bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Historical precipitation time series for applications in urban hydrology
Authors: Johann G. , Papadakis I. , Pfister A. 
Published: May 2018

The quality of results of rainfall runoff modelling depends strongly on the hydrologic input data. In particular, for urban hydrology applications long-term rainfall series without gaps and of high quality and reliability are required in rainfall runoff and hydraulic simulation of the investigated drainage and receiving water system.
The presented study discusses a method for filling gaps in precipitation time series provided by the Emschergenossenschaft and Lippeverband (EG/LV) in north west Germany. Various time intervals based on deterministic and statistical approaches are investigated. Intervals between 5 and 120 min will be discussed in particular. Several neighbour stations of the EG/LV raingauge network are considered. On the basis of representative examples it is shown how the time intervals mentioned above influences the quality of the estimated gap-filling rainfall data.
Application of nuclear magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to migration studies of oil-related residues in estuarine sediments (Tay Estuary)
Authors: Reeves A. D. , Chudek J. A. 
Published: May 2018

The tendency for selected organic compounds to sorb to sediments has been investigated extensively. These studies, however, have not permitted the ‘observation’ or measurement of advection/diffusion processes and the breakdown of organics within sediments.
MRI is a multidimensional technique allowing the position of nuclei (most commonly protons) to be charted within a volume. We introduce MRI as a means of monitoring movement of oil within a series of estuarine sediments, thus offering a method of assessing the harming potential of oils in nearshore environments.
Results presented in terms of the % change of oil distribution within a sediment sample, show the great potential of MRI in studying protonated contaminants in sediments.
Molecular biological methods to detect “Microthrix parvicella” and to determine its abundance in activated sludge
Authors: Bradford Debbie , Christensson Camilla , Jakab Nicole , Blackall Linda L. 
Published: May 2018

Molecular biological methods were evaluated in attempts to detect and quantitate levels of “Microthrix parvicella” in activated sludges. Approximately 66% of the 23S rRNA gene sequence of a strain (Ben43) of the Gram positive bulking and foaming organism “Microthrix parvicella” was determined, while a lesser amount was determined for “M. parvicella” strain RN1. The high mol%G+C Gram positive bacteria (HGCGPBs) possess two powerfully diagnostic regions in the 23S rDNA and these were investigated in both strains. Firstly, the 18 nucleotide HGCGPB probe sequence (HGC69a) varied in at least two nucleotides with the sequence from both strains of “M. parvicella”. Secondly, an approximately 100 nucleotide stable insert between helices 54 and 55 in the 23S rRNA of HGCGPBs was discovered to be present in “M. parvicella”, but in both strains it was unique in length (79 nucleotides) and sequence. The region of the 23S rDNA with the stable insert was exploited to develop a polymerase chain reaction assay in which amplicons from “M. parvicella” were larger than those from nonHGCGPBs (i.e. all Bacteria except the HGCGPBs), and smaller than those from HGCGPBs. This assay was evaluated with DNAs extracted from activated sludges but although “M. parvicella” was morphologically identified, and was a dominant filament in at least one of the samples, no “M. parvicella” specific sized amplicons could be recovered from it. Amplicons of sizes generated by nonHGCGPBs and HGCGPBs were routinely produced in the stable insert PCR with DNAs from activated sludges where the highest yield was of amplicons from nonHGCGPBs.
A second series of experiments were undertaken with the objective of evaluating the use of a non-radioactive hybridization method, based on extraction of bacterial RNA, for quantifying “M. parvicella” in activated sludge samples. Total nucleic acids were extracted from activated sludge samples and immobilized on nylon membranes. Probing with 16S rRNA-directed DIG-labelled oligonucleotide probes, detection of chemiluminescent signals on membranes and densitometry allowed hybridization signals to be quantified. The relationship between the amount of nucleic acid hybridized and the hybridization signal intensity observed was found to be linear over a specified range of signal intensities. A range of activated sludge samples were analysed for “M. parvicella” and variations in levels could be distinguished.
Effect of external shipping traffic on the transport of polluted sediments into the inner city canals of Delft (The Netherlands)
Authors: Kelderman P. , Kassie Dessalegn Bezabih , Bijlsma M. , Okonkwo L. C. , Doppenberg A. A. T. 
Published: May 2018

The effect of external shipping traffic on the transport of polluted sediments into the inner city canals of Delft was investigated in a field study, measuring flow velocities and suspended solids contents in the water prior to, during and directly after passage of commercial vessels on the main navigation canal bordering the inner city canal system. Turbulent conditions caused strongly increased flow rates, viz. up to 1 m/sec. These flows were dominantly directed inwards, thus causing a net accumulation of pollutant-loaded sediment material inside the Delft inner city canals.
Mass budget calculations as well as sludge thickness measurements revealed that of the ca. 520 tons of sludge material imported annually, about 40% can be attributed to external shipping traffic.
The above observations were further supported in experiments with sediment traps located at stations within, as well as outside, the influence of the external shipping traffic. Here, also an apparent import of heavy metals (Pb, Zn, Cu), attached to the sludge material, could be observed.
Harbour sludge as barrier material in landfill cover systems
Authors: Tresselt K. , Miehlich G. , Groengroeft A. , Melchior S. , Berger K. , Harms C. 
Published: May 2018

Sediment dredged from the port of Hamburg is treated and stored upland in a storage facility. The site is covered by a system of topsoil above a sand drainage layer and a barrier layer made of processed harbour sludge in order to minimize the input of water after completion of the site. In 1995 in-situ investigations have started to study the hydraulic properties, the water balance and the water quality of the cover system of the storage site Francop in Hamburg. Two lysimeters (500 m2 each) were constructed.
During the first dry year after the construction of the lysimeters discharge rates &lt;0.05 mm/d were measured below the sludge barrier. The hydraulic gradients indicate downward water movement in the sludge barrier during the summer and the winter of 1996. The chemical composition of the discharge below the barrier is typical for sludge pore water. An increase of the discharge above the sludge barrier neither led to an increase of discharges nor to changes in the concentration of the water compounds below the barrier. We assume that up to now there is no preferential flow through the sludge barrier. The cover system including the sludge barrier performs very well. The monitoring of the lysimeters is continued.
Irrigation water quality and farm management decisions
Authors: Kuchanwar O. D. , Kale C. K. , Deshpande V. P. , Dharmadhikari D. M. 
Published: May 2018

The quantity and quality of water available for irrigation is variable from place to place in India. There are regions where the farmers have no access to any surface water body, nor do they have any ground water source yielding water of acceptable quality for irrigation. In some of the coastal areas, neither surface water nor ground water of acceptable quality may be available. In such areas, setting up an industry and transporting good quality surface water from long distances to the site may be useful for farmers in the adjacent areas; the treated wastewater from the industry may constitute a dependable source for irrigation. This paper gives a brief account of some of these peculiar situations.
Whatever the situation, it is necessary that the water used for irrigation is of an acceptable quality for the crop concerned, growing on the soil of the site. For a given crop, during its growth cycle, it is essential that the concentration of the soil solution around the root zone with regard to dissolved solids and specific ions, does not exceed the tolerance limit for the crop. The tolerance limits for various crops are different, representing 8- to 10-fold variation. Soil type and meteorological parameters of the site, for a given irrigation scheduling, also govern as to what will be the maximum soil solution concentration during the growth cycle of the crop. For a given crop, given soil and prevailing climate, the quality of irrigation water and management ultimately determine this maximum level. At a given place, the type of soil and meteorological parameters cannot be managed by human beings. The farmer can, however, exercise some control on the quality of irrigation water by selecting an appropriate source or changing the quality by dilution and/or he can make certain changes in the agronomic control and crop selection. In this paper, an attempt has been made to describe a few more important irrigation water quality criteria which will be easy for the users to follow and arrive at a decision on management, agronomic controls including crop selection, and search for an alternative water source of acceptable quality. This paper also describes a few cases of application of the irrigation water quality criteria in helping to make relevant decisions.
Enterovirus detection from wastewater by RT-PCR and cell culture
Authors: Gantzer C. , Senouci S. , Maul A. , Lévi Y. , Schwartzbrod L. 
Published: May 2018

This study was carried out first to determine if virus concentration by adsorption to glass wool was suitable for the detection of enterovirus genomes by seminested RT-PCR in treated wastewater, and second to compare the presence of infectious enteroviruses and enterovirus genomes. The experiments were performed on 57 treated wastewater samples from two wastewater treatment plants which use different processes. The water samples were analysed directly and after concentration on glass wool. Concerning the effect of a concentration step on glass wool, the results show that after concentration, the number of positive samples increases significantly for both infectious enteroviruses (17 vs 0) and enterovirus genomes (37 vs 9).
Concerning the comparison of the presence of infectious enteroviruses and enterovirus genomes, it appears for all the samples analysed that the number of positive samples for enterovirus genomes is significantly higher than those for infectious enteroviruses (37 vs 17). Therefore, the presence of enterovirus genomes cannot be considered to be an indicator of the presence of infectious enteroviruses, strictly speaking, but only an indicator of more or less recent viral contamination. However, 3 samples containing infectious enteroviruses are negative by seminested RT-PCR. These false negative results can be explained by the presence of substances that inhibit seminested RT-PCR reactions.
Suitability of a Treatment Wetland for Dairy Wastewaters
Authors: Geary P. M. , Moore J. A. 
Published: May 2018

A treatment wetland was constructed as part of a waste management system for dairy parlour waters and the performance of the wetland in reducing organic matter and nutrients monitored for a two-year period. The wetland was designed for a herd size of 110 with a detention time of approximately 10-14 days. Hydraulic loads to the wetland averaged 25 mm/day, although there were wide fluctuations due to rainfall and water use within the dairy. Average mass loadings to the wetland were 5.6 g/m2/d for Biochemical Oxygen Demand, 2.6 g/m2/d for Organic Nitrogen, 3.2 g/m2/d for Ammonia and 1.5 g/m2/d for Total Phosphorus.
Monitoring results from the system indicated that significant BOD reductions were achieved, while Nitrogen and Phosphorus removals were variable but smaller. Calculated mean monthly pollutant reductions due to the treatment wetland were 61% for BOD, 43% for Organic Nitrogen, 26% for NH3 and 28% for TP. The wetland received high hydraulic and pollutant loads and appeared to act as a sink for the nutrients which were removed. At this scale it did not appear to be suitable as a treatment option for significantly reducing nutrients in this type of agricultural waste.
Upflow biological filter: modeling and simulation of filtration
Authors: Le Tallec X. , Vidal A. , Thornberg D. 
Published: May 2018

One of the most important operating parameters for the operation and the design of biofilters is the headloss due to clogging of the system leading to a semi-continuous operation with filtration cycles and backwashes. Some basic aspects of the filtration operation have been studied. The work consists in understanding and modelling the clogging phenomena due to the suspended solids retention, and validating the simulation results by calibration with experimental and full-scale results.
Tracer experiments allowed us to simplify the hydrodynamics within the Biofilters into a plug-flow reactor with axial diffusion. Mass balances for the suspended solids have been therefore written accordingly, including solids retention represented as a mass transfer from the liquid to the solid phase. This affects the porosity of the system, leading on one hand to a modification of the filtration coefficient (responsible for the transfer of SS from liquid to “solid” phase) and on the other hand to an increased clogging measured by the headloss in the system.
The Kozeny-Carman equation could successfully be used and a linear relationship between the filter coefficient and the water porosity could be validated. Experimental work has been conducted to calibrate the model and in this paper validations from pilot scale unit to full-scale plant are shown.
Dynamic control of the Delfland polders and storage basin, The Netherlands
Authors: Lobbrecht A. H. , Sinke M. D. , Bouma S. B. 
Published: May 2018

In regional water systems such as those in the Netherlands, a large number of interests with commonly conflicting requirements are involved. Dynamic control offers a way of controlling these complex water systems, making use of the dynamics of the water system. Dynamic control can deal with the entire water-related environment, including all different interests present. This advanced control technique is based on optimization and achieves more efficient operation of a water system because all capacities available in the system can be fully used.
When new requirements of any interests in a water system emerge, the traditional solution is to build new water-management infrastructure or extend the existing infrastructure. The application of advanced control techniques shows that this may not always be necessary.
For the Delfland water system, a case study shows how dynamic control can be used to balance the interests present and continually match the water system state with the requirements. The case described demonstrates how dynamic control can be used to reduce undesirable water-system behavior during periods of excessive precipitation or drought.
Current town and country plans imply an increase in the impervious surface in Delfland in the near future. If the current control practice continues, installation of extra capacity at existing drainage pumping stations would be needed, or even construction of entirely new pumping stations or extra storage facilities. Application of dynamic control makes it possible to use the current capacities in the water system more efficiently and thus avoid large capital investment which otherwise would be necessary in the future.
Utilization of Local Material in the Construction of an Embankment for Recharging Groundwater Aquifer with Treated Wastewater Effluents
Authors: Aiban S. A. , Ishaq A. M. , Al-Suwaiyan M. S. 
Published: May 2018

Water is certainly the most precious and valuable resource of the physical environment for all living creatures. It is now well established that in many agricultural regions in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the water table has been depleted dramatically. If the current level of agricultural production is to be maintained, other sources of agricultural water must be found. There is at least a billion cubic metres of secondary municipal effluent wasted annually. Thus, utilization of these wastewater effluents to recharge groundwater aquifers and reuse them at least for agricultural purposes becomes a viable proposition.
In the study reported herein, treated wastewater will be used to recharge aquifers using spreading basins. The basin consists of a dune sand filter confined, from all sides, by an embankment of compacted sand/marl material. A field site has been constructed in Al-Aziziyah in eastern Saudi Arabia. The sand filter is constructed from clean dune sand, has an area of 25 × 25 m, and has an effective height of approximately 7.0 m. The stability and permeability of the embankment were of primary importance, and its construction had been precisely controlled. The materials used in the construction are locally available. The characteristics of the materials, the construction procedures, and the stability analysis are presented in detail.
A novel method for evaluation of biofilm tensile strength resisting erosion
Authors: Ohashi Akiyoshi , Koyama Takashi , Syutsubo Kazuaki , Harada Hideki 
Published: May 2018

A novel methodology is proposed in this study to evaluate the tensile strength of biofilms by using a newly developed tensile test device. Three different types of biofilms were prepared for tensile test: Run 1 biofilm was aerobically cultivated on glucose, and Run 2 and Run 3 biofilms were denitrifying biofilms grown on glucose and on methanol, respectively, as a sole carbon source. Each of three biofilms was formed on the outer surfaces of tygon-made tubes (diameter 4.76 mm) submerged in a rectangular open-channel reactor.
The results demonstrated that the tensile strengths of three different biofilms had a tendency to increase with the biofilm development over a period of 50 days of reactor operation and eventually reached a similar range, approximately 500 to 1000 Pa, independent of biofilm types or cultivation conditions. An elastic coefficient of the biofilm was determined by assuming that a biofilm behaves as an elastic material during the tensile test. A strong positive correlation was found between the elastic coefficient and the tensile strength. However, the behavior of extracellular biopolymer (ECP) content and the biofilm density were not dependent on the tensile strength. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) observations also suggested that the biofilm structural properties such as elastic coefficient are more determinative factors for the tensile strength than are the biofilm physiological properties such as ECP content.
Pollution by phosphorus and nitrogen in water streams feeding the Zelivka drinking water reservoir
Authors: Holas Jiri , Holas Marketa , Chour Vladimir 
Published: May 2018

This case study refers to long term monitoring of Martinicky and Sedlický Brooks, which represent general water-quality characteristics well related to the watershed of the whole Zelivka drinking water reservoir. For a period of more than ten years water-quality indices were systematically monitored at each profile together with actual discharges recorded at selected profiles. It is seen that the only critical pollutants are nutrients, namely nitrate nitrogen and total phosphorus, originating from both urban and agricultural sources, while industrial pollution is relatively marginal in the watershed. Phosphorus concentrations do not display any simple time regularity. Persistent all-year background phosphorus load gives evidence of the urban origin of pollution. Total input of phosphorus into the reservoir came mainly from surface inflows, out of rainfall and out of bottom sediments. Phosphorus was found to be the limiting nutrient for phytoplankton growth and was therefore recognised as the principal element responsible for reservoir eutrophication rates, which could probably be effectively controlled by concerted abatement actions. Most of the watershed born nitrogen pollution has a distinctly non-point (diffuse) character. Typical yearly pattern of nitrate concentrations means distinct and regular increase during end-of-winter and spring period due to processes of mineralization, typical for productive arable land on soils with good drainage properties. The process of state economy transition, which was initiated in 1989, has led to dramatic decrease of fertiliser inputs per hectare of land. Reduced fertilisation of arable land has not yet been reflected in improved quality of surface waters.
The proposed strategy for prevention and abatement in the Zelivka reservoir eutrophication should be based on win-win principles applied throughout the entire watershed and, at present, preferentially focused on:phosphorus cycle control and improvement within both the watershed and reservoir water (diminished use of chemicals producing reactive phosphorus compounds, improved phosphorus removal from urban waste water, to prevent phosphorus release from bottom sediments)general soil erosion control and prevention - grassland cultivation on vulnerable areas and buffer zones and subsidy for cultivating plants on arable land even between growing periodsproper maintenance and improvement of treatment plant technology to maintain actual standards of produced drinking water.
Waste minimization program in Shuaiba Industrial Area
Authors: Al-Muzaini Saleh 
Published: May 2018

The Shuaiba Industrial Area (SIA) is located about 50 km south of Kuwait City. It accommodates most of the large-scale industries in Kuwait. The total area of the SIA (both eastern and western sectors) is about 22.98 million m2. Fifteen plants are located in the eastern sector and 23 in the western sector, including two petrochemical companies, three refineries, two power plants, a melamine company, an industrial gas corporation, a paper products company and, two steam electricity generating stations, in addition to several other industries. Therefore, only 30 percent of the land in the SIA's eastern sector and 70 percent of land in the SIA's western sector is available for future expansion.
Presently, industries in the SIA generate approximately 204,000 t of solid waste. With future development in the industries in the SIA, the estimated quantities will reach 240,000 t.
The Shuaiba Area Authority (SAA), a governmental regulatory body responsible for planning and development in the SIA, has recognized the problem of solid waste and has developed an industrial waste minimization program. This program would help to reduce the quantity of waste generated within the SIA and thereby reduce the cost of waste management.
This paper presents a description of the waste minimization program and how it is to be implemented by major petroleum companies. The protocols employed in the waste minimization program are detailed.
Perspectives in Pulping and Bleaching Processes at the Crossing of the Millennium Frontier
Authors: de Choudens C. , Lachenal D. 
Published: May 2018

The manufacturers of pulps must answer to the following three necessary requirements:
• environment protection
• pulp quality
• production cost reduction
If up to the present time, the environmental constraints have been emphasized (e.g. dioxin in late 1980's) over the two other criteria, namely quality and cost, today the challenge for the next years will be to improve each of these factors without weakening the other two.
The purpose of this paper is to discuss the respective merits of the various pulp manufacturing processes with the criteria expressed above and to draw the research and development efforts to undertake in this situation. Some personal opinions will be given on the issues.