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Changes in water quality in outdoor swimming pools and swimming areas during the summer season
MARŠÁLKOVÁ, Alena
Good quality of bathing water is an increasingly important factor taken into account when we choose summer vacations, a place to stay for a weekend or a weekend trip destination. In the Czech Republic, bathing waters may be divided according to the legal status into outdoor swimming pools, surface waters used for bathing (swimming areas), other water surfaces or artificial pools. In my thesis I dealt only with outdoor swimming pools and swimming areas. The difference between them lies in the fact that outdoor swimming pools have their own operators who monitor water quality and provide other services in the waterside. Usually there is a fee charged. Swimming areas have no operators and water quality monitoring is placed under the responsibility of regional public health authorities. In the Czech Republic, at present, 188 outdoor swimming pools and swimming areas have been monitored on a regular basis each bathing season. For my research I chose four sites located in the South Bohemian region and four sites in the South Moravian region. For each of these eight sites, I collected results of laboratory analyses, including categories of water quality in bathing seasons of the past five years, it means from the year 2005. With these obtained data I assessed the water quality development both during the bathing season of 2009 and its evolution over the past five years. On the basis of particular categories of water quality I also tried to compare water quality in the South Bohemian and the South Moravian region and also to compare water quality between individual sampling points in one locality. Another aim was to evaluate some measures and interventions made in order to improve water quality. I focused particularly on the pond Olšovec in the South Moravian region and the VN (water reservoir) Orlík in the South Bohemian region. The results do not show any prominent changes in water quality both during the bathing season 2009 and over the past five years. Pronounced fluctuations in water quality were recorded only at certain locations during the 2007 bathing season. Not even between individual regions significant differences in water quality were found. The proportion of individual water quality categories in the two regions did not differ by more than 4%. We can therefore say that water quality in selected localities in the South Bohemian and South Moravian regions is comparable. As for certain measures and interventions implemented to improve water quality, it is important to focus also on the wider neighborhood of the locality, because it could also be a source of substances worsening water quality.
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Chemical hazards of contamination of foodstuffs and dishes
MARŠÁLKOVÁ, Alena
The bachelor thesis deals with the risks of chemical contamination of food and possible health risks for the consumers. Firstly, there is a general outline of foreign substances including the additives, which are added to foods intentionally, and contaminants. The contaminants are viewed as undesirable substances which occasionally occur in foods. They develop directly in the foods or penetrate into them from the outside during the basic stages of agricultural production, in stores, during transportation or during processing for culinary purposes, or due to environmental pollution. Such substances can have negative effects on human health. The second part of the thesis focuses on concrete contaminants - nitrates, nitrites and acrylamide. Nitrates and nitrites are both contaminants and additives. Their use as food additives is motivated by their sensoric and protective effects. The sensoric function is to ensure a permanent pink colour of smoked meat and other meat products. The protective function consists in inhibiting the growth of the microorganisms Clostridium botulinum and thus preventing the origination of dangerous botulin. The nitrates exist as contaminants mainly in foods of vegetable origin, penetrating them from soil and water due to nitrogen cycle in the nature. The acrylamide is a newly discovered food contaminant. It is considered to be a very dangerous substance as regards possible peroral exposure. The danger consists in its neurotoxic, genotoxic and possible carcinogenic effects. It originates in foods with a higher content of reducing sugars during the process of production or culinary processing if the temperature is higher than 120° C. The thesis should provide information for the public as consumers or providers of different food-processing facilities. Its main objective is to pinpoint some risks connected with the consumption of various foods and meals, and to eliminate the risks as much as possible or to avoid them completely.
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