RU2237895C2 - Method of ecological monitoring of buildings - Google Patents

Abstract

FIELD: investigating or analyzing materials.

SUBSTANCE: method includes collecting dust, sampling construction materials, and other objects from different places inside a building, investigating the samples, determining sources, kind, and intensity of toxicity, and concluding the possibility of building servicing.

EFFECT: reduced cost of monitoring.

5 cl, 1 tbl

Description

 The invention relates to the field of ecology, biology, medicine, veterinary medicine, sanitary examination and can be used for environmental monitoring of residential and / or production facilities (buildings and structures) in order to determine their toxicity.

Harmful chemicals that are often present in residential and / or industrial buildings and structures and adversely affect biological organisms (humans, animals) contain:

- in building and finishing materials, in furniture, in various detergents and disinfectants, in artificial fabrics, etc .;

- in preparations for the care of indoor and outdoor plants and the interior of an apartment and a summer residence, usually stored in the pantry, on the loggia or on the balcony, in the kitchen and in the bathroom;

- in gases from household appliances and in concentrated food vapors in the kitchen;

- in the waste of man-caused activity (in the exhaust gases of nearby vehicles, air transport, railway transport, in emissions from nearby industrial enterprises, testing stations and landfills, in fumes from nearby storage facilities and fueling stations, etc.) that enter buildings and structures with dust through windows and doors;

- in mineral fertilizers, pesticides, fungicides, etc., used by humans in agriculture (which are often stored in nearby warehouses, or scattered in nearby fields).

It should be noted that there is a special danger of a person staying for a long time (living, working) in buildings and structures of an old building, the construction and numerous repairs of which have not yet applied modern environmental and sanitary standards and maximum permissible concentration of harmful substances, and which, due to decay and aging, have increased dust formation .

In old buildings, very harmful mercury vapors are often also present in large numbers, since mercury from broken thermometers and other mercury devices usually accumulates in the floor slots of these buildings over a long period of operation. Especially there are a lot of mercury vapors in old laboratories, hospitals, polyclinics, medical posts, in physical and chemical rooms of educational institutions, etc.

Currently, for technical and economic reasons, they do not conduct environmental assessments (monitoring) of all residential, administrative, industrial buildings in settlements for the presence or absence of a dangerous total (integral) effect of all harmful toxic factors in this territory. The State Sanitary and Epidemiological Surveillance and Ecology Services, instead of a large-scale one, conduct only a random check of the presence or absence in the air of several expected specific harmful chemicals, and only at large existing industrial enterprises using or producing these harmful substances, and at facilities near them. This is due to the complexity of the instruments and technology of the assessment, the complexity, the high cost of money and time for such an extensive comprehensive environmental assessment, since each type of harmful effect (toxicant) requires its own operator, its own sophisticated device and its own sophisticated technology. Checking all buildings and objects for the presence or absence in them of all possible harmful effects by known technologies and devices for the above reason is almost impossible.

The lack of environmental monitoring of all residential and industrial buildings and premises in order to determine the total (integral) toxicity of the environment inside them leads to the fact that the population (especially in large settlements) is exposed to a strong total exposure to a large number of toxic substances, gets sick with various diseases, gets disability, even dying without understanding the causes of their illnesses.

The treating doctors, not having the necessary information about the types and quantity of the dangerous effects of numerous toxicants, determine the disease in their patients almost blindly and “treat” them from secondary, or even from incorrectly diagnosed diseases, often worsening their condition useless, sometimes even harmful current situation with drugs.

To all of the above, it is necessary to add that the norms of maximum permissible concentrations (MPC) of harmful single substances for humans have been determined by specialists of different countries using different methods and different devices, and therefore each country has established and uses different MPCs, which sometimes differ by a factor of ten.

In any residential and industrial buildings, there is almost always not one, but several harmful toxic substances. At present, there are no mechanical devices and technologies that determine the type, quantity and admissibility of the total effect of several harmful factors at once (for example, at least several toxic substances without taking into account radiation, vibration, noise).

The total effect of several harmful factors present even in small doses (for example, within the currently valid MPC for each of them) can be much stronger and more dangerous than the effects of one harmful factor in a large dose (outside the MPC). As a result of the total effect of several harmful factors, even in small doses, a person, it seems to be unclear where from, receives a bouquet of various diseases, the root cause of which no doctor can determine and cannot cure with any medication (without eliminating this harmful total effect of several factors).

This confirms the fact that it has long been known from life practice that the best cure for all diseases for a person (of course, at a certain stage of the disease) is a vacation with a trip to another locality - to a village, a sanatorium, fishing, hunting, cottage, etc. .d. Improving the health status of this person, even while leaving his permanent place of residence and work, comes precisely from the fact that he is getting rid of the constant total exposure to several harmful toxic factors that have been constantly acting on his body at work and at home for a long time. the body was at the limit of its ability to resist this action.

Currently, an increasingly widespread method for assessing the integrated toxicity of the environment and materials by testing living microorganisms.

A known method for assessing the toxicity of liquids using two-day Daphnia (Aut. St. USSR No. 1234770, G 01 N 33/18).

A known method for determining the biological activity of drugs using paramecium (Aut. St. USSR No. 1623426, G 01 N 33/15).

A known method for determining the biological activity of biological products using the ciliates-tetrachimene pyrimiformis (Methodological recommendations. N.N. Maximyuk, L.Ya. Telishevskaya, edited by A.P. Prostyakova. - M .; 1996. Determination of the biological activity of biological products using test culture of ciliates tetrachimen pyrimiformis and test strains of microorganisms).

There is a method of determining the biological assessment of animal products and feeds using the pyrimiformis ciliates (Methodological recommendations for the biological evaluation of animal products and feeds using the test organism tetrachimen pyrimiformis. VASKHNIL, - M .; 1972).

Known methods for determining the biological activity of chemical compounds using green unicellular algae (The use of ciliates, tetrachimene pyrimiformis as a test object in biological research in agriculture. Overview. VASKHNIL. - M .; 1978. The use of ciliary infusoria for high-quality rapid assessment of food technology and feed products in the Far North. - Tyumen., 1979).

There is a method of monitoring objects by selecting adaptogen substances using the ciliates-paramecium caudatum, which provides for the selection of substances on test organisms and their subsequent evaluation on white mice (Methodological recommendations for determining the biological value of agricultural products. VASKHNIL, Southern Branch. - Kiev, 1981 )

Other methods are known for evaluating the biological activity and toxicity of media, materials, objects using various living cells and microorganisms as a test (French Patent No. 2141006, G 01 N 33/00, UK Patent No. 1358760, C 12 K 1/06, RF Patent No. 2125261, MKI G 01 N 33/00, etc.).

A common drawback of the above analogs is that each of them is designed to evaluate the substances of the tested object only by any one biological and chemical characteristic (for example, toxicity or bactericidal, fungicidal, stimulating activity), it takes a long time, it is used as test organisms for each operation and / or for each toxicant, a special separate culture of microorganisms and / or a special separate technology.

A known method for determining the integral toxicity of aqueous media, industrial wastewater, drilling fluids, newly synthesized chemicals, based on the fixation by photometric method of reducing the motor activity of the test culture (living microorganisms) from exposure to toxic substances.

The disadvantages of this method is the complexity and high cost of time and money for environmental assessment of the environment of buildings and structures, since it involves (like all of the above analogues) taking and testing for toxicity a large number of samples of all materials in the building under examination.

A known method of environmental monitoring of a settlement, including its mapping, statistical estimation of the incidence of the population, the identification of live zones and objects containing harmful chemical factors by living testing microorganisms, using samples of materials from all objects in these areas and objects (application No. 2002103430/20, MKI G 09 In the 29/00, from 05.02.2002, the prototype).

The disadvantage of this method is the complexity and high cost of time and money for environmental assessment of the environment of buildings and structures, since it involves (like all of the above analogues) taking and testing separately the toxicity of a large number of samples of all available media and materials (air , soil, water, materials of buildings, objects inside it).

The aim of the proposed invention is to eliminate the above disadvantages and ensure quick and high-quality environmental monitoring of buildings and structures by detecting by living microorganisms of one type of general integrated toxicity of the environment in them (without taking and studying a large number of special samples of all the environments in the building, building materials, materials used equipment and items in it).

This goal is achieved by the fact that, first, living microorganisms laboratory investigate the dust collected from certain places in the building, according to the results of this study, areas with dangerous integral toxicity of the internal environment are identified, after which samples of materials from building parts, industrial and household items are taken at these sites, and laboratory research of these samples and / or standard devices used in the Sanitary-Epidemiological Surveillance, reveal the sources, type, magnitude of toxicity.

Dust samples to identify the integral toxicity of the internal environment of the building under examination are taken from the floor surface and / or from the surface of objects in each isolated area and / or in each isolated room of the building in separate sealed containers of the same chemically neutral material, a separate brush and / or a separate vacuum cleaner, in an amount sufficient to conduct high-quality laboratory research.

In a laboratory study of dust, laboratory work and control containers of the same material and volume, for example glass tubes, are filled equally with an aqueous solution of nutrients of the same composition, the same amount of dust collected in the building is placed in working containers, they can withstand the required time, for example, at least 24 hours, after which at the same time the same amount of the same testing living microorganisms is introduced into the working and control tanks, they are kept under the same external conditions in during the required equal time, and by the difference in the state of the testing microorganisms in the workers and in the control tanks, the integral toxicity of the dust, and therefore the internal environment of the building under examination, is evaluated.

The integrated dust toxicity of the building under investigation can be determined by:

- semen of animals, for example cattle, which is placed in a working container together with dust and an aqueous solution of a nutrient medium (for example, glucose and sodium citrate), and in a control tank only with an aqueous solution of a nutrient medium (without dust), after which they are counted the number of moving spermatozoa in the working and control tanks with a photometer, for example, a device of the type “AT-4 Toxicity Analyzer”, and translate the difference of this quantity into conventional units of toxicity;

- free and fast-living ciliates, which are placed in a working container together with dust and an aqueous solution of a nutrient medium (for example, a decoction of mixed grass hay mixed with sodium chloride and / or potassium chloride and / or magnesium chloride and / or sodium bicarbonate, and / or calcium chloride), and in the control tank only with an aqueous solution of the nutrient medium (without dust), after which the number of moving ciliates in the working and control tanks is calculated using a photometer, for example, a Biotester-2 device, and the difference is translated quantities in arbitrary units of toxicity;

- luminescent biosensors, for example, the Ekolyum series, which are placed in a working tank with the studied dust and with distilled water, and in the control tank with only distilled water (without dust), after which the intensity of bioluminescence of the biosensors in the working and control tanks is estimated a luminometer, for example, a device of the Biotox-10 type, and the difference in this intensity is converted into conventional units of toxicity;

- any other living microorganisms that respond to all toxicants present in the building under study.

If the difference in the condition of the testing microorganisms in the workers and in the control tanks exceeds the relevant established norms, the building under investigation is considered a toxic hazard, decide on the possibility and expediency of its operation, as well as on the need and timing of work to neutralize and / or eliminate sources of toxicity.

After completion of work on neutralization and / or elimination of toxic sources in the building under study, the building under investigation is cleaned of old dust, the required time is waited until a new dust layer is formed, samples are taken in the same places and using the same technology and the integral toxicity of the new dust is determined. Based on the results of a survey of the integral toxicity of new dust, a decision is made on the possibility of further operation of the building being inspected or on the need for additional work to find, neutralize and / or eliminate sources of toxicity.

The set of essential features of the proposed method exhibits new properties, namely, that it allows to improve the quality, reduce the time and money spent on monitoring and ensuring the environmental safety of residential and / or industrial buildings due to the implementation of these works in separate successive stages:

- the first stage is the identification of environmentally hazardous objects, that is, the identification of buildings (plots and / or premises in the building) that have integrated toxicity of the internal environment from samples of dust accumulated during operation;

- the second stage - identification of the source and type of toxicity in already identified environmentally hazardous buildings by samples of materials of building structures, equipment, furniture, etc .;

- the third stage - the neutralization and / or elimination of identified sources of toxicity in environmentally hazardous buildings;

- the fourth stage is a control check of the effectiveness of work to neutralize and / or eliminate sources of toxicity (confirmation of the absence of integrated toxicity of the internal environment in buildings of environmental hazard) using new dust samples.

Thus, the set of essential features of the proposed method meets the criteria of “significant differences” and “novelty”.

Environmental monitoring of a residential and / or industrial building (stationary object) by the proposed method is carried out as follows.

The building under examination is divided into sections and / or rooms that are relatively autonomous from each other (for example, rooms, halls, workshops, which are isolated from each other by partitions, walls, windows, doors, etc.). Samples of dust accumulated during the operation of the building are collected from “secluded” places of the floor, walls, and upper parts of furniture in these areas and / or in these rooms. It is advisable that the accumulation time of this dust is as long as possible (for example, several weeks or even months, years), in order to collect as many harmful constituent substances that enter the building under study during its operation (external dust penetrating into the building through windows and windows, dirt from the street, brought into the building on shoes, dust from wearing building structures, wallpaper, furniture, dust from imported and stored substances and objects, impregnation of this dust with various street, kitchen and schimisya gases and so on. d.). The sample size of this dust should be large enough for high-quality primary and repeated (duplicating if necessary) laboratory analysis.

Dust samples in each examined area are collected in the same separate sealed containers (containers) from the same chemically neutral material, for example, in glass tubes, with a separate device (for example, a brush, scraper, vacuum cleaner) so as not to transfer the toxic substance from one part of the building to another, and for the shortest possible time, for example for several days, carry out its laboratory research by living microorganisms on the subject of integrated toxicity.

Exposure of collected dust samples for a long time is not desirable, since harmful chemicals can decompose and lose their harmfulness, which will lead to an incorrect assessment of the toxicity of the examined object.

For laboratory research, the same amount of collected dust is placed in containers of the same material and volume (for example, glass tubes), equally filled with the same aqueous solution of a nutrient medium (containers with dust - working containers), shake them well and stand for some time ( for example, at least 24 hours) for dissolving toxic substances in dust in an aqueous solution. Dust samples are not placed in some containers with an aqueous solution of the nutrient medium and they are used as control samples for comparative analysis (dust-free containers - control tanks). After preparing the working and control tanks, the same number of identical living microorganisms (toxicity indicators) is introduced into them and maintained under the same external conditions (temperature, lighting, gravity, vibration, orientation by parts of the world, electromagnetic field, etc.) for the same time .

As microorganisms - indicators of toxic substances, animal sperm (for example, cattle sperm) can be used, which sufficiently adequately (in comparison with the human body) reacts to the integral (total) toxic effect of harmful chemicals found in the studied dust. Granules of bovine sperm frozen in liquid nitrogen vapor are obtained at artificial insemination stations and stored in Dewar vessels filled with liquid nitrogen. The basis of the proposed methodology for studying the integral toxicity of dust is a change in the motor activity of spermatozoa from the number and time of exposure to toxic substances in the studied dust.

As a breeding ground for cattle sperm, an aqueous glucose solution with sodium citrate can be used.

The number of rapidly moving (i.e. living, non-oppressed) spermatozoa in the working and control tanks, the difference in this number can be determined automatically, for example, by a light beam passing through an aqueous solution of the nutrient medium (optical probe), which decreases its intensity when it intersects with a moving sperm, which is converted by a photodiode into an electrical signal and recorded with a photometer, for example, an instrument of the type “AT-4 Toxicity Analyzer”.

The resulting difference in the number of moving spermatozoa is then converted into conventional units of toxicity.

The integrated dust toxicity of the examined building can be determined by freely and quickly living ciliates.

As a nutrient medium for ciliates, an aqueous solution of decoction of mixed hay is used in a mixture with sodium chloride and / or potassium chloride and / or magnesium chloride and / or sodium bicarbonate and / or calcium chloride.

The number of rapidly moving (that is, live, not oppressed) ciliates in the working and control tanks, the difference in this number can be determined automatically using a photometer, for example, with an AT-4 Toxicity Analyzer instrument (similar to counting the number of moving sperm cells).

The resulting difference in the number of moving ciliates is then converted into conventional units of toxicity.

The degree of decrease in the motor activity of the testing microorganisms depends on the concentration of the toxicant, and this dependence has a pronounced linear character for various chemicals.

The integrated dust toxicity of the building under investigation can be determined by lyophilized cultures of luminescent bacteria of a genetically engineered strain (for example, biosensors of the “Ekolyum” series) placed in distilled water. Luminescent bacteria optimally combine various types of sensitive structures responsible for the generation of biodeterioration (cell membrane, metabolic metabolism chains, genetic apparatus) with expressivity, an objective and quantitative nature of the response of a holistic system to the integral effect of toxicants. This is ensured by the fact that luminescent bacteria contain the enzyme luciferase, which efficiently transforms the energy of chemical bonds of vital metabolites into a light signal at a level accessible for rapid and quantitative measurements.

The bioluminescence intensity of biosensors in working and control tanks can be estimated automatically using luminometers, for example, a Biotox-10 device.

The resulting difference in the intensity of bioluminescence of the biosensors is then converted into conventional units of toxicity.

The combination of a biochemical sensor with modern electronic equipment makes it possible to detect with high reliability extremely small amounts of toxic compounds and their mixtures.

If there is a difference in the state of the testing microorganisms in the working and control tanks (differences in the motor activity of sperm, ciliates, differences in the intensity of bioluminescence of biosensors, etc.), the building under examination (site, place) is classified as a toxic hazard. After identifying toxic sites and places of the building under examination, they take samples of materials of building structures, equipment, furniture, etc., and laboratory tests of these samples and / or standard devices available in the Sanitary Inspection determine the source of toxicity (if necessary, the type of toxicity) and decide on the possibility of operating the building under examination or on the need and urgency of carrying out work to ensure its environmental safety.

After carrying out work to neutralize and / or eliminate the identified sources of toxicity, the surveyed areas and places of the building are freed from old dust, wait a while (for example, several days or weeks) until a layer of new dust is accumulated in them, sufficient for laboratory research, take the same technologies, in the same places of new dust sampling, and by the same technology, by the same living microorganisms in the laboratory determine its integral toxicity.

Based on the results of these laboratory studies, they decide on the possibility of further operation of the building under examination or on the need for additional work to identify the remaining sources of toxicity, their neutralization and / or elimination.

The proposed method was tested using cattle sperm and the “AT-4 Toxicity Analyzer” device in the study of environmental toxicity in residential apartments of the city of Voronezh. Testing results are shown in table 1.

As follows from table 1, the application of the proposed monitoring method made it possible to quickly and without large expenditures of time and money to identify objects (residential apartments) in which toxic substances harmful to human health are present, exceeding the MPC.

The first stage of work on the proposed method in more than 50% of the apartments surveyed was found to be hazardous to human health, integrated toxicity (outside the permissible norm of 70-120%).

The second stage of work on the proposed method, it was found that in 20% of the identified environmentally hazardous apartments are overstated the standards GN 2.1.6.695-98 for:

- phenol (present 0.012-0.048 mg / m ³ when MAC = 0.01 / 0.003;

- formaldehyde (present 0.013-0.042 mg / m ³ when MAC = 0.035 / 0.003;

- nitrogen dioxide (present 0,097-0,278 mg / m ³ when MPC = 0,085 / 0,04.

The third stage of work on the proposed method was carried out activities that virtually eliminated the toxicity of apartments.

The fourth stage of work on the proposed method was confirmed the effectiveness of the measures taken to eliminate the toxicity of apartments.

The proposed phased identification of initially integrally toxic sites and places in the building (using dust samples), and then the identification of the type of toxicity and sources of toxicity in them (using samples of building materials, equipment, furniture, etc.), gives a very large saving time and money on environmental monitoring of objects, allows you to quickly and efficiently conduct environmental monitoring of all buildings in all settlements and ensure their environmental safety.

Claims (6)

1. A method of environmental monitoring of a residential and / or industrial building by determining its toxicity, characterized in that they take dust samples from the building, mix them in an aqueous solution of nutrients, place a test object in the resulting mixture, and dangerous changes are detected by changing the state of the test object by integral toxicity, using standard technologies, determine the type, size and sources of hazardous toxicity on them and neutralize and / or eliminate them, and then again collect samples using the same technology dust in these areas and re-determine their integral toxicity, by the value of which they judge the environmental safety of the building and the possibility of its operation. 2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that the integral toxicity of the building is determined by dust samples from each isolated area taken from the surface of objects in the same amount sufficient to conduct a qualitative study, placed in separate containers from the same chemically neutral material, for example glass. 3. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that the integral toxicity of the building is determined by comparing the state of the test objects after they are aged in the same material and volume of working and control containers, for example, in glass tubes equally filled with the same aqueous solution of the same nutrients why they put the same amount of dust taken from one separate section of the building into each working tank, maintain their required time, for example, at least 24 hours, after which they are simultaneously introduced into the working e and a reference capacitance equal number of identical test objects, kept them at identical ambient conditions for a specified time, and the difference state test objects in the workplace and in the control vessels determine the value of the integral toxicity surveyed building sites. 4. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that as a test object for determining the integral toxicity of a building, spermatozoa, for example, cattle, are used, which are placed in working containers containing dust from separate sections of the building and an aqueous solution of a nutrient medium, for example glucose and sodium citrate, and in a control tank containing only an aqueous solution of the same nutrient medium, after the required exposure, count the number of moving sperm cells in workers and in control tanks with a photometer, For example, the device type "toxicity analyzer AT-4", and according to known methods translate the difference in the amount of conventional units of the building surveyed areas of toxicity. 5. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that as a test object for determining the integral toxicity of the building use ciliates that are placed in working containers containing dust from separate sections of the building and an aqueous solution of a nutrient medium, for example, a decoction of mixed grass hay in a mixture with sodium chloride, and / or potassium chloride, and / or magnesium chloride, and / or sodium bicarbonate, and / or calcium chloride, and in a control container containing only an aqueous solution of the same nutrient medium, after the required exposure, count t he moving infusoria in working and reference photometer containers, e.g., device type "Biotester-2", and in known manner is transferred between this amount in arbitrary units building surveyed sites of toxicity. 6. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that as a test object for determining the integral toxicity of a building, luminescent biosensors, for example, the Ekolyum series, are used, which are placed in working containers containing dust from separate sections of the building and distilled water, and in the control tank containing only distilled water, after the required exposure, the intensity of bioluminescence of the biosensors in the working and control tanks is assessed using a luminometer, for example, a Biotox-10 device, and using the known method Cams converted bioluminescence intensity difference obtained in arbitrary units building surveyed sites of toxicity.