Landfill leachates and wastewater of maritime origin as possible sources of endocrine disruptors in municipal wastewater

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - In this study, wastewater from municipal services, such as a port wastewater reception facility (PRF-WW) and a municipal solid waste plant (MSWP), was...     

Active methods of mercury removal from flue gases

Due to its adverse impact on health, as well as its global distribution, long atmospheric lifetime and propensity for deposition in the aquatic environment and in living tissue, the US Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) has classified mercury and its compounds as a severe air quality threat. Such widespread presence of mercury in the environment originates from both natural and anthropogenic sources. Global anthropogenic emission of mercury is evaluated at 2000 Mg year⁻¹. According to the National Centre for Emissions Management (Pol. KOBiZE) report for 2014, Polish annual mercury emissions amount to approximately 10 Mg. Over 90% of mercury emissions in Poland originate from combustion of coal.

The purpose of this paper was to understand mercury behaviour during sub-bituminous coal and lignite combustion for flue gas purification in terms of reduction of emissions by active methods. The average mercury content in Polish sub-bituminous coal and lignite was 103.7 and 443.5 μg kg⁻¹. The concentration of mercury in flue gases emitted into the atmosphere was 5.3 μg m⁻³ for sub-bituminous coal and 17.5 μg m⁻³ for lignite. The study analysed six low-cost sorbents with the average achieved efficiency of mercury removal from 30.6 to 92.9% for sub-bituminous coal and 22.8 to 80.3% for lignite combustion. Also, the effect of coke dust grain size was examined for mercury sorptive properties. The fine fraction of coke dust (CD) adsorbed within 243–277 μg Hg kg⁻¹, while the largest fraction at only 95 μg Hg kg⁻¹. The CD fraction < 0.063 mm removed almost 92% of mercury during coal combustion, so the concentration of mercury in flue gas decreased from 5.3 to 0.4 μg Hg m⁻³. The same fraction of CD had removed 93% of mercury from lignite flue gas by reducing the concentration of mercury in the flow from 17.6 to 1.2 μg Hg m⁻³. The publication also presents the impact of photochemical oxidation of mercury on the effectiveness of Hg vapour removal during combustion of lignite. After physical oxidation of Hg in the flue gas, its effectiveness has increased twofold.

     

Pesticide burial grounds in Poland: a review

Obsolete pesticides were stored in Poland from the middle sixties until the late eighties of the 20th century mostly in underground disposal sites, called "pesticide burial grounds" or "pesticide tombs". The total amount of pesticide waste and packaging materials disposed of in these landfills exceeded 20000 Mg. Typically, the content of a pesticide tomb was dominated by organochlorine pesticides (comprising 10-100% of the total waste volume) with DDT as the prevailing compound. Other pesticide types, such as phosphoroorganic, carbamate insecticides, dinitrophenols, phenoxyacids, and inorganic compounds were stored in smaller quantities, usually not exceeding 10-20% of the total waste volume. With the growing awareness of the threats that these landfills posed to the environment, the first inventory for the whole country was made in 1993 and remediation was initiated in 1999. The total amount of waste, which had to be removed from the known pesticide tombs (hazardous substances, contaminated soils, construction materials etc.) was about 100000 Mg. According to the National Waste Management Plan, the reclamation of pesticide tombs was assumed to have been finished by the end of 2010, however, this goal has not been achieved. The aim of this review is to present a historical perspective of pesticide burial grounds in Poland with an emphasis on their creation, function, inventory, and remediation. Based on unpublished reports, and other published materials of limited availability written in Polish, this review may serve as a source of information for representatives of other countries, where remediation of pesticide burial grounds is still in progress. The experience gained over a ten-year period, when restoration of pesticide tombs was implemented in Poland, reveals that there are many obstacles to this action arising not only from technical, but also from economic and social issues.     

Towards Participatory Geographic Information Systems for community-based environmental decision making

This article discusses the potential of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to become an information technology enabling groups of people to participate in decisions shaping their communities and promoting sustainable use of natural resources. It explains the concept of participation in the context of planning and decision making. In this context Participatory GIS (PGIS) offers tools that can be used to help the public become meaningfully involved in decision making processes affecting their communities. Following an overview of research on PGIS and its current status the article presents two recent studies of PGIS in water resource planning; one involving the use of computer generated maps representing simple information structures and the other involving the use of more sophisticated information tools. The synthesis of both studies provides the bases for discussing the prospects of PGIS to empower citizens in making decisions about their communities and resources.     

Multi-elemental analysis of Lentinula edodes mushrooms available in trade

ABSTRACT

The present study investigated the content of 62 elements in the fruiting bodies of Lentinula edodes (Shiitake mushroom) cultivated commercially in Poland on various substrates from 2007–2015. The general mean content (mg kg^?1 dry weight (DW)) of the studied elements ranked in the following order: K (26,335) > P (11,015) > Mg (2,284) > Ca (607) > Na (131) > Zn (112) > Fe (69) > Mn (33) > B (32) > Rb (17) > Cu (14.5) > Al (11.2) > Te (2.9) > As (1.80) > Cd (1.76) > Ag (1.73) > Nd (1.70) > Sr (1.46) > Se (1.41) > U (1.11) > Pt (0.90) > Ce (0.80) > Ba (0.61) > Co (0.59) > Tl (0.58) > Er (0.50) > Pb (0.42) > Li (0.40) > Pr (0.39) > Ir (0.37) > In (0.35) > Mo (0.31) > Cr (0.29) > Ni (0.28) > Sb (0.26) > Re (0.24) > Ti (0.19) > Bi (0.18) > Th (0.12) > La (0.10) = Pd (0.10) > Os (0.09) = Zr (0.09) > Rh (0.08) > Ho (0.07) > Ru (0.06) > Sm (0.04) = Eu (0.04) = Tm (0.04) > Gd (0.03) > Sc (0.02) = Y (0.02) > Lu (0.01) = Yb (0.01) = V (0.01). The contents of Au, Be, Dy, Ga, Ge, Hf, and Tb were below the limits of detection (0.02, 0.02, 0.01, 0.01, 0.01, 0.01, 0.02 mg kg^?1 respectively). The concentrations of Al, As, B, Ba, Ca, Cd, Cr, Er, Fe, In, Lu, Mn, Nd, Sr, Ti, Tm, and Zr were comparable over the period the mushrooms were cultivated. The study revealed that Lentinula edodes contained As and Cd at levels potentially adverse to human health. This highlights the need to monitor these elements in food products obtained from this mushroom species and ensure that only low levels of these elements are present in cultivation substrates.     

Cadmium and lead toxicity and bioaccumulation in Microcystis aeruginosa

The growth of human population leads to intensification of agriculture and promotes, through eutrophication, development of cyanobacteria. One of the most widespread and bloom-forming species in freshwater is toxic Microcystis aeruginosa （M. aeruginosa）. Combustion of fossil fuels and metallurgical processes are the main sources of heavy metals contamination in surface water including cadmium （Cd） and lead （Pb）. The following study was conducted in order to determine the effect of 1- 20 mg. L-1 of Cd and Pb on photochemistry （using flow cytometry） and growth （based on chlorophyll concentra- tion） ofM. aeruginosa as well as to estimate levels of metal bioaccumulation. We have found that 1-10mg.L-1 of Cd and 1-5 rag. L1 of Pb induced continuous enhancement of chlorophyll fluorescence during 24 h of incubation. No significant degradation of chlorophyll was observed in these samples. At higher concentrations of 20 mg. L-1 of Cd and 10-20 mg.L-1 of Pb chlorophyll level significantly decreased and its fluorescence was quenched. M. aeruginosa demonstrated high capability of Cd and Pb bioaccumulation, proportionally to initial metal concentration. In samples with initial concentration of 20 mg. L-1 of Cd and Pb bioaccumulation of 87.3% and 90.1% was observed, respectively. Our study demonstrates that M. aeruginosa can potentially survive in highly metals polluted environments, be a primary source of toxic metals in the food chain and consequently contribute to enhanced toxicity of heavy metals to living organisms including human.     

Phenolic compounds in leaves of Salix species and hybrids growing under different soil conditions

The leaves of eight Salix species/hybrids were collected from two sites with different soil conditions including metal concentrations to investigate the concentration of Cu, Zn and Pb, phenolic profile and antioxidant scavenging activity. Cu, Zn and Pb, phenolic content and scavenging activity in leaves from the control area (lower concentration of metals in soil) (site C) were lower than in plants cultivated in site G (higher concentration of metals in soil). The content of Cu, Pb and Zn in leaves was in the range 9.21 (site G)–52.36 (site G), 0.41 (site C)?12.03 (site C) and 27.23 (site C)–214.44 (site G) mg?kg^?1, respectively. Total phenolic content ranged between 18.19 (site C) and 84.71 (site G) mg gallic acid equivalent per gram of dry matter. Total flavonoid content was between 7.98 (site C) and 54.48 (site G) mg catechin g^?1?d.m. The scavenging effect on 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl˙ ranged between 33.6% (site C) and 56.3% (site G). Phenolic acids, myricetin and quercetin were quantified in leaves. The results show that phenolics are involved during adaptive mechanisms under elevated content of Cu, Pb and Zn in soil. Changes in the phenolic composition in leaves can be suggested as indicators of metal stress in Salix plants.     

Cadmium,lead and mercury concentrations in pathologically altered human kidneys

Heavy metals, including cadmium (Cd), lead (Pb) and mercury (Hg) act as nephrotoxic agents, particularly in the renal cortex. The aim of the study was to determine the concentrations of Cd, Pb and Hg in kidneys removed from patients due to lesions of various etiologies and from patients after the rejection of transplanted kidneys. Additionally, we determined the influence of selected biological and environmental factors on the concentrations of toxic metals. The study material consisted of kidneys with tumor lesions (n = 27), without tumors (n = 7) and its extracted grafts (n = 10) obtained from patients belongs to the north-western areas of Poland. The determined metal concentrations in the renal cortex and medulla may be arranged in the following descending order: Cd > Pb > Hg. The highest concentrations of Cd and Hg were found in the cortex, while the maximum content Pb was observed in the medulla. Significant correlations were found in the concentrations of the same metals between cortex and medulla and between Pb and Hg in the renal medulla. Pb content was higher in the renal medulla of men than in the cortex of the elderly (above 60 years of age). The highest concentrations of Pb and Hg were found in the cortex and medulla, of the kidneys had not neoplastic changes, and lower content of these metals were found in the extracted kidney grafts. In summary, renal grafts accumulate less heavy metals than cancerous kidneys, what could have been caused by immunosuppressors taken by the graft recipients. Moreover, sex, age and smoking are key factors responsible for xenobiotics concentrations.     

Institutional and environmental issues in land reclamation systems maintenance

The research reported here addresses the issues of institutional, social and land-use change with reference to land reclamation system maintenance in the Odra River Valley, SW Poland. Land reclamation systems are a network of different types of water control infrastructure and they require the collective maintenance effort of all users in order to fulfill drainage and irrigation functions properly. The example of decline in these systems in Polish rural areas brings together environmental and economic issues, as well as social dimensions of change from socialist top-down to democratic bottom-up decision-making and management. After 1989 the financing and management of land reclamation services by the State greatly decreased and a duty of LRS maintenance was actually transferred from government to individual land users. Farmers were not ready to take this responsibility and the whole system declined. The analysis presented in this article is a contribution to a better understanding of non-functioning land reclamation systems. Some recommendations for the future improvement of these systems are also provided.     

Differential shell strength of Cepaea nemoralis colour morphs—implications for their anti-predator defence

The Science of Nature - One of the most spectacular evolutionary forces is predation, evidenced to stimulate polymorphism in many prey species. Shell colour polymorphism of the land snail Cepaea...