The widespread of plastic piping applications in water distribution systems and home plumbing network has brought many health concern dues to the water quality deterioration from the occurrence of leachable organic pollutants into tape water. Among these pollutants, volatile organic molecules are believed to migrate easily from the popular polyethylene piping. This study aimed to screen the occurrence of volatile organic compounds leachable from plastic pipes comprising home water network system in residential homes located in Medina Al-Munawarah city. For this purpose, a total of 28 water samples were collected from different houses of various ages. The presence of Ethyl methacrylate, 1,2Dichloroethane, Dibromochloromethane, 1,2,3Trichloroethene, Xylene, pyridine ,1,1,2,2Tetrachloroethane, Benzyl chloride, 1,2Dichlorobenzene and 2Picoline were analysed. Although some of the levels of the pollutants studied were within the allowed limit, however, the level of 1,2Dichloroethane, 1,2,3Trichloroethane and 1,2Dichlorobenzene exceeded the pe rmissible levels in 62.07%, 10.34% and 13.79% of homes, respectively. The leachability study that was conducted to correlate volatile organic contaminants to plastic pipes, indicated that all the volatile compounds were migrated from the widely used polyethylene pipes. However, apart from benzyl chloride and 1, 2 dichloroethane which were detected in low levels, the other compounds not being found in source water. This initial screening confirmed that the plastic piping could be considerable source for the contamination of tape water with volatile organic compounds.

In recent years, the interest in waste water treatment increased to preserve the environment. The objective of this study is the removal of lead and cadmium ions from aqueous solution by treated Phragmites biomass (TPB). TPB was characterized by using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDS) which indicates the presence of functional groups that may be responsible of metal adsorption such as hydroxyl, carbonyl, sulfonate and carboxylate. Characterization by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and surface area analysis using the Brunauer–Emmett–Teller method (BET) illustrated that TPB is nonporous with a small surface area. The influences of various experimental factors were investigated; the proposed method recommended the extraction of Pb+2 and Cd+2 metal ions by TPB at pH 5.0. A contact time of 60 and 45 min was required for the adsorption 50 mL (50 ppm) Pb+2 and Cd+2 respectively to reach equilibrium when 0.10 g TPB was used. The optimum TPB dosage was 0.20 g for adsorption both metal ions when adsorbate solution was 50 mL (50 ppm). Particle sizes of 0.125–0.212 mm showed the best metal ion removal of both metal ions. Thermodynamic study illustrated that both metal ions correlate more with Langmuir isotherm. Furthermore, chemisorption of Pb+2 and Cd+2 on TPB was more likely according to kinetic study data.

a b s t r a c tDrinking water is found contaminated with various volatile organic compounds (VOCs) at supply end. Chlorinated polyvinyl chloride (CPVC) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) pipes used to supply drinking water may be the possible source of the contamination. In this study, leaching ability of VOCs from CPVC and PVC was tested under controlled experimental conditions and correlated with real water samples. For experimental design, nine polymeric plastics in Saudi Arabia were purchased locally and incubated with pure water for leaching study. A total of 58 tap water samples were collected from buildings and villas within the city of Madinah Al-Munawarrah and analyzed for the targeted compounds including benzene, -trichloropropane, phenol, benzyl chloride, 2-nitrophenol, 2,4-dichloropropane, and 2,4,6-trichlorophenol. Analytical results show that volatile and phenolic contaminants released by tested pipes increased significantly over incubation time. The quantification of the targeted compounds in Milli-Q water samples incubated in pipes in laboratoryscale experiment conformed that these contaminants are more likely to be migrated from PVC plastic pipes comprising tap water. The levels of some contaminants were above the limits stated by World Health Organization, while others were within the allowable levels. Their accumulation during longer contact time can potentially increase the exposure to harmful constituents in water and causes health problems. The results also indicated a correlation between the source of contamination and level of pollutants.

It is well established that the use of synthetic material in water pipes significantly affects the quality of domestic water, especially trace organics that are leached through with the flow of water. In the present study, the migration of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from water pipes manufactured of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) has been investigated using static laboratory conditions and in residential areas. The contact of deionized water with various PVC pipes for three successive test periods of 24, 48, and 72 h duration has been made. Twenty water samples were collected from houses within Medina Al-Munawarah residential area and were analyzed by using solid phase extraction, followed by high resolution gas chromatography with flame ionized detector (GC-FID). The presence of carbon tetrachloride (CTC), toluene, chloroform, styrene, o-xylene, bromoform (BF), dibromomethane (DBM), cis-1,3-dichloropropane (Cis-1,3-DCP), and trans-1,3-dichloropropane (Trans-1,3-DCP) was initially confirmed. The most frequent contaminants found were DBM, CTC, and toluene that were monitored in 55%, 50%, and 45% of samples, respectively. The levels of CTC, Cis-1,3-DCP, and Trans-1,3-DCP were found to exceed the World Health Organization (WHO) limits in 50%, 20%, and 20% of samples, respectively. The migration test indicated that nine of the targeted contaminants occur in a double distilled water sample incubated in pipe in laboratory level experiment. This implies that these components are more likely to migrate from PVC pipe in home plumbing systems network.