On the use of manned hydrogen-gas ballooning in boundary layer studies

Measurements of nitrogen dioxide, ozone and, for the first time, on-line, nonmethane hydrocarbons with a quasicontinuous gaschromatographic/flame ionization technique were performed on a manned hydrogen-gas balloon platform. A cycle time of 10 min allowed the determination of nonmethane hydrocarbons in the carbon number range of C₄-C₁₀ with a detection limit of 10 pptv. In addition, meteorological parameters (atmospheric pressure, temperature, humidity) along with GPS-data (global positioning system) was accomplished during the balloon flights. Balloon measurements of trace compounds provide valuable information about photochemical processes in the boundary layer since gas ballooning offers the only technique that stays in the same air parcel along Langrangian trajectories. In addition, gas ballooning represents a unique tool to elucidate micrometeorological observations such as atmospheric stability oscillations and local wind fields.     

Die Nationale Strategie zur biologischen Vielfalt

Worldwide biological diversity (short: biodiversity) is declining rapidly. Rising demands of a fast growing human population jeopardize a smooth handling with the resource biodiversity. Main reasons of its decline are climate and land use changes as well as nutrient and hazardous substances pollution of land and water ecosystems. Integrated environmental protection and nature conservation have to tackle this risk and to create preconditions, which allow species to develop in high genetic variability within functioning habitats. Sustainable solutions for this worldwide and complex problem are possible with international societal efforts only. The framework for action is the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) which was agreed at the 1992 UN Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED). Conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity as well as balanced and justified distribution of the benefits are in the focus of the convention. Germany hat ratified this convention in 1993. The national strategy implements the international convention in Germany in a comprehensive and challenging programme for all societal actors. The strategy includes 330 distinct objectives and about 430 measures. This article gives an overview of the definitions and the context, describes the history of the process, the structure and the content of the national strategy as well as the implementation process, which was meanwhile started with national and regional meetings.     

Wassertechnische Strategien zur Reduzierung der Trinkwasserbelastung durch Arzneimittelwirkstoffe

Results The available research results concerning the application of innovative methods of wastewater and drinking water purification to eliminate pharmaceuticals are summarized in the present paper. An increase of the activated sludge (aerobic sludge) age to 8–10 days in treatment plants can improve the metabolization of less persistent pharmaceutical agents whereas expansion of the sojourn time beyond 10 days will not result in a remarked increase of degradation for most pharmaceutical substances. First results have shown that wastewater treatment plants with integrated membrane bioreactors (MBR) using micro- and ultrafiltration membranes do not provide significantly better results compared to the conventional wastewater treatment plants with respect to the removal of organic micropollutants (including pharmaceutical residues). The use of powdered carbon in biologically treated wastewater is able to reduce pharmaceutical residues up to 80?% in the run-off water. Pilot studies scrutinize the treatment of highly contaminated effluents via catalytic photooxidation. Regarding the suitability of the method to reduce the contamination of drinking and wastewater with pharmaceuticals yet only few data from laboratory scale testing are available. Activated carbon filtration is preferably used for drinking water treatment. Primarily against the background of disinfection, ozonation is widely used for drinking water treatment, but for wastewater treatment the method is still at the experimental stage and will hardly become of practical importance because of high costs. Sustainable wastewater separation is grounded on decentralized concepts by considering material cycles (recycling) at the place of origin. In the long term, separation measures can significantly contribute to declining drug concentrations in drinking water. Regarding the quarrying of drinking water by bank filtration water, river water or artificially enriched ground water, end-of-pipe techniques are vital. Most commonly, activated carbon or activated carbon combined with ozonization is applied and assures a high drinking water quality. Discussion The advantages and disadvantages of the different water treatment methods mainly concern the varying degrees of effectiveness with respect to the elimination of very persistent pharmaceutical agents, the generation of problematical metabolites and additional waste materials, hygienic problems, energy needs and the necessity to employ appropriate technical staff for operation. Although the biodegradation of very persistent drugs cannot be enhanced by an extension of the activated sludge age, this modification should be considered in sewage plants to reduce the contamination with less persistent medical agents. Compared with conventional wastewater treatment, membrane bioreactors provide the advantage of a better control of biological activities on the plant and a comparably small plant size but high investment and operation costs. Additionally, pharmaceuticals such as carbamazepin are only insufficiently removed from wastewater by membrane bioreactors. The regular use of powdered activated carbon in sewage treatment plants would also increase the costs of wastewater treatment and would additionally exclude the further use of sewage sludge in agriculture. Currently, in Germany the further use of sewage sludge is handled differently by the Federal States and discussed controversially. The implementation of ozonation as an additional treatment method in wastewater treatment plants is not realistic because of cost concerns. Additionally, the method produces analytically as yet not assessed metabolites with unknown (eco-)toxicological impacts. For this reason ozonation should currently not be applied unless the reaction products are removed subsequently by filtration through activated carbon. For industrial sewage photooxidation is in a state of testing but an application for municipal wastewater is, up to now, out of question. When river bank filtration is used for the supply of drinking water the use of activated carbon for purification should be essential. The lifetime of the filters is often defined by the filter capacities to eliminate radiocontrast media (e.?g., iopamidole, amidotrizoic acid). Many water supply companies already apply the ozonization prior to activated carbon filtration which supports the elimination of pharmaceuticals from the sewage. The unique developmental potential of the wastewater separation can be seen in the possibility to link up these methods with sustainable exploitation techniques and concepts (re-use of sanitized water, production of fertilizer, compost and biogas). Wastewater separation will not make ‘middle/end-of-pipe’ techniques dispensable but will make their handling more effective because concentrations of pharmaceutical agents are higher in separated effluents compared to those usually found in municipal wastewater, which in mixing sewage systems is even diluted by surface runoff. Conclusions Following today’s state of knowledge activated carbon filtration (eventually coupled with ozonization) is best suited to remove drug residues and other xenobiotics from raw water. Water works that do not apply the activated carbon filtration technique for cleanup of bank filtration water should consider an upgrade. The ozonization is primarily required for disinfection of the water. As no acute health hazard proceeds from drinking water contamination by pharmaceuticals at the present time, the upgrade of wastewater treatment plants by one of the aforementioned innovative methods is currently not required in view of drinking water quality. This offers the opportunity to develop sustainable approaches that already aim to reduce drug contaminations of wastewater and hence of ground-, surface- and drinking water. Recommendations and perspectives On a short- to mid-term perspective enriched sewage of hospitals, nursing homes and other medical facilities should be collected and treated separately. From a technical point of view the conditioning of separated hospital effluents (yellow- and greywater) via activated carbon or membrane filtration is possible but should be combined with disinfection. On a mid- and long-term scale sustainable sanitary concepts based on wastewater separation (black-, grey- and/or rainwater) associated with the recycling of mineral nutrients (nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium) should be realized for development, industry and trade areas, buildings with public lavatories, airports, motorway service areas, and large office and hotel buildings. Strategies focusing primarily on up-grading of municipal wastewater treatment plants are currently existing but the related technologies are largely in a test phase. This is why a particular technique should not be favored at the moment. The combination of various techniques (i.?e., ozonization combined with activated carbon filtration) is known to be very efficient for the removal of pharmaceutical residues from water, but the combination cannot be expected to become of importance in treatment of domestic wastewater because of high costs. Moreover, improvement of wastewater treatment technologies to remove pharmaceutical residues will not make the employment of end-of-pipe techniques in water works redundant and therefore will not lead to saving of expenses.     

Effect of electrokinetic transport on the vulnerability of PAH-degrading bacteria in a model aquifer

There has been increasing interest in employing electro-bioremediation, a hybrid technology of bioremediation and electrokinetics, to overcome the low bioavailability of hydrophobic organic contaminants (HOC) by homogenizing sorption-retarded HOC and immobilised microorganisms. Present electro-remediation approaches mainly aim at macroscale pollutant extraction and tend to neglect possible impacts of direct current (DC) on the physiology of microorganisms. The effect of weak electric fields (X = 1 V cm⁻¹) on the fitness of electrokinetically dispersed fluorene-degrading Sphingomonas sp. LB126 in bench-scale model aquifers was investigated by flow cytometry using propidium iodide (PI) as an indicator that distinguishes between PI-permeable (cells with porous membranes, i.e. dead or vulnerable) and PI-impermeable bacteria. After 15.5 h of DC treatment 56% of all cells recovered were dispersed at the centimetre scale relative to 29% in the absence of DC. There was no overall negative effect of the 15.5-h DC treatment on cell vulnerability, as 7.0% of the DC-treated bacteria exhibited PI-staining compared to 6.5% of the control population. Minor differences were observed in the subpopulation that had been mobilised by electroosmosis with an approximately twofold increase in the percentage of PI-stained cells relative to the control. Enhanced PI staining did not correlate with reduced culturability of the cells on rich-medium agar plates. Relative to the control, DC-treated cells mobilised by electroosmosis were threefold more culturable, confirming earlier data that that PI-cell membrane permeability does not always indicate reduced viability of oligotrophic environmental bacteria. Our findings suggest that electrokinetics is a valuable mechanism to transport viable and culturable polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH)-degrading bacteria in soil or sediments.     

Predicting the mating system from phenotypic correlations between life-history and sperm quality traits in the Alpine whitefish <Emphasis Type="Italic">Coregonus zugensis</Emphasis>

The mating behavior and reproductive strategies of Alpine whitefish like Coregonus zugensis (Nüsslin) are poorly understood, probably because they spawn in deep water where direct observations are difficult. In this study, we interpret life-history and sperm quality traits of fish that we caught from their spawning place. We found that males invest heavily into gonadal tissue (up to 5.6% of their body weight), which is, in comparison to other fish, consistent with external fertilization, distinct pairing and moderate to high communal spawning, or no pairing and low to moderate communal spawning. Sperm competition theory and recent experimental studies on other salmonids predict that males optimize ejaculate characteristics in relation to the costs of sperm and the level of competition they have to expect: dominant males are predicted to invest less into ejaculate quality and to have slower spermatozoa than subdominant males. We found that spermatozoa of older males are slower than those of younger males. Moreover, older males have larger breeding tubercles, a secondary sexual trait that has, in some previous studies, been found to be linked to good condition and to good genetic quality. Our results suggest that C. zugensis has age-linked reproductive strategies, that multimale spawning is common, i.e., that sperm competition plays a significant role, and that older males are on average dominant over younger males at the spawning place.     

Present forest biodiversity patterns in france related to former Roman agriculture

Combined archaeological and ecological investigations in a large ancient oak forest in Central France have revealed a dense network of ancient human settlements dating from the Roman period. We demonstrate a strong correlation between present-day forest plant diversity patterns and the location of Roman farm buildings. Plant species richness strongly increases toward the center of the settlements, and the frequency of neutrophilous and nitrogen-demanding species is higher. This pattern is paralleled by an increase in soil pH, available P, and delta(15)N, indicating the long-term impact of former agricultural practices on forest biogeochemical cycles. These extensive observations in a forested region on acid soils complement and confirm previous results from a single Roman settlement on limestone. Ancient Roman agricultural systems are increasingly being identified in contemporary French forests; the broad extent and long-lasting effects of previous cultivation shown in this study require that land-use history be considered as a primary control over biodiversity variations in many forest landscapes, even after millennia of abandonment.     

Humanpharmakawirkstoffe in der Umwelt: Einträge, Vorkommen und der Versuch einer Bestandsaufnahme

Background

The presence of a large spectrum of pharmaceutical agents has been reported for aquatic environments (surface—and groundwater) and other aquatic media (influents and effluents of sewage treatment plants) in Germany and beyond, including their occurrence in drinking water. Considering the large number of pharmaceuticals produced for human use and released into the environment, various authors (Sattelberger 1999, Hanisch et al. 2004, Castiglioni et al. 2006, IWW 2006, Stockholm County Council 2006) tried to compile ‘priority lists’ focusing on those substances with environmental relevance. The following agents are included in all lists: ciprofloxacine, clarythromycine (antibiotics), carbamazepine (anti-epileptic agent), bezafibrate (lipid reducer), clofibric acid (lipid reducer metabolite), ethinylestradiol (sex hormone) and cylophosfamide (cytostatic agent). The agents erythromycine and sulfamethoxazole (antibiotics), ibuprofen, indometacine, propyphenazone (analgesics), atenolol (beta-blocker) and ifosfamide (cytostatic agent) can be found in three of four priority lists.

Results

Pharmaceuticals mainly enter the aquatic environment via effluent water, coming from wastewater treatment plants (including hospital and household sewerage), untreated discharges (e.g, secondary transfer of active agents into ground- and surface waters via sewage sludge application in agriculture and via landfill leachate) and leakages in the municipal sewer network.

Discussion

Potential activities towards a reduced release of pharmaceuticals into the environment should consider primarily the origin of the exposure to allow a separation of drug containing flows already at the source. Following the latter it would be possible to minimize the contamination of spring-, ground- and surface waters which serve as raw water resources for drinking water supply. However, considering the actual water pollution with pharmaceuticals and other substances, ‘end-of pipe’ techniques in the sewage and drinking water treatment are absolutely essential.

Conclusions

Sustainability criteria (e.g. protection of drinking water resources, habitats and biocoenoses, recycling and economizing use of resources) and economic aspects of modern sewage disposal concepts require a useful choice and combination of technical measures as components of centralized and decentralized sewage and drinking water treatment methods. It is though not realistic to cover and eliminate all pharmaceutical agents of environmental relevance equally effective even if a catalogue of potential technical treatment methods is elaborated thoroughly. Therefore, a concentration of efforts on selected drug agents, at least following initially some of the priority lists, is recommended.

Recommendations and Perspectives

The contamination of the water cycle with pharmaceuticals is nevertheless not exclusively to be solved via the application of technical methods. The BMBF (Federal Ministry for Education and Research) funded project start (Management Strategies for Pharmaceuticals in Drinking Water, www.start-project.de) therefore tries by implementation of a transdisciplinary approach to integrate technical-, behavioral-, and agent-orientated management strategies towards a more comprehensive and sustainable problem solution.     

Medikamentenentsorgung in privaten Haushalten: Ein Faktor bei der Gewässerbelastung mit Arzneimittelwirkstoffen?

Background

Residues of pharmaceuticals are meanwhile detected widely in the aquatic environment. Waste water treatment plants are the main route of entry: after intake the agents or their metabolites are excreted predominantly via urine into the sewage. Largely unknown is, however, if the improper disposal of unused medicines via domestic sanitary devices (toilet or sink) contributes to the measured concentrations in the environment. Aim of this investigation was to clarify to what extent consumers in Germany dispose of unused medicines directly via domestic sewage. In July and August 2006 a representative survey of the population with 2.000 interviewees was performed for this purpose.

Results

The analysis of the survey shows that the disposal of unused medicines via domestic sewage takes place on relevant scales: approx. 16% of the population dispose at least occasionally of unused or expired tablets in the toilet whereas 43% proceed alike with liquid drugs (toilet or sink).

Discussion

A possible reason for this disposal behaviour is the widely inconsistent waste disposal communication by the municipalities and the federal states. The resulting uncertainty about the correct way to dispose of unused medicines gains in importance in the context of the high recycling willingness of the (German) population: appropriate disposal options for drug residues (tablets or liquids) arising from waste separation are often not realised.

Conclusions

Quantitative assessments on the basis of the collected data demonstrate that the established frequency of direct disposal of unused medicines via domestic sewage can partly contribute significantly to the occurrence of pharmaceuticals in the aquatic environment. Crucial parameters are here the excretion rate of the active pharmaceutical ingredient considered and the actual amount of medication waste.

Recommendations

Based on the inquiry results, measures that lead to a more adequate handling of pharmaceutical waste disposal are demanded. The establishment of a consistent and binding disposal standard for unused medicines via return in pharmacies is recommended. This measure needs to be accompanied by a simplification of the established take back systems which partly cause high time and effort for pharmacies.     

Evaluation of leaching and extraction procedures for soil and waste

Laboratory leaching tests may be used for source term determination as a basis for risk assessment for soil-groundwater pathways on contaminated sites. In order to evaluate different leaching procedures, batch extraction tests and percolation tests were performed using three reference materials produced from contaminated soil, demolition waste and municipal solid waste incinerator bottom ash. Emphasis was placed on the investigation of the leachability of the heavy metals copper and chromium, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and the anions chloride and sulfate. Significant discrepancies between column experiments and batch/extraction tests were found for the release of PAHs and to a lesser extent for the heavy metals Cu and Cr. Additionally interlaboratory comparisons were conducted based on different leaching tests with the reference materials and evaluated using the criteria of comparability and reproducibility. The best reproducibility was achieved for all investigated substances in column tests. The reproducibility of batch tests was acceptable except for PAHs. The results from the experimental work will help establish standardized and feasible laboratory procedures as fundamental for substance specific risk assessment of contaminated sites.