Thesis (M.Sc.)--University of Alberta, 2009. / A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Agricultural and Resource Economics, Department of Rural Economy. Title from pdf file main screen (viewed on September 20, 2009). Includes bibliographical references.

Depuis la mise en place de la première surveillance de la qualité des cours d’eau et des rivières à l’échelle nationale en 1971, plusieurs types de mesures cohabitent à l’échelle du bassin-versant : les réseaux de surveillance pris en charge par les services de l’Etat, d’une part, les suivis qualité des eaux du bassin-versant (SQE-BV) assurés par des acteurs décentralisés d’autre part. L’acquisition de connaissances complémentaires sur l’eau issues de la mesure sur le terrain a accompagné l’évolution des pratiques locales de gestion de l’eau, de manière contrastée selon les régions, les bassins et sous-bassins. A la faveur de la contrainte réglementaire et d’un attelage partenarial Etat-Région, les cours d’eau bretons ont fait l’objet d’une politique de surveillance très développée. L’urgence d’agir face à une visibilité plus marquée de la pollution a motivé cette démarche dans les années 1990. Cette thèse illustre cette démarche régionalisée par plusieurs études de cas, dont celle du bassin précurseur de l’Yvel-Yvet. L’ensemble de la thèse, appuyée sur l’étude de ces suivis locaux et sur une temporalité de plus de vingt ans, mobilise le concept d’instrument d’action publique pour expliquer les étapes, les ressorts socio-politiques et les échelles de la mise en oeuvre de cette politique territorialisée de reconquête de la qualité des eaux. / Since the establishment of the first national waterways and rivers quality monitoring in 1971, several types of measures coexist at the drainage basin scale: on the one hand, the monitoring networks supported by the State services; on theother hand, the water quality monitoring of the drainage basin (SQE-BV) provided by decentralized actors. The acquisition of complementary knowledge on water from the field measurement has accompanied the evolution of local practices of water management, in a different way depending on the regions, the basins and sub-basins. Thanks to the regulatory constraint and a State-Region partnership, Breton waterways have been the subject of a highly developed surveillance policy. This approach was motivated in the 1990s because of the urgency to act in front of a greater pollution visibility. This thesis illustrates the regionalised approach by several case studies, including that of the precursor basin of Yvel-Yvet. The whole thesis, based on the study of these local follow-ups and on a temporality of more than twenty years, mobilizes the concept of instrument of public action to explain the stages, the socio-political motivations and the implementation scales of this territorialized policy of regaining water quality.

Submitted by CAROLINA HARUE NAKAMURA null (chnak@ymail.com) on 2017-09-05T20:35:30Z No. of bitstreams: 1 dissertacao_final.pdf: 5873390 bytes, checksum: 0dac3613559cd90b97067c79581f3c93 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Luiz Galeffi (luizgaleffi@gmail.com) on 2017-09-06T16:27:42Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 nakamura_ch_me_bauru.pdf: 5873390 bytes, checksum: 0dac3613559cd90b97067c79581f3c93 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-09-06T16:27:42Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 nakamura_ch_me_bauru.pdf: 5873390 bytes, checksum: 0dac3613559cd90b97067c79581f3c93 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-08-04 / O emprego de um modelo matemático de qualidade da água em escala de bacia hidrográfica auxilia no melhor conhecimento da situação atual de seus corpos d’água e na simulação de cenários futuros da qualidade da água para o subsídio de decisões relativas ao seu aproveitamento e preservação. De forma auxiliar na gestão dos recursos hídricos, o presente trabalho teve como intuito calibrar um modelo matemático de qualidade da água em um ambiente lótico, empregando como ferramenta de apoio o aplicativo Análise de Bacias Críticas Ottocodificadas (ABaCO). A calibração foi realizada em um trecho de 14 km do Rio Lambari, situado no município mineiro de Poços de Caldas, pertencente à Bacia Hidrográfica do Rio Pardo, e considerado crítico qualitativamente pela Agência Nacional de Águas (ANA), através da Nota Técnica Conjunta nº 002/2012/SPR/SER-ANA, e ratificado pela Portaria ANA nº 62/2013. Os resultados da calibração, que foram obtidos automaticamente pela ferramenta Solver do Microsoft Excel® e manualmente para os parâmetros que necessitavam ser ajustados após a calibração automática, apresentaram bons ajustes entre as concentrações simuladas e observadas em campo para os parâmetros nitrogênio total, fósforo orgânico, fósforo inorgânico e fósforo total, quando considerada a análise de comportamento dos parâmetros. Os demais parâmetros calibrados (DBO, OD, nitrogênio orgânico, nitrogênio amoniacal e nitrato) tiveram ajustes satisfatórios. Quando verificados os resultados por um método estatístico (coeficiente de determinação), observou-se que seis parâmetros (nitrogênio orgânico, nitrogênio amoniacal, nitrogênio total, fósforo orgânico, fósforo inorgânico e fósforo total) obtiveram valores negativos em todas as campanhas de campo, em decorrência da pouca variabilidade das concentrações entre uma campanha e outra. Uma primeira visão da situação qualitativa do corpo hídrico pode ser obtida através da incorporação dos valores dos coeficientes calibrados dos parâmetros ao modelo, que pode fornecer subsídios ao planejamento, ao controle e à proteção dos recursos hídricos para a tomada de decisões e favorecendo a realização de análises de intervenção de medidas de controle ambiental. / The use of a water quality mathematical model at a hydrographic basin scale helps to understand better the current situation of water bodies and to simulate future scenarios of water quality to aid in decisions related to its use and preservation. In order to assist the management of water resources, the present study aimed to calibrate a water quality model, in a lotic environment, applying Ottocoded Critical Basins Analysis (ABaCO) as a support tool. The calibration was performed in a 14-kilometer section of the River Lambari, which is located in the city of Poços de Caldas, state of Minas Gerais. It belongs to the Pardo River Basin, and is considered qualitatively critical by the National Water Agency (ANA), through the Joint Technical Note number 002/2012/SPR/SRE–ANA and ratified by the ANA Ordinance number 62/2013. The calibration results, obtained automatically by the Solver Microsoft Excel® tool and manually for parameters that needed to be adjusted after automatic calibration, presented good adjustments between simulated and observed concentrations for the parameters total nitrogen, organic phosphorus, inorganic phosphorus and total phosphorus, considering the behavior analysis of the parameters. The other calibrated parameters (BOD, DO, organic nitrogen, ammoniacal nitrogen and nitrate) obtained satisfactory adjustments. When evaluating the results by a statistical method (coefficient of determination), it was observed that six parameters (organic nitrogen, ammoniacal nitrogen, total nitrogen, organic phosphorus, inorganic phosphorus and total phosphorus) presented negative values for all campaigns, caused by the low variability of concentrations between one campaign and another, making it difficult to obtain high values of the coefficient. A first view of the river’s qualitative situation can be obtained by the incorporation of calibrated values of the parameters into the model, that it can assist in the planning, control and water resources protection to decision making and to favor performance of intervention analyses of environmental control measures.

Thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree Master of Technology: Biomedical Technology in the Faculty of Health and Wellness Sciences at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2012 / In many developed countries worldwide the provision of safe, clean water is an expected commodity. In South Africa however, as in most developing countries, the access and supply of water safe for human consumption is challenged or complicated by pollution and more recently water availability. Point-source pollutants in surface- and groundwater are normally the most concentrated closest to the pollutant source (such as the end of a pipe or an underground injection system). Examples of point-source pollution are commercial and industrial businesses, that often discharge waste such as solvents and heavy metals from their operations. In contrast, non-point-source pollution occurs due to runoff moving across or through the ground and absorbing and accumulating pollutants which eventually end up in streams, rivers and dams. The lack of waste removal and adequate sanitation facilities results in the disposal of faecal matter and sewage into storm water drains which flow directly into the river systems contributing to the incidence of diseases such as gastroenteritis, diarrhoea and chronic lung ailments, caused by waterborne pathogenic bacteria, viruses and fungi. Routine water quality analysis however, does not include monitoring for viral contaminants, as this process is hampered by the lack of simple, reliable, time- and cost-effective testing methods to concentrate and detect viral pathogens. The primary aim of this study was thus to establish and optimise routine monitoring techniques for the detection of rota-, adeno- and enteroviruses in the Berg- and Plankenburg Rivers, Western Cape. Initially, various concentration and extraction methods were compared for the optimum recovery of viruses from spiked water samples. One hundred milliliter water samples were spiked with one milliliter rotavirus and two milliliters adenovirus control virions (Coris Bioconcept, Gembloux, Belgium). Optimisation testing of enterovirus was however, not completed due to the unavailability of a positive control. Four viral concentration techniques, namely the Silicon dioxide (SiO2) method, positively charged, negatively charged and the mixed-ester filters, were compared. Various nucleic acid extraction methods were also employed to establish which method would provide optimum yields for both DNA and RNA nucleic acids. The extraction techniques included the TRIzol method (Invitrogen, California, USA) for RNA extraction, the Roche High Pure PCR Template Preparation kit (Roche, Mannheim, Germany) for DNA extraction, and the QIAamp Ultrasens Virus kit (Qiagen GmbH, Hilden, Germany) for simultaneous RNA and DNA extraction. The use of virus specific primers within the PCR technique was also optimised. In addition, gene specific primers and oligo(dT)15 primers were tested and compared to establish which primers would yield the best results since gene specific primers are said to be more sensitive than oligo(dT)15 primers (van Pelt-Verkuil et al., 2008) when synthesising cDNA (rotavirus). The SiO2 concentration method yielded variable results when it was used with the various nucleic acid extraction techniques in this study, since positive PCR results were obtained when used in combination III with some techniques, while negative results were obtained with others. Similarly, variable results were also obtained when negatively charged filters were used to concentrate virus particles, and when this method was used in conjunction with various virus nucleic acid extraction techniques to identify different viruses by RT-PCR and PCR. Results for the non-charged mixed-ester filter were comparable to the positively charged filters when used in conjunction with the various nucleic acid extraction techniques in this study. Both these techniques yielded the highest viral particle concentration from the spiked water samples. Pilot study results indicated the presence of rotavirus and adenovirus detected by RT-PCR and PCR respectively, when filtering through the positively charged filter. The positively charged filter/QIAamp UltraSens virus kit combination was found to be the optimum combination when analysing the spiked water results and was then employed for the concentration of virus particles in the river water samples collected from the Plankenburg- and Berg River systems throughout the study period. The expected PCR product of 346 bp for rotavirus was absent in all 72 river water samples analysed for both river systems. In contrast to the PCR results obtained for rotavirus, the expected product of 261 bp for adenovirus was detected in 22 (30.5%) samples collected throughout the study period. Fifteen of the 22 adenovirus positive samples were found in the Plankenburg River (distributed over all sites), while seven of the 22 adenovirus positive samples were found in the Berg River (all sites). A nested PCR was used to detect enterovirus in the river water samples collected from both river systems throughout the study period. In the first round of the enterovirus PCR 15 river water samples (at various sites for both river systems) yielded a faint 513 bp product. Further amplification by nested PCR then yielded 13 (18.1%) positive nested PCR products of 297 bp. The incidence of adenovirus and enterovirus in river waters reported in the current study and the Van Heerden et al. (2003) investigation motivates for similar studies to be conducted in drinking water, dam water used for recreational purposes as well as rainwater, which is gaining popularity as a sustainable water source.

Thesis (MTech (Biomedical Technology))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2012. / In many developed countries worldwide the provision of safe, clean water is an expected commodity. In South Africa however, as in most developing countries, the access and supply of water safe for human consumption is challenged or complicated by pollution and more recently water availability. Point-source pollutants in surface- and groundwater are normally the most concentrated closest to the pollutant source (such as the end of a pipe or an underground injection system). Examples of point-source pollution are commercial and industrial businesses, that often discharge waste such as solvents and heavy metals from their operations. In contrast, non-point-source pollution occurs due to runoff moving across or through the ground and absorbing and accumulating pollutants which eventually end up in streams, rivers and dams. The lack of waste removal and adequate sanitation facilities results in the disposal of faecal matter and sewage into storm water drains which flow directly into the river systems contributing to the incidence of diseases such as gastroenteritis, diarrhoea and chronic lung ailments, caused by waterborne pathogenic bacteria, viruses and fungi.

Orientador: Edevar Luvizotto Junior / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Engenharia Civil, Arquitetura e Urbanismo / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-09T19:18:58Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Trimboli_MarceloJose_M.pdf: 5392045 bytes, checksum: cc7d8b290241329ec9e101fc336f718c (MD5) Previous issue date: 2006 / Resumo: Neste trabalho são estudadas e avaliadas as etapas que visam a aplicação de modelagem matemática para obtenção de parâmetros de qualidade como a concentração de cloro livre residual em sistemas de abastecimento de água. Como estudo de caso e avaliação da proposição fui empregado o setor de abastecimento de Vila Liberdade na Cidade de Jundiaí-SP. Os resultados foram comparados com medições exaustivas de campo / Abstract: This work were studied and evaluated the stages that look for the use of the mathematics modeling to get parameters of quality like residual free chlorine concentration in network pipes . How case study and valuation of the proposition it was used the water supply sector of Vila Liberdade in the town of Jundiai - estate of São Paulo, BraziL The results were compared with exhaustive field measures / Mestrado / Recursos Hidricos / Mestre em Engenharia Civil

M.Sc. (Environmental Management) / Wetlands play a significant role in our environment as they provide a variety of goods, services and benefits to living species ranging from humans, animals and plants to microorganisms. Despite their importance, wetlands have somewhat been neglected over the past few years which has led to a rapid deterioration of wetland conditions and functions. Wetlands provide unique functions that cannot be provided by any other ecosystem; their value was recognised in the 1960s. Prior to this realisation the value of wetlands had been seriously underestimated to the extent where they were even previously labelled as “wastelands”. The reality is that to date minimal measures have been put in place to assist in the rehabilitation and future conservation of wetlands. The lack of wetland management and monitoring can be attributed to the fact that very little is known about the functioning of some of the wetland systems. Endorheic wetlands have recently been emerging as ecosystems of importance. Very little is known about endorheic wetlands and their ecological functioning. To date a fair amount of studies have been conducted on the pans in Mpumalanga and in the Free State but minimal information exists on the pans in the North West Province. The objectives of this study were therefore to compare the abiotic and biotic composition of pans in Mpumalanga and North West Provinces, in order to contribute to the knowledge which will eventually assist in devising rehabilitation measures and future conservation of pans in the area. Three different water ecosystem components were studied; these included aquatic invertebrate communities, water quality and sediment characteristics. The collected water samples were taken to an accredited laboratory to be analysed. When compared between the two provinces, the water-quality results indicated differences between provinces as well as among individual pans. However, most of the pans in both provinces show characteristics of being dystrophic alkaline systems. The invertebrates were collected using sweep nets and stored in jars containing 5% neutrally buffered formalin and a staining agent (Rose Bengal). The sediment characteristics were determined by using standard techniques and results showed that there were no obvious similarities between the different pans in the different provinces. Water-quality analyses were performed on samples taken during both winter- and summer-sampling surveys and these samples were analysed by a reputable laboratory. Based on the analyses of the invertebrate community samples, 25 taxa were identified; results show similarities in the structure of communities in both provinces with the exception of one or two different species. Sampling was conducted over a period of two seasons at all sampling points and several species were found belonging to different families. Invertebrates sampled in Mpumalanga pans were similar to those reported in previous studies done in the area and most of the invertebrates sampled in Mpumalanga and the North West are known to be commonly found in temporary habitats. Spatial and temporal variations in invertebrate assemblages were determined; this analysis displayed differences in the different variables (biotic, physical and chemical) tested over the two seasons. The pans in Mpumalanga were dominated by coarse sand. Large amounts of coarse sand accompanied by poor water quality were observed in MP Pan A in Mpumalanga Province; this could be an indication of somewhat poor catchment management. The results of the abiotic and biotic comparison show that there are minor similarities and differences among the selected pans studied in each province. The knowledge acquired can now be utilised to enhance the available literature on these pans. Long-term studies have to be done to better understand the ecological functioning of the pans in the North West Province in order to devise mitigation measures as well as appropriate rehabilitation strategies and conservation measures.

The prevention of outbreaks of waterborne diseases remains a major challenge to public health service providers globally. One of the major obstacles in this effort is the unavailability of on-line and real-time methods for rapid monitoring of faecal pollution to facilitate early warning of contamination of drinking water. The main objective of this study was to develop a β-glucuronidase (GUD)-based method that could be used for the on-line and real-time monitoring of microbial water quality. GUD is a marker enzyme for the faecal indicator bacteria Escherichia coli. This enzyme breaks down the synthetic substrate p-nitrophenyl-β-D-glucuronide (PNPG) to D-glucuronic acid and p-nitrophenol (PNP), which turns yellow under alkaline pH. The enzymatically produced PNP was used to detect GUD activity. In situ GUD assays were performed using running and stagnant water samples from the Bloukrans River, Grahamstown, South Africa. The physico-chemical properties of environmental GUD were determined, after which a liquid bioprobe and a microbial biosensor modified with Moraxella 1A species for the detection of the enzyme activity were developed. In order to determine the reliability and sensitivity of these methods, regression analyses for each method versus E. coli colony forming units (CFU) were performed. The storage stabilities of the bioprobe and biosensor were also investigated. The physico-chemical properties of in situ GUD were different from those of its commercially available counterpart. The temperature optimum for the former was between 35 and 40 °C while for the latter it was 45 °C. Commercial (reference) GUD had a pH optimum of 8.0 while the environmental counterpart exhibited a broad pH optimum of between pH 5.0 and 8.0. The liquid bioprobe had a limit of detection (LOD) of GUD activity equivalent to 2 CFU/100 ml and a detection time of 24 h. The method was less labour intensive and costly than the culturing method. The liquid bioprobe was stable for at least four weeks at room temperature (20 ± 2 °C). The biosensor was prepared by modifying a glassy carbon electrode with PNP degrading Moraxella 1A cells. The biosensor was 100 times more sensitive and rapid (5-20 min) than the spectrophotometric method (24 h), and was also able to detect GUD activity of viable but non-culturable cells. Thus it was more sensitive than the culturing method. Furthermore, the biosensor was selective and costeffective. The possibility of using a Pseudomonas putida JS444 biosensor was also investigated, but it was not as sensitive and selective as the Moraxella 1A biosensor. The Moraxella biosensor, therefore, offered the best option for on-line and real-time microbial water quality monitoring in South African river waters and drinking water supplies.

M.Sc. (Environmental Management) / The main purpose of this study is to determine whether trends in rainfall patterns correlate to trends in water quality constituents for the Roodeplaat Dam Drainage Basin, thereby increasing the ‘dilution capacity’ potential of the aforementioned water system. The Roodeplaat Dam (reservoir) is a hypertrophic impoundment located approximately 20 kilometres north-east of Pretoria. The dam was originally designed for irrigational purposes and later became an important recreational site. In recent years it serves as an important source for Magalies Water, which represents a state-owned water board that currently supplies potable water to a large area north of Pretoria. The Roodeplaat Dam catchment consists of three contributing rivers to the inflow of the impoundment, namely: The Pienaars River (located in the centre of the catchment), the Edendale Spruit (east of the catchment) and the Moreleta/Hartebees Spruit (west of the catchment). There are also two Water Care Works (Zeekoegat and Baviaanspoort) within the catchment, which supplement additional inputs of treated effluent discharges to the reservoir. Temporal changes in selected physical, chemical and microbial constituents were analysed at established sampling points along each river, including a sample site located at the dam wall outlet. Such changes in water quality, in conjunction with rainfall patterns exhibited in the study area were analysed to determine whether an association exists between the two variables, and more specifically how rainfall impacts on water quality within the catchment which has a direct effect on the quality of the Roodeplaat Dam. Data for rainfall and water quality were analysed over a 10 year period, from January 1999 to December 2009. Water quality sampling results were obtained from the Department of Water Affairs. Rainfall data for the same time period in question was obtained from the South African Weather Service. Results for both variables were projected graphically and collated to determine whether rainfall trends have an impact on concentrations of water quality constituents. Constituent concentrations were also compared at each sample site. To quantitatively justify graphical results, the author preformed Pearson’s and Spearman’s correlation analysis to establish whether rainfall and water quality concentrations displayed significant associations. Results from graphical presentations and quantitative analyses identified that a correlation does exist between rainfall and water quality constituents, whereby an increase in rainfall tends to result in a decrease of water quality constituent concentrations. Microbial constituents contrasted to physical and chemical results, and displayed a strong positive correlation to rainfall. Rainfall therefore increases the ‘dilution capacity’ potential of the catchment, whereby the water system increases in its ability to receive and remove pollutants disposed in them by human induced land-use activities. It was also found from the study that the strength and association between rainfall and water quality constituents is affected by external, anthropogenic variables which also exert an influence on the quality of water present in the Roodeplaat Catchment Area. This includes additional inputs from the Baviaanspoort, which is located along the Pienaars River. Results from the sample site located on this river displayed no relationship for many of the water quality constituents tested. It has also been highlighted from the study how the landscape has been severely altered by the rapid rate of human induced land use activities in the past decade. Further investigations need to incorporate the influences of natural phenomena, such as rainfall, together with influences exerted from anthropogenic activities. This will provide clearer information on the interdependent factors at play which compromise the dilution capacity potential of the Roodeplaat Catchment Area and subsequently the poor water quality status exhibited at the impoundment. Once such externalities are accounted for, it is recommended that a suitable management plan be conducted for the Roodeplaat Catchment Area that is based on scientific grounding and proactively mitigates the impacts exuded by land-use activities, thereby improving the status of the Roodeplaat impoundment.

Internationally, water resources are facing increasing pressure due to over-exploitation and pollution. Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM) has been accepted internationally as a paradigm for integrative and sustainable management of water resources. However, in practice, the implementation and success of IWRM policies has been hampered by the lack of availability of integrative decision support tools, especially within the context of limited resources and observed data. This is true for the Crocodile River Catchment (CRC), located within the Mpumalanga Province of South Africa. The catchment has been experiencing a decline in water quality as a result of the point source input of a cocktail of pollutants, which are discharged from industrial and municipal wastewater treatment plants, as well as diffuse source runoff and return flows from the extensive areas of irrigated agriculture and mining sites. The decline in water quality has profound implications for a range of stakeholders across the catchment including increased treatment costs and reduced crop yields. The combination of deteriorating water quality and the lack of understanding of the relationships between water quantity and quality for determining compliance/non-compliance in the CRC have resulted in collaboration between stakeholders, willing to work in a participatory and transparent manner to create an Integrated Water Quality Management Plan (IWQMP). This project aimed to model water quality, (combined water quality and quantity), to facilitate the IWQMP aiding in the understanding of the relationship between water quantity and quality in the CRC. A relatively simple water quality model (WQSAM) was used that receives inputs from established water quantity systems models, and was designed to be a water quality decision support tool for South African catchments. The model was applied to the CRC, achieving acceptable simulations of total dissolved solids (used as a surrogate for salinity) and nutrients (including orthophosphates, nitrates +nitrites and ammonium) for historical conditions. Validation results revealed that there is little consistency within the catchment, attributed to the non-stationary nature of water quality at many of the sites in the CRC. The analyses of the results using a number of representations including, seasonal load distributions, load duration curves and load flow plots, confirmed that the WQSAM model was able to capture the variability of relationships between water quantity and quality, provided that simulated hydrology was sufficiently accurate. The outputs produced by WQSAM was seen as useful for the CRC, with the Inkomati-Usuthu Catchment Management Agency (IUCMA) planning to operationalise the model in 2015. The ability of WQSAM to simulate water quality in data scarce catchments, with constituents that are appropriate for the needs of water resource management within South Africa, is highly beneficial.