Sensors used for wastewater flow measurements need to be robust and are, consequently, expensive pieces of hardware that must be maintained regularly to function correctly in the hazardous environment of sewers. Remote sensing can remedy these issues, as the lack of direct contact between sensor and sewage reduces the hardware demands and need for maintenance. This paper utilizes off-the-shelf cameras and machine learning algorithms to estimate the discharge in open sewer channels. We use convolutional neural networks to extract the water level and surface velocity from camera images directly, without the need for artificial markers in the sewage stream. Under optimal conditions, our method estimates the water level with an accuracy of ±2.48% and the surface velocity with an accuracy of ±2.08% in a laboratory setting—a performance comparable to other state-of-the-art solutions (e.g., in situ measurements).

https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4441/14/3/424

A large variety of substances are used in building materials to improve their properties. In recent years, attention to organic additives used, for example, in renders, façade paints or roof sealing sheets has increased as these compounds have been detected in urban stormwater runoff and surface waters. In this paper, we show the extent of emissions induced by rain events in two study sites in Berlin. For this purpose, stormwater runoff from roofs, façades, and in storm sewers was sampled and analysed over a period of 1.5 years in two residential catchments. Results show that, in particular, the biocides diuron and terbutryn from façades, the root protection agents mecoprop and MCPA in bituminous sheeting, and zinc from roofs and façades reach concentrations in the stormwater sewer that exceed limit values for surface waters. Additionally, transformation products of the biocides were also detected. However, many other analysed substances were below the quantification limit or inconspicuous in their concentration levels. The emissions, modelled with the software COMLEAM, demonstrate that in urban areas the limit values in smaller surface waters are exceeded during wet weather. Furthermore, the orientation of the buildings to wind-driven rain is essential for the emitted load from façades. The calculated mass balances of both catchments show that a major portion of all substances remains on-site and infiltrates diffusely or in swales, while the remaining portion is discharged to stormwater sewers. For example, in one of the two study sites, <5% of diuron emissions are discharged to surface waters. Infiltration, in particular, is therefore a crucial pathway of pollution for soil and groundwater. Measures for source control are proposed to mitigate the leaching of environmentally relevant substances from construction materials.

This Handbook provides a comprehensive overview of how water, energy and food are interconnected, comprising a coherent system: the nexus. It considers the interlinkages between natural resources, governance processes seeking coherence among water, energy and food policies, and the adoption of transdisciplinary approaches in the field.

With contributions covering a broad range of disciplinary perspectives and cross-cutting themes, the Handbook has a well-balanced mix of conceptual chapters and empirical studies. It includes a state-of-the-art analysis of the concepts and experiences in implementing the nexus in different policy environments, providing examples of successful integrated decision-making across the domains of water, energy and food. Offering a global perspective on water, energy and food security, the Handbook contains insights into achieving both national development goals and the Sustainable Development Goals. Chapters further highlight how to understand the concepts of the nexus in practice, impacts of the nexus in governance, policy and business, and methods and tools to strengthen the nexus.

Interdisciplinary and thorough, this Handbook will be critical reading for environmental management, public policy and human geography scholars. It will also be a useful tool for policymakers looking for successful examples of policy coherence towards an integrated management of water, energy and food resources

https://github.com/KWB-R/r2q

This dataset includes concentrations of micropollutants (27) and heavy metals (7) for stormwater runoff from different sampling points at two test sites (A and B) in Berlin, Germany. Both sites are new development areas of similar size that were both constructed in 2017 (1 – 1.5 years prior to the start of the monitoring campaign). Composite samples of individual rain events were taken at three sampling points of each test site: façade runoff, roof runoff and corresponding stormwater runoff from the catchment area. Samples were taken as part of the research project BaSaR (www.kompetenz-wasser.de/en/forschung/projekte/basar/) of Kompetenzzentrum Wasser Berlin, Ostschweizer Fachhochschule and Berliner Wasserbetriebe. More information including sampling and analytical methods are detailed in the corresponding journal paper "Emissions from building materials – a thread for the environment?", submitted to the MDPI-journal Water.

The study was financed through the German Environment Agency (Umweltbundesamt, FKZ 3717373280), which is greatly acknowledged. 

This report covers the results of the Clear Waters from Pharmaceuticals 2 (CWPharma 21) project continuing the work of the original CWPharma2 project which concluded in December 2020. Both projects were funded by the EU’s Interreg Baltic Sea Region Programme. CWPharma evaluated occurrence and routes of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) in the water cycle and provided recommendations on technical and non-technical measures to reduce API loads entering the Baltic Sea. Recommendations for technical measures were published in the CWPharma ‘Guidelines for advanced API removal processes’ (Stapf et al., 2020), which also includes a modular approach to their successful implementation. The individual modules are: 1) WWTP fitness check, 2) feasibility study, 3) detailed planning, and 4) optimization of existing systems.

Within CWPharma 2, project partners from Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, and Poland continued the work of reducing API loads from the aforementioned countries into the Baltic Sea. The focus was to help wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) operators interested in reducing their API discharges to practically implement the four different modules of the guideline. This report summarizes the results of the first module ‘WWTP fitness check’ that have been carried out for about 80 WWTPs from eight Baltic Sea countries and aggregates the anonymized data from the WWTPs to present an overview of general as well as country-specific results, trends and considerations.

This report delivers a practical manual to support operators with the management of sensors networks in existing water infrastructures. It includes (1) the presentation and assessment of a new easy-to-use sensor for faecal bacteria measurements, (2) methodologies for the validation of online sensors and analysers and (3) best practices for installation, operation, and maintenance.

In DWC, raw data collected from on-line sensors and lab analyses are integrated and analysed to gather conclusive information and early warning to support decisions to deliver safe water reuse and inform about bathing water quality. Three relevant case studies, namely Paris, Berlin and Milan, were investigated in this research. In the case studies of Paris and Berlin, sensors were installed to monitor microbiological contamination in bathing water sites. In the case study of Milan, a real-time sensor network was designed to promote safe water reuse reducing the risk of microbial contamination of soils and crops during irrigation, while assuring compliance of wastewater quality with reuse standard limits.

The technical characteristics of all the installed on-line sensors are reported in section 1, including the innovative ALERT devices manufactured by FLUIDION, which allow the on-line measurements of faecal bacteria indicators. The section also describes in detail measurement characteristics, i.e., static and dynamic characteristics of instrumentation, operational modes, initial measurement accuracy and standards.

The use of real-time data to support health protection and risk management requires primary their validation, in terms of reliability, in order to integrate the standard lab measures with a continuous monitoring system, for control optimization and risk minimization. To date, one of the main lacks on risk management approach is the absence of common procedure on how to treat non-standardized data, such as real-time online data. To answer this question, this report intends to provide practical information about validation, operation and maintenance of on-line sensors for the three representative case studies. Particularly, this report includes

• Return of experience on installation, troubleshooting and maintenance (section 2).

• Data analysis and assessment of the bias, precision and accuracy of the online sensors (section 3).

The conclusions are reported in section 4.