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Benefits and risks of using sludge from small WWTPs after processing by composting for the production of selected types of vegetables

The aim of the study, the results of which are presented in this article, was to assess the possibility of simplifying treatment and stabilisation procedures of sewage sludge from small municipal sources of pollution (domestic and small WWTPs up to about 1,000 EP) at the place of their origin and their subsequent use through extensive composting. The results demonstrated the benefit of the application of composts from a material base containing sludge from small WWTPs in increasing the production of the monitored types of vegetables. However, especially with lettuce, there was a higher transmission of selected risk elements. We therefore do not recommend the use of composts with sludge for growing leafy green vegetables. In contrast, this risk did not arise with fruit and vegetables. For practical use, it is still necessary to assess the rate of transfer of other pollutants, such as drug residues and microplastics.

First experience with measurement of phosphorus retention in the Lhotsk stream using TASCC method

Eutrophication of watercourses and reservoirs, specifically the enormous phosphorus load on water, has been the biggest problem for water management in the Czech Republic for several decades. Budget models are effective support for rational solution; apart from resources, they must include the river network characterization, i.e. the retention of phosphorus in streams. A direct method for measuring phosphorus retention in watercourses under well-defined conditions, i.e. a method providing generalizable retention parameters, is fundamentally lacking and it could significantly increase the accuracy of the current models. It seems that TASCC method (Tracer Additions for Spiraling Curve Characterization) has such potential. In this article, we describe its first application in the Czech Republic, namely in the experimental basin of the Lhotsk stream (Beneov district).

Interview with Ing. Tomáš Fojtík, director of the T. G. Masaryk Water Research Institute

He has been Director of TGM WRI for a year. How does he evaluate this first year and what has he already managed to change for the better in our Institute? How does he remember his twenty years at the Institute as regular employee? And what are his plans and goals for the future regarding the direction of TGM WRI? „I would like to continue fulfilling my vision of creating a recognized and functioning institute of national and European importance as a research base for the field of water management with such a working culture and environment that it would be a target and prestigious workplace for quality and satisfied experts willing to actively cooperate,“ says the Director of our Institute, and newly also the president of the International Commission for the Protection of the Elbe, Ing. Tomá Fojtík.