Wetlands for wastewater treatment and subsequent recycling of treated effluent : a review

Due to water scarcity challenges around the world, it is essential to think about non-conventional water resources to address the increased demand in clean freshwater. Environmental and public health problems may result from insufficient provision of sanitation and wastewater disposal facilities. Because of this, wastewater treatment and recycling methods will be vital to provide sufficient freshwater in the coming decades, since water resources are limited and more than 70% of water are consumed for irrigation purposes. Therefore, the application of treated wastewater for agricultural irrigation has much potential, especially when incorporating the reuse of nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorous, which are essential for plant production. Among the current treatment technologies applied in urban wastewater reuse for irrigation, wetlands were concluded to be the one of the most suitable ones in terms of pollutant removal and have advantages due to both low maintenance costs and required energy. Wetland behavior and efficiency concerning wastewater treatment is mainly linked to macrophyte composition, substrate, hydrology, surface loading rate, influent feeding mode, microorganism availability, and temperature. Constructed wetlands are very effective in removing organics and suspended solids, whereas the removal of nitrogen is relatively low, but could be improved by using a combination of various types of constructed wetlands meeting the irrigation reuse standards. The removal of phosphorus is usually low, unless special media with high sorption capacity are used. Pathogen removal from wetland effluent to meet irrigation reuse standards is a challenge unless supplementary lagoons or hybrid wetland systems are used

Vähähiilisyyttä Pohjois-Pohjanmaan SOTE-palveluiden saavutettavuuteen ja logistiikkaan:tiivistelmä SOLOGS-hankkeen tuloksista

Abstract This report presents the result of SOLOGS-project (Low carbon logistics in local social and health care services) that was carried between May 2018 and September 2020. The project aims to develop carbon efficiency of social and healthcare service network by bringing new knowledge about reasonable service locations and efficient patient and material logistics. As subtasks, the project develops the entity of social and healthcare services in Northern Ostrobothnia region from the viewpoints of customer accessibility, market potential and logistics service network. New solutions for thin material flows within long distances are sought through transport integration. Also, the project develops opportunities for geographically mobile services in the region. The project supports Northern Ostrobothnia’s aims in energy efficiency and carbon neutrality. Methodologically both interviews and focus-group discussions as well as location based geographic information systems (GIS) based network analysis are used in finding the new solutions. The results show that the health centres in the region are optimally located. Thus, the accessibility can be enhanced for the most part by adding more service points or developing public transport system. Both carbon dioxide emissions and costs can be reduced in health care material logistics through centralized and coordinated warehouse and delivery system. Mobile services can offer environmental efficiency. Even better efficiency in accessibility and carbon dioxide emissions could potentially be gained by offering some special health care services in the selected health centres in the region. Overall carbon dioxide emissions can be reduced by managing health services more accessible and ensuring smooth flow of the material deliveries.Tiivistelmä Tässä raportissa esitellään 1.3.2018–30.9.2020 toteutetun SOLOGS-projektin (Vähähiilinen SOTE-lähipalvelulogistiikka) keskeiset tulokset. Hankkeessa tavoitellaan nykyistä vähähiilisempää SOTE-lähipalveluverkkoa tuomalla päätöksenteon tueksi tutkimukseen perustuvaa tietoa palvelujen järkevästä sijainnista ja tehokkaasta henkilö- ja materiaalilogistiikasta. Projektin osakokonaisuuksina kehitetään Pohjois-Pohjanmaan sosiaali- ja terveyspalveluja asiakkaiden saavutettavuuden, asiakas- ja markkinapotentiaalin sekä palveluverkon logistiikan tehokkuuden näkökulmista. Pitkien etäisyyksien ohuiden materiaalivirtojen logistiikan tehostamiseen tuotetaan ratkaisumalleja erityisesti kuljetusten integroitavuuden kautta. Lisäksi hankkeessa selvitetään, kuinka liikkuvat lähipalvelut voisivat tehostaa ja parantaa harvaan asuttujen alueiden palvelutuotantoa. Hankkeen tavoite tukee olennaisesti Pohjois-Pohjanmaan pyrkimyksiä kohti energiatehokasta ja vähähiilistä maakuntaa. Hankkeessa hyödynnettiin fokusryhmä- ja asiantuntijahaastatteluita, sote-palvelu- ja väestöpaikkatietokantoja sekä paikkatietoperusteista (GIS) saavutettavuusanalytiikkaa. Tuloksena havaittiin Pohjois-Pohjanmaan terveysasemien sijaitsevan kokonaissaavutettavuuden näkökulmasta optimaalisilla paikoilla. Saavutettavuuteen voidaan vaikuttaa lähinnä palvelupaikkojen lukumäärällä ja joukkoliikenneyhteyksiä kehittämällä. Terveydenhuollon materiaalilogistiikkaa voidaan kehittää vähähiilisemmäksi ja kustannustehokkaammaksi keskitetyn ja koordinoidun varasto- ja jakelumallin avulla. Liikkuvilla perusterveydenhuollon palveluratkaisuilla voidaan puolestaan hieman edistää vähähiilisyyttä. Selkeästi suurempi vaikutus voitaisiin kuitenkin saavuttaa ulottamalla erikoissairaanhoidon palveluita soveltuvin osin terveyskeskuksiin nykyistä laajemmin. Yleisesti, jos terveyspalvelut ovat hyvin saavutettavissa ja tavarat liikkuvat niihin järkevästi, vähähiilisyys seuraa siitä aika automaattisesti

Geographical accessibility to primary health care in Finland:grid-based multimodal assessment

Abstract Geographic accessibility of health services is one of the key dimensions affecting health care access, utilisation and may impact population health. We analysed countrywide space-time accessibility to primary health services by private car and multimodal walk-ride-walk travel chains of public transport in Finland. The analysis utilises register-based population grid cell data at 250m × 250 m resolution, road network with scheduled public transport data and geocoded locations of four types of primary health service. Our results show that the Finnish population reaches primary health services well, also by public transport, which is most beneficial in urban fringes, where health services are not immediately available. However, accessibility of services may be limited for some segments of the population, such as carless households located in remote areas, and teenagers who access health services independently. Distinct regional differences exist in accessibility, particularly in rural areas. The continuous pressure to reduce the number of service facilities may further deter service accessibility of these segments of the population. As this kind of transport disadvantage may create or reinforce social disadvantage and exclusion, as well as health inequalities, ensuring an equal access to primary health services is important

The relationship between people’s activities and values with the protection level and biodiversity

Abstract We investigated how people’s recreational activities, values, and land use preferences are related to the protection level, biodiversity and cultural heritage values of nature-based tourism areas in northern Finland. We assessed peoples’ opinions using a public participation geographic information system (PPGIS) and analyzed the data together with spatial biodiversity and cultural heritage data from the same area. Associations between the PPGIS place markings with the protection level and biodiversity values were quite low, and for the cultural heritage sites they were altogether missing. Negative preferences were often marked in areas with high numbers of sites rated as pleasant and they overlapped with each other, indicating conflicting preferences. Since most activities are not noticeably related to the protection level or biodiversity values of a site they can be planned so as to protect the biodiversity of the area