The widespread use of alkylphenols in European industry has led to their presence in the environment and the living organisms of the Baltic Sea. The present study (2011–2012) was designed to determine the concentrations of alkylphenols, 4-nonylphenol (NP) and 4-tert-octylphenol (OP), in surface sediments of the Gulf of Gdansk, a section of the Baltic that lies in close proximity to industrial and agricultural areas and borders with an agglomeration of nearly one million inhabitants. It is also where the Vistula, the largest Polish river, ends its course. In spring, large concentrations of 4-nonylphenol and 4-tert-octylphenol were washed off into the coastal zone with meltwater. In summertime, sediments near the beach had the highest alkylphenol concentrations (NP—2.31 ng g⁻¹dw, OP—13.09 ng g⁻¹dw), which was related to tourism and recreational activity. In silt sediments located off the coast, the highest NP (1.46 ng g⁻¹dw) and OP (6.56 ng g⁻¹dw) amounts were observed in autumn. The origin of OP and NP at those test stations was linked to atmospheric transport of black carbon along with adsorbed alkylphenols.

As the popularity and use of soft plastic lures (SPLs) by recreational anglers have increased in recent years, so does the number of anecdotal reports of SPLs being found in aquatic environments and in the digestive tract of a variety of fish species. We used a multistep approach to determine the possible consequences of SPLs on fish and aquatic environments. Field work focussed on lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush) and smallmouth bass (Micropterus dolomeiu) in Charleston Lake in eastern Ontario, a system identified by resource managers and the lake association as potentially having an SPL problem based on numerous anecdotal reports from anglers. Snorkel surveys revealed that the deposition rate of SPLs was potentially as high as ~80 per km of shoreline per year. In the laboratory, eight different types of SPLs were immersed in water at two temperatures (4 and 21 °C) for a 2-year period to evaluate change in SPL size (both swelling and decomposition). Despite SPLs varying by manufacturer and in composition, there was little evidence of decomposition. Indeed, most SPLs swelled and remained that way throughout the study. In cold water, SPLs increased an average of 61 % in weight and 19 % in length, while warm water treatments experienced an increase of 205 % in weight and 39 % in length. A summer creel survey conducted on Charleston Lake revealed that 17.9 % of anglers interviewed reported finding at least one ingested SPL when cleaning lake trout. However, when we sampled lake trout (using gill nets) and smallmouth bass (by rod and reel), we found few ingested SPLs (2.2 and 3.4 %, respectively). Based on the examination of fish that contained SPLs and the near-shore surveys, the most common SPLs were soft stick baits/wacky worms. The most promising approach to address the SPL problem is to educate anglers about the need to rig SPLs in a manner such that they are less likely to be lost during fishing and to always discard SPLs appropriately. Moreover, the tackle industry should continue to investigate SPLs that are less likely to be pulled off by fish and/or that degrade rapidly.

In this study, the adsorbent, magnetic NaY zeolite was synthesized for simultaneous removal of three toxic cationic dyes, methylene blue, crystal violet, and fuchsine, from aqueous solutions. The influences of five dominant parameters of pH, temperature, time, initial dyes concentration, and adsorbent mass on dyes adsorption were investigated. The percentage of dye removal was mathematically described as a function of experimental parameters and was modeled through central composite design (CCD). According to the predicted experiments, optimum conditions of 10.3, 50 °C, 45 min, 10 mg L⁻¹, and 46.2 mg, for pH, temperature, time, initial dyes concentration, and adsorbent mass were resulted, respectively. The maximum experimentally achieved dye removal percent of 98.4 ± 0.6, 98.1 ± 0.5, and 98.1 ± 0.3 were obtained, which were close to the percent of model dye removal prediction of 99.0, 98.6, and 98.4 for methylene blue, crystal violet, and fuchsine, respectively. This agreement showed that the central composite design model could ideally make an acceptable estimation of the process.

Samples of soil and food plants were collected from wastewater-irrigated and control fields in the vicinity of Gaziantep, in southeast Turkey. The samples were analyzed for concentrations of several macro and trace elements to evaluate spatial differences and bioaccumulation. Emphasis was placed on redoximorphic metal (Mn/Fe) interactions. The plants and tissues that studied were corn (Zea mays) seeds, mint (Mentha) leaves, the vegetables eggplant (Solanum melongena L.) and pepper (Capsicum annuum L.), and tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) fruits. Concentrations of Mn and Fe in corn were generally lower than in the other food plants, while concentrations of Mn, Fe, and several elements in mint were higher in other plants. Except for mint, the Mn deficiencies in the various plant samples can be attributed to low Mn soil concentrations and the chemical and physical characteristics of the soil. Mn concentrations in both wastewater-irrigated soils and control soils were lower than what has been reported as an average for the Earth’s crust (crustal average). There was considerable variability in the concentrations of Fe, with mint having the highest concentration (650 mg/kg) and corn the lowest (20 mg/kg). Significant positive relationships (coefficient of determination (R²) >0.50) were calculated between Mn and Fe in corn (R² = 0.83). The R²for tomato was 0.43, but all other relationships were much poorer for all other species. Several elements (trace and macro) demonstrated positive relationships with Mn or Fe, although there was little across-species consistency. For example, the R²values for both Mn and Fe correlated with Zn, P, and Mg were all >0.80 for Z. mays, but were all <0.10 for Mentha. The response of the members of the Solanaceae family (eggplant, pepper, and tomato) to the presence of Mn, Fe, and other soil constituents was similar in many respects, showing differences from Z. mays and, in particular, Mentha. Similarities among related plants are not surprising and would be expected given similar physiologies and metabolic pathways. Higher uptake of certain metals may be associated with the dominant form of the element in the soil matrix. The uptake of chemicals to plant tissues is influenced by the chemical and physical characteristics of the soil and species-specific factors.

Nanoscale zero-valent iron supported on activated carbon (NZVI/AC) was synthesized by a modified potassium borohydride reduction method and characterized with X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and specific surface area (SSA). The effects of NZVI loading on AC, NZVI/AC dosage, pH, the initial concentration of Cr(VI), and temperature on the removal of Cr(VI) were investigated. XRD confirmed the existence of Fe⁰and TEM revealed that the material consisted of mainly spherical bead-like particles aggregated into chains of individual units. The SSA of the iron particles and the removal efficiency of Cr(VI) indicated that the optimum iron loading was 25 %. Increase of NZVI/AC dosage and reaction concentration abated the removal of Cr(VI). Kinetics studies showed that removal of Cr(VI) is a two-step reaction and each step could be expressed by pseudo-first-order reaction kinetics, with initial Cr(VI) and temperature as variables. Total Cr was always almost equal to that of Cr(VI) under all tested conditions, which indicated that little Cr(III) existed in solution. Iron ions, which could cause secondary pollution in the environment, are almost not released from this system. These results demonstrated that NZVI/AC could potentially be used for Cr(VI) removal.

Studying the toxic risk of pesticide exposure to ladybird beetles is important from an agronomical and ecological perspective since larval and adult ladybirds are dominant predators of herbivorous pest insects (e.g., aphids) in various crops in China. This article mainly deals with the long-term effects of a single application of the insect growth regulator hexaflumuron on Coccinella septempunctata. A 72- h and a 33-day toxicity test with hexaflumuron (single application) were performed, starting with the second instar larvae of C. septempunctata. Exposure doses in the long-term experiment were based on the estimated 72-h acute LR50 (application rate causing 50 % mortality) value of 304 g active ingredient (a.i.) ha-1 for second instar larvae of C. septempunctata. The long-term test used five hexaflumuron doses as treatment levels (1/50, 1/100, 1/200, 1/400, and 1/800 of the 72-h acute LR50), as well as a solvent control and blank control treatment. The measurement endpoints used to calculate no observed effect application rates (NOERs) included development time, hatching, pupation, adult emergence, survival, and number of eggs produced. Analyzing the experimental data with one-way analysis of variance showed that the single hexaflumuron application had significant effects on C. septempunctata endpoints in the 33-day test, including effects on development duration (NOER 1.52 g a.i. ha-1), hatching (NOER 3.04 g a.i. ha-1), pupation (NOER 3.04 g a.i. ha-1), and survival (NOER 1.52 g a.i. ha-1). These NOERs are lower than the reported maximum field application rate of hexaflumuron (135 g a.i. ha-1) in cotton cultivation, suggesting potential risks to beneficial arthropods.

Industrialization and urbanization in central Europe since the middle of the nineteenth century led to changes in urban waste water disposal and thus, to an increasing nutrient impact of surface waters by human waste. Based on historical statistics and literature research, we have made a quantification of nutrient loads discharged to surface waters in central European river catchments for seven decades between 1878 and 1939. For both total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorus (TP), nutrient inputs via point (urban) and diffuse (rural) pathways, nutrient removal by waste water treatment plants (WWTPs) and that during soil passage were quantified. The total nutrient inputs caused by human waste between 1880 and 1940 increased from 243 to 396 kt TN year⁻¹, and from 18 to 30 kt TP year⁻¹. In 1880, most of the inputs (92 % for TN and 93 % for TP) originated from diffuse pathways (cesspits). In 1940, 43 % of TN and 41 % of TP inputs originated from urban pathways (sewer systems). The total nutrient removal between 1880 and 1940 declined from 79 to 59 % for TN and from 86 to 66 % for TP. Consequently, waste water disposal shifted from diffuse to urban pathways. On the one side, this led to rising nutrient loads discharged to surface waters because of insufficient nutrient removal by the early WWTPs. Otherwise, nutrient concentration in groundwater under rural areas decreased by discharge human waste via sewer systems out of the cities.

A bentonite-based hydrogel was chemically modified to prepare a new effective adsorbent for the removal of phosphate from aqueous solutions using batch equilibrium experiments at the laboratory scale. The efficiency of the phosphate adsorption by the modified adsorbents followed the order: Al-Fe-hydrogel > Al-hydrogel > Fe-hydrogel > Rewoquate surfactant-hydrogel ≅ Irasoft surfactant-hydrogel > raw hydrogel. The amount of Fe and Al, as determined in proportion to the cation exchange capacity (CEC) of the hydrogel, was the most important parameter for optimizing the modification process by pillaring solutions. The results showed that the phosphate adsorption was rapid and pH independent. The removal of phosphate reached up to 99 % at the optimized conditions. The adsorption data were well fitted by Langmuir and Freundlich models. According to the Langmuir model, the maximum adsorption capacity of the phosphate on the Fe-Al-hydrogel was 14.29 mg L⁻¹. The removal of phosphate from an urban wastewater using the modified adsorbent was more than 99 %. The Fe-Al-hydrogel selectively adsorbed the phosphate from the solutions containing sulphate, bicarbonate, chloride, and nitrate. Based on the obtained results, the synthesized adsorbent could be used effectively to decontaminate the phosphate polluted water.

A new solid phase extraction method was developed for the preconcentration and determination of rare earth elements (REEs) (Nd, Sm, Eu, Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Yb, Lu, Ce) in water samples. The method is based on the sorption of REE ions onto the 2,6-pyridinedicarboxaldehyde-functionalized Amberlite XAD-4 resin at pH 7.0, followed by the elution with 2 mL of 1.0 mol L⁻¹ HNO₃ solution and determination by inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES). The main parameters affecting preconcentration, including sample pH, sample and eluent flow rate, and sample volume, have been investigated in detail. Under the optimum conditions (pH 7.0, sample flow rate of 1.0 mL min⁻¹, and eluent flow rate of 4.0 mL min⁻¹), detection limits between 0.011 and 0.298 μg L⁻¹ for a 25 mL sample volume and 0.006 and 0.149 μg L⁻¹ for a 50 mL sample volume were obtained. The sorption capacities for the resin were found to range between 49.0 μmol g⁻¹ (for Lu) and 66.7 μmol g⁻¹ (for Sm). The method was validated by analysis using a surface water certified reference material (SPS-SW2 Batch 127). The proposed method was successfully applied to the determination of REEs in tap water and seawater samples. The recovery values for the spiked water samples were in the range of 90.0–101.7 %.

This study assessed runoff losses following laboratory rainfall simulation on a grassland soil at two time intervals (48 and 216 h) after a single application of biosolids and meat and bone meal (MBM). The treatments were, a soil-only control, three types of biosolids (lime-stabilised (LS), thermally dried (TD) and anaerobically digested (AD)) and two types of MBM (low ash and high ash content) all applied at two rates (the maximum and double the maximum legal application rate currently permitted in Ireland). Results showed that treatment, time interval and their interactions all had significant effects on dissolved reactive P (DRP), total P (TP) and total dissolved P (TDP) concentrations. Time interval had the greatest effect for DRP and TP concentrations, while treatment was more significant for TDP. All treatments released DRP concentrations in excess of 30 μg DRP L⁻¹. Anaerobically digested biosolids released the least amount of DRP into surface runoff for both application rates at both time intervals. Low ash content MBM, applied at the maximum legal rate, released the most DRP at both time intervals, and the TD biosolids released the most DRP when applied at double the maximum rate. Lime-stabilised biosolids released the most TP in runoff at both application rates. Runoff comprised of >50 % particulate P for all treatments. Besides TD biosolids, all treatments, applied at both rates, released lower concentrations of suspended solids (SS) during the second time interval than the first. Soil-specific effects were also evident, although the soil was non-calcareous and had a low pH and high amounts of available aluminium and iron, high organic matter ensured low levels of P adsorption.