No description available.

A poluição dos rios brasileiros é, atualmente, um grande problema para as autoridades governamentais já que a demanda dos recursos hídricos vem crescendo nos últimos anos. Os rios Tietê, Pinheiros e Tamanduateí foram de grande importância para a cidade de São Paulo em seu período de industrialização, contudo o próprio desenvolvimento industrial impactou permanentemente os mesmos. Preocupados com a saúde ambiental, órgãos fiscalizadores estaduais iniciaram forte fiscalização para coibir e responsabilizar os principais culpados. Esta política pública resultou em uma diminuição das concentrações de poluentes orgânicos e inorgânicos, porém muito pouco foi efetivamente feito com relação ao esgoto doméstico, e, como consequência, a toxicidade das águas dos rios permanece elevada. Os estudos de Avaliação e identificação da toxicidade englobam diversas metodologias reunidas em três documentos pela USEPA - Agência de Proteção Ambiental dos Estados Unidos, onde método físico-químico e testes toxicológicos são usados para identificar substâncias tóxicas, ou grupo de substâncias tóxicas que contribuem efetivamente para a toxicidade total de uma amostra. A abordagem rotineiramente utilizada baseia-se no fracionamento da amostra de acordo com suas propriedades físico-químicas: volatilidade, solubilidade e capacidade de formar complexos, ou de ser reduzida, oxidada, ionizada, entre outras. Em conjunto com os ensaios químicos, os ensaios toxicológicos, em especial o Sistema Microtox®, contribuem na investigação da toxicidade para os rios metropolitanos Tietê, Pinheiros e Tamanduateí, que se mostrou eficaz na determinação dos grupos de compostos, sendo os compostos orgânicos apolares, orgânicos voláteis, tensoativos e as partículas, as principais fontes da toxicidade para esses rios. Embora muitas informações sobre a toxicidade tenham sido descobertas, a identificação dos compostos só pode ser realizada por análises químicas mais robustas uma vez que um grande número de substâncias, metabólitos e subprodutos de degradação são facilmente encontrados neste tipo de amostra. Mesmo sofrendo algumas modificações, deve-se incentivar o uso desta metodologia para outros rios a fim de determinar os principais toxicantes responsáveis pela toxicidade. / Pollution of Brazilian rivers is currently a major problem for government authorities as demand for water resources has been increasing in recent years. Tietê, Pinheiros and Tamanduateí rivers were of great importance for the city of São Paulo during its industrialization period, however, the industrial development itself permanently impacted them. Concerned about environmental health, state supervisory bodies have begun strong enforcement to curb and hold the main culprits accountable. This public policy has resulted in a decrease in concentrations of organic and inorganic chemicals, but very little has been done in relation to domestic sewage, and as a consequence, the toxicity of the rivers remains high. The Toxicology Assessment and Identification studies encompass various methodologies gathered in three documents by the USEPA, where physico-chemical method and toxicological tests are used to identify toxic substances, or group of toxic substances that effectively contribute to the total toxicity of a sample. The routinely used approach is based on fractionation of the sample according to its physicochemical properties: volatility, solubility and chemical properties such as the ability to form complexes, or to be reduced, oxidized, ionized, among others. In conjunction with the chemical tests, the toxicological tests in particular the Microtox® System contribute to the investigation of the toxicity to the metropolitan rivers, Tietê, Pinheiros and Tamanduateí, which proved to be effective in the determination of the groups of compounds, the organic compounds being apolar, organic volatiles, surfactants and particulates, the main sources of toxicity for the studied rivers. Although much information on toxicity has been discovered, the identification of compounds can only be performed by more robust chemical analyzes since a large number of substances, metabolites, degradation byproducts are readily found in this type of sample. Even with some modifications, it is necessary to encourage the use of this methodology for other rivers in order to determine the main xenobiotics responsible for toxicity.

A poluição dos rios brasileiros é, atualmente, um grande problema para as autoridades governamentais já que a demanda dos recursos hídricos vem crescendo nos últimos anos. Os rios Tietê, Pinheiros e Tamanduateí foram de grande importância para a cidade de São Paulo em seu período de industrialização, contudo o próprio desenvolvimento industrial impactou permanentemente os mesmos. Preocupados com a saúde ambiental, órgãos fiscalizadores estaduais iniciaram forte fiscalização para coibir e responsabilizar os principais culpados. Esta política pública resultou em uma diminuição das concentrações de poluentes orgânicos e inorgânicos, porém muito pouco foi efetivamente feito com relação ao esgoto doméstico, e, como consequência, a toxicidade das águas dos rios permanece elevada. Os estudos de Avaliação e identificação da toxicidade englobam diversas metodologias reunidas em três documentos pela USEPA - Agência de Proteção Ambiental dos Estados Unidos, onde método físico-químico e testes toxicológicos são usados para identificar substâncias tóxicas, ou grupo de substâncias tóxicas que contribuem efetivamente para a toxicidade total de uma amostra. A abordagem rotineiramente utilizada baseia-se no fracionamento da amostra de acordo com suas propriedades físico-químicas: volatilidade, solubilidade e capacidade de formar complexos, ou de ser reduzida, oxidada, ionizada, entre outras. Em conjunto com os ensaios químicos, os ensaios toxicológicos, em especial o Sistema Microtox®, contribuem na investigação da toxicidade para os rios metropolitanos Tietê, Pinheiros e Tamanduateí, que se mostrou eficaz na determinação dos grupos de compostos, sendo os compostos orgânicos apolares, orgânicos voláteis, tensoativos e as partículas, as principais fontes da toxicidade para esses rios. Embora muitas informações sobre a toxicidade tenham sido descobertas, a identificação dos compostos só pode ser realizada por análises químicas mais robustas uma vez que um grande número de substâncias, metabólitos e subprodutos de degradação são facilmente encontrados neste tipo de amostra. Mesmo sofrendo algumas modificações, deve-se incentivar o uso desta metodologia para outros rios a fim de determinar os principais toxicantes responsáveis pela toxicidade. / Pollution of Brazilian rivers is currently a major problem for government authorities as demand for water resources has been increasing in recent years. Tietê, Pinheiros and Tamanduateí rivers were of great importance for the city of São Paulo during its industrialization period, however, the industrial development itself permanently impacted them. Concerned about environmental health, state supervisory bodies have begun strong enforcement to curb and hold the main culprits accountable. This public policy has resulted in a decrease in concentrations of organic and inorganic chemicals, but very little has been done in relation to domestic sewage, and as a consequence, the toxicity of the rivers remains high. The Toxicology Assessment and Identification studies encompass various methodologies gathered in three documents by the USEPA, where physico-chemical method and toxicological tests are used to identify toxic substances, or group of toxic substances that effectively contribute to the total toxicity of a sample. The routinely used approach is based on fractionation of the sample according to its physicochemical properties: volatility, solubility and chemical properties such as the ability to form complexes, or to be reduced, oxidized, ionized, among others. In conjunction with the chemical tests, the toxicological tests in particular the Microtox® System contribute to the investigation of the toxicity to the metropolitan rivers, Tietê, Pinheiros and Tamanduateí, which proved to be effective in the determination of the groups of compounds, the organic compounds being apolar, organic volatiles, surfactants and particulates, the main sources of toxicity for the studied rivers. Although much information on toxicity has been discovered, the identification of compounds can only be performed by more robust chemical analyzes since a large number of substances, metabolites, degradation byproducts are readily found in this type of sample. Even with some modifications, it is necessary to encourage the use of this methodology for other rivers in order to determine the main xenobiotics responsible for toxicity.

Ce travail de recherche porte sur l'application d'un procédé électrochimique d'oxydation avancée, le procédé électro-Fenton, au traitement des eaux usées contenant des polluants organiques persistants tels que les herbicides. En fait, le radical hydroxyle qui est un oxydant fort est généré in situ de manière électrocatalytique. Ce radical est capable d'oxyder n'importe quel molécule organique jusqu'à la minéralisation (transformation en CO2 et H2O).La dégradation/minéralisation de trois herbicides (atrazine, mesotrione et sulcotrione) a fait l'objet de ce travail. L'atrazine est un herbicide qui a été très largement utilisé dans le passé et interdit récemment en France à raison de son impact négatif sur l'environnement. L'atrazine constitue un polluant chroniques des eaux de surfaces et souterrains des deux dernières décennies. L'atrazine et ses métabolites seront présents dans les eaux encore pendant plusieurs années. L'atrazine est bien connu comme herbicide problématique quant à leur traitement. L'atrazine est une des molécules rare qui résiste à la minéralisation par les procédés d'oxydation avancée. Mesotrione et sulcotrione se sont des molécules conçus pour remplacer l'atrazine en tant que herbicides. Après avoir optimisé les paramètres opératoires du procédé électro-Fenton (nature et concentration du catalyseur, l'utilisation d'une anode Pt et une anode BDD en diamant dopé au bore, etc.) afin d'augmenter son efficacité, nous l'avons appliqué au traitement des solutions aqueux des polluants organiques. En premier lieu, nous avons identifié et effectué le suivi quantitatif des intermédiaires réactionnels aromatiques et aliphatiques formés lors du traitement. La libération des ions minéraux a été mise en évidence par chromatographie et leur évolution au cours de l'électrolyse a été suivie. L'efficacité de minéralisation des solutions traitées a été déterminée par l'analyse du carbone organique total. Dans le cas de l'atrazine, un taux de minéralisation de 96 % a été obtenu. Un taux si élevé n'est jamais rapporté par un procédé d'oxydation avancée. L'étude cinétique de la dégradation des herbicides étudiés a permis de déterminer les constantes de réaction apparentes de dégradation par les radicaux hydroxyles. Les constantes de vitesse absolue (kabs) de réaction des radicaux hydroxyles sur les herbicides étudiés ont été mesurées par la mise en oeuvre de la méthode de cinétique de compétition. Les valeurs de ( (1,53 x 108 M-1 s-1 ) ,(1.01 x 109 M-1 s-1 ) et ( 8.20 x 108 M-1 s-1)ont été trouvées respectivement pour l'atrazine, la sulcotrione et la Mesotrione / This study concerns the application of an electrochemical advanced oxidation process, namely the "electro-Fenton process", to treatment of waste water containing the persistent organic pollutants such as herbicides. A very strong oxidant, the hydroxyl radical, is generated in situ in electrocatalytic way. This radical is able to oxidize any organic molecule until the ultimate oxidation stage, i.e. mineralization (transformation into CO2 and H2O).Degradation/mineralization of three herbicides (atrazine, sulcotrione and mesotrione) was the subject of this work. Atrazine was very largely used herbicide in the past and prohibited recently in France because of its negative impact on the environment. During the two last decades atrazine constituted the chronic pollutants of surface and underground waters. Atrazine and its metabolites will be present in water still during several years. Atrazine are well-known as problematic herbicides for their treatment. Atrazine is one of the rare molecules which resist to mineralization by the advanced oxidation processes. Mesotrione and sulcotrione are molecules designed to replace the atrazine as weed-killers. After having optimized the operational parameters of the electro-Fenton process (nature and concentration of the catalyst, the use of a boron doped diamond (BDD) instead of Pt, etc.) in order to increase its efficiency, we applied it to treatment of the aqueous solutions of selected herbicides. Initially, we identified and carried out the quantitative follow-up of the aromatic and aliphatic reaction intermediates formed during current controlled electrolysis. The release of the mineral ions was measured by ion chromatography and their evolution during electrolysis was followed. The mineralization efficiency of treated solutions was determined in term of total organic carbon (TOC) measurements. In the case of the atrazine, a mineralization ratio of 96% was obtained. Such mineralization efficiency was never reported by an advanced oxidation process. The degradation kinetics study of the herbicides under examination permitted to determine the apparent rate constants (kapp) of the reactions between herbicides and hydroxyl radical. The absolute rate constants (kabs) of degradation reactions of studied herbicides were determined by employing the competition kinetics method using a standard molecule for which kabs is known. The values of (1,53 x 108 M-1 s-1 ) ,(1.01 x 109 M-1 s-1 ) and ( 8.20 x 108 M-1 s-1) were found respectively for the atrazine, the sulcotrione and the Mesotrione

Les sédiments sont des compartiments du milieu aquatique qui accumulent des polluants via les dépôts de matières en suspension. La contamination des sédiments peut présenter potentiellement des effets négatifs sur les organismes aquatiques, et pour cette raison ils convient de les surveiller, évaluer et protéger afin de garantir l'intégrité de la structure et du fonctionnement des écosystèmes aquatiques. Le projet ANR-PRECODD DIESE (Outils de Diagnostic de l'Ecotoxicité des Sédiments) a réuni différents partenaires pour le développement d'une stratégie d'évaluation graduée du risque environnemental des sédiments contaminés d'eau douce. C'est dans le cadre de ce projet que se situe notre travail de recherche qui concerne le développement et l'optimisation de microbiotests en phase solide pour évaluer l'écotoxicité des sédiments. Les microbiotests sélectionné dans la cadre de cette étude ont été les tests Microtox® en phase solide(MSPA), les tests algues en phase solide, le test Luminotox en phase solide Lum-SPA) et l'Ostracodtoxkit®. Ces biotests se caractérisent par différentes conditions d'essai et divers critères d'évaluation. Ils ont généré différentes réponses pour chaque sédiment testé, le test algues a été le seul test qui n'a pas présenté de sensibilités avec tous les échantillons testés. En outre, nous avons montré que les réponses des tests MSPA et Lum-SPA étaient corrélées à certaines caractéristiques géochimiques des sédiments. Finalement, nous avons synthétisé les réponses de trois microbiotests à l'aide d'un indice d'intégration permettant ainsi de discriminer l'écotoxicité observée des sédiments / The sediments are a compartment of the aquatic environment that tends to accumulate pollutants through the deposition of suspended solids. Sediment contamination can have potentially negative effects on aquatic organisms, so it is necessary to monitor, assess and protect the sediments to ensure the integrity of the structure and functioning of aquatic ecosystems. The ANR-PRECODD DIESE (diagnostic tools for assessing sediment ecotoxicity) has joined efforts of different partners to develop a strategy for tiered environmental risk assessment of contaminated freshwater sediments. In the framework of this project our research was focused on the development and optimization of solid phase microbiotests to assess the ecotoxicity of freshwater sediments. The microbiotests selected in this study were the tests Microtox® solid phase (MSPA), the algal solid phase test, the test LuminoTox solid phase (Lum-SPA) and Ostracodtoxkit®. These biotests are characterized by different test conditions and assessment criteria. We have obtained different responses for each tested sediment. The algal test was the only ones that have not reported sensitivities with all samples tested. Furthermore, we demonstrated that the response of the test Lum-SPA and MSPA were correlated with some geochemical characteristics of sediments. Finally, we synthesized the responses of three microbiotests using an index of integration allowing to discriminate between the observed sediment ecotoxicity

No description available.

Cubatão, na Baixada Santista ficou caracterizada na década de 70 pelo caos ambiental propiciado pela instalação de dezenas de indústrias de base, sem planejamento territorial urbano adequado, sem estudo de impacto ambiental e com poucos equipamentos de controle de poluição do ar, solo e água. Dentre as indústrias sediadas no pólo industrial de Cubatão, a siderúrgica é responsável pela poluição das águas do estuário santista com a maior carga tóxica e 60por cento de Fenol e 70por cento de Metal Pesado, do total lançado por todas as indústrias do Polo. Este trabalho faz levantamento bibliográfico nacional e internacional sobre poluição hídrica de Siderúrgicas notadamente coquerias e mostra pesquisa de campo realizada em 13 campanhas, com amostragens junto a saída de efluentes no porto da empresa no estuário santista. Os resultados das amostras no ponto responsável pelos efluentes das fábricas de coqueria, laminação, aciaria e altos fornos, indicam toxicidade em 80por cento das campanhas e mutagenicidade de moderada a alta em 75por cento das amostras pesquisadas. Os resultados dos bioensaios utilizados, Microtox e Ames, respectivamente para toxicidade aguda e mutagenicidade, foram comparados aos dos últimos trabalhos realizados na COSIPA em 1986 e 1993, e aos relatórios do órgão controlador, CETESB de 1992 e 1994. Abrem - se discussões sobre os resultados que apontam o particulado presente na amostra como tóxico e mutagênico e induzem à proposta de recirculação e reaproveitamento total à jusante da empresa, de todas águas servidas descartadas no processo, a exemplo de países do 1º Mundo que convivem com a produção do aço / Cubatão, situated in the low lying basin behind the porto f Santos on the coast of the state of São Paulo, Brazil, was notorious during the seventies for the environmental chaos produced by the dozens of basic industries and the lack of adequate urban planning, of studies of the environmental impact caused and with negligible resources for the control of pollution, whether of the air, soil or water. Among the factories located in the industrial park of Cubatão, the steelworks is responsible for the largest toxic contribution as also for 60per cent of the fenol and 70per cent of the heavy metals of the overall total of these substances expelled by the factories of the industrial park. A survey of the literature, both national and international, dealing with the associated coke producing plants, was undertaken and presents field research carried out in the course of 13 campaigns giving the results of samples colleted close to the effluents in the company´s port in the Santos estuay. The results of the bioassays used to assess acute toxicity and mutagenicity, Microtox and Ames respectively, were compared with those found in the last researths undertaken by COSIPA in 1986 and 1993 and with those given in the reports of CETESB, the organ responsible for pollution control, in 1992 and 1994. The results which show that the particles presents in the samples were toxic and mutagenic are discussed and lay the foundation for the proposal that the totality of the water used shoud be returned to above the plant in such away as to permit its constant re use, in accordance with the example given by countries of the first world which have learnt to live with the nead for the production of steel

Cubatão, na Baixada Santista ficou caracterizada na década de 70 pelo caos ambiental propiciado pela instalação de dezenas de indústrias de base, sem planejamento territorial urbano adequado, sem estudo de impacto ambiental e com poucos equipamentos de controle de poluição do ar, solo e água. Dentre as indústrias sediadas no pólo industrial de Cubatão, a siderúrgica é responsável pela poluição das águas do estuário santista com a maior carga tóxica e 60por cento de Fenol e 70por cento de Metal Pesado, do total lançado por todas as indústrias do Polo. Este trabalho faz levantamento bibliográfico nacional e internacional sobre poluição hídrica de Siderúrgicas notadamente coquerias e mostra pesquisa de campo realizada em 13 campanhas, com amostragens junto a saída de efluentes no porto da empresa no estuário santista. Os resultados das amostras no ponto responsável pelos efluentes das fábricas de coqueria, laminação, aciaria e altos fornos, indicam toxicidade em 80por cento das campanhas e mutagenicidade de moderada a alta em 75por cento das amostras pesquisadas. Os resultados dos bioensaios utilizados, Microtox e Ames, respectivamente para toxicidade aguda e mutagenicidade, foram comparados aos dos últimos trabalhos realizados na COSIPA em 1986 e 1993, e aos relatórios do órgão controlador, CETESB de 1992 e 1994. Abrem - se discussões sobre os resultados que apontam o particulado presente na amostra como tóxico e mutagênico e induzem à proposta de recirculação e reaproveitamento total à jusante da empresa, de todas águas servidas descartadas no processo, a exemplo de países do 1º Mundo que convivem com a produção do aço / Cubatão, situated in the low lying basin behind the porto f Santos on the coast of the state of São Paulo, Brazil, was notorious during the seventies for the environmental chaos produced by the dozens of basic industries and the lack of adequate urban planning, of studies of the environmental impact caused and with negligible resources for the control of pollution, whether of the air, soil or water. Among the factories located in the industrial park of Cubatão, the steelworks is responsible for the largest toxic contribution as also for 60per cent of the fenol and 70per cent of the heavy metals of the overall total of these substances expelled by the factories of the industrial park. A survey of the literature, both national and international, dealing with the associated coke producing plants, was undertaken and presents field research carried out in the course of 13 campaigns giving the results of samples colleted close to the effluents in the company´s port in the Santos estuay. The results of the bioassays used to assess acute toxicity and mutagenicity, Microtox and Ames respectively, were compared with those found in the last researths undertaken by COSIPA in 1986 and 1993 and with those given in the reports of CETESB, the organ responsible for pollution control, in 1992 and 1994. The results which show that the particles presents in the samples were toxic and mutagenic are discussed and lay the foundation for the proposal that the totality of the water used shoud be returned to above the plant in such away as to permit its constant re use, in accordance with the example given by countries of the first world which have learnt to live with the nead for the production of steel

There are many situations where a linguistic description of complex phenomena allows better assessments. It is well known that the assessment of water quality continues depending heavily upon subjective judgments and interpretation, despite the huge datasets available nowadays. In that sense, the aim of this study has been to introduce intelligent linguistic operations to analyze databases, and produce self interpretable water quality indicators, which tolerate both imprecision and linguistic uncertainty. Such imprecision typically reflects the ambiguity of human thinking when perceptions need to be expressed. Environmental management concepts such as: "water quality", "level of risk", or "ecological status" are ideally dealt with linguistic variables. In the present Thesis, the flexibility of computing with words offered by fuzzy logic has been considered in these management issues. Firstly, a multipurpose hierarchical water quality index has been designed with fuzzy reasoning. It integrates a wide set of indicators including: organic pollution, nutrients, pathogens, physicochemical macro-variables, and priority micro-contaminants. Likewise, the relative importance of the water quality indicators has been dealt with the analytic hierarchy process, a decision-aiding method. Secondly, a methodology based on a hybrid approach that combines fuzzy inference systems and artificial neural networks has been used to classify ecological status in surface waters according to the Water Framework Directive. This methodology has allowed dealing efficiently with the non-linearity and subjective nature of variables involved in this classification problem. The complexity of inference systems, the appropriate choice of linguistic rules, and the influence of the functions that transform numerical variables into linguistic variables have been studied. Thirdly, a concurrent neuro-fuzzy model based on screening ecological risk assessment has been developed. It has considered the presence of hazardous substances in rivers, and incorporates an innovative ranking and scoring system, based on a self-organizing map, to account for the likely ecological hazards posed by the presence of chemical substances in freshwater ecosystems. Hazard factors are combined with environmental concentrations within fuzzy inference systems to compute ecological risk potentials under linguistic uncertainty. The estimation of ecological risk potentials allows identifying those substances requiring stricter controls and further rigorous risk assessment. Likewise, the aggregation of ecological risk potentials, by means of empirical cumulative distribution functions, has allowed estimating changes in water quality over time. The neuro-fuzzy approach has been validated by comparison with biological monitoring. Finally, a hierarchical fuzzy inference system to deal with sediment based ecological risk assessment has been designed. The study was centered in sediments, since they produce complementary findings to water quality analysis, especially when temporal trends are required. Results from chemical and eco-toxicological analyses have been used as inputs to two parallel inference systems which assess levels of contamination and toxicity, respectively. Results from both inference engines are then treated in a third inference engine which provides a final risk characterization, where the risk is provided in linguistic terms, with their respective degrees of certitude. Inputs to the risk system have been the levels of potentially toxic substances, mainly metals and chlorinated organic compounds, and the toxicity measured with a screening test which uses the photo-luminescent bacteria Vibrio fischeri. The Ebro river basin has been selected as case study, although the methodologies here explained can easily be applied to other rivers. In conclusion, this study has broadly demonstrated that the design of water quality indexes, based on fuzzy logic, emerges as suitable and alternative tool to support decision makers involved in effective sustainable river basin management plans. / Existen diversas situaciones en las cuales la descripción en términos lingüísticos de fenómenos complejos permite mejores resultados. A pesar de los volúmenes de información cuantitativa que se manejan actualmente, es bien sabido que la gestión de la calidad del agua todavía obedece a juicios subjetivos y de interpretación de los expertos. Por tanto, el reto en este trabajo ha sido la introducción de operaciones lógicas que computen con palabras durante el análisis de los datos, para la elaboración de indicadores auto-interpretables de calidad del agua, que toleren la imprecisión e incertidumbre lingüística. Esta imprecisión típicamente refleja la ambigüedad del pensamiento humano para expresar percepciones. De allí que las variables lingüísticas se presenten como muy atractivas para el manejo de conceptos de la gestión medioambiental, como es el caso de la "calidad del agua", el "nivel de riesgo" o el "estado ecológico". Por tanto, en la presente Tesis, la flexibilidad de la lógica difusa para computar con palabras se ha adaptado a diversos tópicos en la gestión de la calidad del agua. Primero, se desarrolló un índice jerárquico multipropósito de calidad del agua que se obtuvo mediante razonamiento difuso. El índice integra un extenso grupo de indicadores que incluyen: contaminación orgánica, nutrientes, patógenos, variables macroscópicas, así como sustancias prioritarias micro-contaminantes. La importancia relativa de los indicadores al interior del sistema de inferencia se estimó con un método de análisis de decisiones, llamado proceso jerárquico analítico. En una segunda fase, se utilizó una metodología híbrida que combina los sistemas de inferencia difusos y las redes neuronales artificiales, conocida como neuro-fuzzy, para el estudio de la clasificación del estado ecológico de los ríos, de acuerdo con los lineamientos de la Directiva Marco de Aguas. Esta metodología permitió un manejo adecuado de la no-linealidad y naturaleza subjetiva de las variables involucradas en este problema clasificatorio. Con ella, se estudió la complejidad de los sistemas de inferencia, la selección apropiada de reglas lingüísticas y la influencia de las funciones que transforman las variables numéricas en lingüísticas. En una tercera fase, se desarrolló un modelo conceptual neuro-fuzzy concurrente basado en la metodología de evaluación de riesgo ecológico preliminar. Este modelo consideró la presencia de sustancias peligrosas en los ríos, e incorporó un mapa auto-organizativo para clasificar las sustancias químicas, en términos de su peligrosidad hacia los ecosistemas acuáticos. Con este modelo se estimaron potenciales de riesgo ecológico por combinación de factores de peligrosidad y de concentraciones de las sustancias químicas en el agua. Debido a la alta imprecisión e incertidumbre lingüística, estos potenciales se obtuvieron mediante sistemas de inferencia difusos, y se integraron por medio de distribuciones empíricas acumuladas, con las cuales se pueden analizar cambios espacio-temporales en la calidad del agua. Finalmente, se diseñó un sistema jerárquico de inferencia difuso para la evaluación del riesgo ecológico en sedimentos de ribera. Este sistema estima los grados de contaminación, toxicidad y riesgo en los sedimentos en términos lingüísticos, con sus respectivos niveles de certeza. El sistema se alimenta con información proveniente de análisis químicos, que detectan la presencia de sustancias micro-contaminantes, y de ensayos eco-toxicológicos tipo "screening" que usan la bacteria Vibrio fischeri. Como caso de estudio se seleccionó la cuenca del río Ebro, aunque las metodologías aquí desarrolladas pueden aplicarse fácilmente a otros ríos. En conclusión, este trabajo demuestra ampliamente que el diseño y aplicación de indicadores de calidad de las aguas, basados en la metodología de la lógica difusa, constituyen una herramienta sencilla y útil para los tomadores de decisiones encargados de la gestión sostenible de las cuencas hidrográficas.

Contaminated soils are a large issue worldwide and much effort has been made to find efficient remediation methods. At many contaminated sites, mixtures of dif­ferent contaminants with different properties are present, which may lead to addi­tional problems, and thus additional costs, during the remediation process. This thesis presents the results from soil remedia­tion of two mixed contaminated soils, containing explosives and heavy metals and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) and arsenic, respectively. The re­sults demonstrate that bioremediation may be an efficient method for moderate explosives concentration, but that too high contaminant concentrations may prevent the biodegradation, measured by both chemical and ecotoxicological analyses. If the contaminant concentration is very high, soil washing with alkaline pH (~12, NaOH) may be a good alterna­tive, which was observed to remove both explosives and heavy metals. For a PAH and arsenic contaminated soil, little degradation of organics was ob­served during the bioremediation. However, the arsenic present was re-distributed in the soil, which could poten­tially lead to increased availability and thus in­creased risk for contaminant spreading. Soil washing at alkaline pH (~12-13; Ca(OH)2) with a combination of a biodegradable non-ionic sur­factant and a biodegradable chelating agent, executed at high temperature (50°C), reached treatment goals for both arsenic and PAH after 10 min treatment. Measurement of ecotoxicity using Microtox® demonstrated that remaining surfactant in the soil may lead to increased toxicity despite lower con­taminant concentrations. Soil is a basically non-renewable resource and thus re-cycling of remediated soil ought to be commonly occurring. Yet, the re-cycling of remediated masses has so far been limited in Sweden, mainly because of the risk of spreading of pollu­tant remains. However, a recent proposition from the Swedish EPA opens for re-cycl­ing, even though the thresholds are very con­servative. Risk assessment of the re­mediated soil includes the utilization of leach­ing tests to estimate the risk of spreading of remaining pollutants. A comparison of the leaching from four reme­diated soils using three different leaching solutions reveals that leaching of both heavy metals and PAH occurs. In addition, differ­ences between different legisla­tions were observed, which could imply that the same soil could be re-cycled in one country (the Netherlands) but not another (Sweden).