From November 1 2006 to March 31 2010, NEPTUNE joined 18 partner from Europe, Australia and Canada to focus on optimizing wastewater treatment (WorkPackage 1), developing new technologies (WP2), developing methods for assessing micropollutants and toxicity (WP3), improving life cycle analysis of wastewater treatment as a decision supporttool (WP4). PU.

Die getrennte Sammlung von Urin ermöglicht innovative Technologien für die Siedlungshygiene und den Schutz der Wasserressourcen. Dies gilt insbesondere für Orte, wo hohe Kosten und Wassermangel den Bau einer Schwemmkanalisation verhindern. Die Eawag erforscht die Urinseparierung bereits seit mehreren Jahren in Feldstudien und Pilotanlagen. Sie kann ihre Erfahrung nun nutzen, um zusammen mit Partnern aus Südafrika und der Schweiz die Urinseparierung in der Stadt Durban umzusetzen.

Die Schweiz ist seit je stark engagiert in der Umweltforschung. Ganz besonders trifft das auf den Bereich Wasser zu. 57 Gruppen forschen laut Bundesamt für Umwelt (www.bafu.admin.ch/forschungsgruppen) an Fragen rund um die wertvolle, aber auch bedrängte Ressource. 22 davon sind an der Eawag angesiedelt. Das älteste Wasserforschungsinstitut der Schweiz entstand 1936 als «Beratungsstelle für Abwasserreinigung und Trinkwasserversorgung ». Längst ist das Institut zum internationalen Kompetenzzentrum für das Wasser geworden. Dass die Forschenden dabei über fachliche und politische Grenzen hinweg miteinander zusammenarbeiten, ist eine Selbstverständlichkeit.

Water crosses political boarders and cuts through differing socio-economic sectors. Therefore, cooperation is essential for achieving water security. But how is effective water governance characterized? Integrated water resource management rests on measures that involve stakeholders from the public, private and civil societal sectors.

Fifty years ago when only BOD was removed at municipal WWTP primary clarifier were designed with 2-3 hours hydraulic retention time (HRT). This changed with the introduction of nitrogen removal in activated sludge treatment that needed more BOD for denitrification. The HRT of primary clarification was reduced to less than one hour for dry weather flow with the consequence that secondary sludge had to be separately thickened and biogas production was reduced. Only recently, the ammonia rich digester liquid (15-20% of the inlet ammonia load) can be treated with the very economic autotrophic nitritationammox process requiring half of the aeration energy and no organic carbon source compared to nitrification and heterotrophic denitrification. With the introduction of this new innovative digester liquid treatment the situation reverts, allowing to increase HRT of the primary clarifier to improve biogas production and reduce aeration energy for BOD removal and nitrification at similar overall N-removal.

The filamentous bacteria "<em>Microthrix parvicella</em>" cause serious bulking and scumming in wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) all over the world. Decades of research did identify Microthrix as specialized lipid consumer but could not clarify the processes that allow this organism to successfully compete in activated sludge systems. In this study we developed a model based on ASM3 that describes the pronounced seasonal variations of Microthrix abundance observed in a full-scale WWTP. We hypothesize that low temperatures reduce the solubility of lipophilic substances and inhibit its uptake by non-specialized bacteria. The presented model structure and parameters successfully approximate the measured data, but it does not necessarily reflect the only and true selection mechanism for Microthrix. However, as innovation often happens through regular alternation between experimenting and mathematical modeling, the proposed model is a tool to coordinate the discussion and future research activities in order to clarify the relevant selection mechanisms favoring Microthrix in activated sludge systems.

Two innovative tracer methods for the quantification of parasitic discharge in sewers have been proposed as routine applications within the scope of the European research project APUSS (Assessing Infiltration and Exfiltration on the Performance of Urban Sewer Systems). In order to improve the accuracy of wastewater hydrograph separation compared to conventional practice, the novel approaches are using intrinsic physicochemical characteristics (stable isotopes, pollutographs) of the wastewater as a natural tracer for the differentiation of its constituting components. The article analyses the achieved state of development and demonstrates the application of the protocols with a comparative experimental study.

Reductive dechlorination of tetrachloroethene (perchloroethylene; PCE) was observed at 20°C in a fixed-bed column, filled with a mixture (3:1) of anaerobic sediment from the Rhine river and anaerobic granular sludge. In the presence of lactate (1 mM) as an electron donor, 9 υM PCE was dechlorinated to ethene. Ethene was further reduced to ethane. Mass balances demonstrated an almost complete conversion (95 to 98%), with no chlorinated compounds remaining (&lt;0.5 μg/liter). When the temperature was lowered to 10°C, an adaptation of 2 weeks was necessary to obtain the same performance as at 20°C. Dechlorination by column material to ethene, followed by a slow ethane production, could also be achieved in batch cultures. Ethane was not formed in the presence of bromoethanesulfonic acid, an inhibitor of methanogenesis. The high dechlorination rate (3.7 μmol · l^-1 · h^-1), even at low temperatures and considerable PCE concentrations, together with the absence of chlorinated end products, makes reductive dechlorination an attractive method for removal of PCE in bioremediation processes.

At present, the ergosterol and acetate-to-ergosterol techniques are generally considered to be the methods of choice to quantify fungal biomass, growth rate, and productivity under natural conditions. Both methods rely on the accurate isolation and quantification of ergosterol, a major membrane component of eumycotic fungi. Taking advantage of the solid-phase extraction (SPE) technique, we present a novel method to determine the ergosterol concentration in lipid extracts derived from plant tissues and dead organic matter colonized by fungi. In this method, a primary alkaline extract is acidified and passed through a reversed-phase (C₁₈) SPE column. The column is then washed with an alkaline methanol-water solution to eliminate interfering substances and increase pH and is thoroughly dried in air. Ergosterol is eluted with alkaline isopropanol. This eluting solvent was chosen to produce a strongly basic pH of the final extract and thus confer stability on the ergosterol molecule before high-performance liquid chromatography analysis. The recovery of ergosterol from plant tissues and the O_hf horizon of a woodland soil ranged from 85 to 98%, and the overall extraction efficiency was similar to that obtained by a conventional procedure involving liquid-liquid extraction. Potential pitfalls of ergosterol analysis by SPE include (i) insufficient acidification before sample loading on the extraction column, resulting in a poor affinity of ergosterol for the sorbent; (ii) incomplete drying of the sorbent bed before the elution step; and (iii) chemical breakdown of ergosterol after elution, which was found to be related to a low pH of the final extract and a high concentration of matrix compounds. When these pitfalls are avoided, SPE is an attractive alternative to existing methods of ergosterol analysis of environmental samples.

Members of the genus <I>Sphingomonas</I> are important catalysts for removal of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in soil, but their activity can be affected by various stress factors. This study examines the physiological and genome-wide transcription response of the phenanthrene-degrading <I>Sphingomonas</I> sp. strain LH128 in biofilms to solute stress (invoked by 450 mM NaCl solution), either as an acute (4-h) or a chronic (3-day) exposure. The degree of membrane fatty acid saturation was increased as a response to chronic stress. Oxygen consumption in the biofilms and phenanthrene mineralization activities of biofilm cells were, however, not significantly affected after imposing either acute or chronic stress. This finding was in agreement with the transcriptomic data, since genes involved in PAH degradation were not differentially expressed in stressed conditions compared to nonstressed conditions. The transcriptomic data suggest that LH128 adapts to NaCl stress by (i) increasing the expression of genes coping with osmolytic and ionic stress such as biosynthesis of compatible solutes and regulation of ion homeostasis, (ii) increasing the expression of genes involved in general stress response, (iii) changing the expression of general and specific regulatory functions, and (iv) decreasing the expression of protein synthesis such as proteins involved in motility. Differences in gene expression between cells under acute and chronic stress suggest that LH128 goes through changes in genome-wide expression to fully adapt to NaCl stress, without significantly changing phenanthrene degrading activity.

This research investigated effects of narcissism and emotional intelligence (EI) on popularity in social networks. In a longitudinal field study we examined the dynamics of popularity in 15 peer groups in two waves (<I>N</I> = 273). We measured narcissism, ability EI, explicit and implicit self-esteem. In addition, we measured popularity at zero acquaintance and three months later. We analyzed the data using inferential network analysis (temporal exponential random graph modeling, TERGM) accounting for self-organizing network forces. People high in narcissism were popular, but increased less in popularity over time than people lower in narcissism. In contrast, emotionally intelligent people increased more in popularity over time than less emotionally intelligent people. The effects held when we controlled for explicit and implicit self-esteem. These results suggest that narcissism is rather disadvantageous and that EI is rather advantageous for long-term popularity.

The clonal population structure of <em>Daphnia</em> spp. in Lake Maarsseveen, a small mesotrophic lake with a maximum depth of 32 m, was studied from April 1989 to July 1991. During this period three distinct periods of diel vertical migration (DVM) occurred. <em>Daphnia galeata</em> and the hybrid <em>D. galeata x D. hyalina</em> were found, the former for a restricted period from June 1989 to December 1990. Both 'species' showed genetic variation at the <em>Pgm</em> locus and high temporal fluctuations in genotype frequencies. These fluctuations and DVM were not related. During 1991 a single hybrid genotype reached frequencies of more than 95%. The relation between clonal composition and DVM of <em>Daphnia</em> in Lake Maarsseveen is discussed.

The problem of organizing collective action campaigns is tackled with a multiagent simulation, in which the actor’s decision to participate is modeled on the basis of an expansion of the social psychological Theory of Planned Behavior. The variables entering into the model of the individual’s decision to participate in a collective action are attitude, return, subjective social norm, and perceived behavioral control. With these four variables, various social scientific theories become integrated (Elaboration Likelihood Model, Theory of Planned Behavior, Rational Choice Theory). The theories allow conceptualization of interactions among individuals, and the effect of activators, who seek to recruit others to participate in a collective action, can be studied. The Simulations of a population of 10,000 different agents presented in this paper reveal the influence of the following factors on the effectiveness of collective action campaigns: The dynamics of creating the collective good, forms of recruitment by activators (allor- none contracts), the size of the collective good, and the resources available to activators (training in persuasion methods, possibility to reward participants).