NITRATES IN RURAL WELLS OF THE SENEGAL RIVER BASIN1

ABSTRACT: A survey of 34 open hand dug wells was performed in the Senegal River basin of West Africa. Nitrate concentrations were determined on the well water samples over a six-month period. With the exception of two wells, the wells indicated varying levels of nitrate contamination. The range of concentrations was 0.10 to 880 mg/I as nitrate. These data when compared to physical characteristics, land use, and age using a chi-square analysis did not suggest any strong association. The fact that these wells are open and in a semiarid climate may be of such importance that the previously considered factors are of minor relative importance. Contamination may be primarily the result of foreign matter entering the well mouth.     

Beach macro-litter monitoring on southern Baltic beaches: results,experiences and recommendations

Major objectives were to provide a comprehensive dataset on beach macro-litter for parts of the southern Baltic Sea and to analyse if the methodology is fully applicable and a suitable monitoring method in the Baltic. We carried out a regular macro litter beach monitoring (OSPAR methodology, 4 time a year) on 35 beaches along the German and Lithuanian Baltic coast over 2–5 years. Additional experiments addressed the subjectivity of the field surveys and spatio-temporal variability on different scales. We observed no seasonality of the data and a monthly compared to a 3-monthly sampling resulted in 3 times higher annual item numbers. Along the Lithuanian coast, the average number of items per survey varied between 138 and 340 and along the German Baltic coast between 7 and 404, with a median value of 47. All data showed a very high spatio-temporal variability. Using the Matrix Scoring Technique we assessed beach litter sources. With 50% tourism and recreation was the most important source. 3D–transport simulations helped to explain the minor role of shipping as a source and, compared to the North Sea, the low numbers of items on German Baltic beaches. Floating litter had a short duration time in the western Baltic Sea and offshore drift dominated. Further, the common regular beach cleanings reduced the potential for local litter accumulation and translocation. We suggest a monitoring system on 14 Baltic beaches in Germany and 2 in Lithuania and provide cost calculations. The analysis of macro-litter in cormorant nesting material and the search for beached dead animals did not show any result. We can conclude that the macro-litter beach monitoring method is less suitable for Baltic beaches and should only serve as a complementary method in combination with others.