Source-tracing of industrial and municipal wastewater effluent in river water via fluorescence fingerprinting.

Fluorescence fingerprinting is a technique to uniquely characterize water samples based on their distinct composition of dissolved organic matter (DOM) measured via 3D fluorescence spectroscopy. It is an effective tool for monitoring the chemical composition of various water systems. This study examines a river affected by several municipal and industrial wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) effluents and aims to source-tracing them via fluorescence fingerprints based on parallel factor analysis (PARAFAC) components.

Correction: Exploring the variability of PFAS in urban sewage: a comparison of emissions in commercial municipal urban areas.

Correction for 'Exploring the variability of PFAS in urban sewage: a comparison of emissions in commercial municipal urban areas' by N. Krlovic , , 2024, , 1868-1878, https://doi.org/10.

Health risk assessment of municipal solid waste incineration emissions based on regression analysis.

This study examined the potential health risks posed by the operation of 96 waste-to-energy (WtE) plants in 30 cities in the Bohai Rim of China. Utilizing a sophisticated simulation approach, the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model coupled with the California Puff (CALPUFF) model, we obtained the spatial distribution of pollutants emitted by WtE plants in the atmosphere. Hazard indices (HI) and cancer risks (CR) were calculated for each plant using the United States Environmental Protection Agency's recommended methodologies.

Exploring the variability of PFAS in urban sewage: a comparison of emissions in commercial municipal urban areas.

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are recognized for their persistence and ubiquitous occurrence in different environmental compartments. Conventional wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) cannot effectively remove PFAS from wastewater, and a better understanding of the occurrence and sources of PFAS in this medium would enable effective source abatement. We compared sewage from urban areas exhibiting differentiating characteristics with respect to activities in their catchments.

Development and testing of an efficient micropollutant monitoring strategy across a large watershed.

In recent decades, extensive monitoring programmes have been conducted at the national, international, and project levels with the objective of expanding our understanding of the contamination of surface waters with micropollutants, which are often referred to as hazardous substances (HS). It has been demonstrated that HS enter surface waters via a number of pathways, including groundwater, atmospheric deposition, soil erosion, and urban systems. Given the ever-growing list of substances and the high resource demand associated with laboratory analysis, it is common practice to quantify the listed pathways based on emission factors derived from temporally and spatially constrained monitoring programmes.

Key considerations for pathogen surveillance in wastewater.

Wastewater surveillance (WWS) has received significant attention as a rapid, sensitive, and cost-effective tool for monitoring various pathogens in a community. WWS is employed to assess the spatial and temporal trends of diseases and identify their early appearances and reappearances, as well as to detect novel and mutated variants. However, the shedding rates of pathogens vary significantly depending on factors such as disease severity, the physiology of affected individuals, and the characteristics of pathogen.

Multi-criteria analysis of strategies towards sustainable recycling of phosphorus from sewage sludge in Austria.

To promote optimal phosphorus (P) recovery from municipal wastewater and sewage sludge with viable legal instruments, it is imperative to understand the regional and national consequences of different legal requirements for recycling. In this study we develop a scenario-based analysis to assess the environmental and economic impact of different national P recovery strategies in the context of a detailed representation of the existing Austrian wastewater infrastructure. This assessment combines material flow analysis, life cycle assessment and life cycle costing and includes the indicators P recycling rate, P utilization degree, heavy metal removal rate, share of heavy metals' content in wastewater redirected to agricultural soils, global warming potential, cumulated energy demand, terrestrial acidification potential, volume of freight transport and annual costs.

Systematic underestimation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon aqueous concentrations in rivers.

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are a widespread group of organic contaminants whose presence in water bodies is cause of severe concern. With few exceptions, the majority of PAHs is hydrophobic, presents a high adsorption affinity, and is thus primarily transported within river systems during high-flow events together with suspended particulate matter (SPM). Evidence exists of analytical challenges related to the incomplete extraction of PAHs adsorbed to solids and thus to a potential negative bias in the chemical analysis of PAHs in bulk water samples with high SPM content.

Making waves: The NORMAN antibiotic resistant bacteria and resistance genes database (NORMAN ARB&ARG)-An invitation for collaboration to tackle antibiotic resistance.

With the global concerns on antibiotic resistance (AR) as a public health issue, it is pivotal to have data exchange platforms for studies on antibiotic resistant bacteria (ARB) and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) in the environment. For this purpose, the NORMAN Association is hosting the NORMAN ARB&ARG database, which was developed within the European project ANSWER. The present article provides an overview on the database functionalities, the extraction and the contribution of data to the database.

Recovery of plastic packaging from mixed municipal solid waste. A case study from Austria.

Austria must recycle more packaging materials. Especially for plastic packaging waste, significant increases are necessary to reach the EU recycling targets for 2025 and 2030. In addition to improving separate collection and introducing a deposit system for specific fractions, the share of plastic packaging in mixed municipal solid waste (MSW) could be utilized.

Composition of public waste - a case study from Austria.

Waste from public places like parks, pedestrian zones or sidewalks is a visible yet unexploited waste stream. Publications and information on the amounts and makeup of this waste flow are very scarce. To evaluate the resource potential and enable waste management planning, this study aims to assess the quality and quantity of public waste in a detailed waste characterisation campaign.

A source-based framework to estimate the annual load of PFAS in municipal wastewater.

Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a class of persistent chemicals, whose impact has been observed in various environmental compartments. Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) are considered a major emission pathway of PFAS, specifically in the context of the aquatic environment. The goal of this study was to develop a compartmentalized, source-based load estimation model of 7 PFAS within the municipal wastewater influent.

Short-term impacts of a large cultural event on the microbial pollution status of a pre-alpine river.

Rivers are impacted by microbial faecal pollution from various sources. We report on a short-term faecal pollution event at the pre-alpine Austrian river Traisen caused by the large cultural event FM4 Frequency music festival, with around 200,000 visitors over 4 days. We observed a massive increase of the faecal indicator bacteria (FIB) intestinal enterococci during the event, while Escherichia coli concentrations were only slightly elevated.

Fate of nutrients and trace contaminants in a large shallow soda lake. Spatial gradients and underlying processes from the tributary river to the reed belt.

Shallow lakes provide a multitude of ecosystem functions, but they are particularly vulnerable to natural and anthropogenic disturbances. Understanding the driving factors determining the fate and spatial distribution of nutrients and pollutants in such systems is fundamental to assess the impact of ongoing or future external pressures endangering their ecological integrity. This study investigates the fate of trace contaminants transported into the large shallow Lake Neusiedl, including contaminants representative of different patterns of sources and emission pathways and of environmental behavior, namely metals, pharmaceuticals, an artificial sweetener and perfluoroalkyl substances.

To analyze or to throw away? On the stability of excitation-emission matrices for different water systems.

Fluorescence spectroscopy has numerous applications to characterize natural and human-influenced water bodies regarding dissolved organic matter (DOM) and contamination. Analyzing samples in a timely manner is crucial to gaining valid and reproducible excitation-emission matrices (EEM) but often difficult, specifically in transnational projects with long transport distances. In this study, eight samples of different water sources (tap water, differently polluted rivers, and wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) effluents) were stored under standardized conditions for 59 days and analyzed regularly.

Influence of the autochthonous cellulolytic bacteria on the domestic compost process improvement.

This work aimed to determine the influence of the inoculation of autochthonous cellulolytic bacteria on the composting process without any modifications of physical or chemical parameters. Bacteria with cellulolytic abilities were isolated from composted material containing food and plant leftovers and identified as , , and . The experimental composter containing garden and household wastes was inoculated with bio-vaccine prepared as a mixture of isolated cellulolytic bacterial strains and composted for the next 96 days parallelly to the control composter without the inoculation.

Comparing the quantity and quality of glass, metals, and minerals present in waste incineration bottom ashes from a fluidized bed and a grate incinerator.

Bottom ash is the primary solid residue arising from municipal solid waste incineration. It consists of valuable materials such as minerals, metals and glass. Recovering these materials from bottom ash becomes evident when integrating Waste-to-Energy within the circular economy strategy.

Expanding the Pathogen Panel in Wastewater Epidemiology to Influenza and Norovirus.

Since the start of the 2019 pandemic, wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) has proven to be a valuable tool for monitoring the prevalence of SARS-CoV-2. With methods and infrastructure being settled, it is time to expand the potential of this tool to a wider range of pathogens. We used over 500 archived RNA extracts from a WBE program for SARS-CoV-2 surveillance to monitor wastewater from 11 treatment plants for the presence of influenza and norovirus twice a week during the winter season of 2021/2022.

Inhalation health risk assessment of incineration and landfill in the Bohai Rim, China.

An inhalation health risks assessment of 96 waste to energy (WtE) plants and 178 landfills in the Bohai Rim, located in northeast China, has been conducted. Based on the latest emission inventories in 2020, WRF/CALPUFF was used to simulate the diffusion of pollutants. Population-weighted hazard index (HI) and carcinogenic risk (CR) of incineration and landfill for each pollutant and each target organ impacted were calculated.

Separate collection rates for plastic packaging in Austria - A regional analysis taking collection systems and urbanization into account.

According to the EU Circular Economy Package, recycling of plastic packaging waste (PPW) has to be enhanced significantly by 2025 and 2030. Although a set of measures will be required along the whole value chain of plastic packaging, the process of separate collection remains the backbone. Hence, a detailed understanding of the performance of current separate collection systems is crucial.

Measuring Comprehensive, General Health Literacy in the General Adult Population: The Development and Validation of the HLS-Q12 Instrument in Seventeen Countries.

Background: For improving health literacy (HL) by national and international public health policy, measuring population HL by a comprehensive instrument is needed. A short instrument, the HLS-Q12 based on the HLS-EU-Q47, was developed, translated, applied, and validated in 17 countries in the WHO European Region.

Methods: For factorial validity/dimensionality, Cronbach alphas, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), Rasch model (RM), and Partial Credit Model (PCM) were used.

Probabilistic fecal pollution source profiling and microbial source tracking for an urban river catchment.

We developed an innovative approach to estimate the occurrence and extent of fecal pollution sources for urban river catchments. The methodology consists of 1) catchment surveys complemented by literature data where needed for probabilistic estimates of daily produced fecal indicator (FIBs, E. coli, enterococci) and zoonotic reference pathogen numbers (Campylobacter, Cryptosporidium and Giardia) excreted by human and animal sources in a river catchment, 2) generating a hypothesis about the dominant sources of fecal pollution and selecting a source targeted monitoring design, and 3) verifying the results by comparing measured concentrations of the informed choice of parameters (i.

Efficiency of Sidestream Nitritation for Modern Two-Stage Activated Sludge Plants.

The operational costs of wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) are mainly driven by electric power consumption, making the energy-efficient operation an all-time present target for engineers and operators. A well known approach to reduce the demand for purchased electricity is the operation of an anaerobic sludge stabilisation process. Although anaerobic digesters make it possible to recover large quantities of energy-rich methane gas, additional strategies are required to handle the increased internal return flow of nitrogen, which arises with the sludge dewatering effluent (SDE).

Applying the N labelling technique to material derived from a landfill simulation experiment to understand nitrogen cycle processes under aerobic and anaerobic conditions.

Reactive nitrogen (N) species, such as ammonium (NH), nitrate (NO) and gaseous nitrous oxide (NO), are released into the environment during the degradation of municipal solid waste (MSW), causing persistent environmental problems. Landfill remediation measures, such as in-situ aeration, may accelerate the degradation of organic compounds and reduce the discharge of ammonium via leachate. Nonetheless, the actual amount of N in the waste material remains relatively constant and a coherent explanation for the decline in leachate ammonium concentrations is still lacking.