Explanation of fluctuations in water use time series

This paper presents techniques for studying the influence of the climatic and other variables for the explanation of the water use with an example of time series in Gainesville, Florida. A statistical methodology is described for separating the different time scale components in time series of water use, namely, long term component, seasonal component, and short term component. We analyze each component separately and we prove that the temperature, precipitation, soil temperature, and relative humidity time series are the main climatic factors for the explanation of the long term, seasonal and short term component of the water use time series. Part of the residuals derived from the linear regression of the long term component of the water use can be explained by the unemployment rate. We also show that with the decomposition of the water use time series the explanation of the water use has been improved approximately two times. The explanation of the long term component of water use by the long term regional weather parameters can enable us to the long term regional prediction of the water resources availabilities. This methodology can be applied for studying the water use time series in other locations, as well.     

Characterization,heavy metal content and health risk assessment of urban road dusts from the historic center of the city of Thessaloniki,Greece

In the present study, an investigation of the mineralogy and morphology, the heavy metal content and the health risk of urban road dusts from the second largest city of Greece was conducted. For this reason road dust samples from selected sites within the city core area were collected. No differences were observed in the mineralogy of road dusts coming from different sampling sites, and they were mainly consisted of quartz and calcite, while an elevated amorphous content was detected. Morphologically road dusts presented Ca-rich, Fe-rich and silicates particles with various shapes and sizes. The mean concentrations of Cd, Cr, Cu, Mn, Ni, Pb and Zn in road dust were 1.76, 104.9, 662.3, 336.4, 89.43, 209 and 452.8 μg g^?1, respectively. A series of spatial distribution patterns revealed that the hotspot areas were tended to associate with major road junctions and regions with high traffic. Combination of pollution indexes and statistical analyses (correlation analysis, cluster analysis and principal component analysis) revealed that road dusts have a severe influence by anthropogenic activities. In attempt to identify the source of metals through geostatistical and multivariate statistical analyses, it was concluded as follows: Cr, Cu, Fe and Zn mainly originated from tire/break wear and vehicle abrasions, while Cd, Mn and Pb were mainly related to fuel/oil leakage from automobiles along with oil lubricants and vehicle abrasion. Hazard quotient values for children based on total metal concentrations for the road dust ingestion route were lower than safe level (=1). However, the fact that the Hazard Index value for Pb (0.459) which is a particularly toxic metal, was close to safe level, renders essential further investigation in order to provide more reliable characterizations of potential health risks.     

Relating fruit and vegetable consumption in households with residue generation and utilization in the city of Heraklion,Crete, Greece

Questionnaires regarding the amount of nine kinds of fruit and ten kinds of vegetable (including potatoes) consumed on a weekly basis were distributed to 82 different households in the city of Heraklion (population approximately 200,000), capital of the island of Crete, at the southernmost point of Greece. The city is the fourth largest in the country, in which, according to the answers collected through the questionnaires, the educational level of parents was 24.4%, 50.0% and 25.6% with primary, secondary and higher education, respectively. Families with higher parental education consume more fruit (283 g/person day^?1) than families having a secondary and primary parental educational level (265 and 195 g/person day^?1, respectively). As far as vegetables (excluding potatoes) are concerned, families with secondary and higher parental education consume more (357 and 311 g/person day^?1, respectively) than primary educated parents and their family members, who, however, consume larger quantities of potatoes (206 g/person day^?1) than the other two groups. While these values are higher than the minimum amount of fruit and vegetables suggested by the World Health Organization, they are lower than the amounts suggested as optimum for a healthy diet. The mean residues produced from these foods per person participating in the survey were estimated at 202 g/day. Based on this value, a city of the size of Heraklion produces a total of more than 40,000 kg/day of waste derived from fruit and vegetables. An integrated educational and environmental programme aiming to improve people's dietary habits as well as promote waste source separation schemes, would result in increasing both the amount of fruit and vegetables consumed as well as the amount of similar 'green kitchen residues' that would be recycled through composting instead of being lost as land-fill. It is estimated that the high-quality compost which could be produced through a complete implementation of such a programme would allow the production of more than 3500 ton of high-quality compost annually.     

Comparative use of bacterial, algal and protozoan tests to study toxicity of azo- and anthraquinone dyes

Toxicity of two azo dyes (Reactive Orange 16 (RO16); Congo Red (CR)) and two anthraquinone dyes (Remazol Brilliant Blue R (RBBR); Disperse Blue 3 (DB3)) were compared using bacterium Vibrio fischeri, microalga Selenastrum capricornutum and ciliate Tetrahymena pyriformis. The following respective endpoints were involved: acute toxicity measured as bacterial luminescence inhibition, algal growth inhibition, and the effects on the protozoa including viability, growth inhibition, grazing effect and morphometric effects. In addition, mutagenicity of the dyes was determined using Ames test with bacterium Salmonella typhimurium His(-). DB3 dye was the most toxic of all dyes in the bacterial, algal and protozoan tests. In contrast to other dyes, DB3 exhibited mutagenic effects after metabolic activation in vitro in all S. typhimurium strains used. Of the methods applied, the algal test was the most sensitive to evaluate toxicity of the dyes tested.     

Assessment of instream foam formation and quantification of foam in effluents

Although the foam formation on surface waters nowadays is not comparable with the foam “mountains” in the 1970s, it still is an issue of water quality concern. A drawback in the discussion is the lack of methods to assess instream foam formation and foam emitted by point sources. Foam formation on a transboundary river in Austria led to an intensive study resulting in two parameters to quantify instream and emitted foam. Foam potential is introduced as emission parameter that is defined as flow rate of river water, which can foam due to an effluent’s discharge. The foam index (FI) represents a parameter to assess the foam on the river and allows a semi-quantitative differentiation between the varying foaming conditions. This publication will present the developed methods and show some results to prove their accuracy and applicability.     

Quantitative structure-activity relationships for toxicity and genotoxicity of halogenated aliphatic compounds: wing spot test of Drosophila melanogaster

Halogenated aliphatic compounds were evaluated for toxic and genotoxic effects in the somatic mutation and recombination test employing Drosophila melanogaster. The tested chemicals included chlorinated, brominated and iodinated; mono-, di- and tri-substituted; saturated and unsaturated alkanes: 1,2-dibromoethane, 1-bromo-2-chloroethane, 1-iodopropane, 2,3-dichloropropene, 3-bromo-1-propene, epibromohydrin, 2-iodobutane, 3-chloro-2-methylpropene, 1,2,3-trichloropropane, 1,2-dichloroethane, 1,2-dichlorobutane, 1-chloro-2-methylpropane, 1,3-dichloropropane, 1,2-dichloropropane, 2-chloroethymethylether, 1-bromo-2-methylpropane and 1-chloropentane. N-methyl-N-nitrosourea served as the positive and distilled water as the negative control. The set of chemicals for the toxicological testing was selected by the use of statistical experiment design. Group of unsaturated aliphatic hydrocarbons were generally more toxic than saturated analogues. The genotoxic effect was observed with 14 compounds in the wing spot test, while 3 substances did not show any genotoxicity by using the wing spot test at 50% lethal concentration. The highest number of wing spots was observed in genotoxicity assay with 1-bromo-2-chloroethane, 1,2-dichloroethane, 1,2-dibromoethane and 1-iodopropane. Nucleophilic superdelocalizability calculated by quantum mechanics appears to be a good parameter for prediction of both toxicity and genotoxicity effects of halogenated aliphatic compounds.     

Bacteria Degrading PCBs and CBs Isolated from Long-Term PCB Contaminated Soil

Bacteria able to degrade polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and chlorobenzoic acids (CBs) were isolated from soil that had been contaminated with PCBs for 15–30 years. Contaminated soil in which PCB content ranged between 10–470 mg/kg was naturally vegetated with different plants including ash (Fraxinus excelsior), birch (Betula pendula), black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia), Austrian pine (Pinus nigra) and goat willow (Salix caprea) trees as well as a variety of grasses and forbs. Bacteria able to use biphenyl as a sole source of carbon and energy were found in the root zone of all plants, but occurred in the largest numbers beneath pine and black locust. Bacteria able to degrade chlorobenzoic acids were isolated from the same location contaminated with PCBs. Strains that were taxonomically identified by 16S rDNA as Pandoraea were able to use 2-CB, 3-CB, 2,3-CB, 2,5-CB as sole carbon sources, and the strain Arthrobacter utilised 4-CB.