An integrated approach to water management in Kayseri: rainwater collection and use in an amusement park.

Water management in urban areas of developing countries is a major environmental challenge for the future. Within the framework of the IWA Cities of the Future Programme, current water and wastewater management systems are investigated in Kayseri, Turkey, with the purpose of bringing water into the center of city life by a reformed pilot project. In order to assess both the quantity and dynamics of water to be utilized in the Kayseri Amusement Park, the US Environmental Protection Agency's (US EPA) Storm Water Management Model (SWMM) 5.0 was used. The obtained results demonstrated that after 3 years, 38,039 m(3) of rainwater could be stored in the two proposed underground storage tanks. Forty three per cent of the water-ski lake with a volume of 90,000 m(3) could be recharged with the stored rainwater.

Aerosol chemical composition over Istanbul.

This study examines the chemical composition of aerosols over the Greater Istanbul Area. To achieve this 325 (PM(10)) aerosol samples were collected over Bosphorus from November 2007 to June 2009 and were analysed for the main ions, trace metals, water-soluble organic carbon (WSOC), organic (OC) and elemental carbon (EC). PM(10) levels were found to be in good agreement with those measured by the Istanbul Municipality air quality network, indicating that the sampling site is representative of the Greater Istanbul Area. The main ions measured in the PM(10) samples were Na(+), Ca(2+) and non-sea-salt sulphates (nss-SO(4)(2-)). On average, 31% of Ca(2+) was found to be associated with carbonates. Trace elements related to human activities (as Pb, V, Cd and Ni) obtained peak values during winter due to domestic heating, whereas natural origin elements like Al, Fe and Mn peaked during the spring period due to dust transport from Northern Africa. Organic carbon was found to be mostly primary and elemental carbon was strongly linked to fuel oil combustion and traffic. Both OC and EC concentrations increased during winter due to domestic heating, while the higher WSOC to OC ratio during summer can be mostly attributed to the presence of secondary, oxidised and more soluble organics. Factor analysis identified six components/sources for aerosol species in PM(10), namely traffic/industrial, crustal, sea-salt, fuel-oil combustion, secondary and ammonium sulfate.

Community changes during start-up in methanogenic bioreactors exposed to increasing levels of ammonia.

To investigate the methanogenic population dynamics during the start-up under gradually increasing free ammonia levels, five mesophilic UASB reactors seeded with different sludges were operated for 140 days. Changes in the methanogenic community investigated by using 16S rDNA/rRNA based molecular methods such as denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE), fluorescent in-situ hybridization (FISH), cloning and DNA sequencing. Free ammonia nitrogen (FAN) in the reactors was gradually increased from 50 to 130 mg l(-1) by increasing total ammonia nitrogen (TAN) from 1000 to 2500 mg l(-1) in the feed and keeping reactor pH at 7.7 in the active zone. Even at highest FAN level, COD and VFA removal efficiencies above 90 and 98% were obtained, respectively. However, Methanosaeta-related species mainly prevailing in seed sludges were substituted for Methanosarcina as the abundant methanogens although reactor performances were almost comparable and constant.

Investigation of variations in microbial diversity in anaerobic reactors treating landfill leachate.

A young landfill leachate containing elevated total ammonia concentrations frequently as high as 2,700 mg/l was anaerobically treated for 1,015 days in two different laboratory-scale anaerobic reactors configured as sludge blanket and hybrid bed. In this paper, the last 265 days of this long-term anaerobic treatability study are presented. Effects of high ammonia concentrations on reactor performances were correlated to the variations in microbial diversity by identifying the dominant microorganisms with FISH (fluorescent in-situ hybridization), cloning, DGGE (denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis) and morphological analysis. The results have indicated that the high ammonia landfill leachate can be treated successfully by using either an UASB or a hybrid bed reactor if temporary pH adjustments in the reactor influents are made when high ammonia concentrations are experienced. Consequently, COD removal efficiency is independent of microbial diversity and reactor configuration and it depends on the biodegradable portion of the leachate. Under this circumstance, stability of the reactors with low levels of acetate was supported by the abundance of Methanosaeta population. In both of the reactors, some populations of Methanobacteriaceae were also detected while other methanogenic species were virtually absent. However, after the termination of pH adjustment at Day 860, reactors immediately became unstable due to the sudden increase in free ammonia concentration up to 400 mg/l. COD removal efficiency decreased to 42% in the hybrid bed and to 48% in the UASB reactor. The durations of inhibitions were not long enough to severely deteriorate the massive Methanosaeta cells; therefore, many of them were again identified after two free ammonia inhibitions. However, subsequently, long filamentous morphologies of Methanosaeta cells shifted to shorter filaments and they lost their aggregating property.

The effects of change in volatile fatty acid (VFA) composition on methanogenic upflow filter reactor (UFAF) performance.

The effects of changes in composition of a volatile fatty acid mixture (namely acetic, propionic and butyric acids) fed to a methanogenic upflow filter reactor (UFAF) were investigated in terms of reactor chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal efficiency and biogas production level. A mixed substrate consisting of differing proportions of VFAs (on a COD basis) was fed to the reactor in semi-continuous mode under constant organic loading rate (OLR) and hydraulic retention time (HRT). At an OLR of 1.2 kg COD m(-3) x d and HRT of 4 days, increasing propionic acid concentrations of about 312 mg l(-1), 617 mg l(-1), 951 mg l(-1) and 1242 mg l(-1) fed to the reactor provided COD removal rates and biogas production levels of, 84.70%-1301 ml d(-1), 80.80%-1214 ml d(-1), 73.65%-1071 ml d(-1) and 65.53%-942 ml d(-1), respectively, indicating inhibitory effects of propionic acid on the methanogenic ecosystem. Subsequent introduction of butyric acid (247 mg l(-1)) in addition to propionic acid (891 mg l(-1)) increased the performance of the UFAF, yielding 76.10% COD removal and 1075 ml d(-1) of biogas production. The instability observed in the system towards the end of the study probably originated from operating the reactor at relatively high VFA concentrations for a long period of time. Change in VFA composition did not seem to have significant effects on the effluent MLVSS/MLSS ratio. The upflow anaerobic filter reactor adapted to variations in feed composition in a short period of time.