The area between a stream and land is known as a riparian zone. These zones are highly dynamic whichcarry and accumulate heavy metals and environmental contaminants. Discrete Riparian Input Zones(DRIPs) are a subset of such zones that carry concentrated amounts of water into streams at discrete points.These are more active in their ability to channel water than riparian zones. These areas are important sincethey may retain or release metals and thereby affect the stream chemistry. To test if DRIPs accumulatemetals, 7 DRIPs and 4 Non-DRIPs were sampled along the C5 stream in the Krycklan Catchment. Soilsamples were taken from the surface down to 0.5 m depth at 0.1 m increments and were analysed for totalmercury, metals and loss on ignition. Three metals (vanadin, iron and zinc) were identified as having significant differences in concentration between DRIP and Non-DRIPS. Vanadin and Fe had significantlyhigher concentrations in Non-DRIPs, whereas iron had higher concentrations in DRIPs. Mercury,cadmium, iron, and loss on ignition (LOI) were found to decrease as depth increased, whilst Al was foundto increase with depth. Finally many elements are inter-related, but those with the strongest correlation areLOI and mercury, and iron and cadmium, both r > 0.85. LOI and mercury are strongly related as mercurybinds strongly to organic matter. The relationship of Fe and Cd is likely due to the Fe-oxide and Cdrelationship.

Sediment control devices (SCDs) are critical to reducing the contamination of waterways from adjacent construction sites. Perimeter sediment controls retard the flow of surface runoff water originating on site and subsequently reduce solid, nutrient, and metal concentrations suspended in the flowing water. Silt fence is a commonly used SCD comprised of geotextile filter fabric, steel or wood support posts, and wire mesh reinforcement. The Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) uses an extensive amount of silt fence every year, and because of high degradation of geotextile in the field, the silt fence installations are rarely recycled. This research measures the performance of five SCDs (two types of silt fence, mulch berm, compost sock, and straw bales) at suspended solid, turbidity, nutrient, and metal reduction. A life cycle analysis (LCA) is performed to identify environmental impacts associated with material production, assembly, installation, use on site, and disposal. An impact analysis is performed according to for each SCD. Results of the impact analysis are compared to determine the SCD with lowest overall environmental impact. Results of the SCD performance study show that silt fence installations performed the best at reducing suspended solids and turbidity, mulch was best at reducing nutrients, and compost was the best at reducing metal concentrations. The life cycle impact analysis indicates that a mulch berm is the SCD with the lowest overall environmental impact. The impact analysis included global warming potential, acidification, eutrophication, and aquatic toxicity.

La valorisation des déchets industriels est de nos jour un défit international ayant des intérêts économiques et environnementaux. Dans ce cadre, l’entreprise Solvay travail sur la gestion de ses déchets et plus particulièrement ceux produits de la fabrication du carbonate de sodium « soude ». Ils sont actuellement stockés dans des bassins de décantation. Cependant, des contraintes règlementaires sont récemment apparues limitant ainsi la construction de nouveaux bassins. La valorisation de ces déchets est par conséquent impérative pour l’entreprise. Plusieurs voies de valorisation sont envisageables, notamment le recours à des nouveaux procédés qui permettraient d’en produire de nouveaux matériaux.En effet, un nouveau matériau issu des déchets industriels appelé « Gel d’Apatite » fait l’objet de ce travail de thèse. L’objectif est de caractériser le Gel d’Apatite et de proposer et d’étudier une voie permettant sa valorisation. Ce matériau est constitué principalement d’hydroxyapatite et de l’eau. Il se distingue par un comportement thixotropique et par sa capacité de rétention des métaux lourds. Cette dernière propriété a permis d’envisager sa valorisation dans la dépollution et la protection des nappes phréatiques. La voie étudiée dans ce travail de recherche est la valorisation du Gel d’Apatite dans les Barrières Perméables Réactives « BPR(s)»; technique passive de traitement des eaux souterraines in-situ.La finalité de ces travaux de recherche serait de dresser un cahier de charge du Gel d’Apatite et de définir un mélange conforme au mode de valorisation étudié / The valorization of industrial wastes is nowadays a worldwide challenge that offers several environmental and social interests. In some fields this valorization allows the preservation of natural resources and the releasing of spaces devoted to the wastes storage. Further, it allows developing of new innovative materials and low-cost products. Consequently industries industries have followed these guidelines. A collaborative investigation has been established with Solvay and Ecole Centrale de Lille in order to work on this topic.A new material: hydroxyapatite gel, is thus developed from non-toxic wastes in an industrial research laboratory. This material is composed by hydroxyapatite and water. It is characterized by its capacity to retain heavy metal by ion exchange. This particular characteristic led to consider its valorization in the water pollution control as the permeable reactive barrier (PRB) in particular. In deed, the permeable reactive barrier is a passive technique of in situ groundwater treatment.The results from this study were useful for a better planning of Permeable Reactive Barriers (PRB). The latter requires a high permeability to ensure groundwater flow and a high retention capacity for heavy metals