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Urbanisation alters the natural hydromorphology of streams, affecting aquatic communities and ecological quality. Increasing efforts have been put into the rehabilitation of urban streams due to their importance for urban sustainability. Despite these efforts, many projects fail to achieve the improvement of aquatic communities. This study aims to provide specific recommendations to enhance the biological rehabilitation of urban streams by reviewing: (i) the impacts of urbanisation and climate change on urban stream hydrology, (ii) the responses of invertebrate assemblages to alterations in the hydrology and morphology of streams, and (iii) the hydromorphological rehabilitation measures applied to streams and their effect on invertebrate communities. This review found that commonly employed measures of habitat heterogeneity enhancement (such as the addition of meanders, boulders, and artificial riffles) are not enough to improve invertebrate communities. On the other hand, the most effective measures are those leading to the re-establishment of natural hydrological patterns and good water quality. Ultimately, an integrated ecohydrological approach that considers the entire watershed and its interactions between ecosystems and anthropological activities is the key to managing and rehabilitating urban streams.

Global warming is drastically altering the climate conditions of our planet. Soils will be among the most affected components of terrestrial ecosystems, especially in contaminated areas. In this study we investigated if changes in climate conditions (air temperature and soil moisture) affect the toxicity of historically metal(loid)-contaminated soils to the invertebrate Folsomia candida, followed by an assessment of its recovery capacity. Ecotoxicity tests (assessing survival, reproduction) were performed in field soils affected by metal(loid)s under different climate scenarios, simulated by individually changing air temperature or soil moisture conditions. The scenarios tested were: standard conditions (20°C + 50% soil water holding capacity-WHC); increased air temperature (daily fluctuation of 20-30°C + 50% WHC); soil drought (20°C + 25% WHC); soil flood (20°C + 75% WHC). Recovery potential was assessed under standard conditions in clean soil. Increased temperature was the major climate condition negatively affecting collembolans performance (decreased survival and reproduction), regardless of metal(loid) contamination. Drought and flood conditions presented less pronounced effects. When it was possible to move to the recovery phase (enough juveniles in exposure phase), F. candida was apparently able to recover from the exposure to metal(loid) contamination and/or climate alterations. The present study showed that forecasted climate alterations in areas already affected by contamination should be considered to improve environmental risk assessment.

Trabalho apresentado em VII Congresso Nacional de Rega e Drenagem, 27-29 junho 2018, Monte Real, Leiria, Portugal A agricultura é o maior utilizador de água tanto a nível mundial como a nível nacional, podendo o seu uso atingir até 70% nos países do Sul da Europa. A água é um bem cada vez mais escasso e no clima mediterrânico característico dos países do Sul da Europa, o fenómeno das alterações climáticas tem acentuado a irregularidade e imprevisibilidade da precipitação. Como tal, respondendo ao desafio da segurança alimentar, é necessário recorrer ao regadio para garantir o sucesso das produções agrícolas. Assim, uma das preocupações crescentes dos regantes é o uso eficiente da água. Atualmente, não existe um sistema de avaliação que permita às entidades gestoras medir a eficiência do uso da água e da energia nos Aproveitamentos Hidroagrícolas (AH), ao contrário do que acontece por exemplo no sector urbano. Neste sentido “nasceu” o projeto de investigação AGIR - Avaliação da Eficiência do Uso da Água e da Energia em Aproveitamentos Hidroagrícolas, coordenado pela FENAREG. No âmbito deste projeto, a tarefa 1 da primeira fase consistiu no levantamento e caracterização preliminar dos AH, incidindo sobre algumas características, como por exemplo, físicas (e.g., áreas, comprimento dos sistemas em canal e em conduta), volumes de água fornecidos para rega e relativas a culturas (e.g. tipo e ocupação) dos AH, apresentando-se os principais resultados obtidos no presente artigo. Agriculture is the largest user of water at both global and national levels, and its total water use can reach up to 70% in southern European countries. Water is an increasingly scarce natural resource, and in the Mediterranean climate, the climate changes have increased the irregularity and unpredictability of precipitation. Thus, Portuguese agriculture depends on the existence of irrigation, being one of the main concerns of the irrigators the efficiency of water use. However, an assessment system does not currently exist, unlike in the urban sector, that allows utilities of State Irrigation Projects (SIP) to assess the water and energy efficiency of their systems. In this context, the AGIR project - Water Use and Energy Efficiencies’ Assessment in State Irrigation Projects was “born”, being coordinated by FENAREG. Within the first task of the first phase of this project, a preliminary survey and characterization of the State Irrigation Projects was carried, focusing on certain characteristics, such as physical (e.g., areas, length of canals and pipe), water volumes and crop (e.g., type and soil occupation) of SIP. Main results are presented in this paper. N/A

A number of studies have suggested that mangrove forests and their faunal components may be pre-adapted to the impact of organic waste discharge, making them possible natural wastewater treatment wetlands. However, the results from recent research are contradictory. Some studies have shown that negative effects, sometimes subtle and difficult to observe, can be detected on specific biotic components of forests subjected to organic pollution. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to investigate possible alterations in the ecosystem engineering activities of a fiddler crab community dominating the landward belts of Kenyan mangrove forests. The total processed sediment produced by burrowing and foraging activities in a population from a peri-urban mangrove area receiving untreated domestic sewage was compared with that from a forest not affected by urban wastewater. The results showed how the peri-urban site hosted a higher biomass of crabs, which produced a significantly lower amount of processed sediment compared with the pristine site, resulting in a lower total top sediment mixing activity of the crabs. Thus, the present study showed a link between sewage exposure and top sediment reworking by crabs, which is potentially beneficial for mangrove growth and ecosystem functioning. This represents a possible example of cryptic ecological degradation in mangal systems.

Abstract

Abstract The use of a granular inoculum prevented acidification during the anaerobic batch biodegradation of a kitchen waste for waste/inoculum ratios in the range of 0.5–2.3 g VS/g VS, when the alkalinity/COD ratio was 37 mg NaHCO3/g COD. In similar experiments but using a suspended sludge with a significantly lower activity, the methane production rates and the biodegradability were significantly lower and the pH decreased below 5.5 at the waste/inoculum ratio of 2.3 g VS/g VS. When the added alkalinity was decreased to 2 mg NaHCO3/g COD, the ratio waste/inoculum was clearly more important than the inoculum activity, since, irrespective of the sludge used, acidification occurred at waste/inoculum ratios higher than 0.5 g VS/g VS. The advantage of using granular sludge was further investigated in order to define reasonable condition of waste/inoculum ratio and added alkalinity that could be applied in practice. For a waste/inoculum ratio of 1.35, there were no significant differences between the results obtained for the biodegradability and maximum methane production rate (MMPR), when the alkalinity decreased from 44 to 22 mg NaHCO3/g COD.

[EN] Water distribution networks and irrigation systems consume high energy quantities that need to be recovered if the water managers want to meet sustainable systems. A sustainability optimization is proposed in this research in order to replace the energy consumption in a golf-course system by renewable solutions joining energy recovery, sustainable urban drainage systems and hybrid solutions (solar panels and wind turbine). Different sustainable approaches were considered in which energy (using PATs), economic and environmental factors were analysed. Both scenarios and analyses showed interesting values related to economic indicators and environmental reductions of CO2 emissions. The possibility to supply the daily electric consumption in the pumping stations was checked using only renewable systems. Net present value was calculated in different solutions, obtaining positive values as well as the payback period was lower than 6 years. The CO2 emissions were reduced from 257,000 to 11,500 kgCO2/year in the most unfavourable scenario. The authors wish to thank to the project REDAWN (Reducing Energy Dependency in Atlantic Area Water Networks) EAPA_198/2016 from INTERREG ATLANTIC AREA PROGRAMME 2014-2020, CERIS (CEHIDRO-IST) and the IST-Lab for PATs testing.

Producción Científica Biogas contain minor concentration of volatile methyl siloxanes (VMS), responsible for severe damages in turbines or internal combustion engines. Sustainable biological processes for VMS abatement are limited by the low aqueous solubility of VMS. In order this limitation, the siloxanes (D4, D5, L2 and L3) removal performance of a two-phase partitioning biotrickling filter (TP-BTF) was study in terms of the empty bed residence time (EBRT) and the fraction of the organic phase (silicone oil). A decrease in the total VMS removal from 76 to 49% was observed when the EBRT was reduced from 60 to 15 min. The highest removals were achieved for D4 (53–84%) and D5 (69–87%), compared to the lower values recorded for L2 (19–45%) and L3 (31–81%). The increase in the share of silicone oil in the recycling mineral medium from 5 to 45% resulted in an improvement of the total VMS abatement from 35 to 52%. This enhancement was observed for L3 (21–50%), D4 (26–64%) and D5 (58–78%), whereas L2 removals remained < 25%. A highly specialized bacterial community dominated by the genus KCM-B-112 was retrieved at the end of the experiment. Bio Based Industries Joint Undertaking (Horizon 2020 grant 745785) Junta de Castilla y León (grants CLU 2017-09 and UIC 071) European Commission-H2020-MSCA–IF–2019 (project 897284)