Abstract

Sometimes free-living nematodes in conventional water treatment processes are not eliminated and cause adverse health effects in water consumer. So, the efficiency of UV lamps (125 W) with irradiation intensity 1020 μW cm−2 on inactivation of free-living nematode Rhabditida released in water samples has been investigated along with the investigation of the effects of turbidity and change of temperature and exposure time in constant of pH 8 ± 0.2. The results showed that UV radiation could disabled the larval and adult nematodes after 12 and 15 min in the presence of turbidity 5 NTU, respectively. Also, increased turbidity up to 50 NTU decreased the inactivation efficiency of larval and adult nematodes from 100 to 73 and 64, respectively. In addition, with increased temperature, the inactivation efficiency increased significantly in a short time. The results showed a significant relationship between increasing exposure time and temperature and turbidity reduction with UV radiation efficiency in the inactivation of the nematode (P < 0.00). It was also found that the efficiency of the lamp on nematode larvae was more than the adult nematode. Therefore, UV radiation can well inactivate larvae and then adult free-living nematode Rhabditida in water. © 2018 The Authors