Due to the episodic nature of rainfall and the high dissolved metal concentrations in the acid sulfate soil catchment of Clothiers Creek (NSW, Australia), active treatment was considered more appropriate than passive treatment. Alkaline reagents were added to oxidised shallow drains to remove acidities ranging from 438 to 1,837 mg/L CaCO₃. A fine limestone slurry was produced from the pounding together of limestone rock fragments within a rotating drum and, on addition to drain waters, was found to remove acidity to varying degrees of effectiveness (from 12 to 100%). The efficiency decreased as the pH of the water approached neutrality due to calcite saturation and the slow reaction rate of limestone at high pH. Hydrated lime powder was also mixed with drain water in the rotating drum though most mixing occurred once the slurry entered the drain where efficiencies ranging from 67 to 89% were observed. A powdered mixture of MgCO₃ and CaCO₃ was only 11% effective in treatment of the drainage water due to the slow rate of reaction of MgCO₃. Whilst the active treatment system was capable of treating a large acidity flux (particularly using hydrated lime) it required regular addition of reagent and the dosing of hydrated lime was particularly difficult to control. Future designs of this active treatment system should be automated to prevent adverse aquatic impacts due to overdosing.

In this study adsorption of arsenic (As) onto TiO₂ nanoparticles and the facilitated transport of As into carp (Cyprinus carpio) by TiO₂ nanoparticles was examined. Adsorption kinetics and adsorption isotherm were conducted by adding As(V) to TiO₂ suspensions. Facilitated transport of As by TiO₂ nanoparticles was assessed by accumulation tests exposing carp to As(V) contaminated water in the presence of TiO₂ nanoparticles. The results showed that TiO₂ nanoparticles had a significant adsorption capacity for As(V). Equilibrium was established within 30 min and the isotherm data was described by Freundlich isotherm. The KF and 1/n were 20.71 mg/g and 0.58, respectively. When exposed to As(V)-contaminated water in the presence of TiO₂ nanoparticles, carp accumulated considerably more As, and As concentration in carp increased by 132% after 25 days exposure. Considerable As and TiO₂ accumulated in intestine, stomach and gills of the fish, and the lowest level of accumulation was found in muscle. Accumulation of As and TiO₂ in stomach, intestine and gills are significant. Arsenic accumulation in these tissues was enhanced by the presence of TiO₂ nanoparticles. TiO₂ nanoparticles that have accumulated in intestine and gills may release adsorbed As and As bound on TiO₂ nanoparticles which cannot be released maybe transported by TiO₂ nanoparticles as they transferred in the body. In this work, an enhancement of 80% and 126% As concentration in liver and muscle after 20 days of exposure was found.

Trace elements may present an environmental hazard in the vicinity of mining and smelting activities. However, the factors controlling their distribution and transfer within the soil and vegetation systems are not always well defined. Total concentrations of up to 15,195 mg . kg –¹ As, 6,690 mg . kg–¹ Cu, 24,820 mg . kg–¹ Pb and 9,810 mg . kg–¹ Zn in soils, and 62 mg . kg–¹ As, 1,765 mg . kg–¹ Cu, 280 mg . kg–¹ Pb and 3,460 mg . kg –¹ Zn in vegetation were measured. However, unusually for smelters and mines of a similar size, the elevated trace element concentrations in soils were found to be restricted to the immediate vicinity of the mines and smelters (maximum 2–3 km). Parent material, prevailing wind direction, and soil physical and chemical characteristics were found to correlate poorly with the restricted trace element distributions in soils. Hypotheses are given for this unusual distribution: (1) the contaminated soils were removed by erosion or (2) mines and smelters released large heavy particles that could not have been transported long distances. Analyses of the accumulation of trace elements in vegetation (median ratios: As 0.06, Cu 0.19, Pb 0.54 and Zn 1.07) and the percentage of total trace elements being DTPA extractable in soils (median percentages: As 0.06%, Cu 15%, Pb 7% and Zn 4%) indicated higher relative trace element mobility in soils with low total concentrations than in soils with elevated concentrations.

This paper reports the effect of using coarse substrates in the upper layer of a gravel-based tidal flow reed bed treating pig farm wastewater. The aim of this unconventional medium arrangement is to seek a solution for the problem of clogging that frequently takes place during the treatment of strong wastewaters. Results from lab-scale experiments demonstrated that, in general, employing coarse substrates in the upper layer of the reed bed gave greater efficiency for the removal of organic matter and suspended solids, due to reduced clogging. A specific clogging tendency rate was defined to quantitatively describe the clogging behaviour. Calculation of the tendency rate revealed that the unconventional medium arrangement had a clear advantage over the conventional arrangement of employing fine gravel or sand in top layer.

Siderophores are small molecular weight extracellular organic compounds secreted by microorganisms under iron-starved conditions, used by them to chelate and solubilize iron. Though they are specific ferric iron chelator, but is reported that they bind other metals also, such as divalent heavy metals and actinides because of potentially high metal-siderophore stability constants. Thus metal contaminant fate and transport in subsurface environment can be heavily influenced by siderophores. This approach can be successfully used in removing many toxic metals off the soil which poses a serious health threat. Our research focuses on the correlation between cell growth and siderophore production and chemical characterization of the siderophore type. Its also documents the development of an assay method for the screening of different metals for complexation with siderophores based on the Chrome Azurol S (CAS) assay. The present research aims at batch scale mobilization of arsenic from arsenic contaminated soils using siderophore produced by P. azotoformans and thus evaluating its efficiency as compared to Ethylene Diamine Tetra Acetic Acid (EDTA), Citric Acid (CA) for the same. FT-IR spectroscopic studies were carried out to determine the interaction between soil, arsenic and siderophore. Results have shown that the cell growth and siderophore production are inversely related. Characterization of siderophore produced by P. azotoformans has revealed that it is of mixed-type catecholate and hydroxamate. Siderophore was found to complex with heavy metals like Cadmium, Lead, Nickel, Arsenic (III, V), Aluminium, Magnesium Zinc, Copper, Cobalt, Strontium other than Iron. Five washings by siderophore, EDTA, CA removed almost 92.8%, 77.3%, 70.0% arsenic respectively as compared to only 33.8% removal by control. Washing of arsenic contaminated soil with tap water revealed that ≈ 65.8% of arsenic in contaminated soil is in freely available or weakly bound form. The IR spectra revealed that hydrogen bonding exists between siderophore, arsenic and soil. Encouraging results of arsenic removal by biomolecule-siderophore can lead to an emerging tool brimming with opportunities for environmental clean up.

Solids and phosphorus found within urban stormwater have the potential to cause environmental damage to ecological systems in receiving waters. The evaluation of these pollutants in urban stormwater is usually undertaken by physico-chemical monitoring programs which sample streamflow for laboratory assessment. In this study, data from two such monitoring programs have been examined for the catchment characteristics which influence solids and phosphorus discharge behaviour and the potential for the use of surrogate indicators to predict streamflow concentrations. The study involved partitioning of the components on the basis of the dissolved and particulate fractions. Investigation of the physical and chemical behaviour of solids and phosphorus by univariate and multivariate data analysis techniques led to the identification of interrelationships among the measured parameters. Thus, using turbidity and conductivity, relationships were developed for suspended and dissolved solids. Similarly, relationships were developed for dissolved and particulate phosphorus using suspended and dissolved solids. These relationships have the potential to enhance rapid generation of vital information from site-based measurements and to reduce the requirements for laboratory-based analysis of indicator concentrations in urban stormwater.

In freshwater environments direct biological effect of ultraviolet radiation (UVR) result from absorption of specific wavelengths by macromolecules and alteration of biochemical processes. Indirect effects are related to UVR interaction with water and dissolved organic carbon to form chemically reactive species (ROS: reactive oxygen species). Zooplankton photoprotection includes mycosporine-like amino acids, pigments, production of quenching agents and antioxidant enzymes. The relative importance of each mechanism would depend on the organisms. In this study, we determined the antioxidant enzyme activities Catalase (CAT) and Glutathione-S-transferase (GST) in the copepod Boeckella gracilipes and the cladoceran Ceriodaphnia dubia in three Andean lakes of the North-Patagonia region. There were differences in antioxidant enzymes expression between copepods and cladocerans. CAT was significantly higher in C. dubia than in B. gracilipes whereas GST was similar in both species. The comparison of B. gracilipes enzyme activity in the three lakes showed also differences in GST but not in CAT. DOC decreases the exposure by absorption of UVR but simultaneously acts as photosensitizer producing ROS and their successive toxic products in the surface waters. We discuss that comparisons among lakes of different DOC should be considered carefully because lake physico-chemicals parameters, as well as food web structure, will difficult any predictions on the net effect of DOC.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate cost-effective reduction strategies for nitrogen oxides (NO x ) in the Asian region. The source-receptor relationships of the Lagrangian “puff” model of long-range transportation, ATMOS-N, were used to calculate the wet/dry deposition of the nitrogen (N) in Asia. Critical loads of N deposition in Asia were calculated from the relationships between the critical load of sulfur (S) and balance of N in and out using the data of S critical load of RAINS-ASIA. The cost functions of N reduction of Asian countries were derived by the regression analysis with the data of cost functions of European countries used in RAINS. In order to assess the environmental impact, the gaps between N deposition and critical load of N were calculated. The emission of NO x was reduced in some cases of this model, and the changes of gaps between N deposition and critical load were observed as well as the changes of the reduction cost. It is shown that a uniform reduction of NO x emissions by countries in Asia is not cost-effective strategy.

The aim of this study is to determine the solubility rate of tantalum contained in pyrochlore, columbite-tantalite and columbite in simulant lung fluid. The International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP), in its recommendation for limiting intakes of radionuclide by workers, has consistently recognized that the biological behavior of any specific material after incorporation can significantly diverge from model prevision. Model parameters should be adjusted to adapt the model for each specific substance material in order to estimate the dose due to this element intake. The most recent ICRP publication 66, respiratory tract dosimetry model, point out that information as data like particle size, aerosols solubility and the material chemical compounds are important parameters in the dose coefficients calculation. This paper studies the solubility in Simulant Lung Fluid (SLF) of Ta present in mineral dust particles. For this study 3 minerals were selected: pyrochlore, columbite-tantalite and columbite. Tantalum dissolution in vitro samples were obtained using the Gamble solution and PIXE (Particle Induced X-ray Emission) as analytical technique. In order to characterize the worker exposure to Ta bearing particles, one Brazilian niobium mine was selected. The mineral dust particles were collected using a six-stage cascade impactor and the elemental mass concentrations and the MMAD (Mass Median Aerodynamic Diameter) were determined. Concentrations of radionuclides from natural series of thorium and uranium were also determined. The results show that the workers are exposed to Ta bearing particles in the respirable fraction of aerosols (aerodynamic diameter (d aer) <2.5 μm) during the mineral processing to obtain Fe-Nb alloy. The solubility in Simulant Lung Fluid (SLF) of Ta present in mineral dust particles depends on the mineral characteristics. The solubility half-time varies between 34 and 62 h depending on the associated mineral.

Methylation and demethylation of arsenic may change substantially the toxicity and mobility of arsenic in soils. Little is known about demethylation of organic arsenic species in organic soils. We incubated dimethylarsinic acid (DMA) and arsenobetaine (AsB) in soils and aqueous soil extracts from a forest floor and fen, in order to investigate demethylation processes. Incubations were conducted at 5°C in the dark under oxic or anoxic conditions. Arsenobetaine demethylated rapidly in all soil extracts with half-lives of 3.6–12 days, estimated from first order kinetic. Demethylation of DMA was relatively slow with half-lives of 187 and 46 days in the forest floor extracts and oxic fen extracts, respectively. In comparison, DMA was stable for 100 days in anoxic fen extracts. The apparent half-lives were much shorter in soils for DMA (1.3–12.6 days) and AsB (0.5–1.9 days) than in soil extracts, suggesting also irreversible AsB and DMA adsorption to soils beside demethylation. An unknown arsenic species and DMA were detected as metabolites of AsB demethylation. The results indicate rapid demethylation of AsB probably via the pathway AsB → Dimethylarsenoylacetate → DMA, followed up by slow demethylation of DMA → monomethylarsonic acid → inorganic As species.