Methodology development on aquatic environmental assessment

Does Lake Balaton affected by pollution? Assessment through surface water quality monitoring by using different assessment methods

In order to maintain a good environmental status of surface waters, an assessment of water quality carried out at specific intervals to monitor the changes of water quality in function of time. Human knowledge and experience are currently focused on using assessment methods, especially the integration of multiple constraining factors and considering them in conjugation with the correct decision-making process concerning the environment. When surface water is highly exposed to human activities, either from recreational or economic activity, the degree of vulnerability is high, and the quality of surface water is highly compromised. In case of Lake Balaton, there are many activities that can disrupt water dynamics. The first goal of this study is to determine the location of the least and most polluted sites around Lake Balaton. The processing of data was carried out by using multi-criteria decision techniques and environmental impact assessment method based on physical–chemical parameters in comparison with the limiting parameters. Based on the results of those methods water quality needs to be improved in western parts of the lake by using several geoengineering treatment techniques. This work covers a novel approach to comparing methods based on sum of ranking differences, whereas many method comparison studies suffer from ambiguity or from comparisons not being quite fair. This problem can be avoided if there are differences between ideal and actual rankings.

Environmental assessment of physical-chemical features of Lake Nasser, Egypt

Lake Nasser is one of the largest man-made lakes on earth. It has a vital importance to Egypt for several decades because of the safe water supply of the country. Therefore, the water quality of the Lake Nasser must be profoundly investigated, and physico-chemical parameter changes of the water of the Lake Nasser should be continuously monitored and assessed. This work describes the present state of the physico-chemical (nitrate-nitrogen, nitrite-nitrogen, orthophosphate, total phosphate content, dissolved oxygen content, chemical oxygen demand, and biological oxygen demand) water parameters of Lake Nasser in Egypt at nine measurement sites along the Lake Nasser. The algorithm was devised at the University of Pannonia, Hungary, for the evaluation of the water quality. The aquatic environmental indices determined alongside the Lake Nasser fall into the category of "good" water quality at seven sampling sites and exhibited "excellent" water quality at two sampling sites according to Egyptian Governmental Decree No. 92/2013. In light of the tremendous demand for safe and healthy water supply in Egypt and international requirements, the water quality assessment is a very important tool for providing reliable information on the water quality. The protocol for water quality assessment could significantly contribute to the provision of high-quality water supply in Egypt. In conclusion, it can be stated that the parameters under investigation in different regions of Lake Nasser fall within the permissible ranges and the water of the Lake has good quality for drinking, irrigation, and fish cultures according to Egyptian standards; however, according to European specifications, there are steps to be accomplished for future water quality improvement.

Environmental assessment in health care organizations

The aim of this research is to design a multi-criteria model for environmental assessment of health care organizations. This is a model which guarantees the objectivity of the results obtained, is easy to apply, and incorporates a series of criteria, and their corresponding descriptors, relevant to the internal environmental auditing processes of the hospital. Furthermore, judgments were given by three experts from the areas of health, the environment, and multi-criteria decision techniques. From the values assigned, geometric means were calculated, giving weightings for the criteria of the model. This innovative model is intended for application within a continuous improvement process. A practical case from a Spanish hospital is included at the end. Information contained in the sustainability report provided the data needed to apply the model. The example contains all the criteria previously defined in the model. The results obtained show that the best-satisfied criteria are those related to energy consumption, generation of hazardous waste, legal matters, environmental sensitivity of staff, patients and others, and the environmental management of suppliers. On the other hand, those areas returning poor results are control of atmospheric emissions, increase in consumption of renewable energies, and the logistics of waste produced. It is recommended that steps be taken to correct these deficiencies, thus leading to an acceptable increase in the sustainability of the hospital.

Aquatic environmental assessment of Lake Balaton in the light of physical-chemical water parameters

One of the issues of the Hungarian Water Management Strategy is the improvement and upgrading of the water of Lake Balaton. The Water Framework Directive (WFD) specifies and sets forth the achievement of the good ecological status. However, the assessment of the water quality of the lake as a complex system requires a comprehensive monitoring and evaluation procedure. Measurements were carried out around the Lake Balaton at ten different locations/sites and 13 physical-chemical parameters were monitored at each measurement site.For the interpretation of the water chemistry parameters the Aquatic Environmental Assessment (AEA) method devised by authors was used for the water body of the Lake Balaton. The AEA method can be used for all types of the water bodies since it is flexible and using individual weighting procedure for the water chemistry parameters comprehensive information can be obtain. The AEA method was compared with existing EIA methods according to a predefined criterion system and proved to be the most suitable tool for evaluating the environmental impacts in our study.On the basis of the results it can be concluded that the status of the quality of studied area on the Lake Balaton can be categorized as proper quality (from the outcome of the ten measurement sites this conclusion was reached at seven sites).