The fractionation of phosphorus in UK chalk stream surface waters and its relevance to the regulation and management of water quality

2021 ◽  
Vol 289 ◽  
pp. 112555
Author(s):  
P.J. Shaw ◽  
K.-C. Leung ◽  
D. Clarke
2019 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kees J. M. Kramer ◽  
Frank Sleeuwaert ◽  
Guy Engelen ◽  
Christin Müller ◽  
Werner Brack ◽  
...  

Abstract Chemical pollution of water bodies is a complex problem around the globe. When described by the extremes of the range of problem definitions, water bodies can be chemically polluted by a single compound that is emitted from a point source or an incidental spill, or by chronic diffuse emissions from local and upstream land uses. The resulting mixture exposures can vary in space and time, e.g. due to the use of pesticides in the crop growing season. The environmental management objectives are commonly to protect and restore surface waters against human influences. Currently, chemical pollution is globally judged for a selected set of compounds, by judging each of these individually in comparison with protective environmental quality standards. Research has provided a novel assessment paradigm (solution-focused risk assessment) and novel data, measurement methods and models to improve on current practices. Their adoption and application require establishing novel linkages between the diverse problem definitions and the novel approaches. That would assist water quality professionals to select the most effective option or options to protect and restore water quality. The present paper introduces the RiBaTox (River Basin Specific Toxicants assessment and management) web tool. It consists of short descriptions of the novel approaches (made available as Additional file 1) and a decision tree for end-users to select those. The overview of novel approaches collated in RiBaTox is relevant for end-users ranging from local water quality experts up till strategic policy developers. Although RiBaTox was developed in the context of European water quality problems, the methods provided by RiBaTox are relevant for users from (inter)national to local scales. This paper is part of a series of Policy Briefs from the EU-FP7 project SOLUTIONS (http://www.solutions-project.eu), which provide backgrounds on chemical pollution of surface waters and policy practices and proposed improvements.


2019 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Leo Posthuma ◽  
Werner Brack ◽  
Jos van Gils ◽  
Andreas Focks ◽  
Christin Müller ◽  
...  

Abstract The ecological status of European surface waters may be affected by multiple stressors including exposure to chemical mixtures. Currently, two different approaches are used separately to inform water quality management: the diagnosis of the deterioration of aquatic ecosystems caused by nutrient loads and habitat quality, and assessment of chemical pollution based on a small set of chemicals. As integrated assessments would improve the basis for sound water quality management, it is recommended to apply a holistic approach to integrated water quality status assessment and management. This allows for estimating the relative contributions of exposure to mixtures of the chemicals present and of other stressors to impaired ecological status of European water bodies. Improved component- and effect-based methods for chemicals are available to support this. By applying those methods, it was shown that a holistic diagnostic approach is feasible, and that chemical pollution acts as a limiting factor for the ecological status of European surface waters. In a case study on Dutch surface waters, the impact on ecological status could be traced back to chemical pollution affecting individual species. The results are also useful as calibration of the outcomes of component-based mixture assessment (risk quotients or mixture toxic pressures) on ecological impacts. These novel findings provide a basis for a causal and integrated analysis of water quality and improved methods for the identification of the most important stressor groups, including chemical mixtures, to support integrated knowledge-guided management decisions on water quality.


2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (5(55)) ◽  
pp. 22-27
Author(s):  
Liliya Zuberovna Zhinzhakova ◽  
Elena Alexandrovna Cherednik

Based on long-term observations, the assessment of the pollution of the rivers of the Central Caucasus was carried out by comparing the calculated coefficients of the complexity of pollution and the specific combinatorial index of pollution of surface waters, and the quality classes were determined. The results of chemical analysis of the concentration levels of trace impurities (Mo, Pb, Zn, V, Ni, Cr, Mn, Ag) and inorganic nitrogen compounds (NO2 -, NO3 — and NH4 +) in the waters of 13 rivers in two permanent sections of each watercourse were used. The results of calculating the indicators of pollution in the waters of rivers of winter low water and summer high water are presented. The most polluted watercourses and the frequency of pollution in each river are identified, estimated by the values of the specific combinatorial index of water pollution, the coefficient of complexity of pollution, and the class of water quality is presented. The assessment of the most polluted water bodies during the winter low-water period and summer flood is given according to the classification of water quality. According to long-term observations, the features of watercourses and their differences in terms of pollution are presented.


2021 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-40
Author(s):  
Galina Yotova ◽  
◽  
Svetlana Lazarova ◽  
Veronika Mihaylova ◽  
Tony Venelinov ◽  
...  

Surface water samples in Ogosta River, Bulgaria and wastewater samples at the inlet and outlet of WWTP–Montana were tested for the traditional parameters and ecotoxicological effect. The river and Dam surface waters comply with category A1 of Directive 75/440/EEC for pH, EC, COD, TSS, NO3–, Cl–, SO42–, B, Ba, Co, Cr, Cu, Hg, Mn, Ni, Pb, Se, V and Zn; with category A2 for BOD5, NH4+–N and Fe; and with category A3 for TNb and As. The average annual concentrations of Al, Cr (III), Cr (VI) and U are lower than the set limits in the Water Framework Directive. Arsenic concentration in all the samples exceeds the maximum allowed concentration, a results from natural processes. All the levels of the studied parameters in the outlet wastewater samples are lower than the limits, set in Directive 91/271/EEC and in the complex permit of the WWTP. The results of the biotest Phytotoxkit F™ show low ecotoxicity of the water samples. Optimization of the sample pretreatment prior to this ecotoxicological test is analyzed and discussed.


2020 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 2661-2668
Author(s):  
Věra Hubačíková ◽  
Jozefína Pokrývková ◽  
Jana Marková

1978 ◽  
Vol 41 (4) ◽  
pp. 309-313
Author(s):  
PHILLIP E. GREESON

The weakest link in the chain of events leading to production of reliable microbiological-monitoring data is a poor or indequate sample. This results primarily from diversity of environmental conditions from which a sample must be collected. In surface waters affinity of microbiological organisms for suspended particles necessitates that sampling procedures be designed to collect a representative sample of the water-sediment mixture. The key problem and the challenge to microbiological monitoring is production of a sterilizable, depth-integrating sampler that will accommodate the disparity of sediment distribution as related to variations in depth and cross-section and the changes in streamflow. Until such a sampler has been designed, tested, and made readily available, the data produced in microbiological-monitoring programs involving surface waters can be considered of questionable accuracy, regardless of the notable advances that are taking place in the state-of-the-art of analytical procedures.


Water ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (9) ◽  
pp. 2412
Author(s):  
Brian Kronvang ◽  
Frank Wendland ◽  
Karel Kovar ◽  
Dico Fraters

The interaction between land use and water quality is of great importance worldwide as agriculture has been proven to exert a huge pressure on the quality of groundwater and surface waters due to excess losses of nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorous) through leaching and erosion processes. These losses result in, inter alia, high nitrate concentrations in groundwater and eutrophication of rivers, lakes and coastal waters. Combatting especially non-point losses of nutrients has been a hot topic for river basin managers worldwide, and new important mitigation measures to reduce the input of nutrients into groundwater and surface waters at the pollution source have been developed and implemented in many countries. This Special Issue of the Land use and Water Quality conference series (LuWQ) includes a total of 11 papers covering topics such as: (i) nitrogen surplus; (ii) protection of groundwater from pollution; (iii) nutrient sources of pollution and dynamics in catchments and (iv) new technologies for monitoring, mapping and analysing water quality.


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