Quantitative and qualitative characteristics of condensate water of home air-conditioning system in Iran

The global atmosphere is a huge and renewable water resource which contains about 14,000km(3) of water vapor. The aim of this study was to investigate the water produced by the air conditioners installed Bandar-e-Abbas (BA) and its chemical and microbiological quality of this water. Moreover, it was also important to specify the best use of the water. In a nine-month period, 66 samples were taken in four clusters of BA, based on distance to shore and population and vehicle traffic. Quantity was measured by volumetric method; turbidity, alkalinity (ALK), total hardness, dissolved solids (TDS), and electrical conductivity (EC) were tested in laboratory; and counting of bacteria and fungi was done. SPSS 19.0 for Windows was used for data analysis. Mean of produced water was 21.3-47.6L/d;, and mean for pH, turbidity, EC, TDS, ALK, and total hardness was 6.75-6.89, 2.33-2.55NTU, 37.8-45.6 mu S/cm, 28.8-33.3mg/L, 34.3-38.2mg/L as CaCO3, and 18.2-21.6mg/L as CaCO3, respectively. Legionella pneumophila is present in 22% of samples and Staphylococcus aureus, Micrococcus sp., Corynebacterium diphtheria Bacillus sp., and Pseudomonas were 21, 13, 18, 13, and 13%, respectively. Observed fungi in the tested samples were 23, 18, 16, 15, 14, and 14% for Penicillium, Aspergillus, Cladosporium, Alternaria, Mucor, and Trichoderma, respectively.. The water quality is suitable to many municipal uses and due to the significant volume, the planning of utilizing this significant amount of free water would be economically justified.