Construction, Operation And Evaluation Of A Compact Upright Bioreactor For The Elimination Of Nutrients (CUBEN)

Eutrophication is reported as the most important water quality issue around the world. The potential death of Lake Winnipeg, the world's ninth largest lake, is a dramatic exampe of this ecological disater in Canda. Property price devaluation, tourist repulsion, and toxicity due to eutrophication cause the annual economic losses over $3 billion in Europe, South and North America. The objective of this thesis is to develop an efficient biological nutrient removal reactor to be commercialized and used in the water/wastewater treatment industry. This bioreactor has a unique configuration which is filed as a US patent technology called "Compact Upright Bioreactor for the Elimination of Nutrients", invented by M. Alvarez Cuenca and M. Reza. It consists of four stages including Deaeration, Anoxic, Anaerobic and Aerobic where Do removal, denitrification and phosphorus removal processes take place respectively. The bioreactor performs very well obtaining 100% Do removal and 98% nitrate removal efficiency. The phosphorus removal process requires much longer operational period to reach steady state. The phosphorus removal process shows variable results having a maximum of 60% removal success.

Construction, Operation And Evaluation Of A Compact Upright Bioreactor For The Elimination Of Nutrients (CUBEN)

Eutrophication is reported as the most important water quality issue around the world. The potential death of Lake Winnipeg, the world's ninth largest lake, is a dramatic exampe of this ecological disater in Canda. Property price devaluation, tourist repulsion, and toxicity due to eutrophication cause the annual economic losses over $3 billion in Europe, South and North America. The objective of this thesis is to develop an efficient biological nutrient removal reactor to be commercialized and used in the water/wastewater treatment industry. This bioreactor has a unique configuration which is filed as a US patent technology called "Compact Upright Bioreactor for the Elimination of Nutrients", invented by M. Alvarez Cuenca and M. Reza. It consists of four stages including Deaeration, Anoxic, Anaerobic and Aerobic where Do removal, denitrification and phosphorus removal processes take place respectively. The bioreactor performs very well obtaining 100% Do removal and 98% nitrate removal efficiency. The phosphorus removal process requires much longer operational period to reach steady state. The phosphorus removal process shows variable results having a maximum of 60% removal success.

Building partnerships

Water is generally plentiful in the United Kingdom; however, there is an emerging water quality issue driven by agricultural intensification. Poor land management over generations has contributed to the degradation of upland peat deposits leading to discolouration of potable water and the loss of valuable habitats. Employing agri-environmental schemes operated by the UK Government and private Capital One water company in the North West of England is achieving water quality gains as well as landscape, conservation and habitat benefit at the same time as supporting tenant farm incomes. We describe the pressures on the uplands and how innovative partnerships are achieving sustainable change.

Perceptions of Local Communities on Water Quality in Pagbanganan River, Baybay City, Leyte

Pagbanganan River is a river system that traverses several barangays in the city of Baybay. The river is important to the communities because of its various ecological uses. At this time, however, it is facing major threats which affect its water quality. This study was conducted to find out how the people living near the river utilize the water resources and to determine some economically important biological resources derived from the river. River-related problems, tradtional practices, superstitious beliefs and their perception on water quality were assessed. Personal interviews were conducted to gather data on household charateristics, water usage and assessment of water quality. The communities residing near the river for food and other services. Fish, shrimps, crabs and snails are among the many biological resources derived from the river. Most residents considered the river as important to them. Respondents generally believed that the river's water quality has been slowly deterioration. Overall findings suggest the need to raise public awareness on water quality issue to increase people's understanding and encourage them to adopt practices that can sustain the river's health.

Anomalous rise in algal production linked to lakewater calcium decline through food web interactions

Increased algal blooms are a threat to aquatic ecosystems worldwide, although the combined effects of multiple stressors make it difficult to determine the underlying causes. We explore whether changes in trophic interactions in response to declining calcium (Ca) concentrations, a water quality issue only recently recognized in Europe and North America, can be linked with unexplained bloom production. Using a palaeolimnological approach analysing the remains of Cladocera (herbivorous grazers) and visual reflectance spectroscopically inferred chlorophyll a from the sediments of a Nova Scotia (Canada) lake, we show that a keystone grazer, Daphnia , declined in the early 1990s and was replaced by a less effective grazer, Bosmina , while inferred chlorophyll a levels tripled at constant total phosphorus (TP) concentrations. The decline in Daphnia cannot be attributed to changes in pH, thermal stratification or predation, but instead is linked to declining lakewater [Ca]. The consistency in the timing of changes in Daphnia and inferred chlorophyll a suggests top-down control on algal production, providing, to our knowledge, the first evidence of a link between lakewater [Ca] decline and elevated algal production mediated through the effects of [Ca] decline on Daphnia . [Ca] decline has severe implications for whole-lake food webs, and presents yet another mechanism for potential increases in algal blooms.