Search results for "Environmental Monitoring"
showing 10 items of 609 documents
Monitoring pH and ORP in a SHARON reactor
2011
This paper analyses the valuable information provided by the on-line measurements of pH and oxidation reduction potential (ORP) in a continuous single high ammonia removal over nitrite (SHARON) reactor. A laboratory-scale SHARON reactor equipped with pH, ORP, electric conductivity and dissolved oxygen (DO) probes has been operated for more than one year. Nitrogen removal over nitrite has been achieved by adding methanol at the beginning of anoxic stages. Time evolution of pH and ORP along each cycle allows identifying the decrease in nitritation rate when ammonia is consumed during the aerobic phase and the end of the denitrification process during the anoxic phase. Therefore, monitoring pH…
Assessment of the integrated urban water quality model complexity through identifiability analysis
2010
Urban sources of water pollution have often been cited as the primary cause of poor water quality in receiving water bodies (RWB), and recently many studies have been conducted to investigate both continuous sources, such as wastewater-treatment plant (WWTP) effluents, and intermittent sources, such as combined sewer overflows (CSOs). An urban drainage system must be considered jointly, i.e., by means of an integrated approach. However, although the benefits of an integrated approach have been widely demonstrated, several aspects have prevented its wide application, such as the scarcity of field data for not only the input and output variables but also parameters that govern intermediate st…
Characterization and source identification of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in river bank soils.
2008
Elevated PAH concentrations were detected in bank soils along the Mosel and Saar Rivers in Germany. Information on the identification of PAH sources in this area however remains unclear. This study was able to characterize the PAH sources by application of several approaches, including consideration of the distribution patterns of 45 PAHs (including 16 EPA PAHs and some alkyl PAHs), specific PAH ratios, distribution patterns of n-alkanes and principal component analysis (PCA). In addition, the efficiency of the tested approaches was assessed. The results from the application of the various source identification methods showed that pyrogenic PAHs dominate soil samples collected upstream of t…
In Situ Ammonium Profiling Using Solid-Contact Ion-Selective Electrodes in Eutrophic Lakes
2015
A promising profiling setup for in situ measurements in lakes with potentiometric solid-contact ion-selective electrodes (SC-ISEs) and a data processing method for sensor calibration and drift correction are presented. The profiling setup consists of a logging system, which is equipped with a syringe sampler and sensors for the measurement of standard parameters including temperature, conductivity, oxygen and photosynthetically active radiation (PAR). The setup was expanded with SC-ISEs in galvanically separated amplifiers. The potential for high-resolution profiling is investigated by deploying the setup in the eutrophic Lake Rotsee (Lucerne, Switzerland), using two different designs of am…
Increased recovery of brain acetylcholinesterase activity in dichlorvos-intoxicated European eels Anguilla anguilla by bath treatment with N-acetylcy…
2003
Organophosphate (OP) pesticides are widely used as antiparasitic chemicals in finfish aquaculture. However, current antidotes cannot be applied to treat intoxicated fish. We showed in previous studies the importance of glutathione (GSH) metabolism in pesticide resistance of the European eel Anguilla anguilla L. The present work studied the effects of the antioxidant and glutathione pro-drug N-acetyl-l-cysteine (NAC) on the recovery of European eels exposed for 96 h to a sublethal concentration (0.17 mg l^-1; 20% of its 96 h LC50) of the OP pesticide dichlorvos (2,2-dichlorovinyl dimethyl phosphate; DDVP). This insecticide and acaricide decreased muscular GSH content and increased oxidised g…
Dissipation and distribution of atrazine, simazine, chlorpyrifos, and tetradifon residues in citrus orchard soil.
1997
An environmental fate study was conducted in a citrus orchard plot in Valencia (Spain) in the fall of 1993. Dissipation and distribution of atrazine, simazine, chlorpyrifos and tetradifon residues following their controlled addition for agricultural purposes in a mediterranean red soil (Luvic Calcisol, Rhodoxeralf) were evaluated. During a two-month period, the amounts of applied pesticides in different soil layers (0-0.05, 0.05-0.22, 0.22-0.42, and 0.42-0.52 m) were monitored. In addition, information on soils, weather and agricultural practice were collected. Degradation half-lives were calculated, assuming zero-order kinetics: 11 days for atrazine, 12 days for simazine, 10 days for chlor…
A two-year monitoring of pesticide hazard in-hive: High honey bee mortality rates during insecticide poisoning episodes in apiaries located near agri…
2019
Pesticide residues in beebread, live and dead honey bees, together with honey bee death rate were monitored from June 2016 to June 2018 in three apiaries, located near agricultural settings and in wildlands. Dead honey bees were only collected and analyzed when significant mortality episodes occurred and pesticide content in beeswax of each experimental apiary was evaluated at the beginning of the study. Samples were extracted by a modified QuEChERS procedure and screened for pesticides residues by liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). Pesticide hazard in the samples was evaluated through the hazard quotient approach (HQ). Beebread was widely contaminated with coumaphos and am…
Metals and Organochlorine Compounds in Fish from Latvian Lakes
1998
Organochlorines and metals have high toxicity and worldwide distribution in the aquatic environment. They are known to accumulate in sediments. In mollusks and fishes, they are bioconcentrated, even when released in minute quantities into the environment. This is important, as these chemicals have an adverse impact on species diversity, and accumulate in humans when seafood is consumed (Jaffar et al. 1988; Ruiter 1995). The nature and extent of accumulation and impact of persistent xenobiotics in water bodies depend on their sources; i.e. whether they are from industry, agricultural activities, transboundary transport with air masses (Sharif et al. 1993), geochemically determined elevated c…
Uptake and bioavailability of persistant organic pollutants by plants grown in contaminated soil
2005
This paper assesses the uptake of persistent organic pollutants (POP's) into plants. In particular, uptake of alpha-endosulfan, beta-endosulfan and endosulfan sulfate from lettuce. The lettuce plants were grown on compost that had previously been contaminated at 10 and 50 microg g(-1) per POP. The soil was slurry spiked by adding the appropriate amount of POP in acetone in an approximate ratio of 1 ratio 2, w/v soil ratio solvent. The solvent was left to evaporate at ambient temperature for 24 hours. Lettuce plants were grown under artificial daylight for 12 hours a day. The influence of soil ageing on the recovery of POP's from spiked soil samples was also assessed. The average recovery of…
Assessment of Organochlorine Pesticide Residues in West African City Farms: Banjul and Dakar Case Study
2003
Validated analytical procedures for the determination of 21 organochlorine pesticides have been applied to 74 water samples, 76 soil samples, and 160 vegetable samples from nine Sene-Gambian farms. Mean pesticide residue levels found were compared to the results of other studies. The main contaminants were DDTs in water (231.9 ng/L), in soil (71.4 ng/g), and in vegetables (5.03 ng/g). The distribution of pesticide residues in water and neighboring soils and the soil-plant transfer of these pesticides is briefly discussed. Different bioconcentration factors for sum HCHs, sum DDTs, and sum endosulfans obtained in this study allow us to confirm the complex processes already reported in the lit…