Recently, it has been report of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) shower hoses becoming hard and brittle throughout the eastern and middle portion of Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. No reason has been identified for this phenomenon. The affected cities are located at the paper industries area. We have collected the stiffed hoses attached to shower faucets and examined them for chemical changes. In addition, we have analyzed the water quality of 11 affected cities in Shizuoka in an attempt to establish a probable bio-physico-chemical chain reaction that could cause such hose degradation. According to elemental analysis, oxygen-containing carbon-based plasticizers may leach out of the hose. As a result, the hoses lost flexibility after one year of use in Shizuoka. The organic nutrient (1,4-dioxane) was identified by GC-MS and the utmost number of the heterotrophic bacteria has been detected by PCR-DGGE in the shower water of Shizuoka. The study concludes that the plasticizer disappeared from the stiffed hose and the special characteristics of water in Shizuoka, consisting of organic nutrients, can be used for heterotrophic bacterial growth as a energy source at the shower water temperature, which allows prompt utilization of the plasticizer by increasing abundant bacteria, causing the brittleness of the PVC hose.
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