Search results for "Wastewater"
showing 10 items of 718 documents
Aerobic granular sludge reactor treating anaerobically pretreated brewery wastewater at different loading rates
2018
Small and medium breweries discharging to municipal sewers without treatment generate significant loads with typical concentrations reported by Valta et al. (2014) as 2-6 g COD L-1, 25-80 mg TN L-1, 10-50 mg TP L-1, with pH between 4.5 and 12. Treatment of the high-strength wastewater requires specialized low footprint processes, such as aerobic granular sludge (AGS), capable of high-rate degradation, as well as simultaneous nitrogen and phosphorous removal (Wang et al., 2007). The objective of this study was to evaluate the start-up period of AGS receiving brewery wastewater after initial anaerobic pretreatment.
Application of Wastewater-Based Epidemiology for Tracking Human Exposure to Deoxynivalenol and Enniatins
2022
Wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) is a promising biomonitoring approach with the potential to provide direct information on human intake and exposure to food contaminants and environmental chemicals. The aim of this study was to apply WBE while employing the normalization method for exploring human exposure to selected mycotoxins according to population biomarker 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid (5-HIAA). This type of normalization technique has been previously used to detect various other compounds. However, to the best of our knowledge, this is the first study tracking human exposure to mycotoxins. A sensitive analytical methodology was developed to achieve reliable quantification of deoxyniv…
Wastewater-based epidemiology for early warning of SARS-COV-2 circulation: A pilot study conducted in Sicily, Italy
2022
There is increasing evidence of the use of wastewater-based epidemiology to integrate conventional monitoring assessing disease symptoms and signs of viruses in a specific territory. We present the results of SARS-CoV-2 environmental surveillance activity in wastewater samples collected between September 2020 and July 2021 in 9 wastewater treatment plants (WTPs) located in central and western Sicily, serving over 570,000 residents. The presence of SARS-CoV-2, determined in 206 wastewater samples using RT-qPCR assays, was correlated with the notified and geo-referenced cases on the areas served by the WTPs in the same study period. Overall, 51% of wastewater samples were positive. Samples we…
First nation-wide estimation of tobacco consumption in Spain using wastewater-based epidemiology
2020
Wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) has become a very useful tool to monitor a population's drug consumption or exposure to environmental and food contaminants. In this work, WBE has been applied to estimate tobacco consumption in seven Spanish regions. To this end, 24 h composite wastewater samples were taken daily for one week in 17 wastewater treatment plants, covering altogether a population of ca. 6 million inhabitants. The samples were treated by enzymatic deconjugation and the wastewater content of two human-specific nicotine metabolites (namely, cotinine and trans-3′-hydroxycotinine) was measured to estimate the daily consumption of nicotine. The population-weighted average nicotine…
The state of water resources in major mediterranean islands
2014
This work analyses the state of water resources in six Mediterranean islands: Corsica, Crete, Cyprus, Mallorca, Malta and Sicily. The analysis is focused on the prevailing social, economic and hydroclimatological characteristics of these islands in order to identify the main common features affecting water availability, demand and use. A detailed analysis of the state of water resources in all the considered islands has been carried out. A background of current conditions relating to freshwater availability, quality and use has been established. Different strategies to face water scarcity and enhance water quality in theislands have been assessed in a context of climate change which is a co…
Adding the Mureş River Basin (Transylvania, Romania) to the List of Hotspots with High Contamination with Pharmaceuticals
2020
Background: The Mureș River Basin is a long-term heavily polluted watershed, in a situation of climate changes with increasing water flow and related decreasing dilution capacity. Here, a mixture of emerging pollutants such as pharmaceuticals were targeted to reveal potential risks regarding the natural lotic ecosystems. Due to the continuous discharge into the environment, pharmaceuticals are gaining persistent organic pollutant characteristics and are considered emerging pollutants. Based on the hazard quotient, this research highlights the dangerous concentrations of carbamazepine, ibuprofen, furosemide, and enalapril in river water. Results: High levels of four pharmaceutical compounds …
Role of modeling uncertainty in the estimation of climate and socioeconomic impact on river water quality. J. of Water Resources Planning and Managem…
2012
Climate is one of the most important factors leading to changes in the hydrologic and environmental characteristics of river basins. When considering water quality, the natural factors should be weighed against anthropogenic factors (such as urbanization, increased population, and higher water demand) that may increase or decrease the effect of climatic modifications. Any prediction of future climatic and anthropogenic scenarios is affected by uncertainty and the modelling tools that are used for evaluating their impact on receiving water bodies. The present paper is aimed at investigating the complexity of such analyses and the uncertainty related to future impact predictions based on limi…
A mathematical model for wastewater modification processes assessment in a stabilization reservoir
2012
The paper presents a mathematical model for the simulation of the ecological status of a wastewater stabilization reservoir (WSR). WSRs are hypertrophic aquatic systems devoted to storage of water resources in warm countries where shortage conditions have quite often to be faced. Several factors that affect the stabilization reservoir effluent quality were taken into account: hydraulics and hydrology, solar radiation, atmospheric reaeration, algae, zooplankton, organic matter, pathogen bacteria, and sediment-water interaction. The model quantifies the specific influence of each factor on effluent quality, evaluating the correlation between the different considered factors. State variables i…
ECONOMIC AND TECHNICAL EFFICIENCY OF WASTEWATER PLANTS: A BASIC REQUISITE TO THE FEASIBILITY OF WATER REUSE PROJECTS
2006
The water reuse could be considered essential both from a social and also an environmental and health point of view. In light of the growing importance of water reuse as an alternative source of water resources in many regional areas, the objective of this paper is to analyse the efficiency of wastewater treatment plants. Efficient performance, both in technical and economic terms favours reuse possibilities and, therefore, increases the water supply. An analytical benchmarking methodology based on non-radial measures gives us an efficiency indicator for each input considered in the wastewater treatment process. These indicators, obtained by means of mathematical programming techniques, are…
Roadmapping the Transition to Water Resource Recovery Facilities: The Two Demonstration Case Studies of Corleone and Marineo (Italy)
2022
The current exploitation of freshwater, as well as the significant increase in sewage sludge production from wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), represent nowadays a critical issue for the implementation of sustainable development consistent with the circular economy concept. There is an urgent need to rethink the concept of WWTPs from the conventional approach consisting in pollutant removal plants to water resource recovery facilities (WRRFs). The aim of this paper is to provide an overview of the demonstration case studies at the Marineo and Corleone WRRFs in Sicily (IT), with the final aim showing the effectiveness of the resources recovery systems, as well as the importance of plant o…