SIMI 2020

The decline of biodiversity and aquatic ecosystem functioning is triggered by human activities that generate pollution, habitat degradation, flow modification, overexploitation and the spread of invasive species as well as climate change. Various legislation documents were globally adopted, including the Water Framework Directive (WFD, 2000/60/EC) at the European level, to reduce the degradation of aquatic ecosystems. The WFD has confirmed that the focal point of ecosystem integrity should be based on its biology rather than its chemical and physical characteristics.

The population increase and the continuous development of anthropogenic activities have generated toxic chemical compounds with harmful potential for the environment. In addition, the recent SARS COVID-19 crisis of 2020 spiked in Romania the sales of the cleaning and household products up to 461% compared to last year, same period of time), meaning an increase of inorganic and organic chemical compounds, including the surfactants, in sewage systems. The oldest and the most common type of surfactant used in cleaning detergents and personal care products is the anionic surfactant. Usually, used surfactants are disposed to sewage treatment plants, where the biodegradation processes and adsorption on sludge particles remove these chemicals from wastewaters. The extent of removal depends on the chemical structure of the surfactant molecule and on the operating conditions of the wastewater treatment plants (WWTP’s). The accumulation of surfactants can cause malfunction of WWTP’s by affecting several treatment processes such as the oxygen diffusion, foaming, biodegradation of organic compounds. and denitrification of ammonium nitrogen as well as a negative influence on the structure of flocks in the activated sludge. This paper presents results focused on operational efficiency of municipal WWTP’s in terms of anionic surfactants removal.

Soil or edaphic layer is a natural resource with a particular importance. It was formed from the rocks under the manifestation of several categories of factors, called pedogenetic factors: climatic factors, microorganisms, vegetation, and relief. Time is also a very important measure because the soil is slowly forming in periods of hundreds to thousands of years. The protected areas in Romania are those able to ensure the study of this natural layer, called the “pedosphere”, in conditions as close to its genesis, as it is considered that the anthropic impact in these areas is minimal or greatly diminished. Therefore, a detailed look at several protected areas in Romania, within five case studies chosen for the specific and the natural diversity that it preserves, offers remarkable opportunities for the study of soil quality, in order to establish a range of variation in time of the quality indicators.