peer reviewed

Conçus initialement pour le traitement des eaux usées domestiques, les filtres plantés de roseaux ont été adaptés pour le traitement des effluents de lavage de salles de traite pour fournir une alternative au stockage et épandage. Pour simplifier les système en vue de réduire les coûts d'investissement, plusieurs sites expérimentaux ont été construits, modifiés si nécessaire et suivis. Placé à la suite d'une fosse toutes eaux de 3 à 9 m3, la configuration la plus aboutie consiste en 2 étages des filtres plantés à flux verticaux chacun étant composé de 2 filtres alimentés en alternance chaque semaine. La surface totale active correspond à 0.25m2 par vache laitière pour les eaux blanches seules (machine à traire et tank à lait) et 0.4m2 par vache lorsque s'y ajoutent les eaux vertes de lavage des quais et murs de la salle de traite. Les filtres du 1er étage occupent 65% de la surface totale. Observées dans 3 exploitations agricoles laitières, les concentrations obtenues atteignent une fourchette de 50 à 180 mg/L en DCO, 5 à 75 mg/L en DBO5 et 10 à 60 mg/L en MES. La nitrification qui est considérée comme un bon indicateur du potentiel d'oxydo-réduction dans le réacteur n'est certes pas complète mais beaucoup plus élevée que dans le cas de filtres à sable étudiés pour le même objectif alors que plusieurs d'entre eux ont colmaté. / Initially designed for the treatment of domestic wastewater, Vertical Flow Reed Bed Filters [VFRBF] have been adapted for washing parlour effluents to study the feasibility of the treatment of such effluents instead of their storage and land spreading. It was necessary to adapt the design of VFRBF to minimise the investment costs. Several experimental sites have been built, monitored and progressively adapted. Following a septic tank of 3 to 9 m3, the best design was considered to be: 2 stages of VFRBF in series each composed of 2 filters which are alternately fed on a weekly rhythm. The total active area is approximately equivalent to 0.25 m2 per milking cow for the washing effluent of the milking machine and milk-storage tank and 0.4 m2 per milking cow when the washing effluents from the floor and walls of the milking parlour are added to the previous ones. The 1st stage filters takes up 65 % of the total area. Based on a survey done in 3 farms, the concentrations achieved a range of 50 to 180 mgL-1 in COD, 5 to 75 mgL-1 in BOD5, 10 to 60 mgL-1 in SS. The nitrification, which can be considered as a good indicator of the redox potential within the filter media, was not complete but much more effective than in sand filters studied for the same purpose but some of them have clogged.

Phosphorus removal from wastewater has been of growing interest for some decades to avoid eutrophication in surface water. In subsurface constructed wetlands precipitation and adsorption are the main mechanisms responsible of P uptake. The use of calcareous media is attractive because of p-ca interactions. Two media (calcite and recycled crushed concrete (rcc)) were examined in batch and continuous systems. They show attractive sorption capacities using batch experiments, however experiments carried out in open reactors pointed out some limitation in retention capacities and effluent quality. rcc was sensitive to a strong dissolution leading to a quick phosphorus precipitation but induced high conductivity and ph values in the treated water. Calcite efficiency depended on the material dissolution rate, directly linked to the carbonate equilibrium of the solution. Microscopic observations of the calcite surface show crystal making of phosphorus precipitate. Crystal growth seems to be the main P uptake once materials surfaces are covered. No experimental condition allows to reach an effluent concentration below 2 mgp.l-1.

[Departement_IRSTEA]GMA [TR1_IRSTEA]12 - MILEAU / EXPER | International audience | Biomarkers are early warning systems of the exposure of aquatic organisms to pollutants. Among them, the measurement of the cholinesterase (ChE) activities in fish muscle is a biomarker of the exposure to organophosphosphates and carbamates pesticides. As Such it has been used in numerous field studies both in marine and continental waters. Cyprinids (chub, Leuciscus cephalus) were sampled in river sites (France) in relatively clean and polluted areas. We performed the statistical analysis of the ChE activities and we generally observed a statistical relationship between ChE activities and fish length, the larger fish having the lower ChE activities. We concluded that the great majority of the significant differences in ChE activities between sites could be due in fact to differences in fish length between field samples. We stress the importance of taking into account the fish length whenever differences in ChE levels between field sites must be interpreted.

The chloroplast genome has been widely addressed to describe genetic diversity in tree species with regard to phylogeographic studies. In contrast, there is little information on the pattern of genetic differentiation in tolerant and sensitive tree populations, responding to different types of environmental stress. The results demonstrate that chloroplast microsatellites markers are useful tools for elucidating and for testing the pattern of genetic differentiation in stress-exposed populations of Norway spruce, offering to prove the feasibility of marker-aided selection in future

Fertilization plays an essential role in forest management on the site being under air pollution load in last years. The soil acidity due to the acid fall-out is markedly worse and at the same time the concentration of calcium, phosphorous, potassium and magnesium are decreasing. The fertilization besides positive influence on height increment could help in adaptation process of plants establishment after transplanting and it can eliminate negative ifluence of anthropogenic conditions of the environmnet

Foliage of three trembling aspen clones differing in O3 tolerance from Rhinelander, Kenosha and Kalamazoo were examined for 24 elements in the year 2001 and they were analyzed by INAA at reactor IBR-2, by AAS Varian 400 and by elemental analyzer LECO SC 132 and SP 228. In the fofliage of trembling aspen we found no statistically significant difference in the concentration of 22 elements except for K and Ni between clones. For the concentrations of elements between localities we found statistically significant difference for Al, Ba, Ca, Cd, Cl, Co, Cu, La, Mo, Na, Ni, Pb, Sm, Sr and Zn

Problems of the environment pollution in Ziarska basin are connected with the operation of Aluminium plant from 1953. After replacement of old production technology by a a new one by Norwegian company Hydro Aluminium emission of dust of Al2O3 dropped from 766 tons per year to 243 tons per year, emission of fluorides dropped from 847 to per year to 65.9 tons per year and of SO2 have increased from 716 to 974 tons per year. The mentioned reduction of emission reflected markedly in a great reduction of vegetation loading by fluorine. In the year 2001 we found statistically sifnificant difference for total Ksupz (coefficient of loading) in coniferous and broadleaved tree species in A polution zone in comparison with the zone B, C and D

Taking into account the results of environmental monitoring in forest ecosystems (European Level I- and II-Programme) showing high degrees of soil acidification and still a widespread exceedance of critical loads by deposited sulphur and nitrogen compounds, the programme of differentiated forest protection liming should continue with site specific doses. On the other hand the programme to restore forest ecosystems with higher stability and to a large extent balanced nutrient cycles has to be carried out in order to minimize internal acid-generating processes

Scientific concern over air pollution impacts on forest health and ecosystem function have evolved from local (point-source), to regional (area source) and ultimately to the global scale (increasing atmospheric CO2). All three scales of investigation remain relevant to increasing our understanding of how air pollution affects forests. Presently, linking air pollution with forest health status through routine monitoring network data remains problematic. In this paper we present a brief overview of air pollutant trends, together with recent European forest condition monitoring and FACE experimental case-study evidence to illustrate the need for multiple-level investigation of air pollutant-forest interactions