کنفرانس ملی مهندسی و مدیریت محیط زیست

صفحه اصلی / هفتمین کنفرانس ملی مهندسی و مدیریت محیط زیست

Systematic Assessment of Secondary Contamination in Household Water Treatment Systems: Microbial, Chemical, and Physical Risk Analysis

نویسندگان :

Saeid Hekmatmanesh¹ Amin ٍEttehad² ّFereshteh Azizi³ Javad Sadeghi Hosseinabadi⁴

1- دانشگاه مهرالبرز 2- دانشگاه مهرالبرز 3- دانشگاه مهرالبرز 4- دانشگاه مهرالبرز

کلمات کلیدی :

Secondary contamination،household water treatment systems،drinking water quality،risk assessment،biofilm،microplastics

چکیده :

This study systematically evaluates secondary contamination in household water treatment systems and its implications for drinking water quality and public health. Despite the widespread application of domestic purification technologies such as activated carbon filters, reverse osmosis membranes, ion-exchange resins, and electrochemical devices, recent evidence suggests that these systems may act as secondary sources of microbial, chemical, and physical contamination under conditions of inadequate maintenance or prolonged operation. A systematic literature review was conducted using peer-reviewed studies published between 2023 and 2025, retrieved from Web of Science, Scopus, ScienceDirect, and PubMed databases. Following a structured screening process, 42 studies from an initial pool of 128 were included for analysis. Data were extracted and categorized into microbial, chemical, and physical contamination groups, and analyzed using descriptive and comparative approaches based on WHO and NSF/ANSI standards. The results indicate that biofilm formation, delayed filter replacement, membrane degradation, and low-quality materials are the primary drivers of secondary contamination. These mechanisms contribute to elevated microbial loads, release of heavy metals, generation of microplastics, and deterioration of physicochemical water quality. The findings further reveal that insufficient maintenance practices and limited user awareness significantly increase exposure risks. Mitigation strategies including standardized maintenance protocols, certified filtration components, periodic monitoring, and user education are recommended to reduce secondary contamination and ensure safe drinking water quality.