The ‘New Water Culture’ on the Web: an issue network analysis

In this article, we analyse how the Internet is used to bring visibility to water affairs. We focus on the way different organisations exploit the Web in order to participate in the debates about water policy in Spain and to define the topics concerned. To do this, we have drawn up an issue network articulated around an alternative and sustainable water policy called ‘New Water Culture’. We examine the composition of this web structure, its hyperlinking styles, key nodes and political trajectories. The outcomes indicate that the ‘New Water Culture’ has become a main frame in Spanish environmental policy. Supported both by governmental and non-governmental players, the ‘New Water Culture’ struggles between two opposing trends: its expulsion from the public sphere and efforts to open it up to scrutiny from political outsiders.     

Organic matter compounds as source indicators and tracers for marine pollution in a western Mediterranean coastal zone

Introduction  

Complex organic compounds found in oil and sediments linked with a particular source (such as algae, bacteria or vascular plants) are defined as biomarkers and are useful dating indicators in organic geochemistry.     

PBDE and PCB contamination of eels from the Gironde estuary: from glass eels to silver eels

Since the 1980s, the eel population has been decreasing dangerously. Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) such as Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs) are one of the suspected causes of this decline. A preliminary study of PCB contamination carried out on different fish from the Gironde estuary (southwest of France, Europe) has shown a relatively high level of contamination of eel muscles. In order to characterize the contamination level of PCBs and PBDEs (PolyBrominated Diphenyl-Ethers) in eels from this estuary more than 240 eels were collected during the years 2004-2005 in the Gironde estuarine system, from glass eels to silver eels. Individual European eels were grouped according to length and localization sites. The results have shown a low contamination level of glass eels: respectively 28 ± 11 ng g⁻¹ dw for PCBs and 5 ± 3 ng g⁻¹ dw for PBDEs. The contamination level in eels (expressed in ng g⁻¹ dw) increases from glass eels to silver eels up to 3399 ng g⁻¹ dw of PCBs for the most contaminated silver eel. Such levels of PCBs similar to those observed in Northern Europe, could raise sanitary problems connected with the World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations. These results are worrying for the local people who regularly eat eels caught in the Gironde estuary.     

Thermodynamic and kinetic study of phenol degradation by a non-catalytic wet air oxidation process

This work is dedicated to an accurate evaluation of thermodynamic and kinetics aspects of phenol degradation using wet air oxidation process. Phenol is a well known polluting molecule and therefore it is important having data of its behaviour during this process. A view cell is used for the experimental study, with an internal volume of 150 mL, able to reach pressures up to 30 MPa and temperatures up to 350 °C. Concerning the thermodynamic phase equilibria, experimental and modelling results are obtained for different binary systems (water/nitrogen, water/air) and ternary system (water/nitrogen/phenol). The best model is the Predictive Soave Redlich Kwong one. This information is necessary to predict the composition of the gas phase during the process. It is also important for an implementation in a process simulation. The second part is dedicated to kinetics evaluation of the degradation of phenol. Different compounds have been detected using GC coupled with a MS. A kinetic scheme is deduced, taking into account the evolution of phenol, hydroquinones, catechol, resorcinol and acetic acid. The kinetic parameters are calculated for this scheme. These data are important to evaluate the evolution of the concentration of the different polluting molecules during the process. A simplified kinetic scheme, which can be easily implemented in a process simulation, is also determined for the direct degradation of phenol into H₂O and CO₂. The Arrhenius law data obtained for the phenol disappearance are the following: k = 1.8 × 10⁶ ± 3.9 × 10⁵ M⁻¹ s⁻¹ (pre-exponential factor) and E_a = 77 ± 8 kJ mol⁻¹ (activation energy).     

Representative measurement of two-dimensional reactive phosphate distributions and co-distributed iron(II) and sulfide in seagrass sediment porewaters

The high degree of heterogeneity within sediments can make interpreting one-dimensional measurements difficult. The recent development and use of in situ techniques that measure two-dimensional distributions of porewater solutes have facilitated investigation of the role of spatial heterogeneity in sediment biogeochemistry. A colourimetric diffusive equilibration in thin films method has been developed that allows two-dimensional, high-resolution measurement of reactive phosphate in sediment porewaters. A method detection limit of 0.22 μM, an effective upper limit of ∼1000 μM and relative standard deviations typically below 5% were achieved. This method was evaluated by deployment in seagrass (Zostera capricorni) colonised sediments, as part of combined probes with similar colourimetric methods for sulfide and iron(II). The two-dimensional, high resolution distributions obtained provide a highly representative measurement of the co-distributions of porewater solutes, allowing heterogeneous features and biogeochemical processes to be observed and interpreted. Microniches of high phosphate concentration >100 μM were observed throughout the distributions and were interpreted to be due to localised zones of rapid organic matter mineralisation, possibly using electron acceptors other than iron(III) oxyhydroxides (e.g. aerobic respiration) as often they did not correspond with microniches of higher Fe(II) concentration.     

Improvement of Vicia-micronucleus test for assessment of soil quality: a proposal for international standardization

The Viciafaba root tip micronucleus test is one of the most employed plant genotoxicity assays, and has been used on various types of contaminated materials. This test has been standardized by AFNOR, the French member organization of ISO. However, this test is usually performed with a water extraction step but soil genotoxicity assessment would be more relevant when performed directly in the soil itself. In order to harmonize these protocols, an ISO standard for the V.faba micronucleus test in both liquid phase (exposure of plants to different liquid matrix, including soil water extracts) and solid phase (direct exposure of plants to the soil) would be very useful. In this context, we compared two exposure durations in the solid phase (48 h and 5 d) for the V.faba micronucleus test with two different well-known genotoxicants, maleic hydrazide and copper sulfate. We concluded that these two durations induced equivalent sensitivity: the micronucleus frequency was significantly increased with 5 μmol maleic hydrazide per kg dry soil and with 2 mmol copper sulfate per kg dry soil with both exposure durations. However, exposing roots to soil during 48 h is more practical. Moreover, organically and conventionally cultured seeds were employed to determine whether the seed provenance influenced the test sensitivity. Organic seeds were less sensitive to copper, possibly because copper-based treatments are permitted, and often applied, in organic farms. Therefore, in the absence of completely non-treated seeds, organically-cultured seeds did not appear to offer any advantages over conventional seeds.     

Considering the functional value of common marine species as a conservation stake: the case of sandmason worm Lanice conchilega (Pallas 1766) (Annelida, Polychaeta) beds

Conservation of the marine environment mainly focuses on threatened elements and more precisely on vulnerable and endangered species like birds and mammals. When dealing with the conservation of marine habitats, the scientific community is mainly interested in hot spots of diversity, like seagrass beds in Europe, or hot spots of endemism, like coral reefs in tropical areas. Nevertheless, using the example of a common and widespread marine invertebrate, the sandmason worm (Lanice conchilega, Polychaeta, Terebellidae), we show that vulnerability and rarity are not the only criteria to take into account in order to select the best natural element for conservation. This species can form dense beds that increase biodiversity, are attractive feeding grounds for birds and fishes, and have a high socioeconomic value. In consequence, they have a high functional value that should be considered as an important conservation stake. Through the example of the Chausey archipelago and the Bay of the Mont Saint-Michel (France), we propose a synthetic interdisciplinary approach to evaluate the conservation needs of these beds. The issue is even more pressing when one considers that these natural elements and many similar ones still do not benefit from any legal protection in Europe despite their high heritage value.     

Manipulation of precipitation in small headwater catchments at Storgama, Norway: effects on leaching of organic carbon and nitrogen species

Projected changes in climate in Southern Norway include increases in summer and autumn precipitation. This may affect leaching of dissolved organic matter (DOM) from soils. Effects of experimentally added extra precipitation (10 mm week) during the growing season of 3 years (2004-2006) to small headwater catchments at Storgama (59 degrees 0'N, 550-600 m a.s.l.) on leaching of total organic carbon (TOC) and total organic nitrogen (TON) were assessed. Extra precipitation did not have a significant effect on average TOC and TON concentrations in runoff. Thus, fluxes of TOC and TON increased nearly proportionally with water fluxes. This suggests that a store of adsorbed and potentially mobile TOC and TON in catchment soils buffers the concentration of DOM in runoff. The size and dynamics of the pool of TOC and TON depends on the balance between production and leaching rates. Infrequent short droughts had only small effects on TOC and TON fluxes in runoff from the reference catchments.     

Effect of copper on soil functional stability measured by relative soil stability index (RSSI) based on two enzyme activities

Copper can affect essential processes in soils, often for long periods. Enzyme activity is considered a sensitive indicator to evaluate soil health and the potential toxic impact of a soil contaminant. Nevertheless, there is heterogeneity in the responses from enzyme activity assays because of the influence of pH and other physicochemical parameters on both enzyme activity and metal speciation. This leads to complications when comparing soils and limits the validity of the results. To overcome these problems, this paper evaluates resistance and recovery, quantified by using a relative soil stability index (RSSI), of the beta-glucosidase and protease activities towards an additional heat disturbance (17 h at 60 degrees C) in soils where soil organic matter, pH and Cu content were modified in a factorial setup. Chemical analyses (dissolved Cu, pCu(2+), dissolved organic carbon, pH) were performed both before the heat-perturbation and after the enzyme activity monitoring period. Results show that soil pH did not interfere with the RSSI scores of both enzymes. beta-glucosidase RSSI scores were scarcely affected by copper, making it inappropriate for evaluating copper-induced stress to soils. Protease activity shows stimulations of up to 2.5 times the activity of the unperturbed control in uncontaminated samples only. Thus, the protease RSSI score seems a good indicator for soil health relative to copper contamination given that all samples were affected by the presence of copper and high correlations were observed between RSSI scores and the different copper forms.