Saline water irrigation can dramatically change the soil environment and thereby influence soil microbial processes. The objective of this field experiment was to use Biolog and high-throughput sequencing methods to evaluate the metabolic activity and community structure of soil microorganisms after 9 years of saline water irrigation. The results showed that brackish and saline water irrigation significantly increased soil bulk density and salinity, but significantly decreased soil pH, TN, SOM, MBC, and metabolic activity. The Biolog tests of sole-carbon-source utilization indicated that the brackish and saline water treatments significantly reduced the utilization of four carbohydrate sources (D-cellobiose, β-methyl-d-glucoside, D-mannitol, and glucose-1-phosphate), two amino acid sources (L-asparagine and glycyl-L-glutamic acid), two carboxylic acid sources (D-galacturonic acid and D-malic acid), and two polymer sources (Tween 80 and glycogen). Brackish and saline water increased soil bacterial richness (ACE and Chao 1 indices) but had no effect on which bacterial phyla were present. Brackish and saline irrigation water significantly increased the relative abundance of four dominant bacterial phyla (Gemmatimonadetes, Actinobacteria and Chloroflexi, Saccharibacteria). In contrast, the relative abundance of five dominant phyla (Proteobacteria, Acidobacteria, Nitrospirae, Planctomycetes, and Verrucomicrobia) was reduced by brackish and saline irrigation water. Our study suggests that soil bacterial community will form significant differences species under different irrigation water salinity, which can adapt to saline stress by adjusting the species composition. The results of this study increase understanding about the potential effects of saline water irrigation on soil biological processes.

Commercial department assumes the vital part in energy conservation and carbon dioxide emission mitigation of China. This paper applies the time-series data covering 2001–2015 and introduces the STIRPAT method to research the factors of commercial department’s carbon dioxide emissions in China. The combination of STIRPAT method and ridge regression is first adopted to research carbon dioxide emissions of commercial department in China. Potential influencing factors of carbon dioxide emission, including economic growth, level of urbanization, aggregate population, energy intensity, energy structure and foreign direct investment, are selected to establish the extended stochastic impacts by regression on population, affluence and technology (STIRPAT) model, where ridge regression is adopted to eliminate multicollinearity. The estimation consequences show that all forces were positively related to carbon dioxide emissions in China’s commercial department except for energy structure. Energy structure is the only negative factor and aggregate population is the maximal influencing factor of carbon dioxide emissions. The economic growth, urbanization level, energy intensity and foreign direct investment all positively contribute to carbon dioxide emissions of commercial department. The findings have significant implications for policy-makers to enact emission reduction policies in commercial sector. Therefore, the paper ought to take into full consideration these different impacts of above influencing factors to abate carbon dioxide emissions of commercial sector.

One of the most common anthropogenic impacts on river ecosystems is the effluent discharge from wastewater treatment plants. The effects of this contamination on stream biota may be intensified in Mediterranean climate regions, which comprise a drought period that leads to flow reduction, and ultimately to stagnant pools. To assess individual and combined effects of flow stagnation and sewage contamination, biofilm and gastropod grazers were used in a 5-week experiment with artificial channels to test two flow velocity treatments (stagnant flow/basal flow) and two levels of organic contamination using artificial sewage (no sewage input/sewage input). Stressors’ effects were determined on biofilm total biomass and chlorophyll (Chl) content, on oxygen consumption and growth rate of the grazers (Theodoxus fluviatilis), and on the interaction grazer-biofilm given by grazer’s feeding activity (i.e., biofilm consumption rate). The single effect of sewage induced an increase in biofilm biomass and Chl-a content, simultaneously increasing both grazers’ oxygen consumption and their feeding activity. Diatoms showed a higher sensitivity to flow stagnation, resulting in a lower content of Chl-c. Combined stressors interacted antagonistically for biofilm total biomass, Chl-b contents, and grazers’s feeding rate. The effect of sewage increasing biofilm biomass and grazing activity was reduced by the presence of flow stagnation (antagonist factor). Our findings suggest that sewage contamination has a direct effect on the functional response of primary producers and an indirect effect on primary consumers, and this effect is influenced by water flow stagnation.

Currently, the urgency of balancing rice production and environmental risk from nitrogen (N) fertilization is gaining scientific and public attention. As such, a field experiment was conducted to investigate the rice yield and the fate of applied-¹⁵N for Yangliangyou 6 (a two-line hybrid cultivar) and Lvdaoq 7 (an inbred cultivar) using 10 combinations of N rates and splitting ratios in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River. The results showed that N application primarily affected fertilizer N loss to the environment, followed by plant N absorption, but had little effect on grain yield. Generally, there was no significant increase in grain yield and N accumulation in the aboveground plant when N inputs surpassed 130 or 170 kg ha⁻¹. Fertilizer N residue in soil peaked at approximately 48 kg ha⁻¹ at an N rate of 170 kg ha⁻¹ for both varieties; however, a sharp increase of fertilizer N loss occurred with further incrementally increasing N rates. Although a higher ratio of panicle-N fertilizer together with a lower ratio of tillering-N fertilizer at rates of 130, 170, and 210 kg ha⁻¹ had no grain yield benefit, it promoted aboveground N accumulation and plant N accumulation derived from fertilizer, and it reduced the amount of N residue in soil and N loss to the environment. Overall, reducing tillering-N ratios and increasing panicle-N ratios at an N rate between 130 and 170 kg ha⁻¹ using fertilizer rates of 90–0–40 kg ha⁻¹ and 90–40–40 kg ha⁻¹ N at basal-tillering-panicle initiation stages could reduce the adverse environmental risks of chemical N from rice production without sacrificing rice yield.

Production, distribution, and disposal of pharmaceutical products, including beta-blockers, have become a global issue. Beta-blockers are known to persist in the environment months after their release and may result in the disruption of the homeostatic system in non-target organisms. Here, we study the bioconcentration of three of the most commonly used beta-blockers and their effect on the regeneration of Girardia dorotocephala, a freshwater brown planarian. Acute toxicity tests determined LC₅₀s for acebutolol, metoprolol, and propranolol to be 778 mg/L, 711 mg/L, and 111 mg/L, respectively. The quantification and analysis of beta-blocker bioconcentration during acute exposure were performed by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). After 4 days of exposure to beta-blockers, the bioconcentration drastically decreased for all three beta-blockers at all exposure levels, suggesting that an effective mechanism to reduce uptake or excrete beta-blockers could be present. Additionally, Girardia dorotocephala were cut proximal to the head and the quality of regeneration was documented from each fragment daily. No significant difference was visually observed after 2 weeks of regeneration between the brown planarians placed in beta-blocker solution and those placed in control solution.

A tailing impoundment situated in the mining district of La Carolina (Spain), which stores waste resulting from the washing of Pb and Ag sulphides, was studied 30 years after it was abandoned. Fibre optic sensors were installed to record humidity, temperature, electrical conductivity and oxygen content in the pores down to a depth of 35.5 m. The oxygen profiles show an oxidised thickness of 5 m, meaning that the speed of the advancing oxidation front is estimated as 15 cm year⁻¹. Sediment samples were obtained from different depths, and parameters such as pH, carbonates and metal(loid)s, among others, were analysed. High concentrations of As (> 500 mg kg⁻¹), Fe (> 34,000 mg kg⁻¹), Mn (> 900 mg kg⁻¹), Pb (> 8000 mg kg⁻¹) and Zn (> 5000 mg kg⁻¹) were found. A piezometer was installed to enable the water inside the tailing pond to be sampled, and this presented high contents of SO₄²⁻ (> 2400 mg L⁻¹), Fe (> 28,000 μg L⁻¹), Mn (> 7800 μg L⁻¹) and Zn (> 7000 μg L⁻¹), suggesting that the mineral leaching was related to the oscillations in the water table. The water from two drainage adits situated at the foot of the impoundment was also analysed, as well as surface water both upstream and downstream from it. The speciation-saturation models applied for these water samples indicated that in spite of the contamination potential of the impoundment, the deterioration in the quality of the river water is mainly due to the discharge from mining drains and the dissolution processes of precipitates accumulated along the riverbanks.

Chemicals leached from concrete are an important way that urban stormwater can influence water quality. In this study, we evaluated the weathering properties of sidewalk samples and tested how carbonation (exposure to elevated levels of gaseous CO₂) can be used to simulate natural aging of concrete. The experiments focused on acid neutralizing capacity (ANC), which is known to be released by concrete in large amounts, and Cr(VI), because of its established carcinogenicity and prevalence in concrete. Chemical weathering of crushed sidewalk samples was measured with upflow recirculating columns carrying simulated acid rain. The weathering rate of ANC from four different samples was found to decrease after 1 week of exposure to a 5% carbon dioxide atmosphere and to remain constant thereafter through 8 weeks of carbonation treatment. In contrast, weathering of chromium (VI) increased after exposure to a 5% carbon dioxide atmosphere for 1 week, though it also remained stable from then through 8 weeks of carbonation. Almost all ions approached steady state after 2.5 h in the recirculation columns irrespective of carbonation time. The main contributor of ANC was Ca²⁺ ion, though this was partly balanced by an unexpectedly high amount of SO₄²⁻. A notable exception to the temporal leaching pattern was largely un-ionized Si, which continued to increase in concentration for at least 3 days of recirculation. Si levels were also higher than is generally observed for aluminosilicate weathering in small watersheds, a novel finding.

A reliable system simulation of the reciprocal mechanism between water resource utilization and dualistic water cycle is essential to the basin water resource sustainability management. In this study, a system dynamic model was built to simulate the water cycle change and lake water environmental pressure under the influence of water resources utilization, and the procedure of a progressive operational scenario analysis of how to relieve water environment pressure was illustrated. Dianchi Lake, which is the sixth largest and the most severely polluted freshwater lake in China, was employed as a case study to demonstrate the applicability of the model. The change of runoff components and pollution load of total nitrogen from 2000 to 2030 were discussed. Also, the sustainable water resource management was ultimately realized in the planning period through three progressive levels of water resource regulation scenarios. Compared with business-as-usual scenario, the TN pollution load into lake and total water demand decrease by 27.1 and 27.3%, and the domestic water use, industry water use, tertiary industry water use, and irrigation decrease 9.0, 16.8, 29.5, and 30% in the scenario 3.

Mesoporous phosphorous-doped TiO₂ (TP) with different wt% of P (0.5, 1.0, and 1.5) was synthetized by microwave-assisted sol–gel method. The obtained materials were characterized by XRD with cell parameters refinement approach, Raman, BET-specific surface area analysis, SEM, ICP-OES, UV–Vis with diffuse reflectance, photoluminescence, FTIR, and XPS. The photocatalytic activity under visible light was evaluated on the degradation of sulfamethazine (SMTZ) at pH 8. The characterization of the phosphorous materials (TP) showed that incorporation of P in the lattice of TiO₂ stabilizes the anatase crystalline phase, even increasing the annealing temperature. The mesoporous P-doped materials showed higher surface area and lower average crystallite size, band gap, and particle size; besides, more intense bands attributed to O–H bond were observed by FTIR analysis compared with bare TiO₂. The P was substitutionally incorporated in the TiO₂ lattice network as P⁵⁺ replacing Ti⁴⁺ to form Ti–O–P bonds and additionally present as PO₄³⁻ on the TiO₂ surface. All these characteristics explain the observed superior photocatalytic activity on degradation (100%) and mineralization (32%) of SMTZ under visible radiation by TP catalysts, especially for P-doped TiO₂ 1.0 wt% calcined at 450 °C (TP1.0-450). Ammonium, nitrate, and sulfate ions released during the photocatalytic degradation were quantified by ion chromatography; the nitrogen and sulfur mass balance evidenced the partial mineralization of this recalcitrant molecule.

This study evaluates the technical, economical, and environmental impact of sodium persulfate (Na₂S₂O₈) as an enhancing agent in a photo-Fenton process within a solar-pond type reactor (SPR). Photo-Fenton (PF) and photo-Fenton intensified with the addition of persulfate (PFPS) processes decolorize 97% the azo dye direct blue 71 (DB71) and allow producing a highly biodegradable effluent. Intensification with persulfate allowed reducing treatment time in 33% (from 120 to 80 min) and the consumption of chemical auxiliaries needed for pH adjustment. Energy, reagents, and chemical auxiliaries are still and environmental hotspot for PF and PFPS; however, it is worth mentioning that their environmental footprint is lower than that observed for compound parabolic concentrator (CPC)-type reactors. A life-cycle assessment (LCA) confirms that H₂O₂, NaOH, and energy consumption are the variables with the highest impact from an environmental standpoint. The use of persulfate reduced the relative impact in 1.2 to 12% in 12 of the 18 environmental categories studied using the ReCiPe method. The PFPS process emits 1.23 kg CO₂ (CO₂-Eqv/m³ treated water). On the other hand, the PF process emits 1.28 kg CO₂ (CO₂-Eqv/m³ treated water). Process intensification, chemometric techniques, and the use of SPRs minimize the impact of some barriers (reagent and energy consumption, technical complexity of reactors, pressure drops, dirt on the reflecting surfaces, fragility of reactor materials), limiting the application of advanced oxidation systems at an industrial level, and decrease treatment cost as well as potential environmental impacts associated with energy and reagents consumption. Treatment costs for PF processes (US$0.78/m³) and PFPS processes (US$0.63/m³) were 20 times lower than those reported for photo-Fenton processes in CPC-type reactors.