This paper describes the building of an integrated simulation tool based on a systems approach, and its contribution to local political discussion of the mitigation of microbiological contamination of the water in a coastal area. Local management schemes view water quality as a high-priority environmental objective. In practice, how far this objective is achieved depends on trade-offs between t...

Accurate indicators of fecal pollution are needed in order to minimize public health risks associated with wastewater contamination in recreational waters. However, the bacterial indicators currently used for monitoring water quality do not correlate with the presence of pathogens. Here we demonstrate that the plant pathogen Pepper mild mottle virus (PMMoV) is widespread and abundant in wastewa...

A procedure for assessing harbour pollution by heavy metals and PAH and the possible sources of contamination is proposed. The procedure is based on a ratio-matching method applied to the results of principal component analysis (PCA), and it allows discrimination between point and nonpoint sources. The approach can be adopted when many sources of pollution can contribute in a very narrow coasta...

hydrocarbons (PAHs) in coastal marine sediments: case studies in Cotonou (Benin) and Aquitaine (France) areas. Marine Pollution Bulletin 40, 387–396. Steinhauer, M.S., Boehm, P.D., 1992. The composition and distribution of saturated and aromatic hydrocarbons in near shore sediments, river sediments, and coastal peat of Alaskan Beaufort Sea: implications for detecting anthropogenic hydrocarbon i...

The microbiological quality of coastal or river water can be affected by fecal contamination from human or animal sources. To discriminate pig fecal pollution from other pollution, a library-independent microbial source tracking method targeting Bacteroidales host-specific 16S rRNA gene markers by real-time PCR was designed. Two pig-specific Bacteroidales markers (Pig-1-Bac and Pig-2-Bac) were ...

The most significant impact of a landfill on the surrounding environment has been consistently identified as arising from the leachate (Farquhar 1989; CAE 1992; Mulvey 1997). Therefore, environmental monitoring programmes for landfills tend to focus on the detection of leachate impacts, particularly any contamination of ground and surface water (Lee and Jones 1991; DCC 1994). Conventional monit...

OBJECTIVE To estimate the prevalence of lead poisoning in children and to identify associated factors, as well as possible local sources of contamination. METHODS A cross-sectional prevalence study conducted in 2006 with a random sample of 97 children age zero to five years from a neighborhood in Porto Alegre, Southern Brazil. Blood lead levels were measured and a questionnaire administered t...

Increasing air pollution levels due to rapid urbanization and growth in vehicular emission have become a major source of concern. As a result, research on air pollution in urban environments has largely focused on road deposited dust. In the present study, road deposited dust samples collected from the Ketu-South District, Volta Region in Ghana were analyzed for heavy metals (As, Cr, Cu, Mn, Ni...

In December 2000, the ship 'Coral Bulker' ran aground at the entrance of the port of Viana do Castelo (North-west coast of Portugal). A large amount of fuel oil was spilled and part of it reached the shore. To evaluate the spatial and temporal impact of this oil spill, a field study, and several laboratory toxicity tests were performed using Mytilus galloprovincialis as biological indicator of ...

Over the last few decades, Anzali wetland has been at risk of pollutants, especially from heavy metals. The present research analyzes some physical and chemical properties and heavy metals concentration in 27 points in nine stations of Anzali wetland. The samples of each station have been mixed, acidic digested, and analyzed by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). The mean con...