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Deployment of Green Infrastructure Practices for Integrated Healthy Watershed Management

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A special issue of International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (ISSN 1660-4601). This special issue belongs to the section "Environmental Science and Engineering".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2019) | Viewed by 23215

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Shu-Yuan Pan

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Guest Editor

Department of Bioenvironmental Systems Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taiwan (ROC)
Interests: waste-to-resource technology, integrated watershed management, ecological engineering, electrokinetic separation, CO2 mineralization, life cycle assessment, system optimization
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Prof. Dr. Hyunook Kim

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Co-Guest Editor

Department of Environmental Engineering, University of Seoul, Seoul 02504, Republic of Korea
Interests: water and wastewater treatment; analysis of microplastics in the environment
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Prof. Dr. Pen-Chi Chiang

E-Mail Website
Co-Guest Editor

Graduate Institute of Environmental Engineering, National Taiwan University, 71 Chou-Shan Rd., Taipei 10673, Taiwan
Interests: advanced oxidation processes; drinking water treatment; sustainable water infrastructure; water–energy nexus
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In the face of global climate change and rapid population growth, integrated watershed or water resource management across different sectors is of great importance in ensuring the security and sustainability of the water supply. In other words, innovative watershed management practices to resolve issues potentially threatening our sustainability and keep our water environment healthy are being sought. As alternatives to traditional grey infrastructures, green-infrastructure (GI) practices that have less of an impact on the environment are widely deployed in numerous countries to manage water resources on a watershed scale. GI practices often use engineered natural or built systems to maintain clean water resources while providing environmental and ecosystem services, such as wildlife habitat creation, environmental quality improvement, and biodiversity conservation. They also serve as ecological treatment technologies for impaired water (e.g., stormwater, wastewater) via soil filtration, chemisorption, and biological degradation. The commonly used GI practices include wetlands, bioretention cells, rain gardens, green roofs, and permeable pavements.

This Special Issue collects original research and critical reviews about scientific and technical information on the recent advances in GI practices for achieving integrated healthy watershed management. The primary areas of interest of this Special Issue include, but are not limited to, (1) design criteria for various types of GI practices; (2) interactions between natural and built technologies for integrated water treatment; (3) integrated sensor networks and IoT technologies for the monitoring, control, and assessment of GI performance; (4) holistic assessment and modelling tools of GI practices for a healthy water environment; and (5) strategic management of the enhancement of the resilience of the urban water system toward a healthy watershed and reservoir.

Dr. Shu-Yuan Pan
Prof. Pen-Chi Chiang
Prof. Hyunook Kim
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2500 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

Engineered natural systems
Low-impact development
Low-energy-demanding water-purifying systems
Water sustainability
Ecosystem services
Stormwater control and flood management
Resilient (sponge) city
Food, water, and energy nexus
Land-use management.

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

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16 pages, 3802 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Establishment of an Automatic Real-Time Monitoring System for Irrigation Water Quality Management

by Wei-Jhan Syu, Tsun-Kuo Chang and Shu-Yuan Pan

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2020, 17(3), 737; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ijerph17030737 - 23 Jan 2020

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 3087

Abstract

In order to provide the real-time monitoring for identifying the sources of pollution and improving the irrigation water quality management, the integration of continuous automatic sampling techniques and cloud technologies is essential. In this study, we have established an automatic real-time monitoring system for improving the irrigation water quality management, especially for heavy metals such as Cd, Pb, Cu, Ni, Zn, and Cr. As a part of this work, we have first provided several examples on the basic water quality parameters (e.g., pH and electrical conductance) to demonstrate the capacity of data correction by the smart monitoring system, and then evaluated the trend and variance of water quality parameters for different types of monitoring stations. By doing so, the threshold (to initiate early warming) of different water quality parameters could be dynamically determined by the system, and the authorities could be immediately notified for follow-up actions. We have also provided and discussed the representative results from the real-time automatic monitoring system of heavy metals from different monitoring stations. Finally, we have illustrated the implications of the developed smart monitoring system for ensuring the safety of irrigation water in the near future, including integration with automatic sampling for establishing information exchange platform, estimating fluxes of heavy metals to paddy fields, and combining with green technologies for nonpoint source pollution control. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Deployment of Green Infrastructure Practices for Integrated Healthy Watershed Management)

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23 pages, 2133 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

Distribution and Removal of Pharmaceuticals in Liquid and Solid Phases in the Unit Processes of Sewage Treatment Plants

by Junwon Park, Changsoo Kim, Youngmin Hong, Wonseok Lee, Hyenmi Chung, Dong-Hwan Jeong and Hyunook Kim

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2020, 17(3), 687; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ijerph17030687 - 21 Jan 2020

Cited by 28 | Viewed by 4010

Abstract

In this study, we analyzed 27 pharmaceuticals in liquid and solid phase samples collected from the unit processes of four different sewage treatment plants (STPs) to evaluate their distribution and behavior of the pharmaceuticals. The examination of the relative distributions of various categories of pharmaceuticals in the influent showed that non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) were the most dominant. While the relative distribution of antibiotics in the influent was not high (i.e., 3%–5%), it increased to 14%–30% in the effluent. In the four STPs, the mass load of the target pharmaceuticals was reduced by 88%–95% mainly in the biological treatment process, whereas the ratio of pharmaceuticals in waste sludge to those in the influent (w/w) was only 2%. In all the STPs, the removal efficiencies for the stimulant caffeine, NSAIDs (acetaminophen, naproxen, and acetylsalicylic acid), and the antibiotic cefradine were high; they were removed mainly by biological processes. Certain compounds, such as the NSAID ketoprofen, contrast agent iopromide, lipid regulator gemfibrozil, and antibiotic sulfamethoxazole, showed varying removal efficiencies depending on the contribution of biodegradation and sludge sorption. In addition, a quantitative meta-analysis was performed to compare the pharmaceutical removal efficiencies of the biological treatment processes in the four STPs, which were a membrane bioreactor (MBR) process, sequencing batch reactor (SBR) process, anaerobic–anoxic–oxic (A2O) process, and moving-bed biofilm reactor (MBBR) process. Among the biological processes, the removal efficiency was in the order of MBR > SBR > A2O > MBBR. Among the tertiary treatment processes investigated, powdered activated carbon showed the highest removal efficiency of 18%–63% for gemfibrozil, ibuprofen, ketoprofen, atenolol, cimetidine, and trimethoprim. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Deployment of Green Infrastructure Practices for Integrated Healthy Watershed Management)

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Graphical abstract

14 pages, 11977 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Feasibility Study of Activated Sludge/Contact Aeration Combined System Treating Oil-Containing Domestic Sewage

by Chih-Kuei Chen, Hung-Chih Liang and Shang-Lien Lo

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2020, 17(2), 544; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ijerph17020544 - 15 Jan 2020

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2385

Abstract

Both activated sludge/contact aeration (AS/CA) and AS-only systems for treating oil-containing domestic sewage were tested. The results of these tests indicate that the oil and grease removal ratios of the AS/CA system exceeded those of the AS-only system. When the influent oil and grease concentration reached 60 mg/L, the effluent concentration of the AS system was 13 mg/L, which exceed 10 mg/L, the Taiwan Effluent Standard for oil and grease. However, in the AS/CA system, the effluent oil and grease concentration was 8 mg/L, which was below the required standard. This study analyzes the biological phases of the AS-only system and the combined AS/CA system using a scanning electronic microscope and a denatured gradient gel electrophoresis method when the inflow concentration of oil and grease is increased to 120 mg/L. The results of the Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) experiment reveal that the AS/CA system is affected less than the AS system, and the COD removal rate of the AS/CA system is maintained at 81%, which exceeds that (61.5%) of the AS-only system. The analytical results thus obtained suggest that both the amounts of biological phase and the biomass in the combined AS/CA system exceed those of an AS-only system. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Deployment of Green Infrastructure Practices for Integrated Healthy Watershed Management)

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18 pages, 3169 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Combination of Coagulation and Ozone Catalytic Oxidation for Pretreating Coking Wastewater

by Lei Chen, Yanhua Xu and Yongjun Sun

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2019, 16(10), 1705; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ijerph16101705 - 15 May 2019

Cited by 24 | Viewed by 3538

Abstract

In this study, coagulation, ozone (O₃) catalytic oxidation, and their combined process were used to pretreat actual coking wastewater. The effects on the removal of chemical oxygen demand (COD) and phenol in coking wastewater were investigated. Results showed that the optimum reaction conditions were an O₃ mass flow rate of 4.1 mg min⁻¹, a reaction temperature of 35 °C, a catalyst dosage ratio of 5:1, and a O₃ dosage of 500 mg·L⁻¹. The phenol removal ratio was 36.8% for the coagulation and sedimentation of coking wastewater under optimal conditions of 25 °C of reaction temperature, 7.5 reaction pH, 150 reaction gradient (G) value, and 500 mg·L⁻¹ coagulant dosage. The removal ratios of COD and phenol reached 24.06% and 2.18%, respectively. After the O₃-catalyzed oxidation treatment, the phenols, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and heterocyclic compounds were degraded to varying degrees. Coagulation and O₃ catalytic oxidation contributed to the removal of phenol and COD. The optimum reaction conditions for the combined process were as follows: O₃ dosage of 500 mg·L⁻¹, O₃ mass flow of 4.1 mg·min⁻¹, catalyst dosage ratio of 5:1, and reaction temperature of 35 °C. The removal ratios of phenol and COD reached 47.3% and 30.7%, respectively. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Deployment of Green Infrastructure Practices for Integrated Healthy Watershed Management)

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Review

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29 pages, 2229 KiB

Open AccessReview

Integration of Green Energy and Advanced Energy-Efficient Technologies for Municipal Wastewater Treatment Plants

by Ziyang Guo, Yongjun Sun, Shu-Yuan Pan and Pen-Chi Chiang

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2019, 16(7), 1282; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ijerph16071282 - 10 Apr 2019

Cited by 65 | Viewed by 9432

Abstract

Wastewater treatment can consume a large amount of energy to meet discharge standards. However, wastewater also contains resources which could be recovered for secondary uses under proper treatment. Hence, the goal of this paper is to review the available green energy and biomass energy that can be utilized in wastewater treatment plants. Comprehensive elucidation of energy-efficient technologies for wastewater treatment plants are revealed. For these energy-efficient technologies, this review provides an introduction and current application status of these technologies as well as key performance indicators for the integration of green energy and energy-efficient technologies. There are several assessment perspectives summarized in the evaluation of the integration of green energy and energy-efficient technologies in wastewater treatment plants. To overcome the challenges in wastewater treatment plants, the Internet of Things (IoT) and green chemistry technologies for the water and energy nexus are proposed. The findings of this review are highly beneficial for the development of green energy and energy-efficient wastewater treatment plants. Future research should investigate the integration of green infrastructure and ecologically advanced treatment technologies to explore the potential benefits and advantages. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Deployment of Green Infrastructure Practices for Integrated Healthy Watershed Management)

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