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Innovative Methods for Monitoring and Assessment of Contaminants in Aquatic Ecosystems

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A special issue of International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (ISSN 1660-4601). This special issue belongs to the section "Environmental Science and Engineering".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 June 2019) | Viewed by 37665

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Roberto Spurio

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Guest Editor

School of Biosciences and Veterinary Medicine, University of Camerino, 62032 Camerino (MC), Italy
Interests: characterization of bacterial nucleoid proteins; development of DNA macroarrays for the identification of biological indicators in freshwater samples; selection of microorganisms for bio-industrial applications
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Stefania Marcheggiani

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Guest Editor

Istituto Superiore Di Sanita, Rome, Italy
Interests: environment and health; molecular microbiology; aquatic ecosystem; early warning system
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Mario Carere

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Guest Editor

Istituto Superiore Di Sanità, Rome, Environment and Health Department, Roma, Italy
Interests: evaluation of the risks caused by chemical pollution in the aquatic environments; application of effect based methods in the monitoring programs of surface water bodies

Dr. Tobias Licha

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Guest Editor

Department of Applied Geology, Universität Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
Interests: innovative chemical analytical methods to detect organic compounds in the water cycle; interpretation of emerging contaminants as indicators to detect sources and processes on catchment scale; transport behavior of emerging contaminants in the aquatic environment

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

A large majority of surface and ground water bodies, which are key resources for the sustainability of the environment and for human communities, are subjected to chemical and microbiological pollution.

Among the chemical contaminants, those of concern include metals, hydrocarbons, pesticides, but also emerging categories, such as pharmaceuticals, personal care products and nanomaterials; these compounds can form mixtures whose effects are often unknown. Therefore, ecotoxicological methods are needed for the detection of the effects of chemical pollution alongside their chemical analysis.

The emergence of water-related diseases is a complex process involving social, biological and ecological factors. The reasons why pathogens emerge or re-emerge may be grouped under four major categories: i) new environments (including the influence of climate changes and the spread of antibiotic resistance), ii) new technologies, iii) scientific advances, which provide improved assays and more sensitive detection methods, iv) changes in human behavior and vulnerability.

Water-borne infectious diseases, a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide, are caused by ‘classical’ pathogens or by newly recognized bacteria, viruses and parasites, such as Salmonella spp, Campylobacter jejuni, Shigella, E. coli O157:H7, Helicobacter pylori, Staphylococcus aureus, Vibrio cholerae, Giardia and enteric viruses. Once the disease-causing microorganism is present in the environment, to evaluate the risk for human and animal health it is necessary to take into account the interplay of three factors responsible for the infective dose: latency, multiplication rates and persistence in the aquatic ecosystems.

Despite the strict rules set by government authorities (e.g., in Europe the EU Water Framework Directive 2000/60/EC), and by international guidelines (WHO Guidelines for Drinking-Water Quality, Water Safety Plans) for the monitoring and management of water bodies, in recent years adverse effects related to the presence of contaminants in aquatic ecosystems have significantly spread out, resulting in an increased risk to human health and/or to aquatic ecosystem integrity. Thus, the ability to monitor the presence of pollutants is of growing concern, requiring dedicated research activities. Nowadays, technology provides sophisticated tools (i.e., high-throughput DNA sequencing methods) for monitoring water quality. However, there is a strong need for less expensive, faster and more accurate methods and specific efforts are required for the development of detection systems that could follow the variations of contaminant load over time.

This Special Issue is planned to present the state-of-the-art and the latest techniques and methodologies in the field of monitoring and assessment of aquatic ecosystems. Its overarching goal is to provide a framework to detect and quantify pollutants and to highlight a number of key challenges that lie ahead a correct estimation of their presence in water bodies.

Dr. Roberto Spurio
Dr. Stefania Marcheggiani
Dr. Mario Carere
Dr. Tobias Licha
Guest Editors

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Keywords

assessment methods
analytical tools
aquatic ecosystems
microbiological and chemical contaminants
ecotoxicology
emerging contaminants

Published Papers (10 papers)

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Research

20 pages, 1237 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Target, Suspect and Non-Target Screening of Silylated Derivatives of Polar Compounds Based on Single Ion Monitoring GC-MS

by Bhekumuzi Prince Gumbi, Brenda Moodley, Grace Birungi and Patrick Gathura Ndungu

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2019, 16(20), 4022; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16204022 - 21 Oct 2019

Cited by 14 | Viewed by 3190

Abstract

There is growing interest in determining the unidentified peaks within a sample spectra besides the analytes of interest. Availability of reference standards and hyphenated instruments has been a key and limiting factor in the rapid determination of emerging pollutants in the environment. In this work, polar compounds were silylated and analyzed with gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS) to determine the abundant fragments within the single ion monitoring (SIM) mode and methodology. Detection limits and recoveries of the compounds were established in river water, wastewater, biosolid and sediment matrices. Then, specific types of polar compounds that are classified as emerging contaminants, pharmaceuticals and personal care products, in the environment were targeted in the Mgeni and Msunduzi Rivers. We also performed suspect and non-target analysis screening to identify several other polar compounds in these rivers. A total of 12 compounds were quantified out of approximately 50 detected emerging contaminants in the Mgeni and Msunduzi Rivers. This study is significant for Africa, where the studies of emerging contaminants are limited and not usually prioritized. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Innovative Methods for Monitoring and Assessment of Contaminants in Aquatic Ecosystems)

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22 pages, 6148 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Patented Rapid Method for Identification of Italian Diatom Species

by Camilla Puccinelli, Stefania Marcheggiani and Laura Mancini

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2019, 16(20), 3933; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16203933 - 16 Oct 2019

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 3370

Abstract

The study of diatoms—unicellular algae of the class Bacillariophyceae—has several applications, first and foremost the evaluation of freshwater ecosystem quality according to the Water Frame Directive 2000/60/EC (WFD). Identification at the species level is a crucial step in diatom studies, considering that species belonging to the same genus have different geographical distributions and different ecological requirements. The Rapid Method for Identification of Italian Diatom Species is aimed at guiding users in the classification of freshwater diatom species. It consists of a digitized flow chart that leads, step by step, to the identification, starting with an image capture by light or electron microscopy. This rapid and easy tool could be useful to workers of an environmental agency when performing the operational monitoring required by the WFD to classify surface waters. It will also expand the application of diatoms in numerous fields. This method has been patented in Italy. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Innovative Methods for Monitoring and Assessment of Contaminants in Aquatic Ecosystems)

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17 pages, 3077 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Seasonal Release Potential of Sediments in Reservoirs and its Impact on Water Quality Assessment

by Suduan Hu, Tianxiang Wang, Shiguo Xu, Lingxiao Ma and and Xinguo Sun

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2019, 16(18), 3303; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16183303 - 08 Sep 2019

Cited by 17 | Viewed by 2358

Abstract

Reservoir sediments act as important receivers and sources for nutrients in the overlaying water. To determine the sediments adsorption and release characteristics and their impacts on water quality, surface sediments samples collected from Biliuhe reservoir in August 2015 were studied through simulation experiments in a laboratory. The results demonstrated that the equilibrium concentrations (EC₀) of ammonia nitrogen (NH₄⁺–N) and total phosphorus (TP) were 8.29 mg/L and 0.025 mg/L, respectively, which were both higher than the average concentrations in the overlying water. Therefore, the sediments of Biliuhe reservoir mainly acted as the pollution sources for NH₄⁺–N and TP, and the release to water showed a seasonal variation. When potential release amounts were considered, the average concentrations of NH₄⁺–N and TP in the overlaying water could reach 6.4 mg/L and 0.21 mg/L, respectively, which significantly exceeded the current contents. Further, water quality exhibited a decreased tendency after taking the release potential of nutrients into account of water quality assessment. Among the samples, 42% and 33% of them in summer and autumn exceeded the third level of the National Surface Water Quality Standards of China (GB3838-2002). The results indicated that sediments release potential had an unignored influence on water quality during various seasons. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Innovative Methods for Monitoring and Assessment of Contaminants in Aquatic Ecosystems)

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14 pages, 2186 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Application of Dynamically Constrained Interpolation Methodology to the Surface Nitrogen Concentration in the Bohai Sea

by Quanxin Zheng, Xiaona Li and Xianqing Lv

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2019, 16(13), 2400; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16132400 - 06 Jul 2019

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 2105

Abstract

Observations of ocean pollutants are usually spatiotemporally dispersive, while it is of great importance to obtain continuous distribution of ocean pollutants in a certain area. In this paper, a dynamically constrained interpolated methodology (DCIM) is proposed to interpolate surface nitrogen concentration (SNC) in the Bohai Sea. The DCIM takes the pollutant transport advection diffusion equation as a dynamic constraint to interpolate SNCs and optimizes the interpolation results with adjoint method. Feasibility and validity of the DCIM are testified by ideal twin experiments. In ideal experiments, mean absolute gross errors between interpolated observations and final interpolated SNCs are all no more than 0.03 mg/L, demonstrating that the DCIM can provide convincing results. In practical experiment, SNCs are interpolated and the final interpolated surface nitrogen distribution is acquired. Correlation coefficient between interpolated and observed SNCs is 0.77. In addition, distribution of the final interpolated SNCs shows a good agreement with the observed ones. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Innovative Methods for Monitoring and Assessment of Contaminants in Aquatic Ecosystems)

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21 pages, 6101 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Impacts of Artificial Underground Reservoir on Groundwater Environment in the Reservoir and Downstream Area

by Ya Sun, Shi Guo Xu, Ping Ping Kang, Yan Zhao Fu and Tian Xiang Wang

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2019, 16(11), 1921; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16111921 - 30 May 2019

Cited by 12 | Viewed by 3991

Abstract

Artificial underground reservoirs have changed the hydrological cycle from its natural condition. This modification may trigger a series of negative environmental effects both at the local and regional levels. This study investigated the impact of the Wanghe artificial underground reservoir on groundwater flow and quality in the reservoir and its downstream area. Wanghe is a typical artificial underground reservoir scheme in China, which assumes the dual function of fresh-water preservation and control of seawater intrusion. The groundwater flow pattern has changed after the reservoir construction, and the water level in the reservoir rose rapidly. Evaluation of long-term groundwater level fluctuation suggested that the reservoir deprived the downstream aquifer of the runoff, which it received under the natural flow regime. A preliminary isotopic evaluation using ³H was developed to understand the groundwater flow and renewal rates in the study area. The uniform distribution of tritium levels in the reservoir indicated that the stored water was well-mixed in both horizontal and vertical directions. The intervention on groundwater circulation also made differences in groundwater renewal rates between stored and downstream water. Field investigations on groundwater nitrogen pollution showed that the construction of the artificial underground reservoir resulted in nitrate accumulation in the stored water. Agriculturally derived nitrate was the largest contributor, and

{NO}_{3}^{-}

concentration varied considerably over time due to fertilization and irrigation activities, rainfall, and denitrification.

{NO}_{3}^{-}

-N distributed homogeneously in the reservoir, which was attributed to the construction of the subsurface dam, land use pattern and artificial groundwater flow. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Innovative Methods for Monitoring and Assessment of Contaminants in Aquatic Ecosystems)

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13 pages, 2040 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Combination of In Situ Feeding Rate Experiments and Chemical Body Burden Analysis to Assess the Influence of Micropollutants in Wastewater on Gammarus pulex

by Sarah Könemann, Yvonne Müller, Daniel Tschentscher, Martin Krauss, Pedro A. Inostroza, Ira Brückner, Johannes Pinnekamp, Sabrina Schiwy and Henner Hollert

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2019, 16(5), 883; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16050883 - 11 Mar 2019

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 4064

Abstract

Wastewater discharge is one of the main sources of micropollutants within the aquatic environment. To reduce the risks for the aquatic environment, the reduction of the chemical load of wastewater treatment plant effluent is critical. Based on this need, additional treatment methods, such as ozonation, are currently being tested in several wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). In the present study, effects were investigated using in situ feeding experiments with Gammarus pulex and body burden analyses of frequently detected micropollutants which used a Quick Easy Cheap Effective Rugged and Safe (QuEChERS) multi-residue method to quantify internal concentrations in collected gammarids. Information obtained from these experiments complemented data from the chemical analysis of water samples and bioassays, which predominantly cover hydrophilic substances. When comparing up- and downstream feeding rates of Gammarus pulex for seven days, relative to the WWTPs, no significant acute effects were detected, although a slight trend of increased feeding rate downstream of the WWTP Aachen-Soers was observed. The chemical load released by the WWTP or at other points, or by diffuse sources, might be too low to lead to clear acute effects on G. pulex. However, some compounds found in wastewater are able to alter the microbial community on its leaves, leading to an increase in the feeding rate of G. pulex. Chemical analysis of internal concentrations of pollutants in the tissues of collected gammarids suggests a potential risk for chronic effects with the chemicals imidacloprid, thiacloprid, carbendazim, and 1H-benzotriazole when exceeding the critical toxic unit value of −3. This study has demonstrated that a combination of acute testing and measurement of the internal concentration of micropollutants that might lead to chronic effects is an efficient tool for investigating river systems, assuming all relevant factors (e.g., species or season) are taken into account. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Innovative Methods for Monitoring and Assessment of Contaminants in Aquatic Ecosystems)

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13 pages, 3224 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

Portable Analyzer for On-Site Determination of Dissolved Organic Carbon—Development and Field Testing

by Heinrich Glorian, Viktor Schmalz, Paweł Lochyński, Paul Fremdling, Hilmar Börnick, Eckhard Worch and Thomas Dittmar

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2018, 15(11), 2335; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15112335 - 23 Oct 2018

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2968

Abstract

Dissolved organic carbon (DOC) is a sum parameter that is frequently used in water analytics. Highly resolved and accurate DOC data are necessary, for instance, for water quality monitoring and for the evaluation of the efficiency of treatment processes. The conventional DOC determination methods consist of on-site sampling and subsequent analysis in a stationary device in a laboratory. However, especially in regions where no or only poorly equipped laboratories are available, this method bears the risk of getting erroneous results. For this reason, the objective of the present study was to set up a reliable and portable DOC analyzer for on-site analysis. The presented DOC system is equipped with an electrolysis-based decomposition cell with boron-doped diamond electrodes (BDD) that oxidizes the organic compounds to carbon dioxide. Within this study, the influence of different electrode materials and the composition of the applied electrolytes on the DOC decomposition in an undivided electrolytic cell were systematically investigated. Furthermore, some technical aspects of the portable prototype are discussed. After a detailed validation, the prototype was used in an ongoing monitoring program in Northern India. The limit of detection is 0.1 mg L⁻¹ C with a relative standard deviation of 2.3% in a linear range up to 1000 mg L C⁻¹. The key features of the portable DOC analyzer are: No need for ultra-pure gases, catalysts or burning technology, an analyzing time per sample below 5 min, and a reliable on-site DOC determination. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Innovative Methods for Monitoring and Assessment of Contaminants in Aquatic Ecosystems)

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15 pages, 6145 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Hyperspectral Data and Machine Learning for Estimating CDOM, Chlorophyll a, Diatoms, Green Algae and Turbidity

by Sina Keller, Philipp M. Maier, Felix M. Riese, Stefan Norra, Andreas Holbach, Nicolas Börsig, Andre Wilhelms, Christian Moldaenke, André Zaake and Stefan Hinz

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2018, 15(9), 1881; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15091881 - 30 Aug 2018

Cited by 65 | Viewed by 7069

Abstract

Inland waters are of great importance for scientists as well as authorities since they are essential ecosystems and well known for their biodiversity. When monitoring their respective water quality, in situ measurements of water quality parameters are spatially limited, costly and time-consuming. In this paper, we propose a combination of hyperspectral data and machine learning methods to estimate and therefore to monitor different parameters for water quality. In contrast to commonly-applied techniques such as band ratios, this approach is data-driven and does not rely on any domain knowledge. We focus on CDOM, chlorophyll a and turbidity as well as the concentrations of the two algae types, diatoms and green algae. In order to investigate the potential of our proposal, we rely on measured data, which we sampled with three different sensors on the river Elbe in Germany from 24 June–12 July 2017. The measurement setup with two probe sensors and a hyperspectral sensor is described in detail. To estimate the five mentioned variables, we present an appropriate regression framework involving ten machine learning models and two preprocessing methods. This allows the regression performance of each model and variable to be evaluated. The best performing model for each variable results in a coefficient of determination

R^{2}

in the range of 89.9% to 94.6%. That clearly reveals the potential of the machine learning approaches with hyperspectral data. In further investigations, we focus on the generalization of the regression framework to prepare its application to different types of inland waters. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Innovative Methods for Monitoring and Assessment of Contaminants in Aquatic Ecosystems)

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14 pages, 2109 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Molecular Verification of Bloom-forming Aphanizomenon flos-aquae and Their Secondary Metabolites in the Nakdong River

by Hae-Kyung Park, Mi-Ae Kwon, Hae-Jin Lee, Jonghee Oh, Su-Heon Lee and In-Soo Kim

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2018, 15(8), 1739; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15081739 - 13 Aug 2018

Cited by 10 | Viewed by 3872

Abstract

Aphanizomenon spp. have formed harmful cyanobacterial blooms in the Nakdong River during spring, autumn, and now in winter, and the expansion of blooming period and area, associated with the global warming is predicted. The genus Aphanizomenon has been described to produce harmful secondary metabolites such as off-flavors and cyanotoxins. Therefore, the production of harmful secondary metabolites from the Aphanizomenon blooms in the Nakdong River needs to be monitored to minimize the risk to both water quality and public health. Here, we sampled the cyanobacterial blooms in the Nakdong River and isolated ten Aphanizomenon strains, morphologically classified as Aphanizomenon flos-aquae Ralfs ex Bornet et Flahault 1888. Phylogenetic analysis using 16S rRNA and internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region nucleotide sequences confirmed this classification. We further verified the harmful secondary metabolites-producing potential of A. flos-aquae isolates and water samples containing cyanobacterial blooms using PCR with specific primer sets for genes involved in biosynthesis of off-flavor metabolites (geosmin) and toxins (microcystins, saxitoxins and cylindrospermopsins). It was confirmed that these metabolite biosynthesis genes were not identified in all isolates and water samples containing only Aphanizomenon spp. Thus, it is likely that there is a low potential for the production of off-flavor metabolites and cyanotoxins in Aphanizomenon blooms in the Nakdong River. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Innovative Methods for Monitoring and Assessment of Contaminants in Aquatic Ecosystems)

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19 pages, 2578 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Optimum Water Quality Monitoring Network Design for Bidirectional River Systems

by Xiaohui Zhu, Yong Yue, Prudence W. H. Wong, Yixin Zhang and Jianhong Tan

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2018, 15(2), 195; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15020195 - 24 Jan 2018

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 3930

Abstract

Affected by regular tides, bidirectional water flows play a crucial role in surface river systems. Using optimization theory to design a water quality monitoring network can reduce the redundant monitoring nodes as well as save the costs for building and running a monitoring network. A novel algorithm is proposed to design an optimum water quality monitoring network for tidal rivers with bidirectional water flows. Two optimization objectives of minimum pollution detection time and maximum pollution detection probability are used in our optimization algorithm. We modify the Multi-Objective Particle Swarm Optimization (MOPSO) algorithm and develop new fitness functions to calculate pollution detection time and pollution detection probability in a discrete manner. In addition, the Storm Water Management Model (SWMM) is used to simulate hydraulic characteristics and pollution events based on a hypothetical river system studied in the literature. Experimental results show that our algorithm can obtain a better Pareto frontier. The influence of bidirectional water flows to the network design is also identified, which has not been studied in the literature. Besides that, we also find that the probability of bidirectional water flows has no effect on the optimum monitoring network design but slightly changes the mean pollution detection time. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Innovative Methods for Monitoring and Assessment of Contaminants in Aquatic Ecosystems)

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