Soil and Water Pollution - Concepts and Theory

The objectives of the course are to comprehend and to study how: i) soils and natural waters function and are affected by pollution, ii) soils function as “filters” for natural attenuation of pollutants, iii) pollutants bind and transform, iv) how we quantify the chemical and microbial processes, and their impact, and v) how basic insight can be used for soil and water remediation.

After completion you should be able to:

Knowledge:

• Classify and provide overview of main pollutants in terrestrial ecosystems, and to present knowledge on the relationships between land use, soil and water quality
• Describe how microbes interact with soils and how this affect pollutant degradation
• Describe key properties and processes of pollutants critical for sorption, abiotic and microbial degradation, bioavailability and biomagnification in terrestrial systems
• Classify and summarize the molecular mechanisms controlling pollutant degradation, transformation and bonding in soils and water
• Acquire knowledge on the methods available for predicting the fate of chemical substances in soil and aquatic environments
• Describe analytical procedures and monitoring strategies for pollutants in terrestrial systems

Skills:

• Retrieve and critical examine environmental chemical data
• Apply and demonstrate the use of general principles from chemistry and microbiology for quantification and evaluation of pollutant fate and distribution
• Estimate chemical and physical properties of pollutants and pollutant fate in terrestrial ecosystems
• Suggest methods and approaches used for assessing microbe-pollutant interactions
• Critically report on pollutant fate and remediation in terrestrial and aquatic environments

Competences:

• Combine data and information from different sources in calculus, prediction and evaluation of pollutant mass balances, fate and effects in soils and aquatic systems
• Judge the relative importance of various sorption and transformation processes for the overall distribution and fate of chemical substances in soil and aquatic environments
• Diagnose the processes critical for the fate of any pollutant, and critical select tools for analysis and evaluation
• Discuss and assess the complexity of how land use affect soil and water quality
• Collaborate with fellow students on problem solving and reporting critical pollutant assessments
• Point to new directions and aspects of emerging pollutants
• Suggest strategies, methods and innovative thinking for environmental remediation of contaminated soils and waters drawing on insight with pollutant properties and natural settings