Table of contents

PREFACE

The 1^st International Scientific Conference on "Advances in Environmental Engineering" (AEE 2017) was held in Ostrava, Czech Republic from November 28 – 30, 2017. The Conference was organised by the Faculty of Mining and Geology of the VŠB-Technical University of Ostrava, Czech Republic and the Faculty of Civil Engineering of the Technical University of Košice, Slovakia. The idea of founding new series of environmentally oriented conferences was based on a need of scientists and expert from praxis in V4 region to have a common platform for exchange of knowledge and expertise on various environmental topics.

The AEE 2017 offered an international platform for the dissemination of original research results, new ideas and practical development and discovered advances in the field of environmental engineering and related interdisciplinary topics.

The Conference assembled more than 80 delegates, from 5 countries, including PhD students' presentations. The papers presented involved a wide range of research fields: water and wastewater management, sediment pollution control and remediation, soil degradation, conservation and remediation, waste management, landscape management, air quality, environmental impacts of buildings and materials, durability of building materials, and use of alternative raw materials in building materials production. This issue provides an integrated view of the trends in the development of environmentally friendly materials and solving the problems associated with the achievement of sustainability.

List of Committees, Editors, Scientific Committee, Organising committee and Reviewers are available in this PDF.

All papers published in this volume of IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science have been peer reviewed through processes administered by the proceedings Editors. Reviews were conducted by expert referees to the professional and scientific standards expected of a proceedings journal published by IOP Publishing.

The aim of this study was to find dependence on biofuels and sludge from sewage treatment plants in the vermicomposting process. In the framework of the research carried out at our workplace, a project aimed at finding an appropriate method for the reprocessing of problematic biodegradable waste and asphalt from combustion biomass was used as a raw material for the production of rectification substrate and sludge from sewage treatment plants that could be used as Secondary raw material.

Basic information about importance of calcium and magnesium in water, about their properties, effect to human health, problems what can cause under the lower (< 1 mmol/L) and higher (> 5 mmol/L) concentrations in water supply distribution systems, the most commonly used methods of water hardening are presented. The article contains the water hardening results carried out during the pilot plant experiments in WTP Hriňová and WTP Turček. For water hardening, treated water at the end of the process line, i.e., after coagulation, sedimentation and filtration, saturated with CO₂ and filtrated through half-burnt dolomite material (PVD) was used. The results show that the filtration rate is 17.1 m/h in the case of WTP Hriňová and 15.2 m/h in the case of WTP Turček to achieve the recommended concentration of Ca and Mg in the treated water after the addition of CO₂ and filtration through PVD. The longer the water contact time with PVD (depending on the CO₂ content), the more water is enriched with magnesium, but the calcium concentration has not so much increased.

This article presents the possibility of using structural health monitoring system data for the analysis of structure's operation during its life cycle. Within the specific case study it was proved, that continuous, automatic and long term monitoring of selected physical quantities such as strains and temperatures, can significantly improve the assessment of technical condition by identifying hazardous phenomena. In this work the analysis of structural behaviour of post-tensioned girders within the roofing of sport halls in Cracow, Poland, was performed based on measurement results and verified by numerical model carried out in SOFiSTiK software. Thanks to the possibility of performing calculations in real time and informing the manager of the object about abnormalities it is possible to manage the structure in effective way by, inter alia, planning the renovations or supporting decisions about snow removal.

The degradation rate of bioplastic in soil is closely related to the diversity of soil microbiota. To investigate the effect of soil bacterial on biodegradation, 4 bacterial strains of soil – Pseudomonas chlororaphis, Kocuria rosea, Cupriavidus necator and Bacillus cereus, were used to accelerate the decomposition of bioplastics manufactured from Polylactid acid (PLA) by direct action during 250 days. The best results were obtained with bacterial strains Cupriavidus necator and Pseudomonas chlororaphis that were isolated of lagoons with anthropogenic sediments.

Fly ash is an inorganic secondary material coming from combustion of coal in power stations. Tested fly ashes were produced by different processes. Therefore they have different parameters. Their chemical properties were determined using chemical analyzes and compared. Results of laboratory tests show possibility to use of fly ashes in road construction as binder for soil treatment.

Results of analysis and modelling the air pollutant (dioxide of nitrogen) concentration temporal dynamics in atmosphere of the industrial city Odessa are presented for the first time and based on computing by nonlinear methods of the chaos and dynamical systems theories. A chaotic behaviour is discovered and investigated. To reconstruct the corresponding strange chaotic attractor, the time delay and embedding dimension are computed. The former is determined by the methods of autocorrelation function and average mutual information, and the latter is calculated by means of correlation dimension method and algorithm of false nearest neighbours. It is shown that low-dimensional chaos exists in the nitrogen dioxide concentration time series under investigation. Further, the Lyapunov's exponents spectrum, Kaplan-Yorke dimension and Kolmogorov entropy are computed.

The paper deals with recovery of phosphorus from the liquid discharge from dewatered wastewater treatment sludge via electrodialysis. Using electrodialysis, phosphorus was transferred into concentrate, where phosphorus concentrated to673.6 mg/l (from the original value 79.87 mg/l). This enriched concentrate may be further processed, e.g. phosphorus can precipitate into the form of struvite.

The paper deals with the heavy metals removal by wooden material. The adsorption experiments were carried out using of wood sawdust and bark from poplar tree for the removal of copper and zinc cations from model solutions with initial concentration of 10 mg.L^-1. The FTIR was used for functional groups determination not for analysis of hemicelluloses, cellulose and lignin in structure of wood sawdust and bark were studied by infrared spectrometry. Poplar sawdust efficiency for Cu(II) and Zn(II) removal from aquatic model solutions reached approximately 80.0%. Changes of pH values were also observed in model solutions that were probably caused by ion exchange between the ions of sorbents and the ions in solutions.

As the environmental awareness of the public is rising and at the same time contemporary buildings are becoming more and more energy efficient, the focus is shifting towards the usage of environmentally friendly building products. Human decisions are often driven by emotions and perceptions. Consequently, there exists a strong tendency towards preferring "natural" constructional products to the synthetic ones, especially in the case of thermal insulations. Life cycle assessment (LCA) has enabled an opportunity to widen the meaning of the word "environmentally friendly", giving researchers and building designers an objective decision making tool to determine the environmental impact of building products, building components and buildings as a whole. The purpose of this study was to compare the environmental impact of various thermal insulations for the cradle to gate life cycle stages, based on a unified functional unit. Overall, 15 most commonly used thermal insulation products were analysed and classified into natural and synthetic groups. Based on the differentiation, we compared the impact in the selected environmental categories and identified the most influential environmental drivers. The results show that in some environmental categoriesnatural thermal insulations perform better (i.e. global warming potential), whilein others (i.e. eutrophication potential) they underperform. However, environmental impact trends can be identified, specifically for the natural and the synthetic materials.

This article discusses the impact of new emission limits for sulphur dioxide (SO₂) emissions which will be effective from 2021 for large combustion plants (LCP) in the Czech Republic and as well as possible ways and techniques to achieve these emission limits.

Resistance of cement composites against various chemical processes such as sulphate attack and corrosion is nowadays one of the most desired property. Mechanism largely involved in sulphate corrosion is the ingress of aggressive ions through diffusion. The result of the ingress of aggressive ions is leaching of the elements from the mortar matrix and the deterioration of the composite. In the experiment, the slag-based cement mortars samples were exposed to an aggressive microbiological sulphate environment, represented by the bacteria A. thiooxidans, for the period of 6 months. The paper presents the investigation of damaged depths of cement mortars based on the leaching characteristics of the Ca ions. The damage depths (EDD) of cement composites were much higher (up to 0.2 mm) for samples placed in the biotic environment, which confirms the aggressive action of A. thiooxidans.

Magnesium contamination in soil at a magnesite mining area of Jelšava-Lubeník (Slovakia) and their effect to the soil characteristics were determined. Soil samples were collected in the area Jelšava – Lubeník with specific alkaline pollutants, it is one of the most devastated regions of Slovakia and with the alarming degree of environmental damage. Magnesite air pollutants are a mixture of MgO and MgCO₃ due to which a soil reaction can move above pH 8. Production of clink accompanies the enormous emissions of dust particles of MgO into the air and the leakage of gaseous compounds, mainly SO₂ and NO_x. The total content of heavy metals in soils (Pb, Zn, Cr, Mn, Mg) were determined by atomic absorption spectrometry and X-ray fluorescence spectrometry. Soil reaction was determined in solution of 0.01 M CaCl₂. The research showed that the investigated sites are mostly strongly alkaline. Based on the obtained results, it can be stated that the contents of Pb, Zn is below the level of toxicity but for Cr, Mn and Mg, it does not apply. Their significant exceedance points contamination in which we can take into account the harmfulness and toxicity.

The article describes characteristic features of post-mining and mining activities. These includes drop basins, settling ponds with flotation tailings, mine water discharge into surface water, coal waste dumps and their thermic activities. In conclusion, the financial demands oi individual remediation and reclamation activities are quantified. The costs of land reclamation measures with respect to the subsequent use of the landscape are also calculated for the Ostrava-Karvina Coal District.

We present a new effective approach to analysis and modelling the natural air ventilation in an atmosphere of the industrial city, which is based on the Arakawa-Schubert and Glushkov models, modified to calculate the current involvement of the ensemble of clouds, and advanced mathematical methods of modelling an unsteady turbulence in the urban area. For the first time the methods of a plane complex field and spectral expansion algorithms are applied to calculate the air circulation for the cloud layer arrays, penetrating into the territory of the industrial city. We have also taken into account for the mechanisms of transformation of the cloud system advection over the territory of the urban area. The results of test computing the air ventilation characteristics are presented for the Odessa city. All above cited methods and models together with the standard monitoring and management systems can be considered as a basis for comprehensive "Green City" construction technology.

One of the basic characteristics of heavy soils is their capacity to change their volume in horizontal plane they are represented by formation of cracks and in vertical plane by vertical movement of soil surface. Non-dimensional geometric factor r_s is the ratio of participation in soil volumetric changes of both crack formation and vertical movements. In theory, r_s can acquire values in the interval: r_s ∈ 〈1, ∞〉.

The main objective of this study was to evaluate which selected environmental parameters in rivers affect the concentration of chlorophyll a and the distribution of macrozoobenthos. The data were collected on selected profiles of the Ostravice mountain river in the Moravian-Silesian Region. The examined chemical and physical parameters include dissolved oxygen (DO), flow rate, oxidation-reduction potential (ORP), conductivity, temperature, pH, total nitrogen and phosphorus concentration.

The paper focuses on erosion processes in the Svacenický Creek catchment which is a small sub-catchment of the Myjava River basin. To simulate soil loss and sediment transport the USLE/SDR and WaTEM/SEDEM models were applied. The models were validated by comparing the simulated results with the actual bathymetry of a polder at the catchment outlet. Methods of crop management based on rotation and strip cropping were applied for the reduction of soil loss and sediment transport. The comparison shows that the greatest intensities of soil loss were achieved by the bare soil without vegetation and from the planting of maize for corn. The lowest values were achieved from the planting of winter wheat. At the end the effectiveness of row crops and strip cropping for decreasing design floods from the catchment was estimated.

The article describes the advantages and disadvantages of the SWMM programme user environment when working with it. The Storm Water Management Model (SWMM) is a programme developed by the U.S. EPA (United States Environmental Protection Agency). The SWMM programme is used worldwide to plan, analyse and design rainfall-runoff, combined and separate sanitary sewage systems and other drainage systems in urban areas [1]. The programme is freely available to download from the U.S. EPA website [2].

Nowadays, the application of raw materials from renewable sources such as wood, plants and waste paper to building materials preparing has gained a significant interest in this research area. The aim of this paper is to investigate the impact of the selected plasticizer on properties of fibres composites made of cellulosic fibres coming from recycled waste paper and cement. Investigations were performed on specimens with 0.5 wt. % of fibre addition without and with plasticizer. A comparative study did not show positive influence of plasticizer on the density and thermal conductivity of 28 days hardened composite. The specimens after 1, 3 and 7 days of hardening with plasticizer exhibited the highest impact on compressive strength in comparison to composite without plasticizer but 28 days hardened specimens reached the same value of strength characteristic (41 MPa).

The present contribution was focused on monitoring changes in the soil basal respiration in different textures of soil in the dry polder Beša. The research was conducted between 2012 and 2014 on soil type Fluvisol locations on three soil textures: clay – loam soil, clayey soil and clay soil in three soil depths. The basal respiration (BR) has been determine by soil CO₂ production measuring from incubated soil samples in serum bottles in laboratory condition. Release Co₂ has been analysed by gas chromatography. Content of clay particles were in the range 52.18 % to 81.31%, indicating the high difference between the minimum and maximum content. By using of multiple LSD-test we recorded statistically significant impact of clay on basal respiration. Results confirm the values of basal respiration with the depth of the soil profile decreased.

Bromates are substances that are usually not present in drinking water. They are obtained by ozone disinfection in the presence of bromine ions in water, as an impurity of sodium hypochlorite, respectively. Because of their specific properties, bromates are classified as vary dangers substances, that can cause serious illnesses in humans. There are several technological processes that have been used to the removal of bromates from water at present. In this article, the removal of the bromates from water by the adsorption using various sorbent materials (activated carbon, zeolite, Klinopur-Mn, Bayoxide E33, GEH, Read-As and Activated alumina) are presented. The effectiveness of selected sorbent materials in the removal of bromates from drinking water moves in the interval from 10 to 40%. Based on laboratory results, the zeolite can be used to reduce the concentration of bromates in water.

The aim of this work is to describe factors of water quality change in the distribution network and legislative requirements in Slovakia for disinfectants and disinfection byproducts (DBPs). In the experimental part, the time dependence of the application of the chlorine dioxide and sodium hypochlorite on the formation of some by-products of disinfection for drinking water from WTP Hriňová is studied. We monitored trihalomethanes, free chlorine, chlorine dioxide and chlorites.

In our study, recycled concrete aggregates (RCA), which surfaces had been modified by geopolymer material based on coal fly ash, were used to produce the concrete samples. In these samples, fraction 4/8 mm was replaced by recycled concrete aggregate with a range of 100%. To modify the surface of RCA was "Solo" and "Triple stage" modification used. On these samples real density, total water absorption and compressive strength were examined after 28, 90, 180 and 365 days of hardening. The highest compressive strength 56.8 MPa, after 365 days hardening, reached sample which had improved RCA surface by "Triple stage mixing".

The aim of this paper is to propose a mathematical model for determining of total nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) content in eroded soil particles with emphasis on prediction of bottom sediment quality in reservoirs. The adsorbed nutrient concentrations are calculated using the Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) extended by the determination of the average soil nutrient concentration in top soils. The average annual vegetation and management factor is divided into five periods of the cropping cycle. For selected plants, the average plant nutrient uptake divided into five cropping periods is also proposed. The average nutrient concentrations in eroded soil particles in adsorbed form are modified by sediment enrichment ratio to obtain the total nutrient content in transported soil particles. The model was designed for the conditions of north-eastern Slovakia. The study was carried out in the agricultural basin of the small water reservoir Klusov.

This work analyses the problem of measuring water retention curves in heavy soils. The results present the differences between soil water retention curves measured in soil samples collected from the selected localities of the Czech and Slovak area. In the drying process, the results showed an increased rate of soil shrinkage depending on clay content and water content. The rate of shrinkage affected the results of the water retention curves points measurement.

In groundwater modelling, robust parameterisation of sub-surface parameters is crucial towards obtaining an agreeable model performance. Pilot point is an alternative in parameterisation step to correctly configure the distribution of parameters into a model. However, the methodology given by the current studies are considered less practical to be applied on real catchment conditions. In this study, a practical approach of using geometric features of pilot point and distribution of hydraulic gradient over the catchment area is proposed to efficiently configure pilot point distribution in the calibration step of a groundwater model. A development of new pilot point distribution, Head Zonation-based (HZB) technique, which is based on the hydraulic gradient distribution of groundwater flow, is presented. Seven models of seven zone ratios (1, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 and 30) using HZB technique were constructed on an eogenetic karst catchment in Rote Island, Indonesia and their performances were assessed. This study also concludes some insights into the trade-off between restricting and maximising the number of pilot points and offers a new methodology for selecting pilot point properties and distribution method in the development of a physically-based groundwater model.

The paper brings two determination methods for non-radioactive analytes based on isoconcentration principle. The first method represents a determination procedure for a non-radioactive substance by use of its radio-labelled form of known concentration by help of a (non-quantitative, but selective) separation method. The main advantage of this method consists in the fact, that the determination is executable only by the detection of radioactivity. The second described procedure enables the determination of the chosen analyte without requirement of radioactive form of the substance to be determinate.

This paper presents the results of a research dealing with the testing of the properties of wastewater forming during the production of concrete mixture in a concrete plant. The test results are compared with the limit values of concrete mixing water according to ČSN EN 1008 in order to use this waste water as a partial replacement of mixing water during the production of concrete.

Pervious concrete is considered to be a sustainable pavement material due to high water permeability. The experiment presented in this paper was aimed at study the influence of water to cement ratio on both the compressive and splitting tensile strength of pervious concrete. Typically, less water content in concrete mixture leads to less porosity of cement paste and thus it provides desirable mechanical properties. In case of conventional dense concrete, the lower is the water to cement ratio, the higher or better is the strength, density and durability of concrete. This behaviour is not quite clear in case of pervious concrete because of low amount of cement paste present. Results of compressive and splitting tensile strength of pervious concrete are discussed in the paper while taking into account values measured after 2 and 28 days of hardening and variations in water to cement ratio. The results showed that changes of water to cement ratio from 0.25 to 0.35 caused only slight differences in strength characteristics, and this applied to both types of tested strength.

Optimal use of surface and groundwater will be a decisive factor in maintaining the lives of people on the Earth and the functioning of infrastructure. A climate change calls for a new way of the management and use of water. What means and methods are used to achieve the required balanced state is presented in the basic scope by the following article.

Local household boilers significantly contribute to the air contamination. The quality of combusted fuel can be monitored by an ash analysis. Cocombustion of waste in local boilers influences the amount of unburned carbon in ash and its distribution into separate grain size classes. The paper is focused on determination of the ash melting point in dependence on the fuel quality.

The long-term sustainability of the landscape and its natural environment must be the decisive task of the public administration and, in the wider concept, of every citizen. In new climatic conditions, this need has intensified. The following article suggests in a basic scope whether the above-mentioned task can be accomplished, and what means of solution should be used.

Black carbon (BC) is a product of incomplete combustion of fossil fuels, biomass and other fuels. The study is focused on the influence of an inverse character of the weather on the BC concentrations in the city of Ostrava during the period 2012–2016. The continuous measurement of daily concentrations of BC were performed by the portable Aethalometer, and PM₁₀ by the DustTrak aerosol monitor. The average concentrations of BC and PM₁₀ during the days with an inversion character of the weather, compared with the days without inversion, were increased up to 3.8 times and 3 times, respectively.

Quarries fundamentally change the character of the landscape, both in the mined parts and in its immediate surroundings. Inside the mined areas, there are many different types of microbiotopes, their character is very different from the surrounding ecosystem. Destruction of original biotopes is an opportunity for settlement by new plant and animal communities. To monitor these biodiversity changes in the landscape, appropriate groups of organisms are used. Only a bioindicator that is well processable from a taxonomic point of view and its demands on the environment and its distribution are well-known, gives reliable results. For these reasons, less moving molluscs are used in many works. The territory of the southern part of the Devonian limestone of the Moravian Karst is affected by the industrial mining of limestone. There is forest quarry in Lisen, which was ended in 1997 and a few years later reclamation work was started on parts of the mined area. The study of molluscs in this model territory was used to assess the impact of reclamation methods on the malaco - assemblage's diversity inside the quarry.

The paper deals with supplies of drinking water in times of drought. Facing the climatic changes, it is essential to look for alternatives sources of drinking water. Artificial infiltration ranks among such options. Two sites, Hranice na Moravě and Odry, have been monitored and evaluated. In those sites, it would be possible to use artificial infiltration and increase supplies of ground water.

Models of climate change assume a long-term growth in temperature. This poses a risk for the supply of drinking water to the population. This paper evaluates the possibilities of optimal use of surface and underground sources. It proposes the interconnection of surface resources and optimization of their use. In order to improve the yield of underground water sources, it recommends the use of artificial infiltration.

The deposits, located in Nová Ves and Zlaté Hory were well known and important sources of metal ore in Jesenniky region in the past. Especially the one in Nová Ves, which is recently the most important hydrothermal deposit of venous type in the whole area. The mining activity, aimed on lead and zinc minerals was practically permanent here from the middle-age to 1959. On the other hand, the site in Zlaté Hory is the most important ore deposit in Czech Silesia. The non-venous types of polymetallic, copper and gold deposits, evolved in the complex of metamorphic devon rocks are located on south and south-west directions of the area. Long and permanent mining industry caused remarkable changes in the local environment, creating mine heaps and depressions. The probability, that dump material contains potentially toxic substances that could be possibly leaked into surrounded environment is high.

This contribution presents the part of complex study results, aimed on evaluating of potential environmental impacts in above mentioned locations. It aims on contamination, caused by potentially toxic heavy metals (Pb, Zn, Cu, Ni, Fe, Mn, Co, Cd, Cr and As) at the sites, exposed to mining activity in the past. The study focus on the contamination of these sites and evaluate them as potential risk for surrounded environment.

The presented article compares quality of composts which were formed by different technological processes. The subject to comparison was a compost which was created in a closed fermenter where ideal conditions for decomposition and organic substances conversion were ensured, with compost which was produced in an open box of community composting. The created composts were analysed to determine whether it is more important for the final compost to comply with the composting conditions or better sorting of raw materials needed for compost production. The results of the carried out experiments showed that quality of the resulting compost cannot be determined unequivocally.

The Moldova is facing an increased incidence of floods. For these reasons, the involvement of state in flood protection is rising. Despite the fact that the Moldova is not a member of the European Union, its government follows legislation on prevention, risk assessment and flood protection which is closely connected with landscape. The article deals with the possibilities of using mobile flood barriers in this territory as possible protection of the community.

The drainage system must ensure a safe disposal of the surface water without endangering the buildings and safety of people. Despite the common use of rainwater infiltration facilities, there is still only limited data available evaluating the long-term capacity of such systems especially for underground infiltration facilities. This study presents experimental measurements and evaluation of long-term infiltration efficiency in real conditions and emphasizes the importance of hydrogeological survey. The measurements of infiltration efficiency were applied to an existing percolation drainage system – infiltration shafts. Infiltration shafts were made in year 2007 so that its drainage operation takes more than 8 years. This study was started in 2011 and still continues and presents 5 years measurements of infiltration efficiency for this infiltration facility.

This paper presents the results of a research dealing with the use of unstable steel slag as a 100% substitute for natural aggregate in the production of concrete. Portland cement CEM I 42.5N and alkali activated hybrid cement H-CEMENT were used as the binder. The test results confirm the possibility to use steel slag as the filler in the production of concrete.

This article deals with a comparison of vacuum sewerage system and gravity based sewerage system. It also includes the results of the comparison of both of these systems from various cities, and there are measures suggested on the basis of the findings focused on increasing the efficiency and reducing the operational costs of the selected vacuum sewerage system.

The post-mining landscape of Upper Silesian is deterioration of the original landscape caused by underground coal mining. There are huge ecosystems changes, which have been reclaimed by nature-friendly procedures. The aim of the work is to evaluate the suitability of selected trees for reuse of brownfields in this landscape and proposals for reclamation in the interest areas of Upper Silesian.

Transition to environmentally friendly technologies provides a comprehensive solution to problem of creating an economic value without destroying the nature. Buildings using green technologies lead to lower operating costs, healthier living and working environment and protect the environment more. The aim of this paper is to assess the environmental impact of two alternatives of family house designed as conventional building and building with green technologies. Evaluated family house are located in village Kokšov Bakša, which is situated 12 km south-east from city of Košice, a metropolis of eastern Slovakia. This analysis investigates the role of applied green technologies in single family houses for impact categories: global warming potential (GWP), acidification potential (AP) and eutrophication potential (EP) expressed as CO_2eq, SO_2eq and PO₄^3-_eq within "Cradle to Grave" boundary by using the LCA assessment method. The main contribution of the study is a proof that green technologies have significant part in the reduction of environmental impacts. Results show that alternative of family house designed as green one contributes to CO_2eq, SO_2eq and PO₄^3-_eq emissions by 81%, 73% and 35% less than alternative of conventional family house, respectively.

During composting biodegradable waste, microbic organisms reproduce massively, most of which belong to serious biopathogens which are able to penetrate various environmental layers. Their vector species include dipterous insect (Diptera) which reaches considerable amounts in composting plant premises as well as home composting units, mainly during summer months. Therefore measures must be taken to eliminate or reduce this unwanted phenomenon (sanitisation, disinfection). For evaluating obtained results, relative abundance calculation was chosen.

Results of monitoring hydromorphological assessment of the Porubka watercourse, use the method HEM - Hydroecological monitoring, are presented in this article. HEM is based of the evaluation not only of main stream, as morphology and hydrology parameters, but of the same evaluation flood plain. The ecological status of river ecosystems is usually evaluated following hydromorphological features of riverbed, flow regime and river continuity, and was applied for the effect of proposed restoration measures. Ecohydrological quality by the method HEM classes was established from 1 (high) to 5 (bad), characterizing the state of the water course.

Composting plant Točna utilize and modifies biologically biodegradable waste by aerobic fermentation method. After emergency leakage of leachate water in 2010 the quality of rock surrounding is being regularly monitored in the range of indicators: pH, conductivity, COD (chemical oxygen demand, Cr), HCO₃^–, Cl^–, N-NH₄⁺, N-NO₃^–, N-NO₂^– and humic substances. Technical adjustments of the interest area has been also made to prevent leakage of contaminated water. Locality monitoring system is ensured separately for shallow backfill aquifer and deeper quaternary aquifer. Protective hydraulic barrier is running at the same time to prevent effluent of shallow water to groundwater. Nitrogenous substances (above all ammonium ions) and humic substances belongs among main groundwater contaminants of the interest area. Peak concentration level of this substances is connected with shallow backfill aquifer, near south-east and east edge of the locality, not in general quaternary water direction. From long-term monitoring results follows that concentration of monitored substances is gradually decreasing, especially in water connected with backfill layer. Drier weather of last year helps to this development. Quality of quaternary aquifer is not influenced significantly, only locally in spots, in the places of both aquifers connection where increase of ammonium ions occurs as result of humic substance decomposition. In effect, monitored substances are not disseminated in quaternary aquifer.

Investigation of biological corrosion of concrete requires that composition of material, surface and aggressive environment have to be taken into account. Sulphate resisting cement, as one of the resistivity improving factors, was used for preparation of concrete samples studied in this experiment. Dependences of leached-out quantities of selected ions regarding bacterial versus non-bacterial environments were investigated and evaluated using correlation analysis. Leaching trends of calcium, silicon and aluminium strongly depends on the aggressiveness of medium which are the samples exposed to. A weak correlation was found for the leaching trends of aluminium and iron in both bacterial and non-bacterial media.

Mine Smolnik is one of the oldest sulphide ore mines in Europe and it is also an important part of bioleaching development. This paper follows previous attempts to extract residual metals from nearby heaps via variations in bioleaching reagents with regard to recent findings and needs in the related industry. Furthermore, economic and process relations between reagents and chosen heap fractions were also investigated in this case study.

The main goal of the article is the comparison of the possible use of secondary energy products. Used fly ashes, respectively steel dusts in cement mixes derive from production in Moravian-Silesian Region. The research focused on their influence on the chemical and physico-mechanical characteristics of the fresh and solid mixture. The aim was to find suitable formulations for grouting works, highway construction possibly rehabilitation of underground cavities created by mining activities. The introduction is mentioned the history of waste utilization up to current use as a product and the overall state of the problem. The conclusion is an evaluation of possible use in practice, including recommendations to carry out further tests.

The analysis of factors is important in insight of the selection of proper building material with environmental added value. A comprehensive solution is possible if at the beginning there are all the relevant factors in detail characterized predominately that have got a major impact on the area in terms of environmentalharmfulness prevention. There are many groups of environmental factors. In this article only four factors are considered, i.e. contain of Cr^VI (mg/kg) and index of mass activity for radionuclides (Ra, Th, K) which are the most harmful. These factors can be evaluated by means of a supplementary tool, e.g. multi-criteriaanalysis, which improves and supports decision processes in the framework of construction bybuilding management, etc.

Monthly discharges can be modelled and predicted by the decomposition of the runoff process model into two components – deterministic and stochastic. For such approach the term hybrid was often adopted. In this study a hybrid (deterministic-stochastic) modelling approach for one step ahead forecasting of mean monthly discharges at the gauging stations Banská Bystrica and Brehy on the Hron River in Slovakia was developed. The aim was to join the conceptual monthly rainfall runoff model KVHK and several time series models of the forecasting error time series of the conceptual model into a hybrid framework. Since these rainfall-runoff model error series may exhibit nonstationarity and heteroscedasticity, beside traditional ARMA models, GARCH type nonlinear time series models were also considered.

The benthic macroinvertebrates living on the bottom channels are one of the most promising of the potential indicators of river health for the Saigon River and its tributaries with hydrochemistry playing a supporting role. An evaluation of the interrelationships within this approach deems necessary. This work identified and tested these relationships to improve the method for water quality assessment. Data from over 4,500 km² watershed were used as a representative example for the Saigon River and its tributaries. The data covered the period March and September, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2015. To implement this evaluation, the analyses were based on accepted the methodology of Mekong River Commission and the studies of scientific group for the biological status assessment. For correlation analyses, the selected environmental variables were compared with the ecological indices, based on benthic macroinvertebrates. The results showed that the metrics of Species Richness, H', and 1-D_S had significant and strong relationships with the water quality variables of DO, BOD₅, T_N, and T_P (R² = 0.3751 – 0.8866; P << 0.05). While the metrics of Abundance of benthic macroinvertebrates did not have a statistically significant relationship with any water quality variables (R² = 0.0000 – 0.0744; P > 0.05). Additionally, the metrics of Species Richness, H', and 1-D_S had negatively correlated with the pH and TSS. Both univariate and multivariate analyses were used to examine the ecological quality of the Saigon River and its tributaries using benthic macroinvertebrates seems to be the most sensitive indicator to correlate with physicochemical variables. This demonstrated that it could be applied to describe the water quality in the Saigon River and its tributaries.

In the last decades building materials, both of natural origin and containing industrial by-products, have been shown to significantly contribute to the exposure of the population to natural radioactivity. As a matter of fact, neither the absorbed dose rate in air due to gamma radiation nor the radon activity concentration are negligible in closed environments. The soil and rocks of the earth contains substances which are naturally radioactive and provide natural radiation exposures. The most important radioactive elements which occur in the soil and in rocks are the long lived primordial isotopes of potassium (40K), uranium (238U) and thorium (232Th). Therefore, additional exposures have to be measured and compared with respect to the natural radiation exposure. Further, it is important to estimate the potential risk from radiation from the environment. The paper presents the results of mass activities of ²²⁶Ra, ²³²Th a ⁴⁰K radionuclides in cement mortars with addition of silica fume. The gamma index was calculated as well.

Land is the uppermost territorial unit of the earth's surface that is quasi-homogeneous in its physical, natural, and also anthropogenic properties. The fundamental component of land is lithosphere. The focus of this work is on a carbonatic geo-environment that is dominantly characterized by Mesozoic rock complexes, significant chemical weathering, and a set of landforms that are unique to this type of a geological structures. In general, optimal land management is a composite of land sharing and land sparing practices; however, in order to answer the question: 'What is a parcel of land best suited for?' often requires well-organized spatial data. In this work, we have focused on developing a model that would evaluate the suitability of a carbonatic geo-environment for land management practices. Due to the potential hazards of some sinkhole infested areas, the risk of natural hazards must be first evaluated. In addition, the level of hazards depends on population pressure and the intensity of human impact on this particular environment. In this research, we have applied the principles of geostatistics to evaluate the probabilities for sinkhole hazards as well as fuzzy logic to evaluate the suitability of land sharing and land sparing management.

Water quality modelling is currently very effective and important tool in context of the task to ensure the required quality of water resources, respectively, to achieve (maintain) good water status according the Water Framework Directive (2000/60/EC). This paper analyses the current status in numerical modelling of pollution dispersion in streams and use of some modelling approaches for the inverse task. Inverse task means a modelling technique, which is focused on the localisation of unknown pollution source (typical common models or equations are rather focused on the pollution spreading simulation, whereas the pollution source location is known). Paper offers an idea of such inverse task solution. It is based on the known pollution concentration time courses or it can be based on the results of the on-line monitoring of the specific water quality parameters as well. For the application of inverse tasks in conditions of real streams and rivers a large number of various requirements and conditions in specific river should be considered, i. a. the non-prismatic river bed, occurrence of dead zones, dispersion rate etc. Paper also describes the first version of the software for solving inverse tasks and preliminary experiences of using this software.

The article deals with comparative study of antimicrobial efficiency of metallurgical slags suitable for construction applications. The tested slags were as follows: granulated blast-furnace slag (GS1), air cooled blast-furnace slag (AS2), demetallized steel slag (DS3), calcerous ladle slag (LS4), slag from copper refining (CS5). The antimicrobial activity was tested on selected representatives of bacteria, yeasts, and filamentous fungi. The highest antibacterial activity possessed LS4, which intensely inhibited growth of bacteria with the lowest concentration of slag (10%) in the growth media. 100% inhibition of growth of some bacteria was observed only in slags LS4, DS3 and AS2 in concentrations 20% - 60% of slag. Antibacterial activity of slag samples was decreasing in the order: LS4 > DS3 > AS2 > GS1 > CS5. Growth of all model yeasts was 100% inhibited at as low concentration as 20% of slag GS1 and DS3, and 10% of slag LS4. Antiyeast activity of slags was decreasing in the order: LS4 > GS1 = DS3 > AS2 > CS5. Regarding that filamentous fungi were selectively sensitive to presence of slags, it is possible to determine only approximate order of inhibition effectiveness of slags to fungi: LS4 > GS1 = DS3 > AS2 = CS5.

The article deals with studying the antifungal efficiency of carbide lime slurry compared to industrially manufactured commercial lime. Antifungal efficiency expressed as mould proofness properties was tested on the fungi using the procedure given in standard CSN 72 4310. A mixture of fungi Aspergillus niger, Chaetomium globosum, Penicillium funiculosum, Paecilomyces variotii and Gliocladium virens was utilized for testing. The scale for evaluating mould proofness properties according to CSN 72 4310 is from 0 to 5 in degree of fungi growth, where 0 means that no fungi growth occurs and the building products and materials possess fungistatic properties. The study confirms the fungistatic propeties of carbide lime slurry as well as industrially manufactured commercial lime. However, carbide lime slurry and industrially manufactured commercial lime possess no fungicidal effect.

The need for sustainability increasingly influences the development of new technologies, business processes and working practices. Innovations are an important part of all business processes. The aim of innovation is, in particular, to reduce the burden on the environment. The current trend in the construction industry is diamond rope cutting. The aim of the paper is to evaluate the most advanced technology for cutting and removing concrete structures in terms of efficiency.

The negative consequences of mining of the black coal is occurrence of extractive waste storage locations - mining dumps. The mining activities carried out within the area of Ostrava are responsible for at least six mine dumps of loose materials arising as wastes from mining of mineral resources, many of which show presence of thermal processes. The thermal activity in dumps is responsible for many hazardous substances that pollute the environment and harm human health in the surroundings. This paper deals with the results of the first phase of project CZ.11.4.120/0.0/0.0/15_006/0000074 TERDUMP, on exploration of thermally active mining dumps are published in the article. As a first studied thermally active dump was a Hedvika dump. To localize of hot spots with hot gas emission was used a thermovision scanning by drone. The place with high temperature (49.8 °C) identified natural gas emission through natural cracks. Analysing the occurring pollutants in Hedvika Dump using the GC-MS or HPLC, respectively and the inert gases (CO₂, CO and SO₂) were determined by ion chromatography. The pollutants were determined in five sampling points during two measurements executed from July to August 2017.

This work deals with the separation of CO2 gaseous pollutant from gas mixtures to a water solution using the laboratory contactor. The laboratory set process parameters showed the rate of carbon dioxide transition through the interface in a so promising level the contactor separators can be considered as a very promising pathway to reduce the content of this greenhouse gas from the air.

This paper describes the current situation of flood protection of the municipality of Kobeřice and the method to be used to increase it, which is the construction of a flood pool – detention basin intended for the reduction of the negative impact of flash floods within the territory of the municipality. The actual design of the detention basin is based on hydraulic calculations and the prepared drawing documentation.

Human activities significantly change the species composition in the area. The main factor of change was the mining industry, which changed the natural conditions on Upper Silesia. The anthropogenic relief of mine dumps are the main centre of alien plant in an industrial landscape. The poster deals with the state of the invasive plant species by the phyto-sociological surveys on Upper Silesia.

The fundamental role of environmental engineering is to protect human population and environment from impacts of human activities and to ensure environmental quality. It relates to achieving the environmental sustainability goals through advanced technologies for pollutants removing from air, water and soil in order to minimize risk in ecosystem and ensuring favourable conditions for life of humans and organisms. Nowadays, a critical analysis of the environment quality and innovative approaches to problem solving in order to achieve sustainability in environmental engineering, are necessary. This article presents an overview of the quality of the environment and progress in environmental engineering in Slovakia and gives information regarding the environmental engineering education at Faculty of Civil Engineering at Technical University in Kosice.

Identification of air pollution sources in the city of Olomouc was performed during the heating and non-heating season 2016. The contributions of air pollution sources were determined by ratios and equations for organic carbon (OC), elemental carbon (EC), sulphates, nitrates, levoglucosan, etc. During the heating season, the concentration of EC was six times higher compared to the non-heating season.

This article deals with the possibilities of population management of invasive and in Czech Republic no - native species Helianthus tuberosus. We have chosen study areas in Poodri PLA, it is located near the industrial city Ostrava (Moravian-Silesian region). Invasive Helianthus tuberosus forms monodominant vegetation, excludes the original and often rare plant species and reduces biodiversity. It is a risk for the further development of the landscape of Poodri PLA. There is no known effective way to dispose of invasive Helianthus tuberosus so far. We have applied the proposed management works on 15 monitoring areas and then evaluated their effectiveness. We have used chemical (herbicides) and mechanical (mowing, digging up) methods and their combinations. The most effective was the combination of 3 interventions: manual mowing - spraying – mowing by mechanization, just mowing itself rather promotes the spread of the population. We can say this is a pilot study from a long-term project dealing with the effectiveness of different ways of invasive plants management.

The volume changes in the soils are manifested both by the formation of cracks and by the vertical movement of the soil surface. Both of these could be generally negative for engineering constructions. The Coefficient of Linear Extensibility (COLE) is used to quantify volume changes. In this work a pedotransfer function was designed to calculate the COLE potential. Calculation is based on the texture of the soil. This function was designed on the basis of 169 samples of soil samples taken at 11 locations in the East Slovak lowland.

The paper is focused on solving problems of design of energy management model in the context of historical buildings and monuments. The main goal of the energy management is to find solutions that preserve the historical heritage while not damaging the uniqueness of the buildings in question and their surroundings. The paper proposes a scheme of activities of energy management of historical monuments in the implementation of energy-efficient measures.

The paper deals with the use of alternative powder additives (fly ash and fine fraction of recycled concrete) to improve the recycled concrete aggregate and this occurs directly in the concrete mixing process. Specific mixing process (triple mixing method) is applied as it is favourable for this goal. Results of compressive strength after 2 and 28 days of hardening are given. Generally, using powder additives for coating the coarse recycled concrete aggregate in the first stage of triple mixing resulted in decrease of compressive strength, comparing the cement. There is no very important difference between samples based on recycled concrete aggregate and those based on natural aggregate as far as the cement is used for coating. When using both the fly ash and recycled concrete powder, the kind of aggregate causes more significant differences in compressive strength, with the values of those based on the recycled concrete aggregate being worse.

This paper presents results obtained by developed optical sensor, which consist from multi-wavelength LED light source and two photodetectors capable of measuring the change in optical signal along two different optical paths (absorbance and reflectance measurements). Arduino microcomputer was used for light source management and optical signal data measuring and recording. Analytical validation of developed optical sensor is presented in this paper. The performance of the system has been tested with varying water solution of dyes (malachite green, methyl orange, trypan red). These results show strong correlations between the optical signal response and colour change from the dyes. Sensor was used for continual in-situ monitoring of electrochemical elimination of selected dyes (current density 15.7 mA cm^-2, electrolyte volume 4 L and NaCl concentration 2 g L^-1). Maximum decolorization level varies with each dye. For malachite green was obtain 92,7 % decolorization (25 min); methyl orange 90,8% (8,5 min) and trypan red 84,7% decolorization after 33 min of electrochemical treatment.

Under the new legislation, in force since 2021, mercury emission limits for large combustion plants (LCP) are determined. This paper describes formation of mercury during coal combustion process and present methods of removing mercury from flue gases. This paper also reviews the fuel base of the Czech Republic and current measurement results of mercury emissions from some important LCPs in the Czech Republic. Measurement shows that most LCPs in the Czech Republic do not meet these emission limits and it leads to find out technical and economic solution.

This study deals with an issue of ammonia removal from anaerobic digestion's by-product - digestate. The aim of the research is ammonia removal by chemical precipitation using the combination of Mg2+, NH4+ and PO43-ions in struvite (MgNH4PO4 . 6 H2O). Laboratory tests were carried out using the sample of digestate liquor. The final product of the treatment may have the potential to be used as a fertilizer.

Microorganisms cause changes in the building stone, which reduce its usable life and reliability. Microalgae make important parts of the biodegradation consortia of microorganisms on the surface of building materials. Via their metabolites, microalgae affect the stability of mineral components and thus lead to the material destruction. The aim of the paper was to identify aerophytic microalgae on the surface of engineering structures in the Ostrava agglomeration, and to describe the basic interactions between such microorganisms and the building materials, which may lead to the destruction of the materials.

The contribution summarizes results of a project concentrated on landscape management of an area affected by brown coal mining located in northern Bohemia (The Most basin) focusing on restoration and reclamation processes. It describes in particular the shares of individual types of reclamations in the area of interest. A strategic document that also supports landscape restoration in anthropogenically burdened regions was written within the project called "Restart" and the second part of the contribution is focused on its chapters which address this issue.

This study is focused on the analysis of the changes of retention capacity of a small water reservoir induced by intensive erosion and sedimentation processes. The water reservoir is situated near the village of Vrbovce in the Western part of Slovakia, and the analysis is carried out for a period 2008-2017. The data used to build a digital elevation model (DEM) of the reservoir's bed came from a terrain measurement, utilizing an acoustic Doppler current profiler (ADCP) to measure the water depth in the reservoir. The DEM was used to quantify the soil loss from agricultural land situated within the basin of the reservoir. The ability of the water reservoir to transform a design flood with a return period of 100 years is evaluated for both design (2008) and current conditions (2017). The results show that the small water reservoir is a subject to siltation, with sediments comprised of fine soil particles transported from nearby agricultural land. The ability of the water reservoir to transform a 100-year flood has not changed significantly. The reduction of the reservoir's retention capacity should be systematically and regularly monitored in order to adjust its operational manual and improve its efficiency.

This paper deals with the possibility of the utilization of used motor oils as non-ionic collectors in the flotation separation. Flotation tests were performed on a sample of coal from Poland. The criterion was to achieve the yield of concentrate over 70% and ash content below 10%. The results of laboratory investigations have shown that the application of used motor oils as flotation agents is possible.

Environmental impact assessment (EIA) is an important process that, prior to approval of the investment plan, can provide a detailed examination of the likely and foreseeable impacts of proposed construction activity on the environment. The objective of this paper is to apply a specific methodology for the analysis and evaluation of the environmental impacts of selected constructions, namely, small hydro power plant, using matrix of impacts. This analysis method is intended not only to increase the clarity and precision of the evaluation process, but also to align it with the requirements of the environmental impact assessment system. This modification should improve the reliability of the environmental impact assessment, and could moreover also be applied to other infrastructure projects. Comparison of alternatives and designation of the optimal variant are implemented based on selected criteria that objectively describe the characteristic lines of the planned alternatives of activity and their impact on the environment. The use of proper EIA procedures can help the decision-makers to formulate proper activities based on qualified decisions. The designed project in Spišské Bystré, Slovakia is used as a case study to clarify and exemplify the methodology and techniques.

Environmental impact assessment is well known and often used process in all developed countries. This process identifies, estimates, assesses and provides information on negative and positive effects of the proposed project on the environment and health, and specifies in detail the measures to mitigate the possible negative effects before approving the project and its implementation. The assessment is done for at least two alternatives of the proposed activity in comparison with a zero alternative if no activity is done (present state is kept). In this paper proposal of heating system for Trebišov town in Slovakia is presented and the best alternative is chosen comparing environmental impacts of three alternatives. Evaluation was done using the method of the total indicator of environmental quality. Construction of biomass-fired power plant seems to be the best solution of heating for selected locality.

The aim of this study is to evaluate the efficiency of hygienisation by pasteurisation, temperature-phased anaerobic digestion and sludge liming. A summary of the legislation concerning sludge treatment, disposal and recycling is included. The hygienisation methods are compared not only in terms of hygienisation efficiency but a comparison of other criteria is also included.