Water diversion projects have been continuously used to alleviate water quality issues that arise during urbanization. However, studies about whether it has possible effects on the status of pharmaceutical and personal care products (PPCPs) are limited. In this study, the occurrence trends and spatial-temporal distribution characteristics of 50 PPCPs were investigated in surface water, suspended particulate matter (SPM) and sediments in Nanjing urban rivers under the background of the water diversion project from the Yangtze River to the Qinhuai River. In the four field campaigns that were embarked on April to July 2018, a total of 40, 38 and 24 PPCPs were detected in surface water, SPM and sediments, respectively, with overall concentrations of 138–1990 ng/L, 3214–33701 ng/g and 12.1–109 ng/g dry weight (dw) among nine sampling sites. The excessive concentration of caffeine (20.6–905 ng/L) may be evidence of the direct discharge of untreated sewage and an obvious indicator of the overall concentrations of PPCPs. The PPCPs contamination levels in surface water were increased along with the direction of the water diversion in urban runoff, and decreased by 8–31% due to the increase in volume attributable to the water diversion. The distribution coefficients (Kd) of pollutants in the SPM-water phases (3.0–5.6 L/kg) were two orders of magnitude higher than those in the sediment-water phases (0.3–3.3 L/kg). And the positive correlations between their log Kow and SPM-water log Kd values indicated SPM was the important carrier determining the fate of organic UV filters. Furthermore, the results of ecological risk assessment demonstrated that although the increase in the volume of water caused by the water diversion reduced the overall ecological risks of PPCPs in urban rivers, the current contamination level still represents high risks to algae and fish.

Current-use pesticides (CUPs) are widely applied in agriculture; however, little is known about their environmental behaviors, especially in the freshwater–seawater transitional zone. Water and sediment samples were collected in an intensively human impacted river (Xiaoqing River) from the headwaters to Laizhou Bay to investigate the distributions and environmental fates of four CUPs: trifluralin, chlorothalonil, chlorpyrifos, and dicofol. These CUPs were frequently detected in water and sediment samples. ∑CUPs in water and sediment samples ranged from 1.20 to 100.2 ng L⁻¹ and 6.6–2972.5 ng g⁻¹ dry weight (dw), respectively. Chlorpyrifos and chlorothalonil were the most abundant CUPs in water and sediment samples, respectively. Spatial distribution of CUPs in the Xiaoqing River aquatic ecosystem was mainly influenced by point sources, agricultural activities, the dilution effect by seawater, and environmental parameters. Field-based sediment water partitioning coefficients, normalized by organic carbon (log Koc), were calculated. Interestingly, temperature and salinity exhibited significant impacts on the distribution of log Koc of the four CUPs. The effect of temperature on the distribution of log Koc of the four CUPs varied between the CUPs. In most water samples, the levels of chlorpyrifos exceed the freshwater screening benchmarks. Hence, urgent control measures need to be devised and implemented.

Agricultural soil is one of the main sink for both heavy metals and nanomaterials (NMs). Whether NMs can impact heavy metals uptake or bioaccumulation in plants is unknown. Here, cucumber plants were cultivated in a multi-heavy metals contaminated soil amended with four types of NMs (SiO2, TiO2, ZnS and MoS2) separately for four weeks. Physiological and biochemical parameters were determined to investigate the impact of NMs on plant growth. Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry was employed to determine the metal content in plants. Results showed that none of the tested NMs impacted plants biomass, but all the NMs showed different degrees of reduction in heavy metals bioaccumulation in plant roots, stems and leaves. However, four NMs showed different degrees of reduction in macro and micro nutrients uptake. MoS2 decreased the bioaccumulation of heavy metals (As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni, Al, Ti and Pb) for 36.4–60.6% and nutrients (Mg, Fe, K, Si and Mn) for 40.1%–50.1% in roots. Exposure to MoS2 NMs also significantly increased 23.4% of Si in leaves, 205.6% and 83.9% of Mo in roots and stems, respectively. In general, the results of this study showed promising potential for NMs to reduce uptake of heavy metals in crop plants, especially MoS2 NMs. However, the negative impacts of perturbing nutrients uptake should be paid attention as well.

In this study, the synthesis of Fe₃O₄@GO@g-C₃N₄ ternary nanocomposite for enhanced photocatalytic degradation of phenol has been investigated. The surface modification of Fe₃O₄ was performed through layer-by-layer electrostatic deposition meanwhile the heterojunction structure of ternary nanocomposite was obtained through sonicated assisted hydrothermal method. The photocatalysts were characterized for their crystallinity, surface morphology, chemical functionalities, and band gap energy. The Fe₃O₄@GO@g-C₃N₄ ternary nanocomposite achieved phenol degradation of ∼97%, which was significantly higher than that of Fe₃O₄@GO (∼75%) and Fe₃O₄ (∼62%). The enhanced photoactivity was due to the efficient charge carrier separation and desired band structure. The photocatalytic performance was further enhanced with the addition of hydrogen peroxide, in which phenol degradation up to 100% was achieved in 2 h irradiation time. The findings revealed that operating parameters have significant influences on the photocatalytic activities. It was found that lower phenol concentration promoted higher activity. In this study, 0.3 g of Fe₃O₄@GO@g-C₃N₄ was found to be the optimized photocatalyst for phenol degradation. At the optimized condition, the reaction rate constant was reported as 6.96 × 10⁻³ min⁻¹. The ternary photocatalyst showed excellent recyclability in three consecutive cycles, which confirmed the stability of this ternary nanocomposite for degradation applications.

The occurrence and distribution of 168 pharmaceutically active compounds (PhACs) in the surface seawater of Jiaozhou Bay (JZB) were investigated using ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography in tandem with a triple-quadrupole mass spectrometer equipped with an electrospray ionization source (UHPLC-ESI-MS-MS). Thirty-six compounds were detected, and 17 of these compounds were first detected in seawater, including sulfabenzamide, sulphacetamide, cephalonium, desacetyl-cefotaxime, cefminox, cefotaxime, cephradine, cefazolin, carprofen, nabumetone, glibenclamide, glimepiride, glipizide, prednisone, fluoromethalone, diazepam and amantadine. The total concentration of PhACs in the surface seawater ranged from 23.6 ng/L to 217 ng/L. The compounds found at the highest mean concentrations included amantadine (24.7 ng/L), lincomycin (8.55 ng/L), carprofen (8.30 ng/L), and tetracycline (7.48 ng/L). The PhAC concentration was higher in the inner bay than in the outside of the bay. In the inner bay, the eastern district showed higher concentrations of PhACs than the western district. Input from the Licun River may be the primary source of pollution. A statistically significant positive correlation was observed between nutrients and PhACs in seawater. Phosphate can be used to indicate the distribution of PhACs in JZB. Based on the individual risk quotient (RQ) values, lincomycin and ofloxacin posed high risks to the relevant aquatic organisms in JZB, especially in the eastern parts. Regular monitoring is required to evaluate the levels of PhACs as they are constantly released into JZB.

Sustainable remediation is a new way of thinking and acting in the management of contaminated sites. This research aims to identify and structure the state-of-the-art of sustainable remediation from the risk management and stakeholder involvement perspective. A systematic and bibliometric study of scientific production was performed on scientific papers indexed in the Scopus and Web of Science databases with the objectives: 1) to select a bibliographic portfolio that is aligned with the perception of the researchers in regard to theme, 2) to perform a bibliometric analysis of the selected bibliographic portfolio, and 3) to conduct a thematic synthesis and identify the integration of sustainable remediation from the risk management and stakeholder involvement perspective. The results indicated that although sustainable remediation is a recent theme it presents a promising field for development worldwide, verified by the growing number of publications in recent years. A change is observed in the way risk management is considered with the rise of sustainable remediation, demonstrated by different approaches in publications. Likewise, the involvement of stakeholders is widely discussed, and the importance of their participation in decision-making processes in the field of sustainable remediation is identified. This research brings several and new contributions as it provides with a detailed overview and guidance about the main characteristics and peculiarities as well as what already exists, the form to approach, the advances and what still needs to be improved so that the perception of stakeholders and risk management are better understood within the context of sustainable remediation.

The increased bioeconomy targets for the biomass share of renewable energy production across Europe should be met using land unsuitable for food production. Miscanthus breeding programs targeted the production of plants with a diverse range of traits allowing a wider utilization of land resources for biofuel production without competing with arable crops. These traits include increasing tolerances to drought, chilling, and to metal(loid)s excess. Two novel Miscanthus hybrids, GNT41 and GNT34, were compared against Miscanthus x giganteus (Mxg) on metal-contaminated arable land in Poland. This study aimed at evaluating their yield, biomass quality and quantifying seasonal differences in photosynthetic and transpiration parameters. A secondary objective was to identify key physiological mechanisms underlying differences in metal accumulation between the investigated plants. The new hybrids produced a similar yield to Mxg (13–15 t ha−1 yr−1), had shorter shoots, higher Leaf Area Index and stem number. Based on gas exchange measurements, GNT34 exhibited isohydric (water-conserving) behavior. The stomatal response to light of the new hybrids was at least twice as fast as that of Mxg, a trait that is often associated with increased seasonal water use efficiency. This contributed to the almost 40% reduction in shoot Pb and Cd concentrations for the new hybrids as compared to Mxg. This suggested that promoting stomatal regulation in conjunction with improved water conservation may be a target for improving plants for wider use on metals contaminated land.

Climatic stressors and chemicals should not be treated as isolated problems since they often occur simultaneously, and their combined effects must be evaluated including their possible interactive effects. In the present study we subjected springtails (Folsomia candida) to combined exposure to phenanthrene and dynamic heat cycles in a full factorial experiment. In a microcosm experiment, we studied the population growth of springtails subjected to a range of sub-lethal concentrations of phenanthrene. During the 28-day experiment we further subjected microcosms to varying numbers of repeated dynamic heat cycles (0–5 cycles) simulating repeated heat waves. We found a synergistic interaction between the effects of phenanthrene and the number of heat waves on both body mass of adults and juvenile production of F. candida showing that the negative effects of phenanthrene were intensified when animals were heat stressed, and/or vice versa. This interaction was not related to internal concentrations of phenanthrene in adult springtails, nor was it due to altered degradation of phenanthrene in soil. We argue that both phenanthrene (by its partitioning into membrane bilayers) and heat have detrimental effects on the physical conditions of cellular membranes in a dose-dependent manner, which, under extreme circumstances, can increase membrane fluidity to a level which is sub-optimal for normal membrane functioning. We discuss the possibility that the synergistic interactions subsequently reduce life-history parameters such as growth and reproduction.

Apoplastic ascorbate (ASCapo) is an important contributor to the detoxification of ozone (O3). The objective of the study is to explore whether ASCapo is stimulated by elevated O3 concentrations. The detoxification of O3 by ASCapo was quantified in tobacco (Nicotiana L), soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr.) and poplar (Populus L), which were exposed to charcoal-filtered air (CF) and elevated O3 treatments (E-O3). ASCapo in the three species were significantly increased by E-O3 compared with the values in the filtered treatment. For all three species, E-O3 significantly increased the malondialdehyde (MDA) content and decreased light-saturated rate of photosynthesis (Asat), suggesting that high O3 has induced injury/damage to plants. E-O3 significantly increased redox state in the apoplast (redox stateapo) for all species, whereas no effect on the apoplastic dehydroascorbate (DHAapo) was observed. In leaf tissues, E-O3 significantly enhanced reduced-ascorbate (ASC) and total ascorbate (ASC+DHA) in soybean and poplar, but significantly reduced these in tobacco, indicating different antioxidative capacity to the high O3 levels among the three species. Total antioxidant capacity in the apoplast (TACapo) was significantly increased by E-O3 in tobacco and poplar, but leaf tissue TAC was significantly enhanced only in tobacco. Leaf tissue superoxide anion (O2•-) in poplar and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) in tobacco and soybean were significantly increased by E-O3. The diurnal variation of ASCapo, with maximum values occurring in the late morning and lower values experienced in the afternoon, appeared to play an important role in the harmful effects of O3 on tobacco, soybean and poplar.

Recently, ground ozone has become one major airborne pollutant and the frequency of ozone-induced pollution episodes has increased rapidly across China. However, due to the lack of long-term observation data, relevant research on the characteristics and influencing factors of urban ozone concentrations remains limited. Based on ground ozone observation data during 2006–2016, we quantified the causality influence of individual meteorological factors on ozone concentrations in Beijing using a convergent cross mapping (CCM) method. The result indicated that the influence of each meteorological factor on ozone concentrations varied significantly across seasons and years. At the inter-annual scale, all-year meteorological influences on ozone concentrations were much more stable than seasonal meteorological influences. At the seasonal scale, meteorological influences on ozone concentrations were stronger in spring and autumn. Amongst multiple individual factors, temperature was the key meteorological influencing factor for ozone concentrations in all seasons except winter, when wind, humidity and SSD exerted major influences on ozone concentrations. In addition to temperature, air pressure was another meteorological factor that exerted strong influences on ozone concentrations. At both the inter-annual and seasonal scale, the influence of temperature and humidity on ozone concentrations was generally stable whilst that of other factors experienced large variations. Different from PM2.5, meteorological influences on ozone concentrations were relatively weak in summer, when ozone concentrations were the highest in Beijing. Given the generally stable meteorological influences on ozone concentrations and human-induced emissions of VOCs and NOx across seasons, warming induced notable increase in summertime biogenic emissions of VOCs and NOx can be a major driver for the increasing ozone pollution episodes. This research provides useful references for understanding long-term meteorological influences on ozone concentrations in mega cities in China.