In contaminated water reservoirs, the sorption and binding of radionuclides to solids (SR) determines their bioavailability and transport and thus human and ecosystem exposure. In this work, the influence of organic matter (OM) on binding of the radionuclides ⁹⁰Sr, ¹³⁷Cs, sum of ²³⁵U, ²³⁸U, and sum of ²³⁹Pu, ²⁴⁰Pu to solids are investigated, using experimental data derived from ecological monitoring of radioactive waste deposits in South Ural (Russia). OM in several surface water reservoirs mainly consists of humic substance (HS) which forms humates and fulvates with radionuclides and binds to solids via different mechanisms, such as coordinating bond or covalent bond. These processes are strongly dependent on the phase of HS, which can be colloidal or soluble high-molecular compounds. Based on the spatial distribution of radionuclides, SR and OM in waste deposits, we assumed a specific influence of humic acids (HA) on the binding of radionuclides to SR, and quantified it with invariant values of a modified partitioning coefficient. The mathematical form of this invariant value emphasizes a significant impact of the local mass of HA (mHA/V) and local surface area of SR (s = Ssorb/V) per volume V on the processes involved in binding radionuclides to SR. These processes may retard radionuclide migration into groundwater.

Xenobiotic compounds are widely used in several industries; hence they frequently appear in industrial wastewaters. It is a well-known fact that even the discharge of conventionally treated wastewater may have adverse effects on the receiving water environment. Turkey, a developing EU applicant country, has many industrial sectors producing large amounts of xenobiotic-containing wastewaters. The problem is only enlarged by the lack of monitoring of these substances due to the deficiencies associated with their analysis and detection. Thus, studies in Turkey are based on the use of some collective parameters as a substitute for the xenobiotic itself. Biological, physicochemical, and integrated treatment technologies have been investigated for the removal and/or minimization of the possible adverse effects of xenobiotics in industrial wastewaters. In this respect, this paper provides an overview of the studies conducted on xenobiotic-containing wastewaters from specific industries in Turkey. Although the studies add invaluable information to the scientific background on the subject, new research on the exact biochemical mechanisms of xenobiotic biodegradation will further extend our understanding for improving treatment.

A recently designed two-chamber-lysimeter-test-system allows the detailed investigation of degradation, transport and transfer processes of ¹⁴C-labeled substances in soil-plant-atmosphere-systems under outdoor conditions. With this test system it is feasible to distinguish between ¹⁴C-emissions from soil surfaces and ¹⁴C-emissions from plant surfaces in soil monoliths under real environmental conditions. Special soil humidity sensors allow the measurement of soil water content near to the soil surface, in 1 and 5 cm depth. The behavior of organic chemicals can be followed for a whole vegetation period and a mass balance for the applied chemical can be established. Some selected results of the herbicides isoproturon and glyphosate - using the two-chamber-lysimeter-test-system - are presented to demonstrate its applicability for the identification and quantification of the processes that govern pesticide behavior in soil-plant-systems. Mineralization of ¹⁴C-isoproturon was very different in four different soils; the mineralization capacity of the soils ranged from 2 to 60%. Leaching of isoproturon in general was very low, but depending on the soil type and environmental conditions isoproturon and its metabolites could be leached via preferential flow, especially shortly after application. For the herbicide ¹⁴C-glyphosate no accumulation of residues in the soil and no leaching of the residues to deeper soil layers could be observed after three applications. Glyphosate was rapidly degraded to AMPA in the soil. Glyphosate and AMPA were accumulated in soy bean nodules.

Aqueous phase adsorption of three textile dyes onto a granular activated carbon produced from acid activation of almond shells is presented. Primarily, the sorption of three basic dyes, methylene blue, rhodamine b, and malachite green oxalate were studied. Four models, the Freundlich, the Langmuir, the Redlich-Peterson, and the Toth isotherms were compared for their quality of fit to the single-solute sorption data. Next, sorption of the three likely binary systems was examined. Four bi-solute models, the extended Langmuir with and without an interaction term, the extended Redlich-Peterson with an interaction term, and the empirical extended Freundlich model were used to predict sorption in the binary systems. Nonlinearly determined constants of the corresponding single-solute isotherms were used in the binary models to compare with experimental binary sorption data. For the single-solute system, the three-parameter models of the Redlich-Peterson and the Toth isotherms outperformed the Langmuir and Freundlich models. The empirical extended Freundlich model produced the closest comparison to the binary data in each system. In general, the nonlinear method provided a simple and computationally effective technique of producing optimal fitting parameters for the bi-solute sorption models.

A 12 months study on urban atmospheric concentrations of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) contained in the particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter less than or equal to 10 microns (PM10) was carried out in Zaragoza (Spain) from July 12th, 2001 to July 26th, 2002 by using a high-volume air sampler able to collect the PAH supported on a Teflon-coated fibre glass filter. Samples were analysed by using Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS/MS). PAH of high molecular weight, indeno[1,2,3-cd]pyrene (IcdP), benzo[g,h,i]perylene (BghiP) and coronene (Co) were the most abundant compounds. The concentrations of benz[a]pyrene equivalent carcinogenic power (BaP-eq) showed a mean value of 0.7 ng/m³ with 22.5% of the samples exceeding the 1.0 ng/m³ guide value established by the European Directive. These episodes were mainly produced during cold season. Regarding meteorological variables, a positive effect of the prevalent wind “cierzo” (NW direction) over the Zaragoza city was confirmed from the environmental point of view. The NE, E and S directions, corresponding to highway and industrial areas were the directions showing the high PAH atmospheric concentrations. Despite the proximity of a high-level traffic highway, stationary sources related to industry were the dominant source of PAH in the sampled area. Vehicular emissions and natural gas home heating also contributed to PAH concentrations. The predominance of local pollution sources versus long-range transport on PAH concentrations was shown. However, the contribution of long-range transport of anthropogenic origin from other European areas was reflected for specific dates on PAH concentrations and PM10 levels.

Understanding and controlling air pollution in highly populated areas is very important, although interpreting the levels of gaseous pollutants and airborne particulate matter is complicated by dominant natural and anthropogenic emissions, micro-meteorological processes, and chemical reactions which take place directly in the atmosphere. For this reason, it is very difficult to relate the characteristics of air pollution to one or more specific emission sources. The aim of this paper is to detect associations among elements and organic compounds emitted from specific sources by means of chemical analyses, statistical processing of data, seasonal evolution study, and geochemical considerations to trace their origin. A detailed characterization of air quality during the period September 2000-September 2001 was carried out in three locations of the Venice region: A heavy traffic urban site, a public park, and the island centre of the city of Venice. Twenty-eight inorganic elements, four polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, CO and benzene were quantified and processed by a statistical procedure based on factor analysis considering variations on a seasonal basis. Results show the presence of associations between elements and compounds with the same behaviour in all sampling points. This indicates that several pollutants originate from a common source, and are then “diluted” throughout the study area, maintaining the imprint of their origin. Pt, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, CO and benzene originating from the exhaust gas of vehicles are all linked in the traffic factor, whereas Cd is associated with Se, having a common source in industrial processes.

Lentic wetlands are usually regarded as the most important natural freshwater sources of methane (CH₄) and nitrous oxide (N₂O) to the atmosphere, and very few studies have quantified the importance of lowland streams in trace gas emissions. In this study, we estimated fluxes of CH₄ and N₂O in three macrophyte-rich, lowland agricultural streams in New Zealand, to place their trace gas emissions in context with other sources and investigate the value of minimising their emissions from agricultural land. All three streams were net sources of both gases, with emission of CH₄ ranging from <1 to 500 μmol m-² h-¹ and of N₂O ranging from <1 to 100 μmol m-² h-¹ during mid-summer. For CH₄, both turbulent diffusion across the surface and ebullition of sediment gas bubbles were important transport processes, with ebullition accounting for 20-60% of the emissions at different sites. The emissions were similar on a per area basis to other major global sources of CH₄ and N₂O. Although small on a catchment scale compared to emissions from intensively grazed pastures, they were significant relative to low-intensity pastures and other agricultural land uses. Because hydraulic variables (viz. depth, velocity and slope) strongly influence turbulent diffusion, complete denitrification can best proceed to N₂ as the dominant end-product (rather than N₂O) in riparian wetlands, rather than in open stream channels where N₂O fluxes are sometimes very large.

To assess possible adverse effects of residual chlorines from hypochlorite-treated seawater to non-target marine organisms, bioassays were carried out on marine amphipod Hyale barbicornis and estuarine fish Oryzias javanicus. Acute toxicity tests were first conducted using various concentrations of sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl) followed by a long-term exposure to residual chlorines from a test water treated with 1 mg L⁻¹ NaOCl. Results showed that NaOCl was acutely toxic to both organisms. However, long-term exposure to residual chlorines from NaOCl-treated waters caused no major adverse effects to both organisms under laboratory conditions since free chlorines in the treated water was reduced to about 10% by 23-h holding and 1-h aeration. No H. barbicornis died but residual chlorine-exposed juveniles had significantly shorter body lengths at the end of exposure. Residual chlorine-exposed O. javanicus also showed no significant differences to that of the control in all measured endpoints except for hatching time. The results suggest that using 1 mg L⁻¹ NaOCl for disinfection of ballast waters will produce residual chlorines that is far below the LC50 and EC50 of H. barbicornis and O. javanicus even on a long-term basis.

Predicting the environmental effects of de-icing salt requires knowledge of the pathways taken by salt from on-road application through spread to the surroundings to deposition and fate in the roadside environment. This study described differences in chloride deposition and distribution in soil with increasing distance from the road by means of field observations and modelling. The dynamic modelling approach successfully represented the spread of de-icing salt from road to surroundings, deposition in the roadside environment and the subsequent infiltration into roadside soil. The general decrease in soil chloride content with distance from the road was described by differences in salt deposition, soil physical properties, vegetation properties and snow characteristics. The uncertainty in model predictions was highest in areas close to the road due to a complex combination of high salt deposition, snow-ploughed masses and road runoff. The exponential decline in salt deposition with distance from the road could not be justified close to the road. Different types of field investigations were applied in a calibration procedure to establish reasonable ranges for the most influential model parameters. Measured electrical resistivity reflected well the changes in simulated chloride content in soil during winter and spring when chloride concentrations were high. However, during summer or periods with low chloride concentrations the measured resistivity was substantially lower than simulated values, as it reflected the total contamination level in soil.