Raffaella MeffeMadrid Institute for Advanced Studies | IMDEA · IMDEA-Water
Raffaella Meffe
Ph.D. in Hydrogeology
About
41
Publications
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Introduction
Education
October 2007 - March 2011
October 1999 - February 2007
Publications
Publications (41)
In wastewater treatment using Vegetation Filters (VFs), natural processes reduce contaminants present in water although some of them can reach the environment. In this study, 39 contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) are evaluated in a pilot VF under different operating conditions during almost four years. The use of woodchip amendments and the ch...
In urban and periurban areas, agricultural soils are often irrigated with surface water containing a complex mixture of contaminants due to wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) effluent discharges. The unplanned water reuse of these resources for crop irrigation can represent a pathway for contaminant propagation and a potential health risk due to the...
RESUMEN. La aplicación al suelo de las aguas residuales pretratadas aprovecha los procesos de atenuación natural para depurar las aguas y, al mismo tiempo proporciona beneficios ambientales. Sin embargo, esta práctica facilita la introducción de Contaminantes de Preocupación Emergente (CPEs) en el medioambiente. En dos escalas de trabajo, esta inve...
In times when environmental concerns are on the rise and the search of ways to reduce waste generation and to create a circular economy is booming, Nature Based Solutions (NBSs) play a very important role. Vegetation Filters (VFs) are a type of Land Application System (LAS) in which wastewater is used to irrigate a forestry plantation to treat the...
Vegetation Filters (VFs) can be a sustainable solution to treat wastewater and to recover resources such as nutrients, water and biomass from small municipalities and isolated dwellings. However, under certain conditions, the leakage of nutrients, especially of nitrate, can represent a limitation. The addition of two sustainable soil amendments, wo...
The use of surface water impacted by wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) effluents for crop irrigation is a form of unplanned water reuse. Natural attenuation processes can buffer contamination spreading. However, this practice can promote the exposure of crops to contaminants of emerging concern, such as pharmaceuticals, trace metals (TMs) and metal...
Los filtros verdes (FVs) utilizan la zona no
saturada (ZNS) como agente depurador de aguas
residuales aprovechando procesos naturales que ocurren
en el conjunto suelo-planta-microorganismos. En el
presente trabajo se analiza la atenuación de
contaminantes de preocupación emergente (CPEs) y
microorganismos patógenos en FVs. Además, se ha
estudiado a...
RESUMEN En las aguas superficiales localizadas aguas abajo de grandes ciudades se detectan frecuentemente fármacos y productos de transformación (PTs). La reutilización indirecta de este recurso en el riego de cultivos requiere estudiar la posible propagación de la contaminación desde la fuente al receptor. En la zona de estudio, situada aguas abaj...
The attenuation capacity of Emerging Organic Contaminants (EOCs) using an Intensive Vegetation Filter (IVF) has been evaluated. An Imhoff Tank pretreats the wastewater of an office building and its effluent is used to irrigate a VF. Water quality was monitored in the Imhoff Tank Effluent (ITE), the Infiltrated Water (IW) (90 cm depth) and the Groun...
The study reports the results of a 2-year research, which consisted in monitoring ketoprofen concentration in a vegetation filter that treats wastewater produced by an office building. Therefore, samples were collected from wastewater, infiltration water and groundwater. Data reveal a quite persistent behaviour of the anti-inflammatory with 55% of...
Vegetation filters (VFs), a type of land application system, are a robust technology based on natural treatment
mechanisms for the removal of wastewater contaminants. Their capacity to attenuate emerging
organic contaminants (EOCs) has not yet been evaluated. The present study reports the results of a 2-year
EOC monitoring carried out using a popla...
One of the most challenging questions in the assessment of groundwater ecosystem health is whether assemblages of groundwater biota can be used reliably as biomarkers. In the present study, we aimed to: (i) explore the diversity, distribution and ecological
composition of groundwater Crustacea Copepoda and Ostracoda communities from six
aquifers in...
Water reuse for aquifer recharge could be an important route for the introduction of emerging organic contaminants (EOCs) into the environment. The installation of a Horizontal Permeable Reactive Barrier (H-PRB) could constitute a tertiary treatment process to remove EOCs from treated domestic wastewater prior to recharge activities. The sorption-d...
The present study provides a model-based characterization of the long-term transport behavior of five psychoactive compounds (meprobamate, pyrithyldione, primidone, phenobarbital and phenylethylmalonamide) introduced into groundwater via sewage irrigation in Berlin, Germany. Compounds are still present in the groundwater despite the sewage farm clo...
One of the current issues in groundwater ecology is to
predict the groundwater biodiversity and to determine
the causalities of species distribution patterns at
different spatial scales. There have been considerable
progresses in systematic mapping of biodiversity and
distribution belowground ecosystems. Nevertheless,
there are still highly incompl...
In countries like Spain, where water is a limited resource, reusing effluents from wastewater treatment plants may imply the introduction of incompletely eliminated pollutants into the environment. Therefore, this work identified the role of sorption and biodegradation in attenuating pharmaceutical compounds (acetaminophen, carbamazepine, caffeine,...
Sulfamethoxazole, a sulfonamide antibiotic, is worldwide used for human and veterinary applications. Its incomplete removal during conventional wastewater treatment leads to the occurrence of this compound in different water bodies. Water reuse for irrigation or artificial recharge may imply the infiltration of this compound through the unsaturated...
The objective of the present work is to evaluate the treatment capacity of the unsaturated zone (UZ) to remove contaminants from a wastewater effluent using a vegetation filter. The wastewater effluent originates from an office building and it is characterized by a high organic carbon and nitrogen load. Prior to its application over the vegetation...
Vegetation filters, a nature based wastewater purification technology, have been reported as a feasible solution for small municipalities and scattered populations with limited access to sewage networks. However even when such a technology is properly planned, the leaching of contaminants through the unsaturated zone may occur. The amendment of soi...
This work provides the first review of the occurrence of 161 emerging organic contaminants (EOCs) and 137 pesticides, in surface and groundwater of Italy. The reported EOCs belong to the group of industrials, pharmaceuticals, estrogens and illicit drugs. The reviewed research works have been published between 1997 and 2013. Results show that the mo...
In the present work, the sorption of pharmaceutical and personal care products (PPCPs) (acetaminophen, atenolol, carbamazepine, caffeine, naproxen and sulphamethoxazole) onto the natural organic matter (NOM) and the inorganic surfaces of a natural sandy loam sediment was quantified separately. The quantification was based on the PPCP charge, their...
The performance of a vegetation filter using a short-rotation coppice of poplars was evaluated over a 3-year period in terms of pollutant removal capacity. The vegetation filter was designed for scattered and small populations with no storage facilities and a wastewater application constrained by the own production of effluent. Wastewater effluent...
On the catchment spatial scale, rivers can be considered a patchy discontinuity from headwaters to mouth with significant implications on the structure and functioning of the hyporheic zone (HZ) biota. The present study aims to determine the spatial variation of ostracod assemblages from a fluvial HZ of two groundwater-fed rivers of the Jarama basi...
This paper provides the first review of the occurrence of 161 emerging organic compounds (EOCs) in Italian surface water and groundwater. The reported EOCs belong to the groups of industrials, pharmaceuticals, estrogens and illicit drugs. Occurrence of 137 pesticides was also reported. The reviewed research works have been published between 1997 an...
In the present work, the sorption of pharmaceutical and personal care products (PPCPs) (acetaminophen, atenolol, carbamazepine, caffeine, naproxen and sulphamethoxazole) onto the natural organic matter (NOM) and the inorganic surfaces of a natural sandy loam sediment was quantified separately. The quantification was based on the PPCP charge, their...
This article reports on a field modelling study to investigate the processes controlling the plume evolution of para-toluenesulfonamide (p-TSA) in anoxic groundwater in Berlin, Germany. The organic contaminant p-TSA originates from the industrial production process of plasticisers, pesticides, antiseptics and drugs and is of general environmental c...
Introduction. The increasing population, the water resources contamination and the climatic variation have
promoted the scarcity of water in many countries especially in areas as the Middle East and Mediterranean regions [1]. In this context, the reuse of water from wastewater treatment plant effluents is considered as a technically and economical...
Nutrients (phosphates, nitrates, nitrites and ammonium) are very often present in treated wastewater as consequence of the inefficient removal capability during wastewater treatments. Such compounds represent an environmental concern since they are responsible for contamination and/or eutrophication problems when reaching the water bodies (groundwa...
The Spanish Water Reuse Royal Decree 1620/2007 considers groundwater recharge as a feasible use of reclaimed water. To achieve the water quality established in the above-mentioned legislation, a tertiary wastewater treatment is required. In this context, the infiltration of effluents generated by secondary wastewater treatments through a Horizontal...
The drinking water production of a drinking water treatment plant in Berlin is partly affected by contaminated groundwater as a result of former sewage farm irrigation in its catchment area, operating for almost 70 years until the 1980s. The industrial organic contaminant p-TSA (para-toluenesulfonamide) was encountered in the contamination plume wi...
To deal with water scarcity combined with a growing water demand, the reuse of wastewater effluents of wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) for industrial and agricultural purposes is considered as a technically and economically feasible solution. In agriculture, irrigation with wastewater emerges as a sustainable practice that should be considered i...
The groundwater downstream of a former sewage irrigation farm in Berlin is contaminated with ammonium (NH 4 ?) and para-toluenesulfonamide (p-TSA), besides other anthropogenic pollutants. In the field, in situ removal of NH 4 ? by gaseous oxygen (O 2) and air injection is currently being tested. A laboratory column experiment using aquifer material...
A finite element model was set up to determine degradation rate constants for p-TSA during rapid sand filtration (RSF). Data used for the model originated from a column experiment carried out in the filter hall of a
drinking water treatment plant in Berlin (Germany). Model results were fitted to measured profiles and breakthrough curves of p-TSA f...
A finite element model was set-up to determine degradation rate constants for p-TSA during rapid sand filtration (RSF). Data used for the model originated from a column experiment carried out in the filter hall of a drinking water treatment plant in Berlin (Germany). Aerated abstracted groundwater was passed through a 1.6m long column-shaped experi...
Questions
Questions (4)
Dear Researcher community,
I am planning batch experiments to study sorption of pharmaceuticals and trace metals onto soil and I have to inhibit soil microbial activity for at least 48 hours without changing physico-chemical soil properties.
We have tried 8 hours UV exposure and it did not work.
Any suggestion will be greatly appreciated.
Thank you very much.
Best regards,
Raffaella
Dear Researchgater,
I need again you help, it would be great if you could provide your advices.
I would like to sample water infiltrating through the vadose zone for analysis of trace metals (Cd, Ni, Pb, Cu, Zn) and emerging organic contaminants (mainly pharmaceuticals).
Do you know any suction cup suitable for both type of contaminants? We have stainless steel suction cups (Soil Measurement System) for pharmaceutical sampling but they are not recommended for trace metals. On the other hand, all plastic materials are not suitable for organics.
Do you have any clue?
Thank you very much for your help,
Best regards,
Raffaella
Dear Reseachgate community,
I need your help with the following issue: Is there any organic matter content threshold below which pretreatment of soil samples with H2O2 (30%) is not necessary for textural determination?
We perform textural analysis using the Bouyoucos method and organic matter content analysis by titration with K2Cr2O7.
Any advice on this topic will be really appreciated.
Thank you very much in advance
I would like to know which is the way of preserve a soil sample until organic matter determination by the different available methods.
I found in the literature quite controversial information. On one hand it is recommended to simply air-dried the sample and leave it until the analysis. Others recommend to store the wet sample at 4 celsius degree for no more of 28 days to minimize microbial activity. And some others suggest to freeze the sample in liquid nitrogen directly in the field if analysis cannot be performed immediately.
So far I know organic matter is readily degradable and even in a air-dried sample organic matter can be oxidized and microbially degraded.
While the option of freezing the samples is not really easy to implement when sampling sites are far away from the lab facilities and soil samples are numerous.
Any advice on this topic will be really appreciated.
Thank you very much in advance
