[1] Semi-arid southern California relies heavily on imported water for domestic use. A synthesis of river discharge data in this region reveals that summer (June, July, and August) river discharge in watersheds that have at least 50% urban, suburban, and/or commercial land cover has increased by 250% or more over the past half-century, without any substantial precipitation during these months. ...

Expansion of urban populations, increased coverage of domestic water supply and sewerage give rise to greater quantities of municipal wastewater. With the current emphasis on environmental health and water pollution issues, there is an increasing discharge of waste water in developing countries. Present technologies in developing countries for treating waste water are not sufficient and cost ef...

Brent D. Ryan first visited Detroit in 1993. Describing this experience, he says: ‘‘The sense of emptiness was overpowering. ... I felt as if I was walking into the ruin of America.’’ In his book ‘‘Design after decline—how America rebuilds shrinking cities,’’ Ryan tries to understand why so many American cities have been losing population, what was and is done to change the fortune of these cit...

BACKGROUND In recent years, decreasing annual rainfalls in some countries and population growth have led to a shortage of freshwater resources. Thus, recycled wastewaters has been suggested for agricultural activities. Contamination of wastewaters with pathogens is a major concern for the use of these waters. This study aimed to (i) investigate the occurrence of helminth eggs and protozoan (oo)...

In urban centres of industrialising countries, the majority of houses are served by on-site sanitation systems such as septic tanks and unsewered toilets. The faecal sludges (FS) collected from these systems are usually discharged untreated into the urban and peri-urban environment, posing great risks to water resources and to public health. Contrary to wastewater management, the development of...

In this study, twelve Mallards living in an artificial wastewater wetland were exposed to treated wastewater containing 1 x 104 x 10 enterococci 100 ml for a period of 55 days. Faecal samples were collected before, during and after exposure and analysed for Enterococcus spp. The isolates were phenotyped using the PhenePlate system. 270 Enterococcus spp. of Mallard origin were analysed, together...

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were quantified in sediment, soil, and plant material from Hanoi, Vietnam, and an aquatic production system in peri-urban Hanoi. The sum of the concentration of 16 US-EPA priority PAHs ( summation PAH16) ranged between 0.44 and 6.21 mg kg(-1) dw in sediment and between 0.26 and 1.35 mg kg(-1) dw in soil, with decreasing concentrations from the urban area ...

In the drinking water and air pollution fields, odour quality characterisation and intensity of each odour characteristic needs to be developed to evaluate the causes of the odours present. Drinking water quality characterisation has matured to the point where an "odour wheel" is described and the primary chemicals producing the odour are known and therefore a potential treatment can be defined...

Production and build-up of sulfide and methane in wastewater collections systems cause several detrimental effects including odour nuisance, health hazards due to its toxicity and corrosion of pipes and inlet structures of sewage treatment plants. On the other hand methane is a greenhouse gas significantly contributing to global warming. Despite these major impacts, sewer-produced sulfide and m...

Water bodies are a fundamental element of urban ecosystems, and water mapping is critical for urban and landscape planning and management. Remote sensing has increasingly been used for water mapping in rural areas; however, when applied to urban areas, this spatiallyexplicit approach is a challenging task due to the fact that the water bodies are often of a small size and spectral confusion is ...