Since the beginning of the twentieth century, the province of Castellón, in eastern Spain, has been one of the most important areas of floor and wall tile production on both a national and worldwide scale. As a result of this sector’s productive rate of development (in the 1970–2005 interval), a series of pollution-producing chemical substances has been introduced into the atmosphere. The objective of this study is the comparison between industrial–urban and rural zones in this province, with the goal of establishing the causes of the contamination in order to apply corrective measures upon the different emission sources. Sustainable development is sought after to guarantee that, in the future, the environmental quality parameters fall within legal limits, ensuring the population’s well-being as well as conserving natural ecosystems and material assets. Total suspended particles and PM10 are the parameters studied. The reason for choosing this pollutant type is because particulate matter may present a much higher potential risk despite its low representativeness as compared to the gas pollutant’s group. A positive correlation between high particle concentrations and deterioration in public health has been shown in recent studies. The elements As, Cd, Ni, and Pb in PM10 were also analyzed to determine the toxicity of these particles. This study has demonstrated the different behaviors of the parameters studied at different types of stations (industrial–urban and rural), leading to the conclusion that anthropogenic factors are very important in the area studied and that they determine the area’s air quality to a great extent.

Two greenhouse pot experiments were conducted in Agrinion, Greece, using a randomized block design in four replications, respectively, as follows: The first one included five levels of treated municipal wastewater (TMWW), being used as an irrigation water source. The second one, five levels of applied Cl at a constant soil applied Cd level of 10.36 mg/kg soil, the plants being irrigated with fresh well water. The purpose of these experiments was to study the impact of the Cl × Cd interrelationship on planning TMWW reuse, for the irrigation of Brassica oleracea var. Capitata (cabbage) cv F1 Gloria, ehich was used as test plant, in both of these experiments. It was found that the TMWW Cl content, originating mainly from the procedure of wastewater chlorination, was synergistically interrelated with the toxic heavy metal Cd, increasing its soil availability and cabbage plant leaf uptake (edible plant part). As this increase is directly associated with the consumer's health, it was suggested that the TMWW be subjected to dechlorination process or the disinfection be made by ozonation or UV, which do not include Cl.

The main objective of this study was to evaluate the contribution of sorption to the removal of two commonly used antibiotics (amoxicillin and ciprofloxacin) from wastewater. These antibiotics are excreted in large quantities with more than 75% of them being unmetabolized and are therefore likely to end up in domestic wastewater in significant quantities. The specific objectives were to determine the sorption behavior in synthetic wastewater (SWW), the effect of pH and contribution of microbial surfaces, to the sorption of these antibiotics. The SWW, adjusted to various pH levels, was used and sorption kinetics conducted at 100 and 250 μg L−1 concentrations. Adsorption isotherms were determined at different pH levels. The SWW (pH 6.6) was inoculated with Rhodococcus sp. B30 strain to determine the contribution of microbial surfaces to sorption. Generally, both antibiotics revealed a decrease in sorption with pH increase, suggesting that lowering the solution pH of the wastewater may reduce their amounts in wastewater solution. Comparatively, ciprofloxacin exhibited higher sorption than amoxicillin. The sorption distribution coefficient (K d) values for ciprofloxacin ranged from 0.4356 to 0.8902 L g−1, with pH = 5.5 exhibiting the highest K d, while that for amoxicillin ranged from 0.1582 to 0.3858 L g−1 with the highest K d at pH = 3.5. There was a significant difference (p < 0.05) in K d values between various pH levels for both antibiotics except between the pH of 5.5 and 6.6. Both antibiotics were not degraded within 48 h by Rhodococcus sp. B30 strain. These results indicate that degradation may not be the major process of removal of compounds from wastewater treatment plants and hence the importance of sorption as an intervention technique.

Osmium tetroxide (OsO4) is one of the most toxic air contaminants but its environmental effects are poorly understood. Here, for the first time, we present evidence of osmium uptake in a common herbivore (bank vole, Myodes glareolus) in boreal forests of northern Sweden. Voles (n = 22) and fruticose arboreal pendular lichens, the potential main winter food source of the vole, were collected along a spatial gradient to the west of a steelwork in Tornio, Finland at the Finnish–Swedish border. 187Os/188Os isotope ratios increased and osmium concentrations decreased in lichens and voles along the gradient. Osmium concentrations in lichens were 10,000-fold higher than those in voles. Closest to the steelwork, concentrations were highest in kidneys rather than skin/fur that are directly exposed to airborne OsO4. The kidney-to-body weight ratio was higher at the two localities close to the steelwork. Even though based on a small sample size, our results for the first time demonstrate that osmium is taken up, partitioned, and accumulated in mammal tissue, and indicate that high kidney-to-body weight ratios might be induced by anthropogenic osmium.

Methane fluxes in alpine ecosystems remain insufficiently studied, especially in terms of the magnitude, temporal, and spatial patterns. To quantify the mean methane emission of alpine ecosystems, methane fluxes were measured among six ecosystems and microsites within each ecosystem at Zoige National Wetland Reserve. The average methane emission from Zoige Plateau was 2.25 mg CH4 m−2 h−1, which fell into the range of methane emission rate reported by a number of studies in other alpine wetlands. Prevailing ecosystem types had important impacts on the methane flux on the landscape scale. In the wet ecosystems, the microsites had different methane emissions resulting from the differences in the depth of water table and associated vegetation characteristics. The identification of the microsites based on their vegetation characteristics thus allows upscaling of methane emissions in these ecosystems. However, in the dry ecosystems showing even methane uptake, the spatial variation in the methane fluxes was low and the vegetation has a poor predicative value for the methane fluxes. There, the soil porosity linked to the gas diffusion rate in soil would be the key factor explaining methane fluxes.

This study examined a comparative degradation of various chlorinated phenolic compounds including phenol, 4-chlorophenol (4-CP), 2,6-dichlorophenol (2,6-DCP), 2,4,6-trichlorophenol (2,4,6-TCP), 2,3,4,6-tetrachlorophenol (2,3,4,6-TeCP), and pentachlorophenol (PCP) using 28, 580, and 1,000 kHz ultrasonic reactors. The concentration of hydrogen peroxide was also determined in order to investigate the efficacy of different sonochemical reactors for hydroxyl radical production. Clearly, it was observed that the 580 kHz sonochemical reactor had maximum efficacy for hydroxyl radical production. The degradation of all the compounds followed the order; 580 kHz (91–93%) > 1,000 kHz (84–86%) > 28 kHz (17–34%) with an initial concentration of 2.5 mg L−1 at a reaction time of 40 min with ultrasonic power of 200 ± 3 W and aqueous temperature of 20 ± 1°C in each experiment. Overall, the degradation of those phenolic compounds followed the order, PCP > 2,3,4,6-TeCP > 2,4,6-TCP > 2,6-DCP > 4-CP > phenol at various frequencies in the presence/absence of a radical scavenger (tert-butyl alcohol). It was revealed that the correlations between the compound degradation rates and the physicochemical parameters, R 2 = 0.99 for octanol–water partition coefficient, R 2 = 0.95 for water solubility, R 2 = 0.94 for vapor pressure, and R 2 = 0.88 for Henry’s law constant, excluding PCP, were very good in the entire range of each parameter.

Two tannin-based coagulants have been tested on anthraquinonic dye elimination from aqueous solutions. Acquapol S5T, derived from Acacia mearnsii de Wild, and Silvafloc, derived from Schinopsis balansae, were found to be excellent agents in the destabilization of Alizarin Violet 3R dye and its elimination through coagulation from textile effluents. Both coagulants showed that high affinity to the dye molecule in a wide pH range and q values reaches significant levels (up to 0.5 mg mg − 1) with reasonable low coagulant doses. Dye–coagulant system presented a consistent behavior if studied under the statistical perspective of a design of experiments, where initial dye concentration and coagulant dose were the operating variables. Finally, both coagulants seemed to follow a predictable theoretical model under the Langmuir hypothesis with an accurate adjusted r 2 coefficient above 0.9.

Lipophilic anthropogenic contaminants enter the environment from different kinds of human activities and corresponding emission sources. In the hydrosphere, they accumulate frequently in specific sedimentary zones, among others, and at coastal areas, forming reservoirs of pollutants. Marine and freshwater sediment samples as well as soil samples from a highly industrialized coastal area in Northern Greece have been analyzed in order to have a detailed view on the state of the particle-associated pollution. Noteworthy, based on extended GC/MS non-target screening analyses, interesting, so far unknown, or rarely documented contaminants have been identified and quantified comprising, e.g., mono- and dichlorocarbazoles, bromocarbazole, 2,6-di-tert-butyl-4-nitrophenol, etc. However, all relevant contaminants are discussed with respect to their spatial concentration profiles, their emission sources, and their pathway. In addition, numerous pollutants are suggested to become selected for environmental monitoring programs. Hence, this study can act as an example for adapting individual monitoring programs to the individual contamination in coastal areas.

An ongoing project monitors saline dust transportation and accumulation in the Western Junggar Basin to determine the rate and chemical composition of dust inputs to soils and their impact on snow/ice melt and vegetation degradation of the surrounding areas. The 1-year record from ten dust trap sites in the Ebinur region of northwest China reveals that yearly deposition rates fluctuate strongly between different sampling sites. The mass accumulation rates (fluxes) of the dust, including water-soluble solutes and trace element, range from 79 to 381 g m−2 year−1. With increasing distance from the dry lake bed, dust deposition gradually decreases. The salinity of the dust ranges from about 43 to 185 g kg−1 and the mass-soluble salt fluxes range from 4 to 61 g m−2 year−1. The types of water-soluble salt are different at different sampling sites. In all samples, the major types of water-soluble salts in the dust are sulfates and chlorides. Sulfate and chloride are the major anions while sodium and calcium are the main cations, and nitrate was not found in any dust samples. Potentially toxic trace elements such as Cd, Cr, Pb, Mn, As, Cu, and Ni are present in all samples, with high levels of Cr, Pb, Mn, Cu, and Ni. The dust is a chemical dust in that it consists of dense fine sulfates, chlorides and potentially toxic elements, and causes serious air pollution, resulting in soil salinization and vegetation degradation and accelerating snow/ice melt.

Land use and its relation to nutrient concentrations and loading via streams is an important issue in coastal lagoons and embayments worldwide including the Maryland coastal bays system, USA. As in many coastal areas around the globe, declining water quality in the bays is the result of nutrient inputs from the surrounding watershed. In this study, the sources of the nutrient inputs were examined. Monthly concentrations of total nitrogen (TN), ammonium (NH4 +), nitrate (NO3 -), phosphate (PO4 -3), and total phosphorus (TP) were measured in six streams in the St. Martin River basin from July 2006 to January 2008. Current land use information for the basins of each stream was also compiled. Several significant correlations between nutrients and land use type were found. The most significant correlation was with the land area of feeding operations, which demonstrated a significant positive relationship with mean baseflow TN concentrations. A similar relationship was also found with anthropogenic land area (cropland + urban + feeding operations), and wetland area was also positively associated with hydric soils. Using local water yields from a US Geological Survey station, annual stream watershed export was calculated using the concentration data, which indicated that the watershed with the most crop agriculture had the highest N export coefficient (20.4 kg N ha-1 year-1), while the highest P export (0.47 kg P ha-1 year-1) was in a watershed containing a nonoperational chicken hatchery and a subsequently modified channel. This suggests that agricultural development, especially animal feeding operations, and landscape characteristics are important factors to understand nutrient loading in St. Martin River and Maryland coastal bays. The methods used and the results determined in this study have implications for determining nutrient loading in lagoons and embayments, in relation to land use in coastal regions globally.