Search results for "water pollution"
showing 10 items of 186 documents
Do small marinas drive habitat specific impacts? A case study from Mediterranean Sea.
2011
Many human activities add new structures to the marine landscape. Despite the fact that human structures cause some inevitable impacts, surprisingly little information exists on the effects of marina on natural marine assemblages. The aim of this paper is to assess habitat-specific response of benthic sessile organisms of rocky shores in relation to the presence of a small marina. Sampling was carried out at three coastal habitats (midshore, lowshore and subtidal) by means of visual censuses adopting an after-control-impact (ACI) experimental design. It appears that the marina affects the structure and composition of benthic communities of both the midshore and the lowshore. Little effect w…
Survey of organochlorines in Finnish watercourses by caged mussel method
2002
Monitoring organochlorine compounds with caged common lake mussels (Anodonta piscinalis) in the pulp and paper mill recipient watercourses of Finland annually from 1984 produced many statistically significant time trends. A decrease of chlorophenols and chloroguaiacols originating from chlorobleaching were observed in all recipients in parallel with the decreasing discharges from the mills. Metabolites of chlorophenols, chloroanisoles and chloroveratroles were constant. Significantly elevated PCB concentrations were measured in four watercourses. At two of these areas, the PCB concentrations were constant. In contrast, a statistically significant increase of PCB (and DDE) was found at one r…
Economic feasibility study for wastewater treatment: a cost-benefit analysis.
2010
Water resource management should be made from a multidisciplinary perspective. In this sense, economic research into the design and implementation of policies for the efficient management of water resources has been emphasized by the European Water Framework Directive (WFD). Cost-benefit analysis (CBA) is one of the more widely accepted economic instruments since it is a rational and systematic decision-making support tool. Moreover, the wastewater treatment process has significant associated environmental benefits. However, these benefits are often left uncalculated because they have no market value. In this paper, using the concept of shadow price, a quantification of the environmental be…
Monetary valuation of salicylic acid, methylparaben and THCOOH in a Mediterranean coastal wetland through the shadow prices methodology
2018
The presence of pharmaceutical and personal care products and drugs of abuse (PPCPs) in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) indicates discharge of the effluent may not be suitable for the ecological balance of water ecosystems, such as wetlands. These PPCPs degrade water quality, considered as an ecosystem service (ES), provoking serious environmental impacts. Assessing the monetary value of PPCPs can be used as a proxy for environmental status of the ES of water quality (ESWQ). Considering PPCPs as non-desirable outputs of WWTPs, the shadow prices methodology has been implemented using directional distance function to measure the environmental avoided cost of removing salicylic acid (SA), …
Ecotest device for estimation of environmental fate of chemicals in the laboratory
1995
Abstract A glass vessel device with water volume of 20 L was constructed for fast testing of the fate of a chemical in freshwater watercourse environment. The dynamic system consisted of natural water with throughflow, of 4.5 mL min−1 and bottom sediment from a clean oligohumic lake in Central Finland. Duckweed (Lemna sp.) as plant material, lake mussel (Anodonta piscinalis) and crucian carp (Carassius carassius) as test animals were included in the test device. Tetrachloroguaiacol (TeCG) was dissolved at start to water to make 2 μg L−1 concentration. The same concentration of TeCG was maintained in inflow water. After static and dynamic pre-tests, a dynamic four weeks test at 15°C was run …
Integrated urban water modelling with uncertainty analysis
2006
In the last twenty years, the scientific world has paid particular care towards the problems that involve the environment. Accordingly, several researches were developed to describe phenomena that take place during both wet and dry periods and to increase the knowledge in this field. In particular, attention was addressed towards the problems linked with receiving water body pollution because of the impact of rain water in the urban environment. In order to obtain a good description of the problem, it is important to analyse both quantity and quality aspects connected with all the transformation phases that characterise the urban water cycle. Today, according to this point, integrated model…
Polar drug residues in sewage and natural waters in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
1999
The drug residues of lipid regulators, anti-inflammatories and some drug metabolites have been detected in raw sewage, treated waste water and river water in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. These residues are mainly derived from humans via excretion. The median concentrations in the effluents of sewage treatment plants (STPs) of most drugs investigated in this study ranged from 0.1 to 1 microgram/l. The removal rates of individual drugs during passage through a Brazilian STP varied from 12 to 90%. As a consequence of the incomplete removal of these residues during passage through a STP, rivers were also found to be contaminated. Median concentrations ranged from between 0.02 and 0.04 m…
Patterns of presence and concentration of pesticides in fish and waters of the Júcar River (Eastern Spain).
2013
The Jucar River, in a typical Mediterranean Basin, is expected to suffer a decline in water quality and quantity as a consequence of the climate change. This study is focused on the presence and distribution of pesticides in water and fish, using the first extensive optimization and application of the QuEChERS method to determine pesticides in freshwater fish. Majority pesticides in water - in terms of presence and concentration - were dichlofenthion, chlorfenvinphos, imazalil, pyriproxyfen and prochloraz (associated with a frequent use in farming activities), as well as buprofezin, chlorpyriphos and hexythiazox. In fish, the main compounds were azinphos-ethyl, chlorpyriphos, diazinon, dime…
Evaluation of biodegradation of nonylphenol ethoxylate and lignin by combining toxicity assessment and chemical characterization.
2009
Abstract The aerobic biodegradation of commercial nonylphenol ethoxylate (NPE) mixture and alkali lignin was studied using the OECD headspace test accompanied by the simultaneous measurement of ecotoxicity directly from the biodegradation liquors and by the follow-up of the chemical composition of the studied chemicals. NPE degradation was dependent on the inoculum source: approximately 40% of NPE was mineralized into CO2 during the 4-week experiment when inoculum from Helsinki City wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) was used, and only 12% was mineralized when inoculum from Jyvaskyla City WWTP was used. Chemical analyses revealed a shift in the ethoxylate chain length from longer to shorter …
The use of fish bile metabolite analyses as exposure biomarkers to pulp and paper mill effluents
1998
The exposure of caged one-year-old whitefish (Coregonus lavaretus) to wood extractives and chlorophenolics from pulp and paper mill effluents in Lake Saimaa (SE Finland) was investigated. Whitefish were exposed at 17 locations affected by effluents from pulp and paper mills and at 5 reference areas. Resin and fatty acids and chlorophenolics in bile were analysed by GC and GC-MS. Cholesterol concentration in bile was also measured. Results show that despite of process changes to ECF and waste water treatment improvements employed by the pulp and paper industry in the study area, it is still possible to detect elevated concentrations of these substances in the bile of fish exposed in the vici…