these dynamic and rapid developments in Penang Island indicate the co-existence and balance of ecosystem.
  9. Al-Odaini NA, Zakaria MP, Zali MA, Juahir H, Yaziz MI, Surif S
    Environ Monit Assess, 2012 Nov;184(11):6735-48.
    PMID: 22193630 DOI: 10.1007/s10661-011-2454-3
    The growing interest in the environmental occurrence of veterinary and human pharmaceuticals is essentially due to their possible health implications to humans and ecosystem. This study assesses the occurrence of human pharmaceuticals in a Malaysian tropical aquatic environment taking a chemometric approach using cluster analysis, discriminant analysis and principal component analysis. Water samples were collected from seven sampling stations along the heavily populated Langat River basin on the west coast of peninsular Malaysia and its main tributaries. Water samples were extracted using solid-phase extraction and analyzed using liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) for 18 pharmaceuticals and one metabolite, which cover a range of six therapeutic classes widely consumed in Malaysia. Cluster analysis was applied to group both pharmaceutical pollutants and sampling stations. Cluster analysis successfully clustered sampling stations and pollutants into three major clusters. Discriminant analysis was applied to identify those pollutants which had a significant impact in the definition of clusters. Finally, principal component analysis using a three-component model determined the constitution and data variance explained by each of the three main principal components.
  10. Aziz SQ, Aziz HA, Yusoff MS, Mohajeri S
    Environ Monit Assess, 2012 Oct;184(10):6147-58.
    PMID: 22068314 DOI: 10.1007/s10661-011-2409-8
    In this research, two types of sequencing batch reactors (SBRs) with 8 h of cycle times, namely non-powdered activated carbon (NPAC-SBR) and powdered activated carbon (PAC-SBR), were used for the treatment of raw leachates at Kulim and Pulau Burung landfill sites. To test the performance of SBRs, phenols, total iron, zinc, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, color, suspended solids, chemical oxygen demand, biochemical oxygen demand, and total dissolved salts removal efficiencies and sludge volume index (SVI) were studied at both sites. The rates of phenols removal, for instance in NPAC-SBRs and PAC-SBRs at Kulim, were 25% and 55%, respectively, whereas those at Pulau Buring were 94.81% and 97.75%, respectively. PAC as adsorbent in PAC-SBRs enhanced the removal efficiencies of the aforementioned pollutants from leachates at both sites. In addition, PAC as adsorbent decreased the SVI values at Kulim (59.7 mL/g) and Pulau Burung (91.4 mL/g) leachates and improved the nitrification and denitrification processes.
  11. Osman R, Saim N, Juahir H, Abdullah MP
    Environ Monit Assess, 2012 Jan;184(2):1001-14.
    PMID: 21494831 DOI: 10.1007/s10661-011-2016-8
    Increasing urbanization and changes in land use in Langat river basin lead to adverse impacts on the environment compartment. One of the major challenges is in identifying sources of organic contaminants. This study presented the application of selected chemometric techniques: cluster analysis (CA), discriminant analysis (DA), and principal component analysis (PCA) to classify the pollution sources in Langat river basin based on the analysis of water and sediment samples collected from 24 stations, monitored for 14 organic contaminants from polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), sterols, and pesticides groups. The CA and DA enabled to group 24 monitoring sites into three groups of pollution source (industry and urban socioeconomic, agricultural activity, and urban/domestic sewage) with five major discriminating variables: naphthalene, pyrene, benzo[a]pyrene, coprostanol, and cholesterol. PCA analysis, applied to water data sets, resulted in four latent factors explaining 79.0% of the total variance while sediment samples gave five latent factors with 77.6% explained variance. The varifactors (VFs) obtained from PCA indicated that sterols (coprostanol, cholesterol, stigmasterol, β-sitosterol, and stigmastanol) are strongly correlated to domestic and urban sewage, PAHs (naphthalene, acenaphthene, pyrene, benzo[a]anthracene, and benzo[a]pyrene) from industrial and urban activities and chlorpyrifos correlated to samples nearby agricultural sites. The results demonstrated that chemometric techniques can be used for rapid assessment of water and sediment contaminations.
  12. Muhammad BG, Jaafar MS, Abdul Rahman A, Ingawa FA
    Environ Monit Assess, 2012 Aug;184(8):5043-9.
    PMID: 21901308 DOI: 10.1007/s10661-011-2320-3
    Soil serves as a major reservoir for contaminants as it posseses an ability to bind various chemicals together. To safeguard the members of the public from an unwanted exposure, studies were conducted on the sediments and soil from water bodies that form the major sources of domestic water supply in northern peninsular Malaysia for their trace element concentration levels. Neutron Activation Analysis, using Nigeria Research Reactor-1 (NIRR-1) located at the Centre for Energy Research and Training, Zaria, Nigeria was employed as the analytical tool. The elements identified in major quantities include Na, K, and Fe while As, Br, Cr, U, Th, Eu, Cs, Co, La, Sm, Yb, Sc, Zn, Rb, Ba, Lu, Hf, Ta, and Sb were also identified in trace quantities. Gamma spectroscopy was also employed to analyze some soil samples from the same area. The results indicated safe levels in terms of the radium equivalent activity, external hazard index as well as the mean external exposure dose rates from the soil. The overall screening of the domestic water sources with relatively high heavy metals concentration values in sediments and high activity concentration values in soil is strongly recommended as their accumulation overtime as a consequence of leaching into the water may be of health concern to the members of the public.
  13. Rezaee Ebrahim Saraee K, Abdi MR, Naghavi K, Saion E, Shafaei MA, Soltani N
    Environ Monit Assess, 2011 Dec;183(1-4):545-54.
    PMID: 21594644 DOI: 10.1007/s10661-011-1939-4
    The concentrations of arsenic, cadmium, chromium, copper, mercury, nickel, lead and zinc in surface sediments collected from the east coast of peninsular Malaysia, along the South China Sea, were measured by two methods instrumental neutron activation analysis and inductively coupled plasma mass spectroscopy. The obtained results were use to determine the areal distribution of the metals of in the east coast of peninsular Malaysia and potential sources of these metals to this environment. The geochemical data propose that most of the metals found in the east coast of peninsular Malaysia constitute a redistribution of territorial materials within the ecosystem. Then, the metal concentrations can be considered to be present at natural background levels in surface sediments.
  14. Sobhanzadeh E, Abu Bakar NK, Bin Abas MR, Nemati K
    Environ Monit Assess, 2012 Sep;184(9):5821-8.
    PMID: 21989900 DOI: 10.1007/s10661-011-2384-0
    In this study, a rapid, specific and sensitive multi-residue method based on acetonitrile extraction followed by dispersive solid-phase extraction (d-SPE) clean-up was implemented and validated for multi-class pesticide residues determination in palm oil for the first time. Liquid-liquid extraction followed by low-temperature precipitation procedure was evaluated in order to study the freezing-out clean-up efficiency to obtain high recovery yield and low co-extract fat residue in the final extract. For clean-up step, d-SPE was carried out using a combination of anhydrous magnesium sulphate (MgSO(4)), primary secondary amine, octadecyl (C(18)) and graphitized carbon black. Recovery study was performed at two concentration levels (10 and 100 ng g(-1)), yielding recovery rates between 74.52% and 97.1% with relative standard deviation values below 10% (n = 6) except diuron. Detection and quantification limits were lower than 5 and 9 ng g(-1), respectively. In addition, soft matrix effects (≤±20%) were observed for most of the studied pesticides except malathion that indicated medium (20-50%) matrix effects. The proposed method was successfully applied to the analysis of suspected palm oil samples.
  15. Abdullah MZ, Saat AB, Hamzah ZB
    Environ Monit Assess, 2012 Jun;184(6):3959-69.
    PMID: 21822578 DOI: 10.1007/s10661-011-2236-y
    Biomonitoring of multi-element atmospheric deposition using terrestrial moss is a well-established technique in Europe. Although the technique is widely known, there were very limited records of using this technique to study atmospheric air pollution in Malaysia. In this present study, the deposition of 11 trace metals surrounding the main petroleum refinery plant in Kerteh Terengganu (eastern part of peninsular Malaysia) has been evaluated using two local moss species, namely Hypnum plumaeforme and Taxithelium instratum as bioindicators. The study was also done by means of observing whether these metals are attributed to work related to oil exploration in this area. The moss samples have been collected at 30 sampling stations in the vicinity of the petrochemical industrial area covering up to 15 km to the south, north, and west in radius. The contents of heavy metal in moss samples were analyzed by energy dispersive x-ray fluorescence technique. Distribution of heavy metal content in all mosses is portrayed using Surfer software. Areas of the highest level of contaminations are highlighted. The results obtained using the principal components analysis revealed that the elements can be grouped into three different components that indirectly reflected three different sources namely anthropogenic factor, vegetation factor, and natural sources (soil dust or substrate) factor. Heavy metals deposited mostly in the distance after 9 km onward to the western part (the average direction of wind blow). V, Cr, Cu, and Hg are believed to have originated from local petrochemical-based industries operated around petroleum industrial area.
  16. Tan KC, Lim HS, Matjafri MZ, Abdullah K
    Environ Monit Assess, 2012 Jun;184(6):3813-29.
    PMID: 21755424 DOI: 10.1007/s10661-011-2226-0
    Atmospheric corrections for multi-temporal optical satellite images are necessary, especially in change detection analyses, such as normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) rationing. Abrupt change detection analysis using remote-sensing techniques requires radiometric congruity and atmospheric correction to monitor terrestrial surfaces over time. Two atmospheric correction methods were used for this study: relative radiometric normalization and the simplified method for atmospheric correction (SMAC) in the solar spectrum. A multi-temporal data set consisting of two sets of Landsat images from the period between 1991 and 2002 of Penang Island, Malaysia, was used to compare NDVI maps, which were generated using the proposed atmospheric correction methods. Land surface temperature (LST) was retrieved using ATCOR3_T in PCI Geomatica 10.1 image processing software. Linear regression analysis was utilized to analyze the relationship between NDVI and LST. This study reveals that both of the proposed atmospheric correction methods yielded high accuracy through examination of the linear correlation coefficients. To check for the accuracy of the equation obtained through linear regression analysis for every single satellite image, 20 points were randomly chosen. The results showed that the SMAC method yielded a constant value (in terms of error) to predict the NDVI value from linear regression analysis-derived equation. The errors (average) from both proposed atmospheric correction methods were less than 10%.
  17. Abdullah L, Khalid ND
    Environ Monit Assess, 2012 Nov;184(11):6957-65.
    PMID: 22160435 DOI: 10.1007/s10661-011-2472-1
    Proper identification of environment's air quality based on limited observations is an essential task to meet the goals of environmental management. Various classification methods have been used to estimate the change of air quality status and health. However, discrepancies frequently arise from the lack of clear distinction between each air quality, the uncertainty in the quality criteria employed and the vagueness or fuzziness embedded in the decision-making output values. Owing to inherent imprecision, difficulties always exist in some conventional methodologies when describing integrated air quality conditions with respect to various pollutants. Therefore, this paper presents two fuzzy multiplication synthetic techniques to establish classification of air quality. The fuzzy multiplication technique empowers the max-min operations in "or" and "and" in executing the fuzzy arithmetic operations. Based on a set of air pollutants data carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, ozone, and particulate matter (PM(10)) collected from a network of 51 stations in Klang Valley, East Malaysia, Sabah, and Sarawak were utilized in this evaluation. The two fuzzy multiplication techniques consistently classified Malaysia's air quality as "good." The findings indicated that the techniques may have successfully harmonized inherent discrepancies and interpret complex conditions. It was demonstrated that fuzzy synthetic multiplication techniques are quite appropriate techniques for air quality management.
  18. Latif MT, Wanfi L, Hanif NM, Roslan RN, Ali MM, Mushrifah I
    Environ Monit Assess, 2012 Mar;184(3):1325-34.
    PMID: 21472384 DOI: 10.1007/s10661-011-2043-5
    This study aims to determine the composition of surfactants in the lake surface microlayer, rainwater, and atmospheric aerosols in the area surrounding Lake Chini, Pahang. Surfactants in the lake surface microlayer were taken from seven different stations around the lake, while samples of rainwater were taken from five different sampling stations. The samples of atmospheric aerosols were collected from the Lake Chini Research Centre which is in close proximity to the lake. The colorimetric analysis method was used to determine the composition and concentration of anionic surfactants as methylene blue active substances (MBAS) and cationic surfactants as disulphine blue active substances (DBAS). The concentration of anionic surfactants, as MBAS, in the surface microlayer ranged between 0.08 to 0.23 μmol L(-1), while the range of concentration of cationic surfactants as DBAS ranged from 0.09 to 0.11 μmol L(-1). The concentration of MBAS was higher in rainwater when compared to surfactants in the lake surface microlayer. The high concentration of surfactants in the fine mode of atmospheric aerosols suggests that natural and anthropogenic sources of surfactants contribute to the atmospheric surfactants.
  19. Sapari P, Ismail BS
    Environ Monit Assess, 2012 Oct;184(10):6347-56.
    PMID: 22089624 DOI: 10.1007/s10661-011-2424-9
    The purpose of this study was to investigate the potential risk of pretilachlor, thiobencarb, and propanil pollutants in the water system of the rice fields of the Muda area. The study included two areas that used different irrigation systems namely non-recycled (N-RCL) and recycled (RCL) water. Regular water sampling was carried out at the drainage canals during the weeding period from September to October 2006 in the main season of 2006/2007 and April-May 2007 in off season of 2007. The herbicides were extracted by the solid-phase extraction method and identified using a GC-ECD. Results showed that the procedure for identification of the three herbicides was acceptable based on the recovery test values, which ranged from 84.1% to 96.9%. A wide distribution pattern where more than 79% of the water samples contained the herbicide pollutants was observed at both the areas where N-RCL and RCL water was supplied for the two seasons. During September to October 2006, high weedicide residue concentration was observed at the N-RCL area and it ranged from 0.05 to 1.00 μg/L for pretilachlor and propanil and 10-25 μg/L for thiobencarb. In the case of the area with RCL water, the weedicide residue ranged from 1 to 5 μg/L for pretilachlor and propanil and 10-25 μg/L for thiobencarb. The highest residue level reached was 25-50, 50-100, and 100-200 μg/L for pretilachlor, propanil, and thiobencarb, respectively. During April to May 2007, high residue concentration frequently occurred at the area supplied with N-RCL irrigation water and it ranged from 0.05 to 1.00, 10 to 25, and 25 to 50 μg/L for pretilachlor, propanil, and thiobencarb, respectively. The highest residue level reached was 25-50 μg/L for pretilachlor and 100-200 μg/L for propanil and thiobencarb. There was an accelerated increase in the concentration of the herbicide residues, with the maximum levels reached at the early period of weedicide application, followed by a sharp decrease after the rice fields were completely covered with the rice crop. During the main season of 2006/2007, the concentration of propanil residue gradually rose, although that of the other herbicides declined.
  20. Latif MT, Baharudin NH, Velayutham P, Awang N, Hamdan H, Mohamad R, et al.
    Environ Monit Assess, 2011 Oct;181(1-4):479-89.
    PMID: 21181256 DOI: 10.1007/s10661-010-1843-3
    The renovation of a building will certainly affect the quality of air in the vicinity of where associated activities were undertaken, this includes the quality of air inside the building. Indoor air pollutants such as particulate matter, heavy metals, and fine fibers are likely to be emitted during renovation work. This study was conducted to determine the concentration of heavy metals, asbestos and suspended particulates in the Biology Building, at the Universiti Kebangsaan, Malaysia (UKM). Renovation activities were carried out widely in the laboratories which were located in this building. A low-volume sampler was used to collect suspended particulate matter of a diameter size less than 10 μm (PM₁₀) and an air sampling pump, fitted with a cellulose ester membrane filter, were used for asbestos sampling. Dust was collected using a small brush and scope. The concentration of heavy metals was determined through the use of inductively coupled plasma-mass spectroscopy and the fibers were counted through a phase contrast microscope. The concentrations of PM₁₀ recorded in the building during renovation action (ranging from 166 to 542 μg m⁻³) were higher than the value set by the Department of Safety and Health for respirable dust (150 μg m⁻³). Additionally, they were higher than the value of PM₁₀ recorded in indoor environments from other studies. The composition of heavy metals in PM₁₀ and indoor dust were found to be dominated by Zn and results also showed that the concentration of heavy metals in indoor dust and PM₁₀ in this study was higher than levels recorded in other similar studies. The asbestos concentration was 0.0038 ± 0.0011 fibers/cc. This was lower than the value set by the Malaysian Department of Occupational, Safety and Health (DOSH) regulations of 0.1 fibers/cc, but higher than the background value usually recorded in indoor environments. This study strongly suggests that renovation issues need to be considered seriously by relevant stakeholders within the university in order to ensure that the associated risks toward humans and indoor environment are eliminated, or where this is not feasible, minimized as far as possible.
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