The Keban Dam Reservoir, located on the Euphrates River, is the second largest reservoir of Turkey. Water quality of this reservoir is of great importance because it is widely used for recreation, aquaculture production, fishing, and irrigation. In this study, discriminant analysis, principal component analysis (PCA), factor analysis (FA) and cluster analysis (CA) were conducted to evaluate the seasonal and spatial variations in surface water quality of the reservoir. Also, total phosphorus (TP) content in sediments, water type and trophic status of the reservoir were determined. For this, 19 water quality variables and TP in sediments were monitored seasonally at 11 sampling stations on the reservoir during one year. Hierarchical CA classified 11 stations into three groups, i.e., upstream (moderate polluted), midstream (low polluted) and downstream (clean) regions. PCA/FA allowed to group the variables responsible for variations in water quality, which are mainly related to mineral dissolution (natural), organic matter and nutrients (anthropogenic), and physical parameters (natural). Discriminant analysis (DA) gave better results for both data reduction and spatio-temporal analysis. Stepwise temporal DA identified eight variables: water temperature (WT), chemical oxygen demand (COD), nitrate nitrogen (NO₃–N), soluble reactive phosphorus (SRP), chlorophyll-a (Chl-a), potassium (K⁺), magnesium (Mg²⁺), and calcium (Ca²⁺), which are the most significant variables responsible for temporal variations in water quality of the reservoir, while stepwise spatial DA identified three variables: K⁺, chloride (Cl⁻), and sulphate (SO₄⁻²), which are the most significant variables responsible for spatial variations. According to Ontario sediment-quality guidelines, sediments of the reservoir can be considered as unpolluted in terms of mean TP content. The water type of the reservoir was calcium-bicarbonate. According to trophic state index values based on TP and Chl-a, upstream region (moderate polluted) of the reservoir was in the eutrophic status, whereas other regions were in the mesotrophic status.

The application of low ozone dosage to minimize the problems caused by filamentous foaming was evaluated in two bioreactors of an urban wastewater treatment plant. Filamentous and nitrifying bacteria, as well as protist and metazoa, were monitored throughout a one-year period by FISH and conventional microscopy to examine the effects of ozone application on these specific groups of microorganisms. Multivariate data analysis was used to determine if the ozone dosage was a key factor determining the low carbon and nitrogen removal efficiencies observed throughout the study period, as well as to evaluate its impact on the biological communities monitored. The results of this study suggested that ozonation did not significantly affect the COD removal efficiency, although it had a moderate effect on ammonia removal efficiency. Filamentous bacteria were the community most influenced by ozone (24.9% of the variance explained by ozone loading rate), whilst protist and metazoa were less affected (11.9% of the variance explained). Conversely, ozone loading rate was not a factor in determining the nitrifying bacterial community abundance and composition, although this environmental variable was correlated with ammonia removal efficiency. The results of this study suggest that different filamentous morphotypes were selectively affected by ozone.

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) inevitably enter domestic sewage and industrial wastewater with the continuous increase of their production and application field. The potential effect of CNTs on biological wastewater treatment processes has raised wide concerns due to their biotoxicity. In the present study, the performance, microbial community and enzymatic activity of sequencing batch reactors (SBRs) were evaluated under 148-day exposure of amino-functionalized multi-walled CNTs (MWCNTs-NH₂) at 10 and 30 mg/L. The COD removal efficiency at 10 and 30 mg/L MWCNTs-NH₂ gradually reduced from 91.03% and 90.43% on day to 89.11% and 86.70% on day 148, respectively. The NH₄⁺-N removal efficiency at 10 and 30 mg/L MWCNTs-NH₂ gradually reduced from 98.98% and 98.46% on day 1 to 96.65% and 63.39% on day 148, respectively. Compared to 0 mg/L MWCNTs-NH₂, the oxygen-utilizing rate, ammonia-oxidizing rate, nitrite-oxidizing rate, nitrite-reducing rate and nitrate-reducing rate at 30 mg/L MWCNTs-NH₂ were decreased by 52.35%, 60.58%, 55.12%, 56.56% and 57.42% on day 148, respectively. The microbial reactive oxygen species and lactate dehydrogenase release on day 148 was increased by 59.71% and 55.28% at 30 mg/L MWCNTs-NH₂, respectively. The key microbial enzymatic activity related to nitrogen removal decreased with the increase of operation time under MWCNTs-NH₂ stress. The relative abundances of Nitrosomonas, Nitrosospira, Nitrospira and some denitrifying bacteria at 10 mg/L MWCNTs-NH₂ gradually reduced with an increment in operation time. The changes of nitrogen removal rate, microbial community and enzymatic activity of SBR were related to the time-cumulative nonlinear inhibition effect under long-term exposure.

Linking water to research on coupled human and natural systems (CHANS) has attracted wide interest as a means of supporting human-natural sustainability. However, most current research does not focus on water environmental properties; instead, it is at the stage of holistic status assessment and measures adjustment from the point of view of the whole study region without revealing the dynamic interaction between human activities and natural processes. This paper establishes an integrated model that combines a System Dynamics model, a Cell Automaton model and a Multiagent Systems model and exploits the potential of the combined model to reveal regions' human-water interaction status during the process of urban evolution, identify the main pollution sources and spatial units, and provide the explicit space-time measurements needed to enhance local human-natural sustainability. The successful application of the integrated model in the case study of Changzhou City, China reveals the following. (1) As the city's development has progressed, the water environment status in some spatial units is still unsatisfactory and may even become more serious, especially in the urban areas of the Urban District and Liyang County. The concentration of Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) in monitoring section 157 of the Urban District has increased from 36.90 mg/l to 40.84 mg/l. The main source of this increase is the increase in secondary industry. (2) With the application of the spatially explicit measures of the sewage treatment ratio improvement and new sewage plant construction, the water quality in the urban area has significantly improved and now satisfies the water quality standards. The measure of livestock manure utilization enhancement is adopted to improve the spatial units in which livestock is the main pollution source and achieve the goal of water quality improvement. The model can be used to support the sustainable status assessment of human-water interaction and to identify effective measures that can be used to realize human-water sustainability along with social-economic development.

Pollution caused by antibiotics has been highlighted in recent decades as a worldwide environmental and health concern. Compared to traditional physical, chemical and biological treatments, constructed wetlands (CWs) have been suggested to be a cost-efficient and ecological technology for the remediation of various kinds of contaminated waters. In this review, 39 antibiotics removal-related studies conducted on 106 treatment systems from China, Spain, Canada, Portugal, etc. were summarized. Overall, the removal efficiency of CWs for antibiotics showed good performance (average value = over 50%), especially vertical flow constructed wetlands (VFCWs) (average value = 80.44%). The removal efficiencies of sulfonamide and macrolide antibiotics were lower than those of tetracycline and quinolone antibiotics. In addition, the relationship between the removal efficiency of antibiotics and chemical oxygen demand (COD), total suspended solids (TSS), total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorus (TP) and ammonia nitrogen (NH₃-N) concentrations showed an inverted U-shaped curve with turning points of 300 mg L⁻¹, 57.4 mg L⁻¹, 40 mg L⁻¹, 3.2 mg L⁻¹ and 48 mg L⁻¹, respectively. The coexistence of antibiotics with nitrogen and phosphorus slightly reduced the removal efficiency of nitrogen and phosphorus in CWs. The removal effect of horizontal subsurface flow constructed wetlands for antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) had better performance (over 50%) than that of vertical wetlands, especially for sulfonamide resistance genes. Microorganisms are highly sensitive to antibiotics. In fact, microorganisms are one of the main responsible for antibiotic removal. Moreover, due to the selective pressure induced by antibiotics and drug-resistant gene transfer from resistant bacteria to other sensitive strains through their own genetic transfer elements, decreased microbial diversity and increased resistance in sewage have been consistently reported. This review promotes further research on the removal mechanism of antibiotics and ARGs in CWs.

Cadmium (II) can potentially alter the microbial community structure and molecular ecological network in activated sludge systems. In this study, we used Illumina sequencing combined with an RMT-based network approach to show the response of the microbial community and its network structure to Cd (II) in activated sludge systems. The results demonstrated that 1 mg/L Cd (II) did not have chronic negative effects on chemical oxygen demand (COD) reduction and denitrification processes, but negatively affected the nitrification process and phosphorus removal. In contrast, 10 mg/L Cd (II) adversely affected both COD and nutrient removal, and reduced the microbial diversity and changed the overall microbial community structure. The relative abundances of Nitrosomonadaceae, Nitrospira, Accumulibacter and Acinetobacter, which are involved in nitrogen removal, significantly decreased with increases in the Cd (II) concentration. In addition, molecular ecological network analysis showed that the networks sizes in the presence of higher levels of Cd (II) were smaller than in the control, but the nodes were more closely connected with neighbors. These shifts in bacterial abundance and the bacterial network structure may be responsible for the deterioration of COD and nutrient removal. Overall, this study provides new insights into the effects of Cd (II) on the bacterial community and its interactions in activated sludge systems.

The proposed on-site zero-water discharge system was comprised of four main components: anaerobic tank, aerobic bioreactor, activated soil filter and water-collecting well. The results demonstrate that at 350 m³ day⁻¹ of hydraulic load, the system can effectively remove pollutants from the wastewater, e.g., 86% removal of COD; 87% removal of SS; 80% removal of TP and 71% removal of TN. The growth states of the grasses, macrophytes and arbors in the activated soil filter were better than the control. The life of the activated soil filter was estimated to be ∼12–15 yrs, based on the laboratory microcosm studies. However, humic acid contents and soil porosity have suggested that the activated soil filter was able to regenerate itself and thereby prolonging its life by reducing clogging of the pores. The results suggest that the zero-water discharge system was a promising bio-measure in treating diffuse village wastewater and benefiting community afforestation.

Synthetic azo dyes are extensively used in the textile industries, which are being released as textile effluent into the environment presence of azo dyes in the environment is great environmental concern therefore treatment of textile effluent is crucial for proper release of the effluent into the environment. Electrochemical oxidation (EO) is extensively used in the degradation of pollutants because of its high efficiency. In this study, photo-assisted electrooxidation (PEO) followed by biodegradation of the textile effluent was evaluated. The pretreatment of textile effluent was conducted by EO and PEO in a tubular flow cell with TiO₂–Ti/IrO₂–RuO₂ anode and titanium cathode under different current densities (10, 15, and 20 mA cm⁻²). The chemical oxygen demand level reduced from 3150 mg L⁻¹ to 1300 and 600 mg L⁻¹under EO and PEO, respectively. Furthermore, biodegradation of EO and PEO pretreated textile effluent shows reduction in chemical oxygen demand (COD) from 1300 mg L⁻¹ to 900 mg L⁻¹and 600 mg L⁻¹to 110 mg L⁻¹, respectively. The most abundant genera were identified as Acetobacter, Achromobacter, Acidaminococcus, Actinomyces, and Acetomicrobium from the textile effluent. This study suggests that an integrated approach of PEO and subsequent biodegradation might be an effective and eco-friendly method for the degradation of textile effluent.

In this study, an interval two-stage fuzzy fractional programming (TFFP) method is developed to facilitate collaborative governance of economy and water resources. Methods of interval programming, fuzzy programming, two-stage programming, and fractional programming are integrated within a general system optimization framework. The main contribution of TFFP is simultaneously addressing various uncertainties and tackling trade-offs between environmental and economic objectives in the optimized schemes for water resources allocation. A case study of a highly urbanized coastal city (i.e., Shenzhen) in China is provided as an example for demonstrating the proposed approach. According to the results, industrial sectors should receive 34.8% of total water supply, while agricultural sectors should receive 1.5%. For the spatial allocation of water resources, Bao An, Long Gang, and Fu Tian districts should be allocated 21.6%, 20.5%, and 14.8% water to promote the economic development. The discharge analysis indicates that chemical oxygen demand (CODcᵣ) and total phosphorus (TP) would be key pollutants. Moreover, the optimized seawater desalination volume would be negligibly influenced by price, while the upper bounds of desalination would be increased with the raising acceptable credibility levels in the period of 2031–2035. Analysis of desalination prices also reveals that the decision-makers should increase the scale of desalination in the period of 2021–2025. In addition, the effectiveness and applicability of TFFP would be evaluated under economic maximization scenarios. The result showed that the economic maximization scenario could obtain higher economic benefits, but it would be accompanied by a larger number of pollutant discharges. It is expected that this study will provide solid bases for planning water resources management systems in coastal regions.

Wastewater treatment plants have been identified as an important gathering spot for nanoplastics, possibly having unintended impacts on important biological nutrient removal processes. The underlying effects of long-term exposure of activated sludge to nanoplastics on nutrient removal and the mechanisms involved remain unclear. This study investigated the effect of polystyrene nanoplastics (Nano-PS) on the treatment performance and microbial community structure, and network in activated sludge. The results indicate that 1000 μg/L Nano-PS had chronic negative effects on the treatment performance in a continuous test over 140 days. Nano-PS had no significant impact in the earlier stages (0–50 days). However, as exposure time increased, the removal efficiencies of chemical oxygen demand, total phosphorous, and total nitrogen (TN) decreased by 2.7, 33.2, and 23.5%, respectively, in the later stages (87–132 days). These adverse impacts further manifested as a change in the topological characteristics, forming a smaller scale, lower complexity, and weaker transfer efficiency of the microbial network. Moreover, the scale and complexity of subnetwork-nitrogen removal bacteria and subnetwork-nitrifier were inhibited, leading to an increase in the effluent TN and NH₄⁺-N. The decreased modules and connectors (keystone taxa) likely caused the deterioration of treatment performance and functional diversity, which was consistent with the change in PICRUSt results. Less competition, denser nodes, and more complex module structures were induced as a strategy to mediate the long-term stress of nano-PS. To our knowledge, this is the first attempt to explore the long-term effects of nano-PS on the microbial interaction network of activated sludge, laying an experimental foundation for reducing the risks associated with nanoplastics.