Monitoring of Contaminated Water and Soil, 2nd Edition

A special issue of Environments (ISSN 2076-3298). This special issue belongs to the section "Environmental Pollution, Toxicology and Restoration".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 July 2026) | Viewed by 3028

Editors


E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Environment and Territory Research Unit, Construction Technologies Institute (CNR-ITC), Via Paolo Lembo, 38/B, 70124 Bari, Italy
Interests: big data analytics; pesticide and nitrate pollution; environmental protection; geographic information systems
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Construction Technologies Institute (CNR-ITC), Via Paolo Lembo, 38/B, 70124 Bari, Italy
Interests: microplastics pollution; additives; microplastic toxicity; environmental pollution; phytoremediation; nature-based solutions; soil remediation

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Human activities can cause significant changes in the balances and interactions between water and soil matrices; intensive agriculture, industrialisation, urbanisation, and deforestation can alter the water balance and the cycle of nutrients, significantly modifying the state of environmental matrices, leading to problems such as the pollution of water resources, soil depletion, and the loss of biodiversity. Early understanding of these changes is essential to implement strategies to mitigate the negative impacts of human activities on the environment as soon as possible.

The sector of monitoring water and soil matrices is characterised by the high degree of innovation necessary to provide concrete and practical responses to these environmental challenges. The driving force of innovation is the need to implement monitoring methodologies that consider the complexity of environmental systems and provide concrete and practical responses to various levels of complexity aimed at restoring the excellent quality status of the matrices when compromised by the presence of pollutants.

Therefore, the purpose of this Special Issue is to collect the most significant contributions regarding the advancement of applied and theoretical research aimed at monitoring and characterising the state of water and soil matrices to obtain results that can be directly used to start actions to protect natural resources and restore them to an acceptable quality state.

The publications in the first volume, which we believe may be of interest to you, can be found here: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/environments/special_issues/713699C027.

Dr. Carmine Massarelli
Dr. Ilaria Savino
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Environments is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • technologies and methodologies
  • pollution monitoring and prevention
  • environmental impacts and assessments
  • ecosystem conservation
  • decision support system

Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue

  • Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
  • Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
  • Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
  • External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
  • Reprint: MDPI Books provides the opportunity to republish successful Special Issues in book format, both online and in print.

Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (2 papers)

Order results
Result details
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

Jump to: Review

18 pages, 2276 KB  
Article
Eutrophication Risk Assessment vs. Trophic Status: Concordances and Discrepancies in the Trophic Characterization of Ebro Basin Reservoirs
by Juan Víctor Molner, Elena Arnau-López, Noelia Campillo-Tamarit, Rebeca Pérez-González, Manuel Muñoz-Colmenares, María José Rodríguez and Juan M. Soria
Environments 2026, 13(1), 39; https://doi.org/10.3390/environments13010039 - 8 Jan 2026
Viewed by 1781
Abstract
The vulnerability of reservoirs in Mediterranean regions to eutrophication is attributable to two key factors: strong seasonal hydrological variability and intensive agricultural activity. The present study evaluated the trophic state of 47 reservoirs in the Ebro Basin in Spain using two complementary approaches: [...] Read more.
The vulnerability of reservoirs in Mediterranean regions to eutrophication is attributable to two key factors: strong seasonal hydrological variability and intensive agricultural activity. The present study evaluated the trophic state of 47 reservoirs in the Ebro Basin in Spain using two complementary approaches: the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) classification system and the criteria set out in Royal Decree (RD) 47/2022. Chlorophyll-a, total phosphorus and transparency data were monitored from 2023 to 2024. While most of reservoirs were classified as oligotrophic to mesotrophic under the OECD thresholds, the RD 47/2022 identified 87% as being at risk of eutrophication. A significant variation in transparency was observed among the different reservoir types (p < 0.05), with high-altitude systems showing higher levels of water transparency. However, chlorophyll-a and total phosphorus had a significant spatial variability, exhibiting only modest correlations. Chlorophyll-a was weakly but significantly correlated to transparency (r = −0.21), while total phosphorus was not significantly associated with either variable, suggesting a decoupling between nutrient availability and phytoplankton biomass. The observed discrepancy between the two classification frameworks is indicative of divergent conceptual approaches (ecological condition versus management risk). It underscores the requirement for integrated monitoring that incorporates chemical, biological and catchment-scale indicators. These findings offer new insight into the trophic dynamics of Mediterranean reservoirs and highlights the importance of adapting regulatory assessment methods to region-specific climatic and hydrological contexts. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Monitoring of Contaminated Water and Soil, 2nd Edition)
Show Figures

Figure 1

Review

Jump to: Research

27 pages, 6817 KB  
Review
From TPH to Multi-Endpoint Monitoring: Rethinking Remediation of Petroleum-Contaminated Soils in Arctic and Sub-Arctic Regions
by Ruslan Ya. Bajbulatov and Oleg S. Sutormin
Environments 2026, 13(6), 304; https://doi.org/10.3390/environments13060304 - 29 May 2026
Viewed by 796
Abstract
Petroleum hydrocarbon contamination of soils remains a persistent environmental problem in Arctic and sub-Arctic regions, where oil extraction, pipeline transportation, fuel storage, industrial legacy sites, and diesel-dependent infrastructure coexist with fragile cold-climate ecosystems. Remediation in these regions is constrained by low temperatures, short [...] Read more.
Petroleum hydrocarbon contamination of soils remains a persistent environmental problem in Arctic and sub-Arctic regions, where oil extraction, pipeline transportation, fuel storage, industrial legacy sites, and diesel-dependent infrastructure coexist with fragile cold-climate ecosystems. Remediation in these regions is constrained by low temperatures, short thaw seasons, permafrost, waterlogged active layers, slow vegetation recovery, limited infrastructure, and high mobilization costs, which limit the direct transferability of conventional temperate-zone technologies. This study presents a structured narrative review of international and Russian evidence on petroleum-contaminated soil management in cold regions, focusing on monitoring as a basis for remediation decision-making. Peer-reviewed studies, technical guidance documents, regulatory frameworks, and regional case studies were analyzed across key domains, including environmental constraints, hydrocarbon behavior, monitoring methodologies, and remediation technologies. Particular attention is given to chemical analysis, hydrocarbon fractionation, bioavailability-oriented methods, ecotoxicological bioassays, and microbial indicators as tools linking contamination assessment with remediation strategy selection. Reliance on total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH) concentration as a primary endpoint is shown to be insufficient, especially in cold-region soils where strong sorption and limited mass transfer decouple concentration from biological exposure. Multi-endpoint monitoring systems provide a more reliable basis for assessing contaminant risk, treatment effectiveness, and soil recovery. For the Russian Arctic, the integration of national recultivation frameworks with risk-based assessment and ecotoxicological monitoring is identified as a key pathway for improving remediation outcomes. A decision-oriented framework is proposed that links environmental conditions, contaminant properties, and monitoring data to support the selection and optimization of remediation strategies. This study supports a transition from concentration-based cleanup toward risk-informed and ecosystem-oriented management of petroleum-contaminated soils in Arctic and sub-Arctic environments. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Monitoring of Contaminated Water and Soil, 2nd Edition)
Show Figures

Figure 1

Back to TopTop