Study regarding the impact of waste landfills on surface waters

The waste management problem is an issue of global interest associated with high costs due to the degree of hazard that they have on the environmental factors and on human health. The present paper aims to evaluate the impact generated by non-ecological waste landfills on surface waters, compared with the impact of ecological hazardous waste landfills on surface waters. The study was possible due to the location of the two landfills, situated near the same watercourse. The water samples taken and analyzed show the extent of the impact of non-ecological waste landfills, compared with the impact generated by the ecological hazardous waste landfills on surface waters, located downstream from the household waste landfill. Therefore, the objective of this study is to emphases the impact brought upon the surface watercourses by waste landfills in the municipality of Cluj-Napoca

Contaminated soil risk assessment methods overview

Soil represents the upper part of the lithosphere, characterized by complex interdependencies, which plays a major structural and environmental role. Soil contamination can be perceived as the presence of man induced substances within a soil environment and represents one of our century’s major environmental issues. Assessing the consequences and the related risks of soil contamination has been the subject of debates between policymakers all around the globe. The direct result was an impressive number of risk assessment methods, based on different approaches, using multiple parameters and relating to various reference systems. The present paper aims at reviewing the risk assessment descriptions within the most important countries in terms of risk assessment policy making. Analysis parameters such as United Kingdom, Norway, France, Germany, USA, Australia and New Zeeland are also discussed. The main objective of the current research is to identify key elements that are present in all risk assessment methods and to investigate the possibility of a word-wide harmonized approach. This comprehensive overview outlines the most recent updates in terms of risk assessment and may be further used as a starting point when analyzing risks related to a contaminated site

Study regarding the impact of waste landfills on surface waters

The waste management problem is an issue of global interest associated with high costs due to the degree of hazard that they have on the environmental factors and on human health. The present paper aims to evaluate the impact generated by non-ecological waste landfills on surface waters, compared with the impact of ecological hazardous waste landfills on surface waters. The study was possible due to the location of the two landfills, situated near the same watercourse. The water samples taken and analyzed show the extent of the impact of non-ecological waste landfills, compared with the impact generated by the ecological hazardous waste landfills on surface waters, located downstream from the household waste landfill. Therefore, the objective of this study is to emphases the impact brought upon the surface watercourses by waste landfills in the municipality of Cluj-Napoca

Reducing the Sludge Quantity Produced from Used Water Purification – A Source of Profit

This paper has its origins in the analysis of a real situation met in the Water Purification Plant from Cluj-Napoca city. The produced dehydrated sludge is about 70 - 80 tonnes / 24 hours, with a density that allows for an equivalence of 1 tonne to 1 m³, 80,000 Kg or 80 m³, i.e. a huge amount and an impressive volume of material. This paper does not propose solutions to valorise or store the huge quantity of sludge, though the present solutions are quite inefficient. The stress is placed upon the sludge production sources, its transportation to the purification plants, the collection of the sludge in the purification plants and the dehydration methods that can be used. The analysis of these stages aims at identifying several measures that could lead to diminishing the amount of sludge produced after the purification of used and dehydrated water in the purification plants without affecting the quality of purified water. The measures identified are to be presented as measures that can be applied in the spirit of sustainable and efficient development. The business feature is given by the savings brought by the mitigation of the sludge amount to be stored and paid for in the ecological storage places in remote areas

Biological Activated Sludge from Wastewater Treatment Plant before and during the COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic and the related measures brought a change in daily life that affected the characteristics of the municipal wastewater and further, of the biological activated sludge. The activated sludge process is the most widely used biological wastewater treatment process in developed areas. In this paper, we aim to show the situation of specific investigations concerning the variation of the physicochemical parameters and biological composition of the activated sludge from one conventional wastewater treatment plant from a metropolitan area. The investigations were carried out for three years: 2019, 2020 and 2021. The results showed the most representative taxa of microorganisms: Microtrix, Aspidisca cicada, Vorticella convallaria, Ciliata free of the unknown and Epistylis and Rotifers. Even if other microorganisms were found in the sludge flocs, their small presence did not influence in any way the quality of the activated sludge and of the wastewater treatment process. That is why we conclude that protozoa (especially Flagellates and Ciliates) and rotifers were the most important. Together with the values and variation of the physicochemical parameters, they indicated a good, healthy, and stable activated sludge, along with an efficient purifying treatment process, no matter the loading conditions