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Mostrando entradas de octubre, 2022

First emerging pollutants profile in groundwater of the volcanic active island of El Hierro (Canary Islands)

Los contaminantes emergentes (EP, por sus siglas en inglés) son sustancias presentes en las aguas residuales que no han sido estudiadas previamente, lo que genera ambigüedad en las regulaciones sobre su presencia en los recursos hídricos. Los territorios altamente dependientes de los recursos de aguas subterráneas corren un alto riesgo de sufrir las consecuencias de la contaminación por EP debido a su dependencia de aguas subterráneas de buena calidad para la agricultura, el consumo humano y otros usos. Un ejemplo relevante es El Hierro (Islas Canarias), que fue declarado reserva de la biosfera por la UNESCO en 2000 y está casi completamente alimentado por energías renovables. Utilizando cromatografía líquida de alta resolución-espectrometría de masas, se evaluaron las concentraciones de 70 EP en 19 puntos de muestreo en El Hierro. Los resultados indicaron que no se encontraron pesticidas en las aguas subterráneas; sin embargo, se encontraron niveles variables de filtros ultravioleta (

Nuevo trabajo de investigación en la Macaronesia

   Groundwater conditions the effectiveness of surface water diversion in the remediation of the eutrophicated volcanic lake of Furnas, Azores archipelago Abstract Volcanic lakes in oceanic islands represent extremely important areas for biodiversity and offer exceptional conditions for nature-based tourism as one of the main pillars of economic growth in these regions. Nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizers are being used extensively at the Azores archipelago, similarly to other places in the world, to increase agricultural production and is causing severe pollution and eutrophication of surface freshwater reservoirs. This work concentrates on the evaluation of the efficiency of surface water diversion as a remediation measure to reduce nutrient loading and reverse eutrophication of Furnas crater lake on the island of São Miguel. Nutrient loading was monitored using an extensive water quality monitoring program in the main watershed of the eutrophicated lake that, together with watershed

A comparison between carbon footprint of water production facilities in the Canary Islands: groundwater resources vs. seawater desalination

 Nuestra última publicación  Abstract The Canary Islands have a water culture tied to the exploitation of their groundwater by means of wells and water galleries. However, the growth of tourism, the increase in the local population and the development of agriculture have led to the emergence of new ways of obtaining water, such as the desalination of seawater. The presence of these desalination plants covers the entire archipelago except for the island of La Palma, and sometimes they function as a complement to water needs, while in other cases they are the only source of drinking water available. To study the environmental impact of the production of drinking water through the exploitation of the aquifer and the desalination of seawater, the carbon footprint methodology was used following the guidelines of the GHG Protocol. The result has shown that seawater installations have the largest carbon footprint, mainly due to the high electricity consumption in the islands and the electrici