TY - THES A1 - Belló, Noemi T1 - Minimum Quality Requirements for Water Reuse in Agricultural Irrigation: A Review of Legislation in the European Union. N2 - The European Commission has identified water reuse "as a possible other way of mitigating the impacts of severe drought" (European Union: European Commission, 2007) and is thus stepping up efforts to encourage water reuse in the Union (European Union: European Commission, 2012a). In order to maximise the benefits and minimise the risks associated with this practise, and ensure compliance with the laws, the clear identification and sound knowledge of existing or developing limit values of water quality is of crucial importance, when planning and creating water reuse schemes. In this study, the water quality requirements in terms of limit values of treated waste water for agricultural irrigation set in the legislation of different countries and regions (i.e. European Union, Germany, North Rhine-Westphalia, Italy and Spain) were investigated. In the eventuality of a regulatory gap, the requirements set in other pieces of legislation regulating the quality of water for agricultural irrigation or other uses were provided. The purpose of this work is to support the decision making of a subject planning to reuse water for agricultural irrigation, but is not aware of the legal framework regulating this activity. KW - Water reuse KW - Agricultural irrigation KW - Legislation KW - Limit values KW - Water quality Y1 - 2018 ER - TY - THES A1 - Xu, Jieping T1 - Comparison of MPN, MF method and Raman spectroscopy for detecting Enteric Bacteria in river water N2 - Waterborne diseases such as diarrhea and vomiting are still among the most severe health risks of the global level due to the consumption of contaminated water. Contamination of water by pathogenic microorganisms is a serious threat to human health. If it is not treated promptly and correctly, these waterborne diseases can lead to death. Monitoring contaminated water and ensuring water safety have always been a public concern. The abundance of microorganisms is frequently assessed as an indicator of impaired water quality, with enteric bacteria, such as total coliforms and Escherichia coli (E. coli) being the most common target groups. This report is an evaluation of Most Probable Number (MPN), Membrane Filter (MF) method and Raman spectroscopy used in water samples analysis and highlights some of the advantages and disadvantages of each method and their range of applicability. KW - Surface Water Raman Spectroscopy Y1 - 2021 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:hbz:1383-opus4-8732 ER - TY - THES A1 - Maharjan, Shirish T1 - Impact of COVID-19 Lockdown on Particulate Matter (PM) concentration in Nepal's ambient air N2 - The COVID-19 pandemic has drastically changed the lives of every human being in most of the countries in the world. Lockdown has been implemented in many countries to prevent the virus from spreading. Lockdown has prohibited people to go outside of their houses, closed industries and factories, and restricted air transportation and the free movement of vehicles, except emergency vehicles and flights. On the optimistic side, improvements in ambient air quality due to the lockdown have been reported across the world. This study evaluated ambient air quality by analyzing the PM2.5 concentrations monitored in 7 major cities of Nepal during March, April, and May of the years 2019 and 2020. Furthermore, meteorological data were also evaluated to investigate how meteorological conditions have affected Nepal’s ambient air quality during the investigation period. The monthly mean PM2.5 concentrations during March, April, and May 2020 were found to be lower in nearly all of the 7 cities of Nepal as compared to March, April, and May 2019. To some extent, a slightly higher amount of precipitation in March-May 2020 than during March-May 2019 supressed the ambient PM2.5 concentrations in 2020. But, since the highest decrease in PM2.5 concentration was found in Nepalgunj (72.78%) followed by Kathmandu (46.2%) during May 2020 as compared to May 2019 and thus, the highest differences between 2019 and 2020 were found for the cities with the highest contribution of transport emissions to PM2.5 in ambient air, the COVID-19 lockdown might have contributed to the lower PM2.5 concentrations in 2020. On the other hand, it can be assumed that one of the major primary sources of PM2.5, biomass burning (both the residential use and natural forest fires), was not affected by the lockdown, but biomass burning might be the reason for the increment of PM2.5 concentrations found at some sites, in particular in the Kathmandu Valley, and for the only subtle decrease at other sites during the lockdown. In essense, though it is an unfortunate situation, the lockdown provided a glimpse of the situation how effective improvements in the environmental conditions could be if we were to introduce large scale mitigation measures swiftly. Keywords: COVID-19; Lockdown; Air Pollution; Nepal; PM2.5 Concentration; Meteorological Data KW - COVID-19 KW - Lockdown KW - PM2.5 KW - Nepal KW - Air pollution Y1 - 2021 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:hbz:1383-opus4-6881 ER - TY - THES A1 - Zhong, Kaiwen T1 - A comparative study on the plants’ phenological response to climate change in China and Germany N2 - This study applied a total of over 100,000 phenological datasets from Deutscher Wetterdienst (DWD), International Phenological Gardens (IPG) and LANUV in Germany and Chinese Phenological Observation Network (CPON) in China, as well as weather datasets from DWD and World Meteorological Organization (WMO), concluding that the beginning of flowering dates of flowering plants in China and Germany correlated with changes in local temperature. Germany has experienced a temperature increase of about 1.7 °C over 136 years (1881-2017) and the beginning of flowering date has advanced by about 17 days on average. In China, the temperature has increased by about 2 °C over 45 years (1963-2008), and the beginning of flowering date has advanced by about 9 days on average. Due to the large differences in the amount of data and recording time between the two countries, it is not possible to concretely conclude whether plants begin to flower is more sensitive to temperature changes in Germany or in China. However, it can still be concluded that temperature is an important factor in determining flowering time. In general, phenology is a very suitable tool for the study of effects of climate change, and climate change can also lead to a more detailed study of phenology. Overall, after evaluating the slopes of the same species in China and Germany, there was a surprising similarity of the slopes. And that it is surprising as well that all reliable datasets showed a tendency towards a shift of flowering in spring to an earlier DOY. KW - Phenology Y1 - 2021 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:hbz:1383-opus4-12673 ER - TY - THES A1 - Khatiwada, Sabin T1 - AUTOMATION OF SOLAR WATER DISINFECTION (SODIS) ON A SMALL-SCALE USING ARDUINO DUE N2 - Clean water is essential for human health and well-being. In many parts of the world, access to safe drinking water is limited, leading to various waterborne diseases. Solar water disinfection(SODIS) is a simple and cost-effective method used to purify water using sunlight, where itinactivates the pathogens and makes the water safe for consumption. This disinfection process involves filling polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles with water and exposing them to sunlight for a specified period. The aim of this thesis is to develop a working prototype that exploresthe automation of SODIS on a small-scale using Arduino Due, a microcontroller board that offers advanced features for automation. The prototype consists of the necessary parts to perform SODIS automatically. In conventional SODIS, it is assumed that the required SODIS criteria are met within 6 hours of a sunny day. In contrast, in the prototype microcontroller pumps the water into the PET bottle, monitors sunlight exposure for 6 hours, determines disinfection, and then pumps out the water for consumption only when the threshold values for irradiance are met. If the conditions are not met, the exposure is extended by an hour each time and checked again. The prototype automates the SODIS on a small-scale using cost-efficient components. However, the prototype lacks oxygenation capacity, and there is a possibility of entering an infinite loop if the irradiance values are not met for a long time. The prototype could be further developed with extra sensors and extensive research for advanced automation. KW - Solar water disinfection KW - SODIS KW - Water disinfection KW - Irradiance KW - Sensors KW - Automation Y1 - 2024 ER -