Since the last century, humanity has sought ways to minimize the impact of the industrial growth in the environment. The textile industry, as one of the major contributors to water pollution, has been dumping coloured effluents which cause great impact in water bodies. The electrolytic process not only degrades the colour of the effluent but also transforms recalcitrant substances by direct or indirect oxidation. The ecotoxicological tests are used nowadays as a way to verify the toxicity degree of water bodies polluted by industrial and farming activities. The ecotoxicological tests consist in exposing determined organisms to the samples with the intention to evaluate their toxicity by observing the organisms’ responses. This study had the objective to degrade, by electrolytic process, a simulated textile effluent containing a mixture of Acid Blue 40 and Acid Red 151 dyes and the toxicity evaluation of the treated effluent by ecotoxicological tests. The bioassays used were tests with seeds of Lactuca sativa (lettuce), Eruca sativa (rocket), and Cucumis sativus (cucumber). Tests with the micro crustaceous Artemia salina and the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae were also conducted. The electrolytic treatment degraded the initial colour of the textile effluent, and the ecotoxicological tests indicated low toxicity to the treatment.

In this study, the fruit of Catalpa bignonioides was used as the raw material to obtain low-cost activated carbon. The activation process was carried out by using chemical activation method with zinc chloride. Catalpa activated carbon (CAC) was characterized using elemental analyzer, Brunauer-Emmet-Teller (BET), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectra (FTIR), and the point of zero charge (pHZPC). The BET surface area of CAC prepared by the impregnation ratio of 30 % ZnCl₂ (w/w) was found to be 896.02 m²/g. The efficiency in the process of the removal of methylene blue (MB) from aqueous solution by CAC was searched with different factors, such as temperature, pH, adsorbent concentration, dye concentration, and contact time. From the experimental data obtained, the studies related to adsorption isotherm, kinetics, and thermodynamics were performed. Langmuir model provided the best fit, and the adsorption capacity for the removal of methylene blue from aqueous solution by CAC was calculated to be 271.00 mg/g at 25 °C. The adsorption follows a pseudo-second-order kinetic model. Moreover, the thermodynamic parameters such as ΔG°, ΔH°, and ΔS° presented that the adsorption was spontaneous and endothermic.

The Rio Santiago in the Cordillera Negra of Peru is severely contaminated by acid mine drainage in its headwaters. In a strongly acid stream, at about 3800 m above sea level (masl), microterraces were found with terrace walls built up of dead moss, with encrustations and interstitial fine, creamy sediment. The stream water was turbid due to the presence of similar suspended sediment, which also occurred as a thin basal layer in inter-rim basins. The moss was identified as the rare bryophyte Anomobryum prostratum (Müll. Hal.) Besch. Chemical and mineralogical analyses show that green, living parts of the moss are gradually coated by Al/Fe (hydr)oxides, inducing their senescence and death. The necromass is covered by creamy crusts through precipitation of schwertmannite-type material from the stream water and simultaneous ‘capture’ of fine sediment. The latter consists of a mixture of precipitate and fine detrital primary minerals. These processes are held responsible for the formation of the microterraces, which regarding their composition and environment seem to be unique. Remarkable is the high As content of the creamy crusts and sediment, attributed to strong sorption of As, whereas its solute concentration is relatively low. This calls for more attention to suspended fine sediment in the assessment of environmental risks of stream water use. Lastly, the results raise serious doubts about the use of aquatic bryophytes as bioindicator for chemical pollution in acid mine drainage-polluted streams.

At livestock farms, the most important thing is to control odors released from manure. In this study, four commercially available microbial additives designed to control odor and NH₃emissions were applied to swine slurries stored in containers, and their effectiveness in odor reduction was statistically evaluated. Seventeen different odorous compounds in the headspace of each container were analyzed to calculate an overall odor index for slurries treated with different microbial additives over time. Of the four microbial additives tested in this study, only two were effective in reducing the odors from the swine slurry. After a 80-day storage period, the odor indexes of the slurries could be reduced by over 70 % with 50 % reduction in volatile fatty acids. In addition, a significant five orders of magnitude reduction in Escherichia coli could be achieved within 60 days. The other two microbial additives did not affect the odor characteristics of swine slurries under storage; their time profiles were statistically identical with that of the control. Results of this study imply that farmers considering applying microbial additives for controlling odors from swine manure should be careful in choosing an additive.

To facilitate the mapping of pollution fluxes under different flow conditions when a limited number of gauging stations are available, a method relying on geographic data was developed to estimate the mean daily stream discharge at each sampling station. It has been tested on a rural river watershed that is located in northeast France (Madon River). The stretch of 100 km is equipped with three gauging stations. Surface water samples were collected at 30 stations under different flow conditions. In a participatory research project, samples were also collected by school children at one of the stations (once a week during the school year over a 2-year period). Dissolved organic carbon and nitrogen species were measured for all samples. These data illustrate the variation in the pollution in the river that is associated with agricultural activities and discharges of untreated wastewater. This method was used to obtain localized points of nutrient discharge, to identify the zones that favor nutrient removal, and to propose remediation work.

The aim of this paper is to analyze current and expected air quality in Israel and to identify the main responsible sources. To this end, the current (2010) air quality regarding five main air pollutants, PM₁₀, PM₂.₅, NO₂, SO₂, and O₃, was analyzed and the pollutant emission inventories were determined. Next, the expected emission inventories for the target years (2015 and 2020) were estimated. Based on these results, dispersion models (AERMOD, CHIMERE, FARM, and TREFIC) were used to forecast the expected air quality for the target years. The findings indicate that current policy measures are not sufficient and additional policy measures are required, particularly in the transport, industry, energy, and households sectors.

Detection, molecular characterization, and quantification of Norovirus (NoVs) in a semi-industrial pilot plant were performed in order to assess the efficiency of the secondary biological treatment using two different procedures: natural oxidation ponds and biodisks. A total of 102 wastewater samples were collected from two biological treatment processes in a semi-industrial pilot plant. NoVs GII and NoVs GI were detected and quantified in 65 % (n = 66) and in 1 % (n = 1) of the samples of wastewater from the plant, respectively. The average values of viral content (genome copies/μl) obtained in the effluent of the two lines of treatment showed a substantial reduction in the prevalence and in the viral content of NoVs GII detected from one basin to another of the five watersheds of the oxidation ponds and at the expiration of the biodisk line. The predominant genogroup of NoVs was NoVs GII (65 %), followed by NoVs GI (1 %). The predominant genotype of NoVs GII was GGII.12 (n = 11), followed by GGII.b (n = 1), GGII.1 (n = 1), and GGII.16 (n = 1) and two mixed combinations: GGI.2/GGII.12 (n = 5) and GGI.2/GGII.b (n = 1) were identified. The results obtained in this study represent the first documentation in Tunisia on the effectiveness of biological treatment for the removal of NoVs in the area of the capital of Tunis.

Removal of micropollutants from water with NF/RO membranes has received much attention in recent years. However, because of especially diffusion through the polyamide layer, NF/RO membranes never achieve complete removal, which may be a problem given the possibility of micropollutants causing adverse effects in even very low concentrations. In this paper, we have investigated a strategy of implementing adsorbents into the support layer of a NF membrane to increase the overall removal of three selected pesticides by combining membrane rejection and adsorption into one unit operation. The objective of the study was to act as proof of concept for the scheme, as well as to gain insights into how adsorbents may be inserted into the membrane support, and how they affect the membrane performance. The results showed that the addition of the adsorbents to the membrane increased the adsorption capacity of the membrane, and that the adsorbents could be embedded in the membrane without affecting the flux and rejection behaviour. This however depended very much on the specific manufacturing method. Furthermore, the adsorption capacity was found to vary significantly for the three pesticides, indicating a need for adsorbents designed to specifically target a given micropollutant. Overall, the concept of a complete removal membrane is realisable, but several challenges remain to be solved.

A free water surface flow constructed wetland (CW) was designed to evaluate the capacity of this biological treatment system, which receives wastewater from aquaculture and upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactors, to retain heavy metal. The purpose of this study was to determine the role of the sediment and the macrophytes Cyperus giganteus, Typha domingensis, Eichhornia crassipes, and Pontederia cordata in accumulating Al, Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, Ni, Mn, Pb, and Zn, during the dry (winter) and rainy (summer) seasons. In general, the concentrations and mass loading of heavy metals in the outlet water were lower than in the inlet water. The highest removal efficiency rates of water (mainly mass removal) occurred in the dry season. In the rainy season, the probable low oxygen level in the upper layer of sediment resulted in a release of reduced metals into the water because of organic matter mineralization and an increase in depth. This, coupled with an increase in the hydraulic loading rate (HLR), affected the efficiency removal in this season. The metals were especially immobilized as a result of the sedimentation process and could be removed weakly via macrophyte uptake, with the exception of Mn. In addition to the sediment, which is the main compartment for heavy metal retention in the CW system, the macrophytes have the advantage of being harvested. Therefore, E. crassipes and T. domingensis, which are good metal accumulators, can be recommended for the removal of heavy metals from agricultural wastewaters.

The objective of this study was to investigate the removal of multi-pesticides through a combined treatment process with coagulation–adsorption on nano-clay. Nano-clays like nano-bentonite, nano-halloysite and organically modified nano-montmorillonite were used as the adsorbent, and alum and polyaluminium chloride (PAC) were used as the coagulants. The coagulation method alone was not sufficient to purify water, whereas coagulation plus adsorption methods provided superior purification. Amongst the nano-clays used, organically modified nano-montmorillonite gave the best result in terms of pesticide removal from water. In order to evaluate the effect of coagulant addition on the removal efficiency of nano-clay, the respective adsorption isotherms were also calculated in the presence and absence of coagulants. Freundlich isotherm constants have shown that adsorption of pesticides on different nano-clay depends on the type of clay, presence and absence of coagulants as well as the properties of pesticides. The treatment combination having the maximum removal capacity was used efficiently for the removal of pesticides from natural and fortified natural water. The results indicated that alum–PAC coagulation aided by nano-clay as an adsorbent was the superior process for the simultaneous removal of multi-pesticides from water.