Protection of drinking water resources from agricultural pressures: Effectiveness of EU regulations in the context of local realities.

Over the last decades, nutrients and pesticides have proved to be a major source of the pollution of drinking water resources in Europe. Extensive legislation has been developed by the EU to protect drinking water resources from agricultural pollution, but the achievement of water quality objectives is still an ongoing challenge throughout Europe. The study aims to identify lessons that can be learnt about the coherence and consistency of the application of EU regulations, and their effects at the local level, using qualitative expert data for 13 local to regional governance arrangements in 11 different European countries. The results show that the complexities and inconsistencies of European legislation drawn up to protect drinking water resources from agricultural pollution come forward most explicitly at local level where cross-sectoral measures have to be taken and effects monitored. At this local level, rather than facilitate, they hamper efforts to achieve water quality objectives. The upcoming revision of the Water Framework Directive (WFD) should strengthen the links between the different directives and how they could be applied at local level. In addition, a more facilitated cross-sectoral approach should be adopted to improve stakeholder networks, between institutional levels and hydrological scales, to attain policy objectives at local level.

The soil-water system as basis for a climate proof and healthy urban environment: opportunities identified in a Dutch case-study.

One of the effects of climate change expected to take place in urban areas in the Netherlands is an increase in periods of extreme heat and drought. How the soil can contribute to making cities more climate proof is often neglected. Unsealed soil and green spaces increase water storage capacity and can consequently prevent flooding. The planning of public or private green spaces can have a cooling effect and, in general, have a positive effect on how people perceive their health. This paper reviews existing guidelines from Dutch policy documents regarding unsealed soil and green spaces in the Netherlands; do they support climate adaptation policies? Scientific literature was used to quantify the positive effects of green spaces on water storage capacity, cooling and public health. Finally we present a case study of a model town where different policy areas are linked together. Maps were made to provide insight into the ratio of unsealed soil and the number of green spaces in relation to existing guidelines using Geographical Information Systems (GIS). Maps marking the age and social-economic status of the population were also made. The benefits of green spaces are difficult to express in averages because they depend on many different factors such as soil properties, type of green spaces, population characteristics and spatial planning. Moreover, it is not possible to provide quantifications of the benefits of green spaces because of a lack of scientific evidence at the moment. Based on the maps, however, policy assessments can be made, for example, in which site a neighborhood will most benefit from investment in parks and public gardens. Neighborhoods where people have a low social-economic status have for example fewer green spaces than others. This offers opportunities for efficient adaptation policies linking goals of several policy fields.

Competitive binding of CU2+ and Zn2+ to live cells of shewanella putrefaciens.

Binding of Cu2+ and Zn2+ to live cells of Shewanella putrefaciens was measured at pH 4, 5.5, and 7 for dissolved metal concentrations ranging from 0.1 to 100 microM. Release of organic compounds by the cells resulted in concentrations of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) between 0.5 and 1.6 mM. A discrete site, nonelectrostatic model was used to describe Cu2+ and Zn2+ binding to the cells. Binding of Zn2+, which increased with increasing pH over the entire range of dissolved Zn2+ concentration, could be explained by invoking two types of cell wall binding sites: acidic and neutral functional groups. Binding of Cu2+ exhibited a more complex pH dependence: at dissolved metal concentrations below 1 microM, binding to the cells actually increased with decreasing pH. This behavior could be reproduced by (1) assuming the existence of a small fraction of high-affinity binding sites in the cell wall (approximately 5%) and (2) including metal complexation by dissolved organic ligands. The latter compete with the neutral cell wall groups and decrease Zn2+ and Cu2+ binding at pH 5.5 and 7. The observed isotherms implied that binding of the metals was only weakly affected by cell wall charging. Model parameters derived from the single-metal binding isotherms were able to account for the observed competition of Zn2+ and Cu2+ for cell wall sites when both metals were present.