Search results for " Monitoring"
showing 10 items of 3129 documents
A field methodology to study effects of UV radiation on fish larvae.
2003
There is a considerable lack of in situ specific information about the effects of UV-B radiation on limnic animals studied in the field. We exposed larval pike (Esox lucius L.) in two types of cuvettes (glass and quartz) placed at different depths (5 or 15 cm) to natural solar UV or to artificially enhanced UV-B (lamps on 3 h per day), simulating the scenarios for coming decades. Dose realism and comparability with earlier laboratory experiments was the main purpose, and therefore UV-B irradiances to the surface as well as underwater irradiances were directly measured. Result showed that UV-B dose rates in natural waters are low even though DOC concentration was low (4.8 mg/l) in our study …
Analysis of perfluoroalkyl substances in waters from Germany and Spain
2012
Water has been identified as one of the main routes of human exposure to perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs). This work assessed the presence of 21 PFASs along the whole water cycle using a new fast and cost effective analytical method based on an online sample enrichment followed by liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). The method was validated for different types of matrices (ultrapure water, tap water and treated wastewater). The quality parameters for the 21 selected compounds presented good limits of detection (LOD) and quantification (LOQ) ranging, in general, from 0.83-10 ng/L to 2.8-50 ng/L, respectively. The method was applied to assess the occurrence …
Microbial environmental contamination in Italian dental clinics: A multicenter study yielding recommendations for standardized sampling methods and t…
2012
A microbiological environmental investigation was carried out in ten dental clinics in Italy. Microbial contamination of water, air and surfaces was assessed in each clinic during the five working days, for one week per month, for a three-month period. Water and surfaces were sampled before and after clinical activity; air was sampled before, after, and during clinical activity. A wide variation was found in microbial environmental contamination, both within the participating clinics and for the different sampling times. Before clinical activity, microbial water contamination in tap water reached 51,200cfu/mL (colony forming units per milliliter), and that in Dental Unit Water Systems (DUWS…
Assessing the potential of Albufera de València Lagoon sediments for the restoration of charophyte meadows
2013
Abstract Albufera de Valencia Lagoon, the largest littoral lagoon on the Iberian Peninsula, has been affected by eutrophication processes since the 1970s due to the direct dumping of sewage waters of industrial, agricultural and urban origin. Consequently, the submerged vegetation that covered the bottom of the lagoon has been lost (charophytes and Potamogeton spp., Myriophyllum spp. and Ceratophyllum spp.). Despite efforts to improve water quality, this vegetation has not recovered. No information about the potential of the recent sediments to host charophyte development is available. In this study, we analysed several sediment cores taken from different areas of the lagoon to determine th…
Integration of biorefinery clusters towards zero emissions
2008
Depletion of world recourses, increasing pollution, and climate change make us shift from linear economy to system economy an economy of technologies integrated to reach a non-polluting zero emissions production system. Transition to renewable resources requires replacement the present crude oil refinery by biomass refinery. Along with conventional biomass refinery technologies bioengineering and nano-technologies become significant players of systems in the design of clusters of integrated biorefinery technologies. The authors consider a number of case-studies of biomass conversion into value-added chemicals and sources of energy, the steam explosion autohydrolysis (SEA) in particular. Mod…
Modelling of E. colidistribution in coastal areas subjected to combined sewer overflows
2013
Rivers, lakes and the sea were the natural receivers of raw urban waste and storm waters for a long time but the low sustainability of such practice, the increase of population and a renewed environmental sensibility increased researcher interest in the analysis and mitigation of the impact of urban waters on receiving water bodies (RWB). In Europe, the integrated modelling of drainage systems and RWB has been promoted as a promising approach for implementing the Water Framework Directive. A particular interest is given to the fate of pathogens and especially of Escherichia coli, in all the cases in which an interaction between population and the RWB is foreseen. The present paper aims to p…
Emerging technologies for enhanced removal of residual antibiotics from source-separated urine and wastewaters: A review.
2022
Antibiotic residues are of significant concern in the ecosystem because of their capacity to mediate antibiotic resistance development among environmental microbes. This paper reviews recent technologies for the abatement of antibiotics from human urine and wastewaters. Antibiotics are widely distributed in the aquatic environment as a result of the discharge of municipal sewage. Their existence is a cause for worry due to the potential ecological impact (for instance, antibiotic resistance) on bacteria in the background. Numerous contaminants that enter wastewater treatment facilities and the aquatic environment, as a result, go undetected. Sludge can act as a medium for some chemicals to …
Seasonal response of vegetation on pollutants removal in constructed wetland system treating dairy wastewater
2022
Constructed wetland systems provide the ideal solution for small and medium dairy farms as they can be built close to the farm and are easy to manage and use. However, their perfomance is significantly affected by vegetation activity during the year. The aims of the present study were to assess the treatment of dairy wastewater (DWW) by a horizontal subsurface flow system (HSSFs) and the effect of plants in the removal efficiency (RE) of BOD5, COD, total N (TN) and total P (TP), in Sicily (Italy). The HSSFs treated 6/7 m3 per day of wastewater produced by a small dairy farm subsequent to biological treatment. The system included two units which were separately planted with Arundo donax L. a…
Willingness of Student to Favour the Protection of Endangered Species in a Trade-off Conflict in Finland
1994
Abstract This paper explores the willingness of Finnish students to favour protection of endangered species in a hypothetical trade-off conflict, where conservation would cause an increase in the household energy cost. The most striking result was the very distinct preference of species which the students felt worth protecting. The students favoured species which are well known, taxonomically close to man and actually endangered. Major differences occurred among students due to sex, educational institute, nature-related activity groups, as well as knowledge of nature and conservation issues.
LUMINESCENCE STUDY OF DETERGENT OPTICAL BRIGHTENERS IN THE CONTEXT OF DEVELOPING OPTICAL ENVIRONMENTAL SENSORS FOR WATER QUALITY CONTROL
2006
Water quality and anthropogenic loads in many, but not all, cases are related. Some water quality monitoring programs analyse samples for the presence of Escherichia coli. These bacteria can come from humans and animals. Human‐attributable effluent contains optical brighteners (OBs) from detergents. A convenient and affordable optical quantitative method giving a linear luminescence outcome over several orders of detergent concentrations in the water solution is demonstrated. The proposed method uses the common presence of OBs in detergents. Detergent concentration in water can be used as a surrogate indicator of resultant anthropogenic loads in water bodies. The proposed optical method wit…