| 1. |
- Bayona-Valderrama, Ángela, et al.
(författare)
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Water quality for citizen confidence: The implementation process of 2020 EU Drinking Water Directive in Nordic countries
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Ingår i: Water Policy. - 1366-7017.
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The European Union Drinking Water Directive aims to protect human health and promote safe water consumption. The 2020 revision, Article 17 in particular, directed member states to provide public access to information on drinking water. This update was a response to citizen initiatives calling for the active participation of end-users in water services and greater transparency from water utilities. Difficulties implementing previous versions of the directive have highlighted divergences between policy purposes, local capacity to implement, and public response. These divergences are explored within eight case studies in Nordic countries and analysed using the policy implementation framework. We employed a mixed-method, multi-stage approach. Policy formulation was characterized through a literature review, policy design by the synthesis of legislative instruments, and policy implementation via an analysis of delivery behaviour based on interviews. We identified the main drivers of the directive’s update and contrast these with the ongoing implementation process in the countries of study. Our results point to a differential and highly contextual implementation, which differs from the primary drivers of the policy update, namely, the establishment of public confidence in water services.
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| 2. |
- Gunnarsdottir, Maria J., et al.
(författare)
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Implementing risk-based approaches to improve drinking water quality in small water supplies in the Nordic region – barriers and solutions
- 2023
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Ingår i: Journal of Water and Health. - 1477-8920. ; 21:12, s. 1747-1760
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Small water supplies face similar problems worldwide, regardless of ownership or management type. Non-compliance with water quality regulations is more frequent in small supplies than in large ones, as are waterborne disease outbreaks. The new EU Drinking Water Directive requires risk-based approach (RBA) to secure water safety as is recommended in the WHO's Guidelines for drinking water quality through ‘water safety plans’. This is already in regulation in the Nordic countries, although less used in small supplies. In this research, we explore the challenges, barriers and possible solutions to implementing RBA and improving compliance in small supplies. This was achieved by conducting and analysing interviews with 53 stakeholders from all 8 Nordic countries to produce recommendations for action by the different implicated actors. Our findings suggest the centrality of governmental policy, including support for continuous training, provision of simple RBA guidelines and increasing cooperation in the water sector. The Nordic experience reflects global challenges with small water supplies and the trend towards systematic preventive management epitomized in the framework for drinking water safety advocated by the World Health Organization since 2004.
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| 3. |
- Gunnarsdottir, Maria J., et al.
(författare)
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Status of risk-based approach and national framework for safe drinking water in small water supplies of the Nordic water sector
- 2020
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Ingår i: International Journal of Hygiene and Environmental Health. - : Elsevier BV. - 1438-4639. ; 230
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Reliable safe water supply is a pillar of society and a key to public health. The Nordic countries have an abundance of clean fresh water as a source for drinking water supplies. They have followed developments in safeguarding water, both the recommendations of the World Health Organization framework for safe drinking water and European legislation. Worldwide, including the Nordic countries, small water supplies are less compliant with water safety regulation. The forthcoming EU directive on drinking water require risk-based approaches and improved transparency on water quality. This research looks at the Nordic frameworks for safe water supply, with emphasis on risk-based approaches and smaller systems. We analyzed the legal frameworks for safe water, the structure of the water sector across the Nordic countries and explored how prepared these countries are to meet these requirements. Our findings show that, while legal requirements are mostly in place, delivery of information to the public needs to be improved. Most Nordic countries are in the process of implementing risk-based management in large and medium size water supplies, whereas small supplies are lagging. We conclude that a key to success is increased training and support for small supplies. We suggest wider adoption of the Nordic model of cooperation with benchmarking of safe water for all to transfer knowledge between the countries. This work provides insights into challenges and opportunities for the Nordic countries and provides insights relevant to countries worldwide in their effort towards realization of SDG Target 6.1.
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| 4. |
- Frank, Ellinor M., et al.
(författare)
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Marine sediments are identified as an environmental reservoir for Escherichia coli : Comparing signature-based and novel amplicon sequencing approaches for microbial source tracking
- 2024
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Ingår i: Science of the Total Environment. - 0048-9697. ; 907
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Viable Escherichia coli were detected in sediments near a point of wastewater discharge in a marine coastal environment in Sweden. Since high concentrations were found in the sediments nearest the pipe, this suggested that treated wastewater effluent was the source of the microbes. In order to examine this hypothesis, different bioinformatics approaches were applied using 16S rRNA gene V3-V4 amplicon sequences from the sediments. Both signature-based source tracking using sequence libraries describing known sources of fecal water pollution (SourceTracker); and, a curated source tracking method, indicated that sediments were contaminated with wastewater. The results from the curated approach were independently confirmed using differential abundance analysis (DESeq2). A number of taxa originating from wastewater were identified which can be used to describe contamination of the sediments, and examine the spread of these specific taxa, even at low relative abundance, along the urban coast. Sequences of phylum Bacteroidetes (such as Bacteroides and Prevotella) and Firmicutes (such as Romboutsia) increased in sediments with higher concentrations of E. coli. In addition, sequences from Trichococcus are proposed as an indicator for treated wastewater. All three source tracking approaches, and the detection of viable E. coli, suggest that urban sediments can be a reservoir for indicator bacteria.
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| 7. |
- Garcia, M. E., et al.
(författare)
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On the distribution of saline groundwater in the Poopo Basin, central Bolivian Highland
- 2010
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Ingår i: Vatten: tidskrift för vattenvård /Journal of Water Management and research. - 0042-2886. ; 66, s. 199-203
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Lake Poopó is a terminal lake of the Bolivian Altiplano, with high salinity and heavy anthropogenic pollution from centuries of extensive mining activity. This study aims to describe how the water quality of groundwater and surface water system in different subwater-sheds of the Lake Poopó varies with geology and hydrology. Measurements of total dissolved solids (TDS) in wells show groundwater becoming more saline close to the lake. The results indicate high natural contamination from weathering of minerals with high concentrations of lead and arsenic, generally dry conditions which results in high salinity in water and soil, and most importantly, anthropogenic contamination from the intensive mining and metallurgic activities. Fresh groundwater can be found in the upper part of the soil and bedrock to a small extent. Up-coning and saline water intrusion is very common in the wells, which need to be shallow in order to avoid abstraction of saline groundwater. The groundwater is highly vulnerable and further on contaminated by acid mine drainage from the mining tails and by untreated effluents from the towns and villages of the area.
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| 8. |
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| 9. |
- Ilyas, Aamir, et al.
(författare)
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Residual organic matter and microbial respiration in bottom ash: Effects on metal leaching and eco-toxicity.
- 2015
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Ingår i: Waste Management & Research. - 1096-3669. ; 33:9, s. 805-811
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A common assumption regarding the residual organic matter, in bottom ash, is that it does not represent a significant pool of organic carbon and, beyond metal-ion complexation process, it is of little consequence to evolution of ash/leachate chemistry. This article evaluates the effect of residual organic matter and associated microbial respiratory processes on leaching of toxic metals (i.e. arsenic, copper, chromium, molybdenum, nickel, lead, antimony and zinc), eco-toxicity of ash leachates. Microbial respiration was quantified with help of a respirometric test equipment OXITOP control system. The effect of microbial respiration on metal/residual organic matter leaching and eco-toxicity was quantified with the help of batch leaching tests and an eco-toxicity assay - Daphnia magna. In general, the microbial respiration process decreased the leachate pH and eco-toxicity, indicating modification of bioavailability of metal species. Furthermore, the leaching of critical metals, such as copper and chromium, decreased after the respiration in both ash types (fresh and weathered). It was concluded that microbial respiration, if harnessed properly, could enhance the stability of fresh bottom ash and may promote its reuse.
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| 10. |
- Naseri-Rad, Mehran, et al.
(författare)
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Inside-t : A groundwater contamination transport model for sustainability assessment in remediation practice
- 2021
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Ingår i: Sustainability (Switzerland). - : MDPI AG. - 2071-1050. ; 13:14
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Current sustainability assessment (SA) tools to help deal with contaminated groundwater sites are inherently subjective and hardly applied. One reason may be lack of proper tools for addressing contaminant spread which are basically objective. To fill this gap, there is a need for contaminant transport models that provide site managers with needed room for applying their judgments and considerations about the efficiency of each remediation method based on their experiences in similar cases. INSIDE-T uses trend analysis and inverse modeling to estimate transport parameters. It then simulates contaminant transport both with and without the inclusion of remedial actions in a transparent way. The sustainability of each remedy measure can then be quantified based on the underlying SA tool (INSIDE). INSIDE-T was applied to a site in south Sweden, contaminated with pentachlorophenol. Simulation scenarios were developed to enable comparison between various remediation strategies and combinations of these. The application indicated that natural attenuation was not a viable option within the timeframe of interest. Although pump-and-treat combined with a permeable reactive barrier was found to be just as effective as bioremediation after five years, it received a much lower sustainability score overall. INSIDE-T outcomes enable site managers to test and evaluate different scenarios, a necessity in participatory decision-making practices such as remediation projects.
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