One of the prerequisites for sustainable development is integrated waste management, including sewage sludge. Besides its good fertilization properties, sewage sludge, which is an inevitable by-product of sewage treatment, accumulates toxic chemical substances and dangerous pathogenic and toxicogenic organisms. Uncontrolled introduction of sewage sludge into soil might pose a serious threat to food chain and natural soil microflora. This in effect might disturb the ecological balance in a particular ecosystem. This study presents author’s own investigations of the sanitary conditions of sewage sludge and the conditions after the processes of aerobic and anaerobic stabilization. The investigated sewage sludge originated from a municipal wastewater treatment plant. The sewage sludge samples were transferred onto proliferation and diagnostic media. The results of the analysis obtained in this study confirmed that sewage sludge is a material which is rich in microorganisms, including pathogenic bacterial species such as: Escherichia coli and Salmonella typhimurium. Mycological tests demonstrated that sewage sludge is a material which is conducive to proliferation of yeast-like and mould-like fungi, among which both pathogenic and toxinogenic species can be present. Quantitative analysis of the investigated sewage sludge demonstrated that the processes of stabilization reduce the content of microorganisms but they do not guarantee product safety in sanitary terms. A huge variability and variety of biological composition points to the need for further research in the field of sanitary characteristics of sewage sludge and survival rate in microorganisms from different types of sewage sludge.

The subject of the research is one of the largest World’s mine tailings disposal sites, i.e. Żelazny Most in the Legnica-Głogów Copper Mining District (south-western Poland), where flotation tailings are poured out after copper ore treatment. The protective hydraulic barrier made of 46 vertical drainage wells was characterized and evaluated in view of reduction of major contaminants (Cl, Na, SO4, Ca) migrating from the facility to its foreground. The efficiency of groundwater protection was determined on the basis of a new approach. In applied method the loads of characteristic and commonly recognizable compounds, i.e. salt (NaCl) and gypsum (CaSO4) were calculated, instead their chemical components. The temporal and spatial variability of captured main contaminants loads as well as its causes are discussed. The paper ends with the results of efficiency analyses of the barrier and with respect to the predicted increase in contaminant concentrations in the pulp poured out to the tailings site.

Tropospheric ozone is one of the most reactive air pollutants, which causes visible injuries, as well as biomass and yield losses. The negative effect of ozone is cumulative during the growing season; hence crops are the most sensitive plants. Visible symptoms and biomass losses can cause economic losses. Tobacco plants have been recognized as one of the best bioindicators, but data on the cumulative effect of ozone on this species are limited. Results of an experiment with ozone-sensitive tobacco plants grown on sites varying in ozone concentration are presented in this paper. Two indices were used for data presentation of visible leaf injury degree. Higher solar radiation was the main cause of higher ozone concentration at the rural site. Higher tropospheric ozone concentrations were noted in 2010 in comparison to 2011, which was reflected in visible leaf injury. Canonical variate analysis did not reveal highly significant differences between sites, however, differences were observed in certain investigation periods. Moreover, higher leaf injury was noted at the rural site at the end of the experiment in both experimental years. This indicates the cumulative effect of ozone during the growing season. However, higher injury variability was noted at the urban site, even though lower ozone concentrations were noted there. Lower variability of injury at the rural site might suggest lack of influence of particulate matter and occurrence of higher injury even though lower ozone concentrations occurred. Better detection of ozone injury was shown by the first index based on three mean values.

The concentrations of Cu, Mn, Ni and Zn in the soil and litterfall, as well as influx of the elements to the soils with litterfall were studied in a mixed beech-pine-spruce stand in northern Poland during the years 2007–2009. Annual influx of litterfall to the soil amounted from 3.234 to 4.871 t/ha. Beech, pine and spruce litterfall contributed in total litterfall in 50.8−70.1%, 11.4−11.9% and 1.6−24.0% respectively. The following average annual concentrations of heavy metals in total litterfall during the 3-year study period were noticed: 2469.3–3469.2 mg Mn/kg, 153.6–160.8 mg/kg Zn, 8.0–14.3 mg Ni/kg and 5.0–6.8 mg Cu/kg. In general, the concentrations of Mn and Cu were higher in beech litterfall in comparison to pine and spruce. The contents of Zn and Ni in beech, pine and spruce litterfall were comparable. Annual influx of metals to the soil with litterfall was: 10341.6–14422.4 g/ha Mn, 460.3–748.1 g/ha Zn, 37.4–66.6 g/ha Ni and 20.2–31.8 g/ha Cu. The fluxes were higher for Mn, Zn and Ni, and comparable for Cu in relation to those observed in other beech, pine, spruce and mixed stands in northern Europe.

The paper presents results of research concerning possibilities of applications of reporter-genes based microorganisms, including the selective presentation of defects and advantages of different new scientific achievements of methodical solutions in genetic system constructions of biosensing elements for environmental research. The most robust and popular genetic fusion and new trends in reporter genes technology – such as LacZ (β-galactosidase), xylE (catechol 2,3-dioxygenase), gfp (green fluorescent proteins) and its mutated forms, lux (prokaryotic luciferase), luc (eukaryotic luciferase), phoA (alkaline phosphatase), gusA and gurA (β-glucuronidase), antibiotics and heavy metals resistance are described. Reporter-genes based biosensors with use of genetically modified bacteria and yeast successfully work for genotoxicity, bioavailability and oxidative stress assessment for detection and monitoring of toxic compounds in drinking water and different environmental samples, surface water, soil, sediments.

The focus of the study was on the dynamics of the variation in the population of copiotrophic and oligotrophic bacteria and actinobacteria as well as the level of acid and alkaline phosphatase activities taking place during pine bark composting, depending on the application of different organic admixtures and the Effective Microorganisms microbiological preparation as well as variation in pH values and temperature. Above all, the trend in the variation in the population of microorganisms under analysis and enzymatic activity depended on the type of admixture applied to the composted pine bark. Apart from that, the course of microbiological activity was also influenced by temperature variation, which resulted from the course of the composting process. The results obtained in the experiment proved that the admixture of PGM (plant green matter) to the composted prisms had stimulating influence on the microbiological indexes under analysis.

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) constitute a large group of organic compounds that make constant threat to the environment. Their contents from natural sources are low. The processes of incomplete organic fuel combustion are the main sources of PAHs. In Upper Silesia (Poland), large amounts of PAHs are emitted into the air as a result of coal combustion in home furnaces and liquid fuel burning in combustion engines (low emission). PAHs get into surface water because of the surface runoff and point source wastewater discharges from certain industries. The following study presents PAHs concentrations in raw municipal wastewater. The tests were performed out of the heating season. The samples were collected from the combined sewer system. The analyses of PAHs were carried out with gas chromatography coupled with a mass detector (GC-MS). The concentrations of 16 PAHs sum (EPA list) ranged between 1.025 and 3.056 μg/L. Phenanthrene dominated in nearly all the analysed samples. The contents of PAHs, which are priority hazardous substances according to the directive, were high in the analysed samples. The obtained results and the analysis of diagnostic ratios for the emissions of PAHs into the air helped to reach the conclusion that traffic emissions were the main source of PAHs in the examined wastewater.

Soils that have been exposed to flood waters can be heavily polluted by inorganic and organic compounds. They are mainly compounds which appear in dissolved or suspended form flowing together with heavily laden floodwater, as well as compounds created as a result of reactions in the soil profile, mostly due to anaerobic transformation of organic matter. Heavy metals brought with flood waters are absorbed by the soil and also washed out from flood sediments by precipitation when the flood recedes. This paper presents the results of research on the effects of fertilization with ash from incineration or pyrolysis of biomass on the migration process of heavy metals (Zn, Cu, Cr, Ni, Pb, Cd, Mn) in the arable layer of soil. It has been shown that the metals in the flood sediment migrate actively in the soil profile what leads to the enrichment of the soils, also in the case of the soil fertilization with biomass ash.

The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of residual glycerine (5 and 10% w/w) from the biodiesel industry, used as a co-substrate, on biogas production from maize silage. The experiments were conducted in a laboratory-scale, single-stage anaerobic digester at 39ºC and hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 60 d. Addition of 5% residual glycerine caused organic load rate (OLR) to increase to 1.82 compared with 1.31 g organic dry matter (ODM) L-1d-1 for maize silage alone. The specific biogas production rate and biogas yield were 1.34 L L-1d-1 and 0.71 L g ODM-1 respectively, i.e. 86% and 30% higher than for maize alone. Increasing the residual glycerine content to 10% increased OLR (2.01 g ODM L-1d-1), but clearly decreased the specific biogas production rate and biogas yield to 0.50 L L-1d-1 and 0.13 L g ODM-1 respectively. This suggested that 10% glycerine content inhibited methanogenic bacteria and organics conversion into biogas. As a result, there was accumulation of propionic and valeric acids throughout the experiment.

The study presents the manners of determination of the Darcy friction factor λ for a homogenous hydromixture of alum sludge of varied hydration and temperature for the laminar flow zone. The rheological evaluation of the hydromixture as a viscoplastic body has been conducted with use of measurements of viscosity. The curves of flow were approximated with use of the generalized Vočadlo model. The Darcy friction factor λ of the pipeline was determined with use of the non-dimensional criterion λ(Regen) and λ(Re, He).

Nitritation, the first stage of ammonia removal process is known to be limiting for total process performance. Ammonia oxidizing bacteria (AOB) which perform this process are obligatory activated sludge habitants, a mixture consisting of Bacteria, Protozoa and Metazoa used for biological wastewater treatment. Due to this fact they are an interesting bacterial group, from both the technological and ecological point of view. AOB changeability and biodiversity analyses both in wastewater treatment plants and lab-scale reactors are performed on the basis of 16S rRNA gene sequences using PCR-DGGE (Polymerase Chain Reaction – Denaturing Gradient Gel Electrophoresis) as a molecular biology tool. AOB researches are usually led with nested PCR. Because the application of nested PCR is laborious and time consuming, we have attempted to check the possibility of using only first PCR round to obtain DGGE fingerprinting of microbial communities. In this work we are comparing the nested and non-nested PCR-DGGE monitoring of an AOB community and presenting advantages and disadvantages of both methods used. The experiment revealed that PCR technique is a very sensitive tool for the amplification of even a minute amount of DNA sample. But in the case of nested-PCR, the sensitivity is higher and the template amount could be even smaller. The nested PCR-DGGE seems to be a better tool for AOB community monitoring and complexity research in activated sludge, despite shorter fragments of DNA amplification which seems to be a disadvantage in the case of bacteria identification. It is recommended that the sort of analysis approach should be chosen according to the aim of the study: nested-PCR-DGGE for community complexity analysis, while PCR-DGGE for identification of the dominant bacteria.