Contaminants Occurrence, Transport and Reactivity in Aquatic Ecosystems and Utilities

A special issue of Applied Sciences (ISSN 2076-3417). This special issue belongs to the section "Environmental Sciences".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 November 2023) | Viewed by 2233

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Faculty of Environmental Engineering and Energy, Cracow University of Technology, 24 Warszawska Street, 31-155 Cracow, Poland
Interests: water supply; sewage disposal; water quality; water treatment; pipe renovation; rainwater management; water pollution

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Guest Editor
Faculty of Environmental Engineering and Energy, Cracow University of Technology, 24 Warszawska Street, 31-155 Cracow, Poland
Interests: transport of pollutants in rivers; transport of pollutants in underground water

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Faculty of Environmental Engineering and Energy, Cracow University of Technology, 24 Warszawska Street, 31-155 Cracow, Poland
Interests: water supply; water quality; pollutants

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

We are inviting you to submit papers for a Special Issue focused on pollution in aquatic ecosystems and utilities. 

Aquatic and water-dependent habitats are particularly vulnerable to degradation due to the importance of water to humans and the economy. Nearly every form of human activity strongly impacts the aquatic environment, from water intake and wastewater production to waste disposal and leachate leaks into groundwater and surface water. This activity, combined with natural phenomena and the rapidly changing climate, severely threaten the aquatic environment. Possible consequences include periodical local shortages of water for drinking, domestic, agricultural and industrial purposes and a significant deterioration in water quality, limiting or completely preventing its use. These factors may hinder or inhibit the activites of fauna and flora, including those consumed by humans. Threats to the aquatic ecosystem include intensive, human-induced eutrophication, an increase in heavy metal concentrations and numerous contaminats, such as microplastics, pharmaceuticals and personal care products, polluting surface waters and groundwaters, seas and oceans. Contaminated water drawn for human use must undergo a complicated treatment process and poses a great risk to the users.

In order to protect the aquatic ecosystem and improve human livelihoods, research is needed within the scope of this Special Issue.

Prof. Dr. Michal Zielina
Prof. Dr. Andrzej Bielski
Dr. Anna Młyńska
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

  • emerging pollutants
  • micropollutants, nanomaterial contaminants
  • trace elements, eutrophication
  • wastewater
  • climat change
  • water quality

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

27 pages, 7352 KiB  
Article
Hydraulic Analysis of a Passive Wedge Wire Water Intake Screen for Ichthyofauna Protection
by Michał Zielina, Agata Pawłowska-Salach and Karol Kaczmarski
Appl. Sci. 2023, 13(23), 12970; https://doi.org/10.3390/app132312970 - 04 Dec 2023
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Abstract
A passive wedge screen, thanks to its many functional and environmental advantages, has recently become a popular type of surface water intake for municipal and industrial purposes. The design solutions proposed in this paper for a passive wedge wire screen intake model and [...] Read more.
A passive wedge screen, thanks to its many functional and environmental advantages, has recently become a popular type of surface water intake for municipal and industrial purposes. The design solutions proposed in this paper for a passive wedge wire screen intake model and two different deflectors have been experimentally tested under conditions that can be considered as no-flow conditions at the hydraulic flume. There was only a slight flow associated with the operation of the screen, while there was almost no flow in the hydraulic channel itself, such that it would be considered a watercourse. A hydraulic analysis was carried out, including velocity distribution around the screen as well as the determination of head losses with or without deflectors installed inside the screen. Lower inlet and inflow velocities to the surface of the water intake reduce the risk of injury or death to small fish and fry as well as attracting pollutants understood as sediments, debris, and plant remains floating in the river. In order to achieve the lowest possible maximum inlet and inflow velocities at the highest possible intake capacity, it was necessary to equalize the approach velocity distributions. It was shown that by using the proposed deflectors, the approach velocity distributions were equalized and the maximum values of inflow and inlet velocities were reduced. A water intake screen with a deflector with an uneven porosity distribution equalized the approach velocities better than a deflector with equal openings, but the differences were small. Installing the wedge screen model reduced the maximum inlet velocity from exceeding 2 m/s to a value of 0.08 m/s, and after installing deflectors with equal and unequal openings to values of 0.06 m/s and 0.05 m/s, respectively. In addition to laboratory tests, the paper describes the numerical simulations performed in ANSYS Fluent software. The results of the simulations made it possible to obtain a broader study, as well as to compare the velocity values obtained at the measuring points during the laboratory tests. Full article
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30 pages, 18482 KiB  
Article
Heavy Metals in Post-Exploitation Reservoirs—The Bagry Lake Case Study (Poland)
by Andrzej Bielski and Anna Czaplicka
Appl. Sci. 2023, 13(10), 5884; https://doi.org/10.3390/app13105884 - 10 May 2023
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Abstract
The paper presents the research study on the concentration of Fe, Mn, Cu, Pb, Zn, Cd and Ca in the sediment as well as in the supernatant (layer of water just above the sediment) of the Bagry Lake, Cracow (Poland); Ca was not [...] Read more.
The paper presents the research study on the concentration of Fe, Mn, Cu, Pb, Zn, Cd and Ca in the sediment as well as in the supernatant (layer of water just above the sediment) of the Bagry Lake, Cracow (Poland); Ca was not included in the supernatant analysis. There are a number of works in the literature on the concentrations of metals in the water environment of flow-through dam reservoirs and factors influencing their distribution. These reservoirs were created for various purposes, e.g., water supply, flood protection, leveling the flows in the rivers and recreational purposes. Since it is difficult to find information on metals and factors influencing their distribution in the aquatic environment of post-exploitation reservoirs, this work aims to fill this gap. The additional purpose of the work was to assess the potential influence of metals’ presence in the sediment of Bagry Lake on benthic organisms. Correlations between metals in the sediment and their volatile and mineral fractions as well as in particle size fractions of ≥0.06 mm and <0.06 mm were determined. Except for cadmium, metals showed a positive correlation with the sediment volatile fraction of granulometry <0.06 mm (a clay-silty fraction). It has been shown that metals, in both supernatant and sediment, are of an anthropogenic origin related to previous on-lake operations, as well as a nearby modern technical infrastructure. Statistical models were used to measure the strength of relationships between the concentration of various metals in the sediments. A cluster analysis was used to study interactions between the concentration of metals in supernatant, in sediment and in its volatile and mineral fractions as well as in fractions with different granulation. It was found that individual metals and sediment fractions form pairs of quite strong clusters, e.g., Fe sediments and Mn sediments, Fe supernatant and Mn supernatant, Cu supernatant and Pb supernatant, volatile fraction and mass fraction of particles < 0.06 mm and mineral fraction and mass fraction of particles ≥ 0.06 mm. The equilibrium model “supernatant—sediment mineral fraction—sediment volatile fraction” was developed for metals in various granulometric fractions of the sediment as well as in the supernatant. The model estimated a metal concentration in both fractions of the sediment (separately) as well as an impact they had on the metal concentration in the supernatant. It also showed how changes in a metal’s concentration in both fractions are reflected in concentrations of metals in the aquatic environment. Full article
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