Virtudes Martinez-Hernandez

Virtudes Martinez-Hernandez
Madrid Institute for Advanced Studies | IMDEA · IMDEA-Water

PhD

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50
Publications
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657
Citations

Publications

Publications (50)
Article
Full-text available
Los microplásticos (MP) constituyen una de las formas de contaminación más omnipresentes en nuestro planeta. Pese a ello, en comparación con los ecosistemas marinos, lagos o ríos, destaca la escasez de estudios que han tratado sobre su presencia en el suelo y en las aguas subterráneas. Con el objetivo de evaluar el impacto de los usos del suelo y o...
Article
Full-text available
In small populations and scattered communities, wastewater treatment through vegetation filters (VFs), a nature-based solution, has proved to be feasible, especially for nutrient and organic matter removal. However, the presence of pharmaceuticals in wastewater and their potential to infiltrate through the vadose zone and reach groundwater is a dra...
Article
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...
Article
As non-conventional wastewater treatment, vegetation filters make the most of the natural attenuation processes that occur in soil to remove contaminants, while providing several environmental benefits. However, this practice may introduce contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) and their transformation products (TPs) into the environment. A potent...
Article
Nonconventional wastewater treatments, such as vegetation filters (VFs), are propitious systems to attenuate contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) in small municipalities. The development of standardised multiresidue and multimatrix methods suitable for measuring a reliable number of CEC in environmental samples is crucial for monitoring infiltra...
Article
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...
Article
Full-text available
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...
Article
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...
Article
Full-text available
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...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
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...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
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...
Conference Paper
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...
Conference Paper
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...
Article
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...
Article
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...
Article
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,...
Conference Paper
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...
Conference Paper
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...
Conference Paper
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...
Article
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...
Article
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...
Article
Full-text available
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...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
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...
Conference Paper
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...
Conference Paper
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...
Article
Full-text available
In order to evaluate the water quality at the surface/groundwater interface (hyporheic zone), the pattern of microcrustacean assemblages in response to environmental stress caused by urban industrial contamination was studied in the Jarama River basin (central Spain) during high water discharges (March and April 2011). The clustering of biological...
Article
Onsite wastewater treatment is used by 20% of residences in the United States. The ability of these systems, specifically soil treatment units (STUs), to attenuate trace organic chemicals (TOrCs) is not well understood. TOrCs released by STUs pose a potential risk to downstream groundwater and hydraulically-connected surface water that may be used...
Conference Paper
Many arid and semi-arid countries are forced to look for new and alternative water sources. The availability of suitable quality water for agriculture in these regions often is threatened. In this context of water scarcity, the reuse of treated wastewater for crop irrigation could represent a feasible solution. Through rigorous planning and managem...
Conference Paper
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...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
The Water Framework Directive (2000) requires integrated assessment of water bodies based on water resources but also the evaluation of land-use catchment effect on chemical and ecological conditions of aquatic ecosystems. The hyporheic zone (HZ) supporting obligate subterranean species are particularly vulnerable in river ecosystems when environme...

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