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Gestió sostenible de l'aigua al semiàrid

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Microbial applications and tools for environmental management and assessment

Different microbial applications and tools were developed for environmental management and assessment. We lead applied research working at different scales, beginning with projects at a laboratory scale, but as well experimenting with demonstrative projects (pilot plants). We work to discern about mechanisms related to pathogen removal, water treatment and reuse, and biomaterials production, both combining traditional and molecular microbiology techniques. We also work in the production, characterization and processing of biopolymers, as well as in the analysis of their degradation by microorganismsPeer Reviewe

Sustainability Assessment of indicators for integrated water resources management

The scientific community strongly recommends the adoption of indicators for the evaluation and monitoring of progress towards sustainable development. Furthermore, international organizations consider that indicators are powerful decision-making tools. Nevertheless, the quality and reliability of the indicators depends on the application of adequate and appropriate criteria to assess them. The general objective of this study was to evaluate how indicators related to water use and management perform against a set of sustainability criteria. Our research identified 170 indicators related to water use and management. These indicators were assessed by an international panel of experts that evaluated whether they fulfil the four sustainability criteria: social, economic, environmental, and institutional. We employed an evaluation matrix that classified all indicators according to the DPSIR (Driving Forces, Pressures, States, Impacts and Responses) framework. A pilot study served to test and approve the research methodology before carrying out the full implementation. The findings of the study show that 24 indicators comply with the majority of the sustainability criteria; 59 indicators are bi-dimensional (meaning that they comply with two sustainability criteria); 86 are one-dimensional indicators (fulfilling just one of the four sustainability criteria) and one indicator do not fulfil any of the sustainability criteria.Postprint (author's final draft

Modelos de gestión del agua y saneamiento en el Perú: una mirada al caso de la Comunitat Minera Olesana en Catalunya

En el Perú, durante el periodo 2011-2015 se ha mostrado un significativo crecimiento de la inversión realizada en el sector agua y saneamiento (3.214 millones de soles anuales), sin embargo, sólo el 61% de la población de escasos recursos accede a la red pública de agua; el 42% de la población total accede a agua segura y en general el sector de agua y saneamiento atraviesa por un modelo de gestión colapsado. Por otro lado y de acuerdo a la normativa vigente en el Perú, en el ámbito urbano, las municipalidades son responsables de la prestación de los servicios de agua y saneamiento, y en el ámbito rural es realizado por el gobierno local directamente o indirectamente a través de las organizaciones comunales. Con la finalidad de contribuir en la mejora de la gestión de los recursos hídricos en el Perú, se ha analizado los modelos de gestión de agua y saneamiento en España y Catalunya, con énfasis en la participación ciudadana, el Observatorio del Precio del Agua en Catalunya y los mecanismos de acción social. Finalmente, gracias a la financiación de la Diputación de Barcelona y la cooperación de la GWOPA/UN-Habitat se está llevando a cabo la aplicación de un modelo de gestión en la provincia de Anta, Cusco, tomando como referencia el modelo de la Comunidad Minera Olesana, entidad de carácter social cooperativo, que gestiona el agua en Olesa de Monserrat desde 1868

Comparison of conventional culture and real-time quantitative PCR using SYBR Green for detection of Legionella pneumophila in water samples

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Evaluation of the effect of irrigation water quality on chlorophyll content in high Andean plants

This study aims: i) to promote constructed wetlands (CWs) as useful profitable alternative for wastewater treatment, ii) to validate atLEAF+ measurements in three high-Andean species and iii) to evaluate autochthonous plants that can act as natural barriers. Nowadays many rivers experiment contamination and flooding episodes by climate changeThe following work was possible thanks to funding from CCD-UPC 2019Postprint (published version

Key Design Factors Affecting Microbial Community Composition and Pathogenic Organism Removal in Horizontal Subsurface Flow Constructed Wetlands

Water shortages in arid and semi-arid areas such as the Mediterranean have prompted a need for wastewater treatment and subsequent reuse. Reclamation can be achieved through conventional intensive systems or natural, ecologically engineered treatments such as horizontal subsurface flow (HSSF) constructed wetlands...Fil: Morató Farreras, Jordi. Universidad Politécnica de Catalunya; EspañaFil: Codony, Francesc. Universidad Politécnica de Catalunya; EspañaFil: Sánchez Negrette, Olga. Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona; EspañaFil: Perez, Leonardo Martin. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Rosario. Instituto de Química Rosario. Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Facultad de Ciencias Bioquímicas y Farmacéuticas. Instituto de Química Rosario; ArgentinaFil: García, Joan. Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona; EspañaFil: Mas, Jordi. Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona; Españ

Task Packing: Efficient task scheduling in unbalanced parallel programs to maximize CPU utilization

Load imbalance in parallel systems can be generated by external factors to the currently running applications like operating system noise or the underlying hardware like a heterogeneous cluster. HPC applications working on irregular data structures can also have difficulties to balance their computations across the parallel tasks. In this article we extend, improve and evaluate more deeply the Task Packing mechanism proposed in a previous work. The main idea of the mechanism is to concentrate the idle cycles of unbalanced applications in such a way that one or more CPUs are freed from execution. To achieve this, CPUs are stressed with just useful work of the parallel application tasks, provided performance is not degraded. The packing is solved by an algorithm based on the Knapsack problem, in a minimum number of CPUs and using oversubscription. We design and implement a more efficient version of such mechanism. To that end, we perform the Task Packing “in place”, taking advantage of idle cycles generated at synchronization points of unbalanced applications. Evaluations are carried out on a heterogeneous platform using FT and miniFE benchmarks. Results showed that our proposal generates low overhead. In addition the amount of freed CPUs are related to a load imbalance metric which can be used as a prediction for it.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Synthesizing and standardizing criteria for the evaluation of sustainability indicators in the water sector

This is a pre-print of an article published in Environment, Development and Sustainability. The final authenticated version is available online at: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-019-00508-zIndicators are one of the tools available in planning and management projects that aid in the decision-making process and the monitoring of those decisions on the path to sustainable use and management of water and natural resources. However, the quality and trustworthiness of the indicators depend on the constant improvement in the means to assess and design criteria sets. The identification of criteria to evaluate indicators and its subsequence selection are not an ordinary task. The research identified a proliferation of unconsolidated criteria in use in the sustainability and water resource management domains. In response, a process of synthesis and consolidation was undertaken in order to reduce the level of redundancies and to identify possible candidates for “core criteria” that are identified as being a relevant part of most evaluation frameworks. A representative collection of sources from the specialized literature was screened for evaluation criteria. Altogether, 74 sources were assessed, comprising 346 mentions of criteria applied for indicator assessment. A detailed synthesis was performed to organize the criteria and identify possible redundancies. The analysis allowed a reduction from the 346 initial criteria to 60 unique criteria. The study offers a standard title and description for each criterion, contributing to improve clarity and avoid ambiguity. The criteria were also ranked to identify which criteria were in more systemic use. Of the 60 criteria found, the 12 most cited were identified as possible core criteria for framework development. Also, in order to facilitate the design of indicator sets, all 60 criteria were divided into two approaches (scientific/top-down or end-use/bottom-up). This study identified significant redundancies and a lack of standardization in the use of criteria, and it also ranked criteria to facilitate multi-method framework development. Thus, it is essential that indicator designers not only consider criteria that have some level of standardization to be able to compare and communicate with other agencies and communities but also consider how to utilize core criteria in the design of indicator sets.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft