Occurrence and phylogenetic analysis of Pseudanabaena sp. producing 2-methylisoborneol in drinking water source of South Korea.

We investigated the abundance of Pseudanabaena species and the concentration of the monoterpene 2-methylisoborneol (2-MIB) from July to October at three sampling sites in South Korea. To identify the main cause of 2-MIB occurrence in drinking water source, we characterized and performed a phylogenetic analysis of the 2-MIB synthase gene. Pseudanabaena was the dominant cyanobacterium (68%-100%) among the samples. At all three sampling sites, a strong positive correlation was detected between 2-MIB concentrations and Pseudanabaena cell numbers. A phylogenetic analysis of 222 MIB sequences isolated from the water samples showed that all of the clones were affiliated with the Pseudanabaena MIB synthase gene, demonstrating that the 2-MIB in the Han River drinking water source was produced by Pseudanabaena sp. Using a clone of the 2-MIB gene, network-based analysis and unweighted pair group method with arithmetic mean analysis were used to examine temporal and spatial variation in the 2-MIB concentration and Pseudanabaena abundance. The network analysis showed greater temporal than spatial similarity among the 2-MIB gene clones. Together, our results demonstrate that Pseudanabaena was the main producer of 2-MIB. These findings provide important information for odour management in drinking water source.

Relationships between water quality parameters in rivers and lakes: BOD5, COD, NBOPs, and TOC.

Biological oxygen demand (BOD5) or chemical oxygen demand (COD) analysis is widely used to evaluate organic pollutants in water systems as well as the efficiency of wastewater treatment plants. However, both analysis methods have restrictions such as being insensitive, imprecise, time-consuming, and the production of chemical waste. Therefore, total organic carbon (TOC) analysis for organic pollutants has been considered for an alternative analysis instead of BOD5 or COD. Several studies have investigated the replacement of BOD5 or COD with TOC in wastewater samples; however, few studies have investigated the relationships between water quality parameters in rivers and lakes. Therefore, this study evaluated the relationships between BOD5, COD, or NBOPs and TOC by the analysis of national water quality monitoring data of rivers and lakes for 5 years. High correlation coefficients (r) of 0.87 and 0.66 between BOD5 and TOC (p < 0.05) were obtained for rivers and lakes, respectively, and strong correlation coefficients (r) of 0.93 and 0.75 were observed between COD and TOC (p < 0.05) for rivers and lakes, respectively. The correlation coefficient (r) between NBOPs and TOC was 0.93 for rivers and 0.72 for lakes. The coefficients of determination (R 2) were 0.75 and 0.44 between BOD5 and TOC for rivers and lakes as well as were 0.87 and 0.57 between COD and TOC for rivers and lakes, respectively. The coefficient of determination (R 2) between NBOPs and TOC was 0.73 for rivers and 0.52 for lakes.

Stable isotope on the evaluation of water quality in the presence of WWTPs in rivers.

We investigated the distribution of nitrogen compounds in Han River as well as two tributaries of Tancheon and Jungrangcheon. Particularly, we observed the significant releases of NH4 (+)-N from effluent of wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) in two tributaries that has resulted in the increases of ammonium nitrogen (NH4 (+)-N) in Han River as well as in Tancheon and Jungrangcheon. Due to the increases of NH4 (+)-N in two tributaries, the larger distribution of δ(15)N-NH4 (+) was observed than those of δ(15)N-NO3 (-) in downstream. We calculated the contribution rate of ammonium nitrogen and nitrate nitrogen from effluent to downstream according to the results of stable isotope. The contribution rates of δ(15)N-NH4 (+) from effluent to downstream were significant that ranged between 53 and 100 % in Tancheon and between 27 and 100 % in Jungrangcheon. While the contribution of δ(15)N-NO3 (-) was not significant in Tancheon, it was occasionally observed in Jungrangcheon. These results demonstrated that WWTPs are the major sources of NH4 (+)-N in two tributaries, which caused the distinguishable stable isotope of δ(15)N-NH4 (+). Therefore, the stable isotope of δ(15)N-NH4 (+) could be a useful parameter or tracer for the evaluation of NH4-N released from WWTPs in rivers.