Spacial Plan of Serbia (Yugoslavia) predicts the concept of water supply, which is based on exploitation of water from surface storages, formed or under construction. Usage of surface storages is profitable if exploitation of water takes place by protected capacity, during predicted period. Useful spaces of storages are endangered by fulfillment with erosional material, especially in hilly-mountainous region. By the way, particles of sediment are the carriers of pollutants from agricultural surfaces and products of wet and dry deposition from the atmosphere. In order to protect storages by fulfillment, primary tasks are decreasing the erosion production and stopping the existing quantities of sediment in the hydrographic system. Data about investments in erosion control works (period 1994-2000) are presented in the paper. It is necessary to increase level of investments, because the territory of Serbia (Yugoslavia) is region of high risk, in the sense of erosional material production.

The current study was conducted to (1) examine seasonal and spatial distribution of heavy metals and metalloid in sediment from the Saigon River and (2) apportion and quantify their pollution sources. Ninety-six sediment samples were taken in the rainy and dry season on 13 sampling sites, distributed over the lower reaches of the River, to analyze for exchangeable concentration of 11 heavy metals and metalloid (Al, B, Cd, Co, Fe, In, Mn, Ni, Pb, Sr, and Zn), pH, EC, organic carbon content, and particle-size distribution. Generally, the concentration of 11 elements was ranked in the order Mn > Al > Fe > Zn > Sr > In > B > Ni > Co > Pb > Cd. Hierarchical cluster analysis grouped 13 sampling sites into two parts based on the similar concentration of the 11 elements. Three-way analysis of variance showed that the total exchangeable concentration of 11 elements was significantly higher in the rainy season than in the dry season and in the upper part than in the lower part of the river. Principal component analysis/factor analysis and correlation analysis revealed that three pollution sources (PS) may contribute to enriching the 11 examined elements in the sediment. These sources included (PS1) from catchment through water erosion over natural areas, explaining 83%, (PS2) mixed sources from catchment through water erosion over agricultural fields and inside Ho Chi Minh City, accounting for 6%, and (PS3) mixed sources from lowland areas, explaining 7.8% of the total variance of the elements. In brief, the sediment concentration of 11 metals and metalloid varied with season and space and three major pollution sources from river catchment, inside Ho Chi Minh City, and lowland contributively enriched the elements in the sediment of the River.

This study investigates the influence of small-scale sediment transport on glyphosate and AMPA redistribution on the soil surface and on their off-site transport during water erosion events. Both a smooth surface (T1) and a surface with “seeding lines on the contour” (T2) were tested in a rainfall simulation experiment using soil flumes (1 × 0.5 m) with a 5% slope. A dose of 178 mg m⁻² of a glyphosate-based formulation (CLINIC®) was applied on the upper 0.2 m of the flumes. Four 15-min rainfall events (RE) with 30-min interval in between and a total rainfall intensity of 30 mm h⁻¹ were applied. Runoff samples were collected after each RE in a collector at the flume outlet. At the end of the four REs, soil and sediment samples were collected in the application area and in four 20 cm-segments downslope of the application area. Samples were collected according to the following visually distinguished soil surface groups: light sedimentation (LS), dark sedimentation (DS), background and aggregates.Results showed that runoff, suspended sediment and associated glyphosate and AMPA off-site transport were significantly lower in T2 than in T1. Glyphosate and AMPA off-site deposition was higher for T2 than for T1, and their contents on the soil surface decreased with increasing distance from the application area for all soil surface groups and in both treatments. The LS and DS groups presented the highest glyphosate and AMPA contents, but the background group contributed the most to the downslope off-site deposition.Glyphosate and AMPA off-target particle-bound transport was 9.4% (T1) and 17.8% (T2) of the applied amount, while water-dissolved transport was 2.8% (T1) and 0.5% (T2). Particle size and organic matter influenced the mobility of glyphosate and AMPA to off-target areas. These results indicate that the pollution risk of terrestrial and aquatic environments through runoff and deposition can be considerable.

Microplastics (MPs) have long been the subject of scientific articles dealing with environmental pollution. The purpose of this study was to determine the occurrence and amount of MPs in soil aggregates depending on land use. The soil in the research area was formed on loess parent material and classified as Haplic Luvisol. From the soil samples were determined particle size distribution curves, and subsequently 40 mixed samples were dry sieved and then wet sieved to determine the percentage of individual soil fractions of water-stable soil aggregates (WSA). The representation and number of MPs were determined for the most common fractions. It was found that MPs occur in both cases of land use, slightly more (62 pt/5 g) in forest soil compared to arable (40 pt/5 g). It is generally known that soil is not homogeneous, but the amount of MPs in top layer for arable soil (8000 pt/kg) and forest (12,400 pt/kg) was estimated. The effect of land use is that forest WSA have a larger mean weight diameter (MWD) than arable land. By being larger, they are also more stable to movement during water erosion. MPs are bound in soil aggregates and they move together with them. This can be deduced from our measurements, because MPs extracted from WSA do not disintegrate in water after 2 hours and even after subsequent wet sieving. The effect of land use on microplastic occurrence and movement should be continually of concern in the future.

Copper mine road dust is the major source of dust in mine operations. The dust produced on the road surface is a great hazard to the workers. Aiming at the road dust of an open-pit mine, this paper conducts a physical and chemical analysis of a new type of chemical dust suppressant. It is prepared by using sodium polyacrylate as a binder, sodium carbonate as a moisture absorbent, polyethylene glycol as a water-retaining agent, and alkyl glycoside as a surfactant. Physical and chemical characteristics and dust suppression performance of dust suppressant were tested. The results show that the dust suppressant has a pH of 11.03, a viscosity of 18.5 mPa·s, and a surface tension of 28.1 mN/m. The content of heavy metal ions contained is less than the maximum concentration defined by “The norms for the integrated treatment of copper mine acidic waste water.” Under the same temperature condition, the greater the humidity, the stronger the hygroscopicity. Especially when the humidity is 30%, the hygroscopic effect is contrary to water. The dust suppressant also has good anti-evaporation properties, and it could maintain a moisture content of 4% to 5% after being placed at room temperature for 10 days. Compared with water, the dust suppressant has better performance of wind erosion, water erosion, and compression resistance. Under the same conditions, the loss rate of water is 2 times that of the dust suppressant, and the pressure of the dust suppressant sample is about 3 times that of water. The dust suppressant has a much higher dust removal efficiency for all dust and respirable dust than water under the same conditions. Finally, the test results and mechanism of the dust suppression mechanism of the dust suppressant are described and analyzed, which shows that the dust suppressant studied in this paper has good performance and is suitable for road dust prevention.

Anionic polyacrylamide (PAM) is a linear, water-soluble anionic polymer that is widely used for erosion control and water quality protection. There has been an issue whether this formulation could possibly have negative effects on soil microbial diversity by altering microbial binding to soil particles or to one another and thus restricting their mobility and role in carbon and nutrient cycling. We conducted an 8-year study annually applying ultra-high rates of PAM to soil and then monitored impacts on soil bacterial diversity. In July and August, we measured active soil bacterial and fungal biomass and microbial diversity in soils receiving 0 (control), 2,691, and 5,382 kg active ingredient PAM ha⁻¹. Active microbial biomass in soil was 19–33 % greater in the untreated control than soil treated with 2,691 or 5,382 kg of active ingredient PAM ha⁻¹. Active bacterial biomass in soil was 21–31 % greater in the control treatment than in soil treated with 2,691 or 5,382 kg of active ingredient PAM ha⁻¹ in August, but not July. Active fungal biomass in soils was 38–50 % greater in the control treatment than soil treated with 2,691 or 5,382 kg of active ingredient PAM ha⁻¹ in July, but not August. Molecular methods were used to access the bacterial diversity, richness, and evenness in an agricultural soil that received 0 (control), 2,691, and 5,382 kg of active ingredient PAM ha⁻¹. We found that although soil receiving these massive PAM application rates and prolonged exposure may reduce active bacterial and fungal biomass, PAM application did not substantially or consistently affect bacterial structural diversity, richness, or evenness in this agricultural soil.

During the seasons 2003/04, 2004/05 and 2005/06, a study was made of the evolution of runoff as well as soil and available P and K losses in the sediment carried away in a conventional till system--that most used at the present time--and in a no till system with added pruning remains in an olive grove of the picual variety located in Torredonjimeno (Jaén, Spain). A group of microplots for sediment collection in a randomized complete block design was established. The samples were collected in the field after each storm. In the study period, a total of 21 storms were recorded, with a precipitation of 450 mm in 2003/04, 179 mm in 2004/05 and 388 mm in 2005/06. The erosivity of the rainfall was characterized and the cover percentage in the plots throughout the time was determined. The establishment of pruning remains reduced soil loss with respect to conventional tillage (CT) in the 3 years (72%). Likewise, the available P loss greatly declined in the study (46.4%) under conservation agriculture. The reduction in available K loss (72.4%) was much greater than that of available P. The close relationship between both variables and sediment production also stands out. Runoff was the parameter on which the pruning remains had the least influence with only an 11% average reduction.

The enzymatically induced carbonate precipitation (EICP) technique is currently studied for dust control because of the formation of cemented crust layer. In the present study, polyvinyl acetate (PVAc) was used with EICP together as the EICP-PVAc treatment to solidify dust soils. In addition, several treated dust soil areas always experience repeated freeze–thaw (FT) or dry–wet (DW) cycles, both of which result in the damage of structure. Therefore, the FT cycle test and the DW cycle test were conducted to study the durability of EICP-PVAc treatment. Results showed that both FT cycles and DW cycles affected the EICP-PVAc-treated dust soils. The wind-erosion resistance and rainfall-erosion resistance were impaired, and the surface strength decreased. However, the decreasing range resulted from the FT cycle was smaller than the decreasing range resulted from the DW cycle. It indicated the EICP-PVAc-treated dust soils had better FT durability, but the DW durability was worse. Moreover, a field test was used to study the durability of application of EICP-PVAc treatment in practical field test site. Based on the surface pattern observation after 9 months, the grasses in the treated area are in good growth condition; however, few grasses grew in the untreated area. The field test demonstrated that the combined EICP-PVAc and grass seeds treatment can ensure the long-term solidification effect and durability. The results lay a solid foundation for the applications of EICP-PVAc treatment to solidify dust soils for dust control.

Water-induced erosion poses severe harm to the sustainable development of land and water resources that is essential for attaining agricultural sustainability in Qareaghaj catchment of Fars Province, Iran. This study evaluates the topo-hydrological, morphometric, climatic, and environmental characteristics of Qareaghaj catchment for prioritizing the sub-watersheds that are susceptible to erosion caused by water. We tested and compared a novel ensemble multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) model, namely the weighted aggregated sum product assessment-analytical hierarchy process (WASPAS-AHP) with prevailing benchmark ensemble MCDM models including VlseKriterijumska optimizacija I Kompromisno Resenje (VIKOR)-AHP and Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS)-AHP for ranking sub-watersheds and determining the most significant parameter that influences water erosion (WE) in Qareaghaj catchment. The outcome of weights using pairwise comparison matrix (PCM) of AHP reveals that normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), mean annual rainfall (MAR), slope degree (SD), and slope length and steepness factor (LS) governs the WE in Qareaghaj catchment. The prioritization rankings of sub-watersheds obtained using the VIKOR-AHP, TOPSIS-AHP, and WASPAS-AHP models demonstrate that SW31, SW63, and SW94 had the highest priority rank with a score of 0.047, 0.69, and 0.477, respectively. The comparison of rankings from the models using Spearman’s correlation coefficient tests (SCCT) and Kendall’s tau correlation coefficient tests (KTCCT) revealed that WASPAS-AHP had a higher correlation with TOPSIS-AHP and VIKOR-AHP ensemble models. The outcome of MCDM models was validated based on the erosion potential method (EPM), which displayed that the VIKOR-AHP model was better for mapping the erosion susceptibility than TOPSIS-AHP and WASPAS-AHP models. Thus, the erosion susceptibility mapping based on the VIKOR-AHP ensemble model can be considered for developing new strategies and land use policies in order to control WE in Qareaghaj catchment.

Surface runoff transporting sediment with high phosphorus (P) concentrations has been identified as a major hydrological pathway for sediment-associated P delivery to surface waters and is considered a major threat to water quality, due to the ability of P to cause eutrophication in fresh water. Not all P-rich sediment that is mobilised by erosion will however be delivered directly to the channel. Some may instead be deposited in intermediate storage away from its source area. The aim of this contribution was to determine the influence of land use and soil type on the P content of surface runoff sediment and sediment deposited in intermediate storage and was undertaken in the largely agricultural and rural catchments of the Rivers Frome and Piddle in Dorset, UK. The study formed part of a larger investigation of hydrological and hydrogeochemical processes and fluxes in lowland permeable catchments in the UK (LOCAR). Soil samples were collected from the main land use types; freshly deposited sediment was sampled from ditches, hedge boundaries and depressions in fields, and sediment-laden runoff was collected during heavy rainfall events. The concentrations of total phosphorus (TP) and the P fractions found in the surface runoff sediment were significantly different from those measured in the original source soils, with a greater degree of enrichment associated with surface runoff sediment from cultivated land than from pasture land. For cultivated land, concentrations of TP and the P fractions in deposited sediment were higher than those in the original source material, while for pasture soils, concentrations of TP and the P fractions tended to be lower than in the original source soils. The relative importance of the P fractions associated with surface runoff sediment and sediment deposits also differed from that for the original soil samples. Surface runoff sediment was finer than source pasture and cultivated soils, reflecting the particle size selectivity of sediment mobilisation and transport. Soil physical properties and land use can both influence the P content of surface runoff and deposited sediment.