Ecological risk evaluation and removal of emerging pollutants in urban wastewater by a hollow fiber forward osmosis membrane

Producción CientíficaForward osmosis (FO) is a promising technology for the treatment of urban wastewater. FO can produce high-quality effluents and preconcentrate urban wastewater for subsequent anaerobic treatment. This membrane technology makes it possible to eliminate the pollutants present in urban wastewater, which can cause adverse effects in the ecosystem even at low concentrations. In this study, a 0.6 m2 hollow fiber aquaporin forward osmosis membrane was used for the treatment of urban wastewater from the Valladolid wastewater treatment plant (WWTP). A total of 51 Contaminants of Emerging Concern (CECs) were investigated, of which 18 were found in the target urban wastewater. They were quantified, and their ecotoxicological risk impact was evaluated. Different salts with different concentrations were tested as draw solutions to evaluate the membrane performances when working with pretreated urban wastewater. NaCl was found to be the most appropriate salt since it leads to higher permeate fluxes and lower reverse saline fluxes. The membrane can eliminate or significantly reduce the pollutants present in the studied urban wastewater, producing water without ecotoxicological risk or essentially free of pollutants. In all cases, good recovery was achieved, which increased with molecular weight, although chemical and electrostatic interactions also played a role.Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación/Agencia Estatal de Investigación (AEI)/10.13039/501100011033 - (project PID2019-109403RBC21

ISER 2012 Working Paper No. 1

Large resource development projects take years to plan. During that planning time, the public frequently debates the potential benefits and risks of a project, but with incomplete information. In these debates, some people might assert that a project would have great benefits, while others might assert that it would certainly harm the environment. At the same time, the developer will be assessing different designs, before finally submitting one to the government permitting agencies for evaluation and public scrutiny. For large mines in Alaska, the government permitting process takes years, and often includes an ecological risk assessment. This assessment is a data-intensive, scientific evaluation of the project’s potential ecological risks, based on the specific details of the project. Recently, some organizations have tried to bring scientific rigor to the pre-design public discussions, especially for mining projects, through a pre-design risk ecological risk assessment. This is a scientific assessment of the environmental risks a project might pose, before the details of project design, risk-prevention, and risk-mitigation measures are known. It is important to know whether pre-design risk assessment is a viable method for drawing conclusions about risks of projects. If valid risk predictions can be made at that stage, then people or governments would not have to wait for either a design or for the detailed evaluation that is done during the permitting process. Such an approach could be used to short cut permitting. It could affect project financing; it could affect the schedule, priority, or even the resources that governments put toward evaluating a project. But perhaps most important: in an age where public perceptions are an important influence on a project’s viability and government permitting decisions, a realistic risk assessment can be used to focus public attention on the facts. But if the methodology is flawed and results in poor quality information and unsupportable conclusions, then a pre-design risk assessment could unjustifiably either inflame or calm the public, depending on what it predicts.Executive Summary / Section 1. Introduction / Section 2. Overview of Ecological Risk / Section 3. Ecological Risk Assessment Methodology / Section 4. Examples of Post-Design Ecological Risk Assessments / Section 5. Pre-Design Ecological Risk Assessment: Risks of Large Scale Mining in the Bristol Bay Watershed / Section 6. Conclusion / Bibliograph

Sustainable approaches for stormwater quality improvements with experimental geothermal paving systems

This article has been made available through the Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund.This research assesses the next generation of permeable pavement systems (PPS) incorporating ground source heat pumps (geothermal paving systems). Twelve experimental pilot-scaled pavement systems were assessed for its stormwater treatability in Edinburgh, UK. The relatively high variability of temperatures during the heating and cooling cycle of a ground source heat pump system embedded into the pavement structure did not allow the ecological risk of pathogenic microbial expansion and survival. Carbon dioxide monitoring indicated relatively high microbial activity on a geotextile layer and within the pavement structure. Anaerobic degradation processes were concentrated around the geotextile zone, where carbon dioxide concentrations reached up to 2000 ppm. The overall water treatment potential was high with up to 99% biochemical oxygen demand removal. The pervious pavement systems reduced the ecological risk of stormwater discharges and provided a low risk of pathogen growth

Tebuthiuron Ecological Risk Assessment

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM), United States Department of the Interior (USDI), is proposing a program to treat vegetation on up to six million acres of public lands annually in 17 western states in the continental United States (U.S.) and Alaska. As part of this program, the BLM is proposing the use of ten herbicide active ingredients (a.i.) to control invasive plants and noxious weeds on approximately one million of the 6 million acres proposed for treatment. The BLM and its contractor, ENSR, are preparing a Vegetation Treatments Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to evaluate this and other proposed vegetation treatment methods and alternatives on lands managed by the BLM in the western continental U.S. and Alaska. In support of the EIS, this Ecological Risk Assessment (ERA) evaluates the potential risks to the environment that would result from the use of the herbicide tebuthiuron, including risks to rare, threatened, and endangered (RTE) plant and animal species. One of the BLM’s highest priorities is to promote ecosystem health, and one of the greatest obstacles to achieving this goal is the rapid expansion of invasive plants (including noxious weeds and other plants not native to the region) across public lands. These invasive plants can dominate and often cause permanent damage to natural plant communities. If not eradicated or controlled, invasive plants will jeopardize the health of public lands and the activities that occur on them. Herbicides are one method employed by the BLM to control these plants

Diuron Ecological Risk Assessment

The United States Department of the Interior (USDI) Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is proposing a program to treat vegetation on up to six million acres of public lands annually in 17 western states in the continental United States (US) and Alaska. As part of this program, the BLM is proposing the use of ten herbicide active ingredients (a.i.) to control invasive plants and noxious weeds on approximately one million of the 6 million acres proposed for treatment. The BLM and its contractor, ENSR, are preparing a Vegetation Treatments Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to evaluate this and other proposed vegetation treatment methods and alternatives on lands managed by the BLM in the western continental US and Alaska. In support of the EIS, this Ecological Risk Assessment (ERA) evaluates the potential risks to the environment that would result from the use of the herbicide diuron, including risks to rare, threatened, and endangered (RTE) plant and animal species. One of the BLM’s highest priorities is to promote ecosystem health, and one of the greatest obstacles to achieving this goal is the rapid expansion of invasive plants (including noxious weeds and other plants not native to the region) across public lands. These invasive plants can dominate and often cause permanent damage to natural plant communities. If not eradicated or controlled, invasive plants will jeopardize the health of public lands and the activities that occur on them. Herbicides are one method employed by the BLM to control these plants

Ecological risk assessment of hydropower dam construction based on ecological network analysis

Dam construction is regarded as one of the major factors contributing to significant modifications of the river ecosystems, and the ecological risk (ER) assessment of dam construction has received growing attention in recent years. In the present study, we explored the potential ecological risk caused by dam project based on the general principles of the ecological risk assessment. Ecological network analysis was proposed as the usable analytic method for the implement of ecological risk assessment, thus contributing to the modelling of dam-induced risk process. Applying ecological network analysis to the ecological risk assessment of river ecosystems after dam construction, this study may provide important insights into the understanding of how an affected river ecosystem reacts to the artificial perturbation on a whole-ecosystem scale

Spatial distribution, environmental risk assessment, and source identification of potentially toxic metals in Atikhisar dam, Turkey

The objective of this study was to determine the ecological risk created by metal contents of the surface sediments of Atikhisar dam, Çanakkale, NW Turkey. Enrichment factor (EF) and geoaccumulation index (Igeo) were calculated to determine anthropogenic effects. Ecological risk was assessed using the modified potential ecological risk index (mPER), with its levels being evaluated using the modified ecological risk index (mER). Toxic effects were determined using the toxic risk index (TRI). The ecological risk indices were mapped to provide their spatial distributions. Our findings indicate that enrichment was very high for Hg and significant for Pb, Tl, Cd, and As. The following mER pattern was detected: Hg > Cd > TI > As > Pb > Ni > Cr > Co > Zn > Mn > V. Hg and Cd exhibited extremely high and very high ecological risks, respectively, while TI and As had a significant ecological risk, with Pb exerting a medium ecological risk. Hg, Pb, Tl, Cd, As, Cr, Ni, Zn, and Cu were enriched via anthropogenic effects exceeding their natural concentration levels. Due to their high toxic effects, Hg, Cd, Tl, As, and Pb were identified as the very high risk elements. Mining, household wastes, agriculture, and natural mineral deposits were identified as the possible sources of the potential ecological risk. © 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG