[pt] Nas últimas décadas, a crescente conscientização ambiental levou ao reconhecimento da necessidade do uso responsável dos recursos hídricos. Para garantir isso, a boa gestão de reservatórios hídricos requer um monitoramento ambiental adequado, com medições confiáveis dos parâmetros de qualidade da água em vários pontos do reservatório, permitindo o controle da qualidade da água e seus impactos na fauna, flora e comunidades ribeirinhas dos reservatórios. O monitoramento das variáveis ambientais dos reservatórios é atualmente realizado por processo tradicional de coleta manual. Infelizmente, no Brasil, as iniciativas de produzir um sistema robótico aquático com tecnologia nacional e de baixo custo, quando comparado a equivalentes importados, são ainda raras e se restringem a algumas poucas instituições acadêmicas, não tendo sido localizado nenhum fabricante comercial deste tipo de veículo no país. Visando preencher esta lacuna, o presente trabalho teve como objetivo o desenvolvimento do protótipo de um sistema robótico aquático capaz de se locomover autonomamente em lagoas, lagos e reservatórios, coletando informações físico-químicas da água e armazenando estes dados na memória. Além disso, foi incluído no protótipo uma câmera de vídeo, sistema de iluminação e um sistema de controle remoto, objetivando o controle pela equipe em terra. Nos testes realizados em dias ensolarados e chuvosos, o robô apresentou boa dirigibilidade, estabilidade e manobrabilidade. O vaso de pressão do sistema robótico resistiu às pressões necessárias durante os testes, a eletrônica conseguiu atender as especificações de projeto e o software conseguiu estabelecer um controle de navegação, cumprindo o trajeto de uma rota estabelecida. / [en] In recent decades, the growing environmental awareness has led to the recognition of the need for responsible use of water resources. To ensure this, the good management of water reservoirs requires adequate environmental monitoring, with reliable measurements of water quality parameters in various parts of the reservoir, allowing the control of water quality and its impacts on fauna, flora and riverine communities of the reservoirs. Monitoring environmental variables of the reservoirs is currently performed by traditional process of manual collection. Unfortunately, in Brazil, initiatives to produce a water robotic system with national and low cost technology, compared to imported equivalents, are still rare and restricted to a few academic institutions, and no commercial manufacturer of this type of vehicle was found in the country. Aiming to fill this gap, the main objective of this study was to develop a prototype of a water robotic system capable of autonomously navigate in ponds, lakes and reservoirs, collecting physicochemical information of water and storing this data in memory. Moreover, a video camera, illumination and a remote control system were included in the prototype, allowing the team on the ground to control the prototype. In tests conducted in sunny and rainy days, the robot presented good handling, stability and maneuverability. The robotic system pressure vessel resisted pressures required during testing, the electronics met the design specifications and the software was able to establish a navigation control, fulfilling the path of an established route.

Inadequately treated wastewater effluent is harmful to the receiving aquatic environment. Water-borne chemicals and microbial pathogens pose a health risk to anyone living downstream from sewage treatment facilities. This study assessed the effluent from a package plant with a design capacity of 48kℓ/24 hours, servicing 12 household units and a restaurant in Mogale City. Over a 12 month period, fortnightly water samples were collected from ten selected sites including two boreholes, a river and two dams. Standard parameters including physical (pH, EC, temperature, DO and SS), chemical (nutrient concentration) and biological (bacterial counts) were analysed using handheld meters, standard membrane filter techniques and colorimetric methods. One borehole was affected by pathogen and nitrate runoff from an adjacent poultry farm. If regularly monitored, the package plant effectively removed microbes (most samples contained 0 cfu/100mℓ) but above limit COD, ammonia and phosphate was released in the effluent (with maximum values of 322 mg/ℓ, 42.52 mg/ℓ and 7.18 mg/ℓ, respectively). Generally, river and dam water at the site was of good quality. / Environmental Science / M. Sc. (Environmental Science)

This work is based on the current issue of increasing concentrations of pharmaceutical residues in various components of the environment. These new environmental contaminants continuously enter the environment. The most affected environmental component is the aquatic environment. This study is focused on the development and optimization of reliable analytical method, which can determine selected drugs in the aquatic environment (waste waters and surface waters) qualitatively and quantitatively. The target compounds were selected mainly from the group of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID): salicylic acid, acetylsalicylic acid, clofibric acid, ibuprofen, acetaminophen, caffeine, naproxen, mefenamic acid, ketoprofen and diclofenac. NSAIDs are one of the most used drugs in Czech Republic. For the final analysis of this study was used the comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography with mass spectrometric detection Time-of-Flight (GCxGC-TOF MS). It is a very sensitive and reliable analytical method for trace and ultra-trace analysis. Simultaneously, solid phase extraction (SPE) and derivatization are optimized in this work. Optimized analytical method including SPE, derivatization with MSTFA (N-methyl-N-(trimethylsilyl) trifluoroacetamide) and final analysis by GCxGC-TOF MS were applied successfully for the analysis of real samples. Samples of waste water were collected from the waste water treatment plant in Brno – Modřice and samples of surface water were collected from two river streams Svratka and Svitava in Moravian region. The range of concentrations of selected drug residues varied from one to tens of g/L in wastewater and from tens to hundreds of ng/L in surface waters. The degree of wastewater and surface waters contamination by drug residues is assessed in conclusions of the work. Simultaneously, spontaneous degradation of selected drugs in water and removal efficiency of the wastewater treatment plant is assessed in conclusions of the work. The developed method is usable for monitoring and environmental analysis of water ecosystems. It is usable not only for selected drugs, but even for other organic compounds with similar properties.