Assessment of mercury bioavailability in garden soils around a former nonferrous metal mining area using DGT, accumulation in vegetables, and implications for health risk.

Mercury (Hg) is a toxic, non-essential element for living organisms, frequently present in high concentrations in soils from industrial areas. The total, dissolved, and labile Hg concentrations in garden soils and their accumulation in edible vegetables (onion, garlic, lettuce, and parsley) grown on contaminated soils in localities situated a former mining area were evaluated. The labile Hg fraction was estimated by diffusive gradient in thin films (DGT). The soil-to-vegetable transfer factors, as well as the health risk by exposure to Hg, were calculated based on the labile Hg concentration in soil. The total Hg concentration in soil varied widely (0.11-3.77 mg kg-1), Hg in soil solution ranged between 2.14 and 20.2 µg L-1 and labile Hg between 1.13 and 18.6 µg L-1. About 36-96% (84% on average) of the Hg concentration in soil solution was found in labile form. Multivariate analysis revealed significant correlations between the labile Hg concentration in soil and Hg accumulated in vegetables. The hazard indices showed that, although the study area is affected by legacy pollution, exposure to soil and consumption of locally grown vegetables do not pose health risks.

Water quality assessment of Remeți watercourse, Maramureș, Romania, located in a NATURA 2000 protected area subjected to anthropic pressure.

The study assessed the evolution of water indicators of Remeți water body that is located in the Remeți locality in the Upper Tisa, a Natura 2000 protected area. Thus, electric conductivity, dissolved oxygen, oxygen saturation, temperature, pH, turbidity, ammonium concentration (NH4+), nitrates (NO3-), nitrites (NO2-), orthophosphate (PO43-), dissolved Fe, Mn, water hardness, alkalinity (A) and chloride were measured over the January (I)-October (X) 2021 period. This water course was subjected to anthropic pressure, being polluted with nutrients such as ammonium and orthophosphate ions, iron and manganese. The concentrations of other metals were either low (Al, Ba, Li, Ga, Rb, Ni, Sr, Zn, Cu, Ti) or below the detection limit (Pb, Cd). The study was performed over a period of 8 months, namely January 2021-October 2021, covering the 4 seasons, in order to establish their influence on the level of water quality indicators. Exceeded turbidity values and high concentrations of ammonium, orthophosphate and dissolved iron were found, these being generally higher in the summer-autumn months. Dissolved oxygen concentrations were low in the summer-autumn months. Based on the values of the physico-chemical indicators, two types of water quality indices WA-WQI (weighted arithmetic water quality indices) and CCME-WQI (Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment water quality indices) were calculated to evaluate the global water quality and its evolution over the seasons with a single value. WA-WQI values varied in the range of 78.56-761.63, with a tendency to increase in autumn, showing an intensified tendency of global water quality deterioration due to an increase in ammonium, turbidity, iron and orthophosphates in autumn months while CCME-WQI values were between 39.6 and 68.9, being fair in winter-spring months and marginal / bad in summer and autumn months. The results of this study are advantageous in identifying the level of pollution of Remeți water course, being a signal for local authorities in taking the necessary measures to reduce the pollution around it, for a better human health and conservation of the ecosystems hosted in the protected area.

The influence of unconventional ultrasonic pasteurization on the characteristics of curds obtained from goat milk with the low cholesterol content.

This study aimed to evaluate the influence of different power-time ultrasound regimes of pasteurization on the physical, chemical, organoleptic properties, and lipid quality indices of goat curds characterized by a low cholesterol level. Cholesterol was eliminated by a percentage of 92.1 % by treating the raw goat milk with beta-cyclodextrin in the proportion of 0.6 %. Afterward, the goat milk was subjected to the following ultrasound regimes: 320 W for 1 (PA1), 3 (PA3), and 6 min (PA6) and 881 W for 1 (PP1), 3 (PP3), and 6 min (PP6) and then used for the curds production. Due to the ultrasound treatment, the milk suffered a concentration phenomenon, the most accentuated being registered for the PP6 sample. Considering the sensory properties, the most appreciated curd was the one obtained by the PP6 regime which recorded the highest scores for color and taste. Regarding the microbiological aspects, the ability of ultrasounds to inactivate microorganisms is observed and the most accentuated phenomenon is reported in the PP6 case. Thus, in comparison with the control sample, the total number of germs is reduced by a proportion of 91.85 %, the ß-glucuronidase-positive Escherichia coli decreased by 93.15 %, while the coagulase-positive staphylococci were completely inactivated for the PP6 curd. The curds obtained for the PA6 and PP6 regimes registered the highest dry matter values as a cause of an accentuated syneresis process. The acidity values were higher for the curds obtained for PA1, PA3, and PA6 regimens due to more pronounced lactose hydrolysis and lower in the cases of PP3 and PP6 regimens compared to the control cheese. Twenty-five saturated, monounsaturated, and polyunsaturated fatty acids were identified in the curd samples and a rise in the unsaturated fatty acids proportion as the intensity of the applied ultrasound regime increased was observed. Also, AI, TI, and H/H lipid quality indices recorded better values as the power and time of the ultrasound action increased.

Human health risk assessment of some bottled waters from Romania.

The paper presents the quality status of 14 brands of bottled water, with sources of groundwaters from different mountain areas alongside the Carpathian Mountains from Romania. A number of 12 physico-chemical parameters (ammonium, bicarbonate, electrical conductivity, carbonate, chemical oxygen demand, chloride, nitrate, nitrite, pH, sulphate, total hardness, turbidity), 9 metals and metalloids (Li, B, Na, Mg, Al, K, Ca, Sr, Ba) and 17 heavy metals (V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Ga, As, Mo, Ag, Cd, In, Tl, Pb, Bi) were determined and studied. The quality status, the potential contamination and the health risk assessment of bottled waters were assessed, by using the drinking water quality index, the heavy metal pollution index, the heavy metal evaluation index, the degree of contamination and the human health risk indices. Hierarchical cluster analysis was applied, indicating similarities among the studied bottled waters based on their metal content. The Piper diagram reveals that the majority of bottled water samples fall into the Ca, Mg, Na, K, Cl-, SO42-, CO32-, HCO3- categories. The quality of bottled waters based on the indices results indicated marginal, poor and very-poor quality status of the studied water samples, while the health risk assessment indices presented potential risks at aluminium, chloride and nitrate for the inhabitants who used those water samples with the purpose of drinking. The pollution indices with respect to metals generally reflected a low pollution status. This study represents the first attempt in assessing the overall quality of some bottled water collected from the mountain area, Romania, likewise assessing the comprehensive human health risk due to several chemical elements determined in water in amounts around and exceeding the maximum allowable concentrations. This research can be useful for development of potential strategies for risk control and management in the field of drinking water.

Impact of anthropogenic activities on water quality parameters of glacial lakes from Rodnei mountains, Romania.

The aim of this paper is to assess the water quality from several lakes in Rodnei Mountains National Park, in order to establish the extent to which the anthropic activities, such as livestock and tourism affect the water characteristics. The paper presents the quality status of 13 water samples, collected from different mountain lakes from Romania, by monitoring 25 quality indicators, 21 metals and metalloids. The results indicate relatively high content of NH4+ (0.96 mg/L), NO2- (0.240 mg/L), Ca (38.44 mg/L), Mg (4.35 mg/L), Fe (288 mg/L), Cu (34.46 µg/L) and high values for turbidity (5.31 NTU), chemical oxygen demand (10.00 mgO2/L) and suspended materials (88.0 mg/L). Microbiological analyses were performed for 14 types of bacteria. In some samples, the faecal coliforms (1100 bacteria/mL), faecal streptococci (39 bacteria/mL) and aerobic heterotrophic bacteria at 37 °C (300 bacteria/mL) were relatively in a high content. The metal pollution indices (heavy metal pollution index -HPI, heavy metal evaluation index -HEI and the degree of contamination -Cd) indicated as well that the water samples presented no metal pollution. Values ranged from 5.17 to 27.84 for HPI, 0.55 to 5.07 for HEI and -8.45 to -3.93 for Cd were obtained. The water quality index (WQI) indicated excellent and good quality for the studied samples, with a mean of 22.6 and a range from 11.4 to 46.9.

Chemical modeling of groundwater quality in the aquifer of Seini town - Someș Plain, Northwestern Romania.

This paper presented a groundwater quality monitoring in Seini town, North-West of Romania, by assessing 18 physicochemical parameters (pH, EC, COD, turbidity, ht, NH4+, NO2-, NO3-, Cl-, Al, Fe, Mn, Pb, Zn, Cd, Cr, Ni and As) from 12 private dug wells and 5 private drilled wells, each with unique characteristics and used as a drinking water source. The pollution, quality status and risk assessment of drinking water sources were assessed, by pollution, quality and risk indices. Statistical methodology and cluster analysis were applied in order to elaborate and improve upon a mathematical model. 2 D and 3 D mathematical models were elaborated to show the functions that better describe the dependence between a set of physicochemical parameters. Heavy metal pollution index (HPI) and heavy metal evaluation index (HEI) results indicated that the studied drinking water sources presented no heavy metal contamination. Human health risk assessment indices showed that the consumption of studied waters presented no non-carcinogenic risk at heavy metals, but potential non-carcinogenic risk at NO3-. The water quality index (WQI) classifies the majority of samples as waters with excellent quality and the minority of samples in waters with poor and very poor quality. By geostatistical techniques, the spatial patterns of the main physicochemical indicators were established for both the surface of the aquifer and its depth. The aim of the water quality study was to establish the toxicity degree of water, its influence on human health and to inform the population regarding the use of individual water sources.

Assessment of Water Physicochemical Parameters in the Strîmtori-Firiza Reservoir in Northwest Romania.

This article assesses the surface water quality of the Strîmtori-Firiza reservoir by analyzing 14 physicochemical parameters among 9 metals in 18 sampling points. A series of possible reservoir pollutants were identified, depending on the nature of the pollutants and their loading. The novelty of the paper consists in the broad spectrum of investigations that includes spatial distribution cluster analysis and mathematical modeling. This article presents an innovative method of assessing the distributions of the metal loads as maps of metal distribution that are in accordance with the developed mathematical models that aim to present the pollutant distribution and the degree of correlation between the physicochemical indicators. The clusters were generated using Ward's and Nearest Neighbor methods that are less used in the studies concerning the analysis of water quality. Measures for maintaining the quality of the water reservoir are proposed considering the importance of the reservoir as source for drinking/industrial water.