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Trace element bioaccumulation in benthic organisms is important part of aquatic environment pollution research, since water and sediment analysis itselfs do not provide significant information about bioavailability of contaminants and the results mostly shows just current pollution at the time of sampling. This study focuses on urban streams contamination which are currently significant source of trace elements. Botic stream was chosen as exemplary, because it is affected by many combined sewer system overflows which are sources of contamination in times of heavy rain and flood. Load several sampling took place on 10 stream sites during the year of 2012. This thesis deals with 11 trace elements concretelly Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Hg, Ni, Zn, As, Fe, Pb and Al. Trace elements were assessed in both benthic organisms and sediment. As well taxons were selected from benthic organisms, which are widely found at any time of the reference year: caddisflies of family Hydropsychidae, leeches Erpobdella sp. and mayflies of Baetidae family. Sediment analysis included sequential extraction which divided trace elements into 4 fractions according to mobility. Based on the results, bioavailability was assessed on observed elements and correlation between concentration in bethos and sediment was tested. Finally, impact of...

Cette thèse valorise les données de mesure en continu de pluie de débit et de turbidité, ainsi que les bases de donnée de résultat d'analyse et les connaissances acquises dans le cadre des trois observatoires français en hydrologie urbaine, OPUR-Paris, OTHU-Lyon et ONEVU Nantes, pour valider et améliorer les connaissances sur les flux et les sources de particules vectrices de contaminants, en réseaux d'assainissement unitaire. Les données provenant de 6 sites expérimentaux drainés par un réseau d'assainissement unitaire ont été exploitées : Marais, Quais et Clichy à Paris, Cordon Bleu et Saint-Mihiel à Nantes et Écully à Lyon, avec sur chaque site des bases de données de longue durée qui ont permis des études statistiques sur des échantillons de plusieurs dizaines d'événements pluvieux et de journées de temps sec. Cette thèse a permis : 1- d'évaluer la représentativité de la turbidité pour analyser du transport solide en réseau ; 2- d'analyser et de modéliser statistiquement les concentrations et les masses de particules à l'échelle événementielle ; 3- d'étudier la dynamique des flux et des concentrations à l'échelle intra-événementielle. Les résultats obtenus indiquent d'une part, que la turbidité permet de décrire les dynamiques intra-événementielles des flux et des concentrations à condition d'exprimer ceux-ci sous forme relative, normalisée par les valeurs moyennes événementielles. En revanche, ces valeurs événementielles sont attachées par des erreurs systématiques non négligeables induites par les variations inter-événementielles de la relation MES-Turbidité (intervalle de confiance de l'ordre de 30% de la moyenne). Ils confirment d'autre part que la contribution des dépôts aux flux de temps de pluie est importante mais variable (entre 20 et 80% de la masse à l'exutoire selon l'événement), y compris sur un site réputé exempt de dépôts (grossiers). Autrement dit, les problématiques d'ensablement et de pollution de temps de pluie ne sont pas nécessairement liées. L'autre contribution majeure est celle des eaux usées « de temps sec ». De plus, ils nous ont permis de progresser dans la compréhension des phénomènes de décalage temporel entre hydrogramme et pollutogramme et d'effet piston / This thesis exploits continuous measurement of rainfall, discharge and turbidity data and the knowledge acquired by three French observatories in urban hydrology, OPUR-Paris, OTHU Lyon and ONEVU-Nantes, to validate and improve knowledge on suspended solids discharges and sources of particles, which are major vectors of contaminants in combined sewer systems. Data from six experimental sites served by a combined sewer system were used: Marais, Quais and Clichy in Paris, Cordon Bleu and Saint-Mihiel in Nantes and Ecully in Lyon. At each site, a long duration databases enabled statistical studies on samples of several tens of rainfall events and dry weather days. This thesis allowed: 1-to assess the representativeness of turbidity to analyze sediments transport in network; 2-to analyze and model concentrations and masses of particles at the scale of rain events; 3-to study the dynamics of fluxes and concentrations at intra-event scale. Results show that turbidity can describe the dynamics of intra-event fluxes and concentrations provided these are expressed in a relative form, normalized by the event mean values. However, these mean values are attached by significant systematic errors induced by variations of the inter-event TSS-turbidity relationship (95% confidence interval about 30% of average). The contribution of sewer deposits to wet weather suspended solids discharges is important but variable (between 20 and 80% of the mass at the outlet depending on the event), including for a site allegedly free of (coarse) sewer deposits. In other words, the problems of silting and contribution from deposits to wet weather pollution are not necessarily related. The other major contribution is from “dry weather” wastewater. In addition, they we made some progress in understanding the lag-time phenomena between hydrograph and pollutograph and the piston effect

Ett allt vanligare uppdrag inom hydraulisk modellering är att undersöka hur nya bostads- och handelsområden påverkar statusen för äldre befintliga ledningsnät. I nya områden anläggs nästan uteslutande separatsystem och eftersom nya områden oftast uppförs utanför den befintliga bebyggelsen måste spillvattnet från dessa områden transporteras genom det befintliga avloppsnätet, vilket kan vara helt eller delvis kombinerat. I stadsdelen Hjorthagen i Stockholm planeras 5000 nya lägenheter att byggas och spillvattenflödet från dessa skall anslutas uppströms det befintliga kombinerade ledningsnätet i området. Examensarbetet har gått ut på att undersöka hur det kombinerade ledningssystemet påverkas av den tillkommande spillvattenbelastningen. Syftet var att undersöka hur den dimensionerande spillvattenavrinningen påverkar de åtgärder och kostnader som behövs för att få det utökade ledningsnätet att fungera, samt att utreda behovet av ytterligare anpassningar av ledningsnätet inför framtida klimatförändringar. Vid beräkning av bräddvolymer simuleras vanligen spillvattenavrinningen från medeldygnsförbrukning av vatten. I studien har det även ingått att undersöka om detta sätt ger lägre bräddvolymer jämfört med att variera vattenförbrukningen med ett veckomönster. Med modelleringsprogrammet MIKE Urban undersöktes tre fall av dimensionerande spillvattenflöde från det tillkommande området i Hjorthagen. Olika stor säkerhetsmarginal användes vid dimensioneringen. I alla tre fallen fick det tillkommande spillvattenflödet kapaciteten i det kombinerade ledningssystemet att överskridas redan vid torrväder, med bräddning som följd. Undersökningen visade att ju högre säkerhetsmarginal dimensioneringen innebar desto mer omfattande blev de åtgärder som krävdes för att få bräddningen att upphöra. Fallet med störst säkerhetsmarginal krävde ett utjämningsmagasin på 142 m3 och att dimensionen på 670 m ledning ökades från 400 mm till 600 mm med en uppskattad åtgärdskostnad på omkring nio miljoner kronor. De åtgärder som krävdes för att undvika bräddning vid torrväder var i alla tre fallen tillräckliga för att både minska bräddningen vid regnväder och för att klimatanpassa ledningsnätet. I de fall som undersöktes kunde ingen trend ses som visade att simulering av dag- och spillvattenavrinning, utan veckovariationer i vattenförbrukningen, skulle ge för låga bräddvolymer. / An increasingly common assignment in hydraulic modeling is to investigate how sewage from new residential and commercial areas affect the status of existing sewer systems. In new areas the sewer systems are constructed to operate separately from storm drains and since new areas often are founded in the outskirt of existing areas the sanitary sewage from these areas must be transported through the older existing sewer system, which can be completely or partly combined. In the district of Hjorthagen in Stockholm 5,000 new apartments are planned to be built and sewage from these must be connected upstream of existing combined sewer system in the area. The purpose of this master thesis was to investigate how combined sewer system is affected by additional sewage load. The aim was to investigate how the choice of design sewage flow affects the measures and costs necessary to get the extended sewer system to function, and to consider the need for further adjustments to future climate change. When calculating volumes of combined sewer overflow the sewage flow usually is simulated as discharge from average water use. One objective with this thesis was to investigate whether this method gave lower volumes of combined sewer overflow as compared to using a weekly pattern. By using the modeling program MIKE Urban three choices of design sewage flow, from the new area in Hjorthagen, were investigated. The margin of safety when designing the sewage flow was increased in each case. The results showed that the capacity of the combined sewer system was exceeded during dry weather, with overflow as a result. The investigation showed that the higher margin of safety used the more extensive measures was needed. The greatest margin of safety required a storage basin of 142 m3 and that the dimension of 670 m of pipes was increased. To stop the overflow at dry weather the measures required in each case were sufficient to both reduce overflow during wet weather and to adjust the sewer system to future climate. Simulating the rainfall runoff and sewage flow, without weekly variations in water consumption did not underestimate the volumes of combined sewer overflow compared to varying the water use.

The River Medlock is a small (22km) urbanised river, and is one of the five main tributaries which forms part of the River Irwell Catchment in Greater Manchester, UK. The river has a legacy of pollution from the 18th century and continues to be affected by anthropogenic factors including point source pollution from waste water treatment works (WwTWs) and combined sewer overflows (CSOs). In order to investigate the impact of CSOs and the WwTWs on the river hydrology, water quality and ecology of the lower largely urbanised reach, data sets were obtained from the Environment Agency and from direct sampling of the river. Load estimations from continuous discharge records from the river's gauging station plus estimates of sub-catchment area indicate the lower sites, classified as a "highly modified water body" and downstream of treatment works had had a higher load of discharge and phosphate-P linked to point sources and episodic discharges. Short term, continuous monitoring revealed that CSOs were active during high velocity, but increased concentrations of nutrients post high velocity indicate WwTW effects and possibly diffuse sources. This project reveals that the WwTW are a major source of phosphate-P and that the impact of CSOs on the river quality is short-lived and depends on the degree of precipitation. Other parameters indicate good water quality although the benthic macroinvertebrate community is degraded as a result of episodic increases in the quantity of water destabilising the river bed. Therefore, pollution from the CSOs, the WwTW and rapid changes in discharge are the reasons for the river's failure to conform to EU's requirements of the Water Framework Directive.

Résumé L’accumulation de sédiments sur le fond des égouts à faible pente est une contrainte au bon fonctionnement hydraulique et à la gestion des réseaux d’assainissement unitaire. Le recours à la chasse hydraulique est alors une pratique envisagée par les gestionnaires de réseau pour le nettoyage des canaux souterrains. Les processus de transport sédimentaire dans les réseaux d’assainissement unitaire est rendu complexe en raison du jeu de nombreux phénomènes tels que la variabilité de l’étendue granulométrique des sédiments et la cohésion. La thèse présente les résultats expérimentaux et numériques obtenus avant et après une chasse hydraulique réalisée dans le réseau unitaire parisien. Une campagne de mesures a permis d’acquérir des données hydro-sédimentaires à haute résolution, permettant de caractériser et quantifier les processus d’érosion, de transport et de sédimentation agissant sous l’effet de la chasse hydraulique, du reste performante dans le nettoyage du réseau étudié. Deux modèles de transport sédimentaire comportant un modèle simple en condition de transport uniforme, et un modèle plus complexe impliquant le transport non-uniforme ont été développés afin de mettre en place un outil prédictif des mouvements des particules solides pendant le phénomène de chasse. Les deux modèles ont été capables d’évaluer à différents niveaux de précision l’efficacité de la chasse hydraulique en termes de transport sédimentaire. La comparaison des résultats issus des deux modèles permet de déterminer les avantages et les contraintes de chacun, révélant ainsi l’importance de prendre en compte l’hétérogénéité texturale des dépôts dans l’analyse de l’érosion, du transport et de la sédimentation des particules solides sous l’effet des chasses hydrauliques. De plus, une analyse de sensibilité de la gamme d’application de certains paramètres d’entrée du modèle de transport non-uniforme des sédiments a été réalisée. Les résultats ont confirmé le bon fonctionnement du modèle. / Sediment accumulation on the invert of sewer channels has been recognized as one of the important sources of problems for the management of sewer networks.In the two most recent decades, flushing has been put forward as one of the most common methods of sewer cleaning, to limit sediment accumulation especially in large trunk sewers.Sewer sediment transport processes are not fully understood yet, due to numerous unknown variables and difficult measuring conditions. The current research aimed firstly to setup a field experimental campaign to obtain high-quality data. This data allowed understanding of the processes associated with flushing operation in sewers. In addition, this study aimed to model the flushing processes properly in order to set-up an adequate and practical numerical tool able to predict sediment removal of flushing in the sewer network of Paris. To this purpose, two models were used: (i) a simple model for uniform sediment transport, which is the most common used approach; and (ii) a more complex model for non-uniform sediment transport of mixtures. A comparative analysis was carried out to highlight advantages and drawbacks of either. Overall, the results pointed out that the numerical modelling is able to reproduce faithfully hydrodynamics and sediment transport during flushing operations. In fact, both models enabled evaluation of flush behaviour and associated sediment transport. However, despite its higher complexity and computational burden, the latter model provides better insight into the prediction of the removal effectiveness of flushes

Antibiotics have been one of the greatest scientific discoveries for humanity. Their great success has been hindered by the increasing of antibiotic resistance events. Conventional wisdom considers antibiotic resistance as a strictly clinical issue. In reality, more and more studies have proven that non-clinical environments, especially aquatic environments, are critical factors for the spread of antibiotic resistance. Antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) are usually located on mobile genetic elements, which can disseminate among taxonomically unconnected species. Therefore, environmental bacteria can serve as hotspots for the development and dissemination of antibiotic resistance. The aim of this thesis is to determine how human originated pollution affects the antibiotic resistance abundance in the surrounding water environments. The case studies were three example environments, wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), receiving river bodies and combined sewer overflows (CSOs). Molecular microbiology methods have been applied to analyse the resistance levels of bacterial communities from WWTP, CSOs and wastewater affected environments at different European geographical locations. Additionally, a novel approach consisting in an amplicon sequencing is described, in order to be able to investigate and asses the composition of a significant amount of integron gene cassettes. Findings consistently indicate that effluents originated from WWTPs and CSOs have a significant impact on the levels of ARGs of the receiving water bodies. Moreover, this thesis suggests that gene blaOXA-58, could be utilized as a proxy to investigate the spread of ARGs. Its occurrence has been reported to show, consistently throughout the chapters, lower concentrations upstream, but at higher concentrations in the WWTP effluent, CSOs and downstream of the effluent. In conclusion, although antibiotic resistance genes and integrons are part of the environmental resistome, water environments that are affected by anthropogenic wastewater display high levels of the above-mentioned genetic elements. These findings clearly suggest the need to limit pollution levels, as well as the need to establish a more responsible policy in antibiotic prescriptions. This must take place in order to be able to perform efficient risk assessments and to establish acceptable levels of antibiotic and ARGs pollution.:List of Figures VII List of Tables IX List of Abbreviations X 1. Introduction 11 1.1 Antibiotic resistance: an increasing problem 11 1.2 Intrinsic antibiotic resistance and horizontal gene transfer 13 1.2.1 Transformation 13 1.2.2 Transduction 13 1.2.3 Conjugation 14 1.3 Gene transfer elements 14 1.4 Antibiotic resistance and anthropogenic impact on surrounding environments 16 1.5 Study goals 17 2. Genetic variations of the resistome of wastewater treatment plants driven by the seasonality of antibiotic prescription 18 2.1 Introduction 18 2.2 Materials and methods 19 2.3 Results and discussion 20 3. Assessment of inter-laboratory variations of quantitative analyses of antibiotic resistance genes 27 3.1 Introduction 27 3.2 Materials and methods 27 3.3 Results and discussion 30 3.4 Conclusions 36 4. Antibiotic resistance genes in treated wastewater and in the receiving water bodies: A pan-European survey of urban settings 37 4.1 Introduction 37 4.2 Materials and methods 38 4.3 Results 44 4.4 Discussion 49 4.5 Conclusions 53 5. Analysis of integron gene cassettes composition in treated wastewater 55 5.1 Introduction 55 5.2 Materials and methods 55 VI 5.3 Results 56 5.4 Discussion 57 6. Role of combined sewer overflows in the dissemination of antibiotic resistance in surrounding environments 59 6.1 Introduction 59 6.2 Materials and methods 60 6.3 Results 61 6.4 Discussion 66 7. Closing Conclusions 68 References 70 List of publications 88 Note on the commencement of the doctoral procedure 89 Acknowledgments 90

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