Fate of wastewater contaminants in rivers: Using conservative-tracer based transfer functions to assess reactive transport.

Interpreting the fate of wastewater contaminants in streams is difficult because their inputs vary in time and several processes synchronously affect reactive transport. We present a method to disentangle the various influences by performing a conservative-tracer test while sampling a stream section at various locations for chemical analysis of micropollutants. By comparing the outflow concentrations of contaminants with the tracer signal convoluted by the inflow time series, we estimated reaction rate coefficients and calculated the contaminant removal along a river section.

Denatonium - A so far unrecognized but ubiquitous water contaminant?

Denatonium is one of the bitterest substances known to man and therefore applied in numerous consumer products to prevent an accidental or intentional consumption. So far no information was available on the occurrence of this compound in the environment. A sensitive targeted method was developed and applied to water samples taken in the federal state of Baden-Württemberg, Germany.

A high-precision sampling scheme to assess persistence and transport characteristics of micropollutants in rivers.

Increasing numbers of organic micropollutants are emitted into rivers via municipal wastewaters. Due to their persistence many pollutants pass wastewater treatment plants without substantial removal. Transport and fate of pollutants in receiving waters and export to downstream ecosystems is not well understood.