European-wide spatial analysis of sewage treatment plants and the possible benefits to nature of advanced treatment to reduce pharmaceutical emissions

Pharmaceuticals are known to widely occur in the environment and to affect the health of ecosystems. Sewage treatment plants (STPs) are main emission pathways for pharmaceuticals, which are often not sufficiently removed during wastewater treatment. In Europe, STP treatment requirements are specified under the Urban WasteWater Treatment Directive (UWWTD). The introduction of advanced treatment techniques, such as ozonation and activated carbon, under the UWWTD is expected to be an important option to reduce pharmaceutical emissions. In this study, we present a European-wide analysis of STPs reported under the UWWTD, their current treatment level and potential to remove a set of 58 prioritised pharmaceuticals. Three different scenarios were analysed to show 1) UWWTD present effectiveness, 2) the effectiveness at full UWWTD compliance, and 3) the effectiveness when advanced treatment is implemented at STPs with a treatment capacity of &gt;100.000 person equivalents. Based on a literature study, the potential of individual STPs to reduce pharmaceutical emissions ranged from an average of 9% for STPs with primary treatment to 84% for STPs applying advanced treatment. Results of our calculations show that European-wide emission of pharmaceuticals can be reduced with 68% when large STPs are updated with advanced treatment, but spatial differences exist. We argue that adequate attention should also be paid with regards to preventing environmental impacts of STPs with a capacity &lt;100.000 p.e. Circa 44% of total STP effluent is emitted near Natura2000 sites (EU nature protection areas). Of all surface waters receiving STP effluent for which the ecological status has been assessed under the Water Framework Directive, 77% have a status of less than good. Relatively often only primary treatment is applied to wastewater emitted into coastal waters. This analysis can be used to further model pharmaceutical concentrations in European surface waters, to identify STPs for which more advanced treatment might be required and to protect EU aquatic biodiversity.</p

Кубанська музична фольклористика: етапи становлення

On the basis of materials related to the history of the Ukrainians in Kuban (of 1792) the author determines that priests, historians, ethnographers, students of local lore, regents, choirmasters, teachers and poets were at the beginnings of Kuban musical study of folklore. The formation of Kuban musical folklore had 3 stages: concert and representational stage (of 1818), stage of collection (of 1865), transcriptional and publishing stage. Bihday, Kontsevych, Zakharchenko and Koshyts made the most considerable contribution in development of this science. The author of the article gives detailed information about their biographies

Local ecosystem feedbacks and critical transitions in the climate

Global and regional climate models, such as those used in IPCC assessments, are the best tools available for climate predictions. Such models typically account for large-scale land-atmosphere feedbacks. However, these models omit local vegetationenvironment 5 feedbacks that are crucial for critical transitions in ecosystems. Here, we reveal the hypothesis that, if the balance of feedbacks is positive at all scales, local vegetation-environment feedbacks may trigger a cascade of amplifying effects, propagating from local to large scale, possibly leading to critical transitions in the largescale climate. We call for linking local ecosystem feedbacks with large-scale land10 atmosphere feedbacks in global and regional climate models in order to yield climate predictions that we are more confident about

A putative mechanism for bog patterning

The surface of bogs commonly shows various spatial vegetation patterning. Typical are ¿string patterns¿ consisting of regular densely vegetated bands oriented perpendicular to the slope. Here, we report on regular ¿maze patterns¿ on flat ground, consisting of bands densely vegetated by vascular plants in a more sparsely vegetated matrix of nonvascular plant communities. We present a model reproducing these maze and string patterns, describing how nutrient-limited vascular plants are controlled by, and in turn control, both hydrology and solute transport. We propose that the patterns are self-organized and originate from a nutrient accumulation mechanism. In the model, this is caused by the convective transport of nutrients in the groundwater toward areas with higher vascular plant biomass, driven by differences in transpiration rate. In a numerical bifurcation analysis we show how the maze patterns originate from the spatially homogeneous equilibrium and how this is affected by changes in rainfall, nutrient input, and plant properties. Our results confirm earlier model results, showing that redistribution of a limiting resource may lead to fine-scale facilitative and coarse-scale competitive plant interactions in different ecosystems. Self-organization in ecosystems may be a more general phenomenon than previously thought, which can be mechanistically linked to scale-dependent facilitation and competition

Societal, land cover and climatic controls on river nutrient flows into the Baltic Sea

Study region River basins draining into the Baltic Sea, known as the Baltic Sea Drainage Basin (BSDB). Study focus Dramatic shifts in water quality have been observed in the Baltic Sea in past decades. This study investigated the spatial distribution of trends in nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) in relation to societal, land cover and climatic changes. A 31-year record of observed catchment scale nutrient concentration and discharge data for the period 1970–2000 was combined with climate and land cover data. A Mann–Kendall test was applied to reveal trends in N and P, the N:P ratio, discharge, temperature and precipitation. Classical factor analysis and Kendall's rank correlation identified the most important relationships between nutrients, land cover and climate. New hydrological insights for the region A large spatial variability in N and P trends was observed with a notable difference between the east and west of the BSDB. The existence of regional trend variations are important for nutrient load reduction management strategies. Specifically, it is recommended that strategies targeting seawater eutrophication should focus more on P rather than N reduction because increasing P in the eastern catchments is responsible for the overall declining trend in the N:P ratio, an important trigger for algal blooms

A next step in disruption management: combining operations research and complexity science

Railway systems occasionally get into a state of being out-of-control, meaning that barely any train is running, even though the required resources (infrastructure, rolling stock and crew) are available. Because of the large number of affected resources and the absence of detailed, timely and accurate information, currently existing disruption management techniques cannot be applied in out-of-control situations. Most of the contemporary approaches assume that there is only one single disruption with a known duration, that all information about the resources is available, and that all stakeholders in the operations act as expected. Another limitation is the lack of knowledge about why and how disruptions accumulate and whether this process can be predicted. To tackle these problems, we develop a multidisciplinary framework combining techniques from complexity science and operations research, aiming at reducing the impact of these situations and-if possible-avoiding them. The key elements of this framework are (i) the generation of early warning signals for out-of-control situations, (ii) isolating a specific region such that delay stops propagating, and (iii) the application of decentralized decision making, more suited for information-sparse out-of-control situations

A virtual water network of the Roman world

The Romans were perhaps the most impressive exponents of water resource management in preindustrial times with irrigation and virtual water trade facilitating unprecedented urbanisation and socioeconomic stability for hundreds of years in a region of highly variable climate. To understand Roman water resource management in response to urbanisation and climate variability, a Virtual Water Network of the Roman World was developed. Using this network we find that irrigation and virtual water trade increased Roman resilience to climate variability in the short term. However, urbanisation arising from virtual water trade likely pushed the Empire closer to the boundary of its water resources, led to an increase in import costs, and reduced its resilience to climate variability in the long-term. In addition to improving our understanding of Roman water resource management, our cost-distance based analysis illuminates how increases in import costs arising from climatic and population pressures are likely to be distributed in the future global virtual water network

A Next Step in Disruption Management: Combining Operations Research and Complexity Science

Railway systems occasionally get into a state of out-of-control, meaning that there is barely any train is running, even though the required resources (infrastructure, rolling stock and crew) are available. These situations can either be caused by large disruptions or unexpected propagation and accumulation of delays. Because of the large number of aected resources and the absence of detailed, timely and accurate information, currently existing methods cannot be applied in out-of-control situations. Most of the contemporary approaches assume that there is only one single disruption with a known duration, that all information about the resources is available, and that all stakeholders in the operations act as expected. Another limitation is the lack of knowledge about why and how disruptions accumulate and whether this process can be predicted. To tackle these problems, we develop a multidisciplinary framework aiming at reducing the impact of these situations and - if possible - avoiding them. The key elements of this framework are (i) the generation of early warning signals for out-of-control situations using tools from complexity science and (ii) a set of rescheduling measures robust against the features of out-of-control situations, using tools from operations research