Das Projekt "IWaTec - Integrated Water Technologies" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Universität Duisburg-Essen, Zentrum für Wasser- und Umweltforschung durchgeführt. Egypt passed a revolution and changed its political system, but many problems are still lacking a solution. Especially in the field of water the North African country has to face many challenges. Most urgent are strategies to manage the limited water resources. About 80% of the available water resources are consumed for agriculture and the rest are for domestic and industrial activities. The management of these resources is inefficient and a huge amount of fresh water is discarded. The shortage of water supply will definitely influence the economic and cultural development of Egypt. In 2010, Egypt was ranked number 8 out of 165 nations reviewed in the so-called Water Security Risk Index published by Maplecroft. The ranking of each country in the index depends mainly on four key factors, i.e. access to improved drinking water and sanitation, the availability of renewable water and the reliance on external supplies, the relationship between available water and supply demands, and the water dependency of each countrys economy. Based on this study, the situation of water in Egypt was identified as extremely risky. A number of programs and developed strategies aiming to efficiently manage the usage of water resources have been carried out in the last few years by the Egyptian Government. But all these activities, however, require the availability of trained and well-educated individuals in water technology fields. Unfortunately, the number of water science graduates are decreasing and also there are few teaching and training courses for water science offered in Egypt. However, there is still a demand for several well-structured and international programs to fill the gap and provide the Egyptian fresh graduates with the adequate and up-to-date theoretical and practical knowledge available for water technology. IWaTec is designed to fill parts of this gap.
Das Projekt "Work package 7, Scenario development and Performance Assessment - OPERA Performance Assessment Project (OPAP-I)" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Nuclear Research and Consultancy Group durchgeführt. In September 2009, the third Research Programme for the Geological Disposal of Radioactive Waste (OnderzoeksProgramma Eindberging Radioactief Afval, or OPERA) 2011-2016 was initiated. The aim of the research programme is to evaluate the existing safety and feasibility studies (the Safety Case). For many industrial risk-bearing activities it is required to review the permits and accompanying safety analyses on a regular basis (every 5 to 10 years). This review is made using new insights and looks at possible modifications to company management. The reviews conducted regarding the feasibility and safety of geological disposal for radioactive waste are now over 10 to 20 years old; it is important to periodically re-evaluate them and take into account new developments. In work package 7, Scenario development and Performance Assessment, ten tasks are defined. All methods and instruments that are required for the safety assessments in the Safety Case are defined, developed and documented. For these safety assessments, scenarios need to be identified and represented. The OPAP-I project will define and build the technical and methodological backbone that enables the safety assessment of the OPERA Safety Case. The OPAP-I project covers all six tasks of WP7 tendered in the 1st Call and forms a consistent package that efficiently addresses the links between all tasks. The project will be executed by an international, interdisciplinary consortium of NRG, TNO, SCK-CEN and GRS, which many years of experience will guarantees the successful application of state-of-the-art methodologies. The project is structured in a way that it enables the integration of the scientific results of all supporting OPERA WPs and translates these results into the technical format necessary to execute PA calculations. The main outcome of the OPAP-I project will be a list of safety and performance indicators and their accompanying probability distributions, calculated for all scenarios. This list enables the OPERA programme to make a statement on the longterm safety of a future disposal of radioactive waste in Boom Clay. Task 7.1.1 Scenario development - Task 7.1.2 Scenario representation - Task 7.2.1 PA model for radionuclide migration in Boom Clay - Task 7.3.1 Safety and Performance Indicators calculation methodology - Task 7.3.2 Methods for the uncertainty analysis - Task 7.3.3 Safety assessment calculations.
Das Projekt "Natural and anthropogenic mineral aerosols from ice and sediment Alpine records: Climatic, stratigraphic, and environmental implications." wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Universite de Geneve, Institut F.-A. Forel durchgeführt. The investigation of sediment cores from two of the largest freshwater lakes from Western Europe (lakes Geneva and Lucerne) demonstrated that natural sources of trace elements dominated before the European industrial revolution. The heavy metal pollution (e.g. lead, mercury) highly increased following the industrialization of Switzerland after 1850. The implementation of wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) in the 1960s significantly decreased the metal pollution at the deepwater sites. By contrast, the Vidy Bay of Lake Geneva where are released the WWTP of the city of Lausanne since 1964 was highly contaminated by heavy metals due to the WWTP emissions. Lead isotopic composition furthermore highlighted the industrial pollution sources over the last 200 years. During the twentieth century, industrial releases multiplied by 10 times heavy metal fluxes to hydrological systems located on both sides of the Alps. The remote and small high altitude lake Meidsee (2661 m a.s.l. in the Southwestern Alps) revealed the strong increase in anthropogenic trace metal deposition during the Greek and Roman Empires (ca 300 BC to AD 400), the Late Middle Ages (ca AD 1400), and the Early Modern Europe (after ca AD 1600). The greatest increases in anthropogenic metal pollution were evidenced after the industrial revolution of ca AD 1850, especially in Lake Lucerne where industrial activities and the steamboat navigation released high amounts of fossil fuel combustion residues and heavy metals. The elemental and isotopic composition of sedimentary organic matter from the high-altitude Lake Meidsee provided additional information about the high-altitude Alpine landscape evolution since the Late Pleistocene/Holocene deglaciation in the Swiss Southwestern Alps; and indicated the predominant deposition of algal-derived organic matter with limited input of terrestrial organic matter before the Holocene Climatic Optimum (between 7.0 and 5.5 years ago). This research also investigated faecal indicator bacteria (Escherichia coli and Enterococcus), multiple antibiotic resistant and antibiotic resistance genes, in sediment profiles from different parts of Lake Geneva (Switzerland) over the last decades. Results showed that the WWTP input constituted the main source of pollution for several contaminants, including heavy metals, antibiotics, and antibiotic-resistant bacteria. The Bay of Vidy of Lake Geneva can therefore be considered as a reservoir of bacteria multiple resistance genes. Hence, the human-induced eutrophication in the 1970s highly enhanced the sediment microbial activity, and therein the spreading of antibiotic resistant bacteria and genes in this aquatic environment used to supply drinking water in a highly populated area.
Das Projekt "Mercury threat in industrially impacted surface water bodies in Romania - integrated approach (MERCURO)" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Universite de Geneve, Institut F.-A. Forel durchgeführt. Mercury (Hg) is a persistent micropollutant presenting a substantial risk to the environment and an important threat to the human health. Past and present Hg contaminations of surface waters are thus of major concern due to the potential of Hg to accumulate in biota and magnify in the food chain. Therefore, the improved understanding of the relationship between Hg dispersion, distribution among sediments, particles, colloids and dissolved fractions, as well as accumulation and impact to biota is a prerequisite to fully assess the Hg threat to the aquatic systems and human health. By applying an integrated approach including a combination of field studies, laboratory analyses and numerical simulations, the present proposal aims to assess the impact of the Hg in the industrially impacted surface water bodies in Romania and to identify the possible threat on these resources The project focuses on River Olt basin, as one of the most impacted surface water body in Romania, altered by the cascade dam construction and under extensive past and present industrial activity. The Rm Valcea region comprises a high number of industrial companies including a large chlor-alkali plant (Oltchim), which is recognized as important point sources of Hg. A large array of hydro(geo)logical, physical, chemical, and ecotoxicological tools will be used to address the following key issues: - Performance of Hg survey and estimation the pollution extent in water and sediments; - Determination of the transport and dispersion of Hg in water column and sediments; - Improvement of the understanding on the behaviour of Hg associated to colloids, inorganic particles and organic matter; - Assessment of the bioaccumulation and effect of Hg to different organisms with emphasis on the primary producers in particular microalgae and macrophytes; - Evaluation of the food chain transfer and possible risks for the human health. The project will largely contribute to the understanding of mercury fate and impact in the contaminated systems and improved knowledge on complex processes governing the transfer and impact of Hg from the contaminated surface waters to humans. The project is also expected to contribute broadly to solving societal problems in Romania and to provide a scientific base for a sound definition of the existing problem and understand the causal chain, as well as it will help to develop efficient and cost-effective measures for protection. Strengthening the capacity, improving integration of scientists in the international network as well as developing 'best practices' for impact assessment of pollutants are other major outcomes of the project. They will be a significant step forward contaminant assessment in the entire Danube - Black Sea - Caspian Sea region, as it is a commonly accepted that historical industrial pollution from former communist times represents a significant threat for public health.