The importance of air pollution monitoring networks in urban areas is well known because of their miscellaneous applications. At the beginning of the 1990s, Berlin had more than 40 particulate matter monitoring stations, whereas, by 2013, there were only 12 stations. In this study, a new and free–of–charge methodology for the densifying of the PM10 monitoring network of Berlin is presented. It endeavors to find the non–linear relationship between the hourly PM10 concentration of the still–operating PM10 monitoring stations and the shut–down stations by using the Artificial Neural Network (ANN), and, consequently, the results of the shut–down stations were simulated and re–constructed. However, input–variables selection is a pre–requisite for any ANN simulation, and hence a new fuzzy–heuristic input selection has been developed and joined to the ANN for the simulation. The hourly PM10 concentrations of the 20 shut–down stations were simulated and re–constructed. The mean error, bias and absolute error of the simulations were 27.7%, –0.03 (μg/m3), and 7.4 (μg/m3), respectively. Then, the simulated hourly PM10 concentration data were converted to a daily scale and the performance of ANN models which were developed for the simulation of the daily PM10 data were evaluated (correlation coefficient >0.94). These appropriate results imply the ability of the developed input selection technique to make the appropriate selection of the input variables, and it can be introduced as a new input variable selection for the ANN. In addition, a dense PM10 monitoring network was developed by the combination of both the re–constructed (20 stations) and the current (12 stations) stations. This dense monitoring network was applied in order to determine a reliable mean annual PM10 concentration in the different areas in Berlin in 2012.

This article reports on a field modelling study to investigate the processes controlling the plume evolution of para-toluenesulfonamide (p-TSA) in anoxic groundwater in Berlin, Germany. The organic contaminant p-TSA originates from the industrial production process of plasticisers, pesticides, antiseptics and drugs and is of general environmental concern for urban water management. Previous laboratory studies revealed that p-TSA is degradable under oxic conditions, whereas it appears to behave conservatively in the absence of oxygen (O₂). p-TSA is ubiquitous in the aquatic environment of Berlin and present in high concentrations (up to 38 μg L⁻¹) in an anoxic aquifer downgradient of a former sewage farm, where groundwater is partly used for drinking water production. To obtain refined knowledge of p-TSA transport and degradation in an aquifer at field scale, measurements of p-TSA were carried out at 11 locations (at different depths) between 2005 and 2010. Comparison of chloride (Cl⁻) and p-TSA field data showed that p-TSA has been retarded in the same manner as Cl⁻. To verify the transport behaviour under field conditions, a two-dimensional transport model was setup, applying the dual-domain mass transfer approach in the model sector corresponding to an area of high aquifer heterogeneity. The distribution of Cl⁻and p-TSA concentrations from the site was reproduced well, confirming that both compounds behave conservatively and are subjected to retardation due to back diffusion from water stagnant zones. Predictive simulations showed that without any remediation measures, the groundwater quality near the drinking water well galleries will be affected by high p-TSA loads for about a hundred years.

The ban on harmful substances in antifouling paints requires the development of new antifouling strategies. Alternatives should be as effective as conventional paints but of lower toxicity. In the present study two commercially available, self-polishing antifouling paints were examined in order to get information on their antifouling properties and toxicological potential. Efficacy was shown in settlement assays with the marine barnacle species Balanus amphitrite, however, efficacy was related to toxic effects observed on target and non-target organisms. Toxicity of the paint extracts was concentration-dependent and differed according to the paint and the species investigated. Toxicity could at least partially be attributed to zinc leached from the paints. Effects of a water-soluble paint were more pronounced in larvae of B. amphitrite, Artemia salina and in the green algae Dunaliella tertiolecta. Embryos of the freshwater species Danio rerio and Vibrio fisheri were more affected by a paint based on organic solvents