Browsing by Author "Sofuoglu, S.C."

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A Proposal of Indoor Air Pollutant Limit Values for Turkish Schools Based on a Literature Review of Emission Sources, Concentrations, Health Effects, and Limits/Guidelines
(Elsevier B.V., 2025) Sofuoglu, S.C.; Arı, A.; Ylmaz Civan, M.; Dumanoğlu, Y.; Güllü, G.; Menteşe, S.; Toksoy, M.
Limit Values Working Group (LVWG) was established under Indoor Air Quality Committee of Turkish Climatization Assembly of the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Türkiye. LVWG was tasked with reviewing the pertinent literature on indoor emission sources, concentrations in schools, health effects, and existing limit and guideline values to identify the indoor air pollutants that need to be addressed and to be recommended a limit value for Turkish schools. LVWG members took responsibilities based on their individual expertise. The recommendations were concluded in consensus decision-making after in-group discussions. A total of 19 pollutants/pollutant groups (carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, ozone, radon, volatile organic compounds, formaldehyde, trihalomethanes, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, polychlorinated biphenyls, brominated flame retardants, organophosphate esters, phthalate esters, particulate matter, bioaerosols (bacteria, fungi, viruses), microbial pollutants and allergens) were reviewed. Limit values were recommended for 11 pollutants/groups based on the current knowledge, i.e. pollutant health effects and indoor air concentrations taking into account the exposure duration, the prevalence of existing limit/guideline values and the health effects on which they are based. © 2025 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
An Effect of Climate Change: Increased Health Risks Due To Arsenic in Drinking Water - the Case of İzmir, Turkey
(Nova Science Publishers, Inc., 2010) Sofuoglu, S.C.; Sofuoglu, A.
Our previous research (Kavcar et al., 2009) has shown that tap water arsenic concentrations in the City of İzmir, Turkey, was of concern as arsenic in 15 of 37 (41%) of the tap water samples (collected in the year 2004) exceeded the Turkish drinking water standard of 10 µg/L (TMH, 2005). The median, mean, and 95th percentile concentrations were 2.9, 12.0, and 42.0 µg/L, respectively. The violations of the standard were in three districts, i.e., Bornova, Çiğli, and Karşıyaka, that were served primarily by groundwater sources. The concentrations in other districts were below the standard. However, concentrations less than the standard may be associated with a carcinogenic risk that is greater than the acceptable risk level of one in ten thousand depending on the level of exposure, mainly, daily drinking water intake rate and body weight. This was the case for the City of İzmir as lifetime carcinogenic risks exceeded the acceptable level for 19 of the 37 participants (51%). As the result of the above cited research, the local government has shut-down a number of groundwater wells as a mitigation measure. In turn, the concentrations were brought down to <15 µg/L in the three districts by increasing the proportion of surface water supplied from Tahtalı Reservoir. However, climate change has been affecting the region. The water volume in the resevoir was dropped below 5% in 2008. As a result, the arsenic contaminated wells were brought back into the service, causing a sharp increase in the arsenic concentrations, this time all around the city, measured by the local health authority. İzmirians who can not afford to buy bottled drinking water are (to be) exposed to arsenic concentrations of 30-40 µg/L until the planned treatment plant is in place. A probablistic risk assessment was conducted to estimate the human health risks for the scenario of no available surface water, in which no treatment and treatment with 90% and 99% efficiencies were assumed for the arsenic contaminated groundwater, based on the concentrations measured by the local health authority. The median carcinogenic risk estimated for the scenario of no treatment for the metropolitan area was approximately eight times the median value estimated when the main source water was Tahtalı Reservoir, a surface water dam. © 2008 Nova Science Publishers, Inc.