In this study, several emerging compounds of concern in waste water are identified and discussed in relation to data available on their sources and mass flows in urban waters. In most western European situations, the highest contributions to the mass flow of xenobiotics to the urban water cycle stems from household and services applications (e.g. personal care compounds, pharmaceuticals, steroid hormones, flame retardants, fluorinated detergents etc.) as well as building and constructing environments (e.g. flame retardants, plasticizers, UV-blockers and biocides). The contribution from industrial point sources such as incineration industries e.g. coal, tar, steel and gas production (such as PAHs, PCBs, dioxins, etc.) and chemical industries are decreasing in relevance in terms of input and are hence currently of more local relevance only. In relation to identified compounds, this paper considers current data availability and its use in a range of management strategies for the mitigation or controlling of xenobiotics 'at source'. However it also identifies major knowledge gaps relating to the behaviour and fate of organic pollutants in various sectors of the urban water cycle including stormwater management, bank- and soil infiltration as well as underground and soil passage of polluted waters. It is also discussing the major sources of a range of current day urban pollutants. The paper considers the sources of emerging pollutants in a qualitative way.

Pharmaceuticals are designed to be bioactive and therefore are among the most important chemical compounds manufactured. In recent years pharmaceuticals have been detected in a range of environment compartments, with concerns raised that they may impose a risk to both humans and environmental organisms. To support informed management of any associated risks, knowledge about their substance flows is indispensable. However, little is known about sources and attributable substance flows with regard to the use of human pharmaceuticals. Often data available on a national level are used to judge local or regional situations and to calculate expected concentrations. In this paper, computations on the use of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) of drugs used in human medicine at the local, regional and national levels were conducted. Different data sources were used and raw-data were scaled up- or downwards and compared. Results of this analysis indicated that hospitals are, by far, minor sources of pharmaceuticals to the aquatic environment in comparison to non-point emissions from households. Differences in flows at the local, regional and national scales are also identified.

In this study we present and apply a methodology for identifying environmentally hazardous compounds in food industry wastewaters (FIW). The methodology comprises a source analysis and a hazard screening of xenobiotic organic compounds based on environmental distribution, persistence, bioaccumulation, and toxicity in aqueous and solid phases. This approach was applied to four selected FIW representing fish, pork meat, and vegetable production. Included in this approach was an analytical-chemical screening of 137 xenobiotic organic compounds showing that 13 compounds and groups of compounds could be detected in the FIW composite samples. The combined source analysis revealed that 161 xenobiotic organic compounds could potentially be present in these four FIW. The main sources were raw materials and their processing, but also packaging and cleaning of the production facility contributed to the total number of compounds potentially present. Using the hazard screening procedure it was found that 29 and 102 compounds should be considered for further hazard assessment in the aqueous and solid phases, respectively. It is important to note that 12% of the 161 compounds could not be evaluated for environmental hazards due to lack of inherent data on degradability, toxicity, and bioaccumulation. Furthermore, for 91% of the compounds no information was found on anaerobic biodegradability. The presented procedure contributes with a systematic source analysis and a ranking of the xenobiotic organic compounds that could cause environmental concern. In this way the procedure can provide guidance to operators and decision makers on handling options for wastewater streams in food processing industries.

Phytoremediation is a method in which plants, soil microorganisms, amendments, and agronomic techniques interact to enhance contaminant degradation. We hypothesized that bermudagrass (Cynodon dactylon L) and an appropriate amount of N fertilizer would improve remediation of pyrene-contaminated Captina silt loam soil. The soil was contaminated with 0 or 1,000 mg pyrene/kg of soil and amended with urea at pyrene-C:urea-N (C:N) ratios of 4.5:1, 9:1, 18:1, or unamended (36:1). Either zero, one, two, or three bermudagrass sprigs were planted per pot and -33 kPa moisture potential was maintained. Pyrene concentrations, inorganic-N levels, shoot and root parameters, and pyrene degrader microbial numbers were measured following a 100-day greenhouse study. At a C:N ratio of 4.5:1, the presence of plants increased pyrene biodegradation from 31% for the no plant treatment to a mean of 62% for the one, two, and three plant treatments. With no plants and C:N ratios of 4.5:1, 9:1, 18:1, and 36:1, the mean pyrene biodegradation was 31, 52, 77, and 88%, respectively, indicating that increased inorganic-N concentration in the soil reduced pyrene degradation in the treatments without plants. Additionally, none of the one, two, or three plant treatments at any of the C:N ratios were different with a mean pyrene degradation value of 69% after 100 days. Pyrene resulted in reduced shoot and root biomass, root length, and root surface area, but increased root diameter. The pyrene degrading microbial numbers were approximately 10,000-fold higher in the pyrene-contaminated soil compared to the control. At the highest N rate, bermudagrass increased pyrene degradation compared to the no plant treatment, however, in the unvegetated treatment pyrene degradation was reduced with added N.

This study presents the analysis of two series of concentrations of airborne particulate matter (APM) collected in two exploratory campaigns aimed at elucidating the source-receptor problem (SRP) in the metropolitan area of Buenos Aires. Although several techniques have been previously applied to interpret these measurements, we have almost exclusively used here the method of angular distances among objects (ADO) to discuss its advantages as a tool in understanding environmental questions within the source-receptor framework. We present a simple method of calculating the ADO, explain its chemical interpretation and the information that is possible to get by classifying the angular distances. A comparison among ADO with principal component analysis and Kohonen artificial neural networks is also discussed.

The presence of pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) and endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) in treated wastewater is gaining attention due to their potential environmental impact. An analytical method was developed to quantify estrogen compounds in samples from a concentrated wastewater matrix typical of water recycling systems used in space. The method employed conventional HPLC with UV detection. Solid phase extraction (SPE) was used to isolate the compounds of interest from wastewater. Spike-recovery tests in clean and wastewater matrices were used to test the extraction process. The results of these experiments suggest that deconjugation is the most predominant reaction occurring in the systems, as effluent concentrations of free estrogens typically exceeded influent concentrations. Despite the long retention times of the system or the near infinite solids retention time, free estrogens were not removed from graywater representative of space waste streams. For a closed-loop wastewater treatment system, these compounds may accumulate to levels requiring other removal mechanisms (i.e., reverse osmosis).

Different nitrogen (N) fractions from 14 sediments from the shallow lakes in the middle and lower reaches of Yangtze River area before and after N release experiments were investigated, and the content of different N fractions, and contribution of different N fractions to the N released from sediments were also studied. Ion-exchangeable form (IEF-N), carbonate form (CF-N), iron-manganese oxide form (IMOF-N) and organic matter-sulfide form (OSF-N) accounted for 2.72~17.67%, 0.47~4.43%, 1.18~3.49% and 31.05 to 71.61% to total N, respectively. The N released was higher than 50% from IEF-N, approximately 35% from OSF-N, 6 and 8% from CF-N and IMOF-N on the average. Approximately 27.32~70.02% of IEF-N, 10.37~32.11% of CF-N, 11.37~33.43% IMOF-N and 2.02~8.19% OSF-N were released. For the sediments that were slightly polluted, IEF-N was the main N fraction that may be released and its contribution to total N released was more than 63.07%, for the sediments that TN was higher than 3,540.27 mg·kg-¹, OSF-N would become the main N fraction that can be released and its contribution to total N released was more than 45%.

The interaction between fluvially transported, metal contaminated peat particulates and acidic waters draining peatland catchments has received limited attention. Potential in-stream processing of sediment-associated metals in acidic stream water was investigated in laboratory based mixing experiments, designed to represent conditions of fluvial sediment transport in a highly contaminated and severely eroding peatland catchment in the Peak District (UK). Over the initial 20 min of the first experiment, stream water Cr and Zn concentrations increased by at least an order-of-magnitude and remained elevated for the full duration (24 h) of the experiment. Stream water As, Mo, Pb, Ti and V concentrations increased between 43% (As) and 440% (V) over the first hour of the experiment. After 24 h most of the metals appeared to have reached equilibrium in the water column. Results of the second experiment revealed that when the concentration of metal contaminated peat particulates is increased, there is an associated increase in the stream water As, Cr, Mo, Pb, Ti, V and Zn concentrations. The experimental data suggest that As, Cr, Mo, Pb, Ti, V and Zn are liable to desorption from metal contaminated peat into acidic stream water. The solubilisation of contaminated peat particulates may also contribute to elevated stream water metal concentrations. The laboratory based approach used in this study may indicate that when there is erosion of metal contaminated peat into acidic fluvial systems there is a concomitant increase in dissolved metal levels, especially when suspended sediment concentrations are high. Further laboratory and field based experiments are required to evaluate the relative importance of physical and chemical processes in the interaction between contaminated peat particulates and stream water in peatland fluvial systems.

Source apportionment analysis was used to identify the factors contributing to atmospheric pollution at a monitoring location in the Southeast of Spain, a well documented area with an arid climate and high insolation favouring two sources of particulate matter: secondary transformation in the atmosphere and resuspension of crustal dry soils to the air. These conditions are further complicated by numerous industrial facilities in the area of the historical city of Cartagena. This paper describes the air quality of an area which includes a zinc metallurgical industry, a petrochemical factory, an oil power station, a shipyard and natural phenomena including African dust transport and resuspension of regional and/or local crustal materials. Major and trace element concentrations in PM10 and PM2.5 were determined at two monitoring stations in Cartagena (one PM10 sampler located at a traffic hotspot and the PM2.5 sampler at a suburban station), during 2004 and 2005. Results showed that in the PM10 fraction, the zinc metallurgical activity was linked to high levels of Cd, Zn and Pb; shipyard emission was associated with high levels of Cr and Ni; and high Ni and V levels were associated with the secondary aerosol indicating the contribution from oil combustion (oil-fired power station or petrochemical facilities). In the PM2.5 size fraction, the zinc source is defined by Zn and Pb; V, Ni and As appear with the oil combustion emissions. In contrast to PM10, shipyard activity is not consistently defined. Consistent sources found in both size fractions include crustal materials and traffic emissions.

Phytoremediation, which mainly employs hyperaccumulators to remove heavy metals from contaminated soils, is receiving more attention world-wide. The identification of hyperaccumulators is still a key step for phytoremediation. This research is devoted to identify some plants with hyperaccumulative characteristics from weed species. In a pot culture experiment, the hyperaccumulative characteristics of 13 weed species in 11 families to Cd, Pb, Cu and Zn were examined. The result showed that Taraxacum mongolicum and Rorippa globosa indicated some Cd hyperaccumulative properties. In a sample-analysis experiment conducted in a Pb-Zn mining area, T. mongolicum and R. globosa also displayed the same hyperaccumulative characteristics. However, in a concentration gradient experiment, Cd content in shoot of T. mongolicum was not higher than 100 mg/kg (DW, dry weight), the minimum Cd concentration for a Cd-hyperaccumulator in any treatment. The concentration of Cd in the stems and leaves of R. globosa were greater than 100 mg/kg, under the conditions of the soils spiked with 25 and 50 mg/kg Cd. The Cd accumulation factors and translocation factors in the shoots of R. globosa were higher than 1 too, and the plant biomasses did not decrease significantly (p < 0.05) compared with the control. Thus, we conclude that only R. globosa showed the whole Cd-hyperaccumulator properties, which is a Cd-hyperaccumulator.