Search results for "Water quality"

Notes about urban drainage systems in the ancient Rome

2012

The magnificence of Roman buildings is very well-known from historical books, notes etc.. In contraposition to this, generally speaking, less is known about the majesty of Roman sewer systems in terms of structures, facilities and the very advanced as well as rudimental complexity. The Roman sewers have been over-praised. Indeed, despite their longevity, they ignored basic sanitary principles as well as design rules. The Roman Empire is in many ways the highest point of sewage management in the ancient world. Famous for public baths and latrines with quite complex engineering, Rome also excelled in the use of covered drains for stormwater and waste-sewage, with some houses directly connecte…

Nutrient sources in a Mediterranean catchment and their improvement for water quality management

2010

Changes in land-use or management strategies may affect water outflow, sediment and nutrients loads. Thus, there is an increasing demand for quantitative information at the catchment scale that would help decision makers or planners to take appropriate decisions. The characterisation of water status, the description of pollution sources impact, the establishment of monitoring programs and the implementation of river basin management plans require an analysis of the current basin status and estimates of the relative significance of the different sources of pollution. Particularly, in this study the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT2000) model was considered since it is an integrated hydro…

River water quality modelling: a parsimonious model approach

2009

Links Between Soil Security and the Influence of Soil on Human Health

2017

Soil is important to human health because of (1) food availability and quality, (2) human contact with various chemicals in soil, (3) human contact with soil organisms, and (4) disposal of wastes. The five dimensions of soil security each have ties to soils and their influence on human health. Capability is related to the ability of soils to produce adequate and high-quality food and filter waste products to provide a clean environment, particularly clean, safe water supplies. Condition influences the nutritional quality of agricultural products produced in a given soil. Capital recognizes that there is value to the services soil provides in promoting human health, costs when soil constitue…

Wildland fire ash: Production, composition and eco-hydro-geomorphic effects

2014

Abstract: Fire transforms fuels (i.e. biomass, necromass, soil organic matter) into materials with different chemical and physical properties. One of these materials is ash, which is the particulate residue remaining or deposited on the ground that consists of mineral materials and charred organic components. The quantity and characteristics of ash produced during a wildland fire depend mainly on (1) the total burned fuel (i.e. fuel load), (2) fuel type and (3) its combustion completeness. For a given fuel load and type, a higher combustion completeness will reduce the ash organic carbon content, increasing the relative mineral content, and hence reducing total mass of ash produced. The hom…

Forest drainage: a threat to benthic biodiversity of boreal headwater streams?

1998

1. Forest drainage, including mainly ditching of waterlogged peatlands in order to increase wood growth, has caused substantial changes in the hydrology and water quality of Finnish streams. However, knowledge on the ecological impact of these changes is poor. This paper studies the potential impact of forest drainage, catchment characteristics and habitat factors on the water quality and benthic macroinvertebrates in headwater streams of the River Isojoki, western Finland. An intensive programme of water sampling was carried out at nine study sites, while zoobenthic samples covered a total of 18 streams. 2. According to multivariate regression models concentrations of aluminium and suspend…

Association of Urogenital Symptoms with History of Water Contact in Young Women in Areas Endemic for S. haematobium. A Cross-Sectional Study in Rural…

2016

Female genital schistosomiasis is a neglected tropical disease caused by Schistosoma haematobium. Infected females may suffer from symptoms mimicking sexually transmitted infections. We explored if self-reported history of unsafe water contact could be used as a simple predictor of genital schistosomiasis. In a cross-sectional study in rural South Africa, 883 sexually active women aged 16–22 years were included. Questions were asked about urogenital symptoms and water contact history. Urine samples were tested for S. haematobium ova. A score based on self-reported water contact was calculated and the association with symptoms was explored while adjusting for other genital infections using m…

Water Reuse in the Food Industry: Quality of Original Wastewater Before Treatments

2017

This chapter introduces one of the most important emergencies in the world of food and non-food industries: the availability of clean and drinking water. Water use has more than tripled globally since 1950: water quality and its scarcity are increasingly recognised as one of the most important environmental threats to humankind. In addition, the food and beverage processing industry requires copious amounts of water. For these reasons, direct and indirect water reuse systems are becoming more and more interesting and promising technologies. Different reuse guidelines have been recently issued as the result of risk assessment and management approaches linked to health-based targets. Chemical…

Chlorophyll and Suspended Solids Estimation in Portuguese Reservoirs (Aguieira and Alqueva) from Sentinel-2 Imagery

2021

Reservoirs have been subject to anthropogenic stressors, becoming increasingly degraded. The evaluation of ecological potential in reservoirs is remarkably challenging, and consistent and regular monitoring using the traditional in situ methods defined in the WFD is often time- and money-consuming. Alternatively, remote sensing offers a low-cost, high frequency, and practical complement to these methods. This paper proposes a novel approach, using a C2RCC processor to analyze Sentinel-2 imagery data to retrieve information on water quality in two reservoirs of Portugal, Aguieira and Alqueva. We evaluate the temporal and spatial evolution of Chl a and total suspended solids (TSS), between 20…

Network design for surface water quality monitoring in a road construction project using Gamma Test theory

2021

Road construction has a negative environmental impact on the surrounding aquatic environment, requiring the continuous monitoring of surface water quality. Here, optimization of the water quality monitoring network (WQMN) is an essential step in supporting the sustainable development of road construction projects. This study introduces Gamma Test theory (GTT) as a practical method for optimizing the WQMN of surface waters during road construction. The water quality index (WQI) was computed in 48 monitoring stations for six monitoring periods from 2017 to 2019; data was acquired from a primary monitoring network over a new highway in southern Norway. Based on the results, it is possible to r…