RESEARCH
WE AIM TO IMPROVE OUR STREAMS AND RIVERS
The research carried out at the URL involves several scientific disciplines and seeks to generate new knowledge to better understand the functioning of streams and rivers within the current context of global change. The goal of our research is to improve the quality of highly modified streams and rivers as well as to develop new tools and management strategies for freshwater resources. The dissemination of the obtained results not only to scientific community but also to the society is a major aim for the URL team.
CURRENT PROJECTS
Treatment of nursery leachates by combining slow sand filtration and horizontal subsurface flow constructed wetlands.
Ecohydrological interfaces as critical hotspots for transformations of ecosystem exchange fluxes.
Improving water resource management in Mediterranean watersheds characterized by a high demand and water scarcity under the perspective of One Health.
Assessment of the nitrification capacity of sediments in streams receiving effluents of a urban wastewater treatment plant.
Hyporheic Zone Processes – A training network for enhancing the understanding of complex physical, chemical and biological process interactions.
CURRENT EXPERIMENTS
How do changes in surface to sub-surface hydrological interactions influence the relative abundance of nitrifiers and denitrifiers in biofilms of the hyporheic zones of WWTP-receiving streams?
Effect of different species of helophytes, used for river restoration, on the reduction of nutrient loads.
Characterization of above- and belowground biomass of different helophyte species commonly used in river restoration to assess their nutrient retention capacity.
Denitrification in streams receiving an effluent from a wastewater treatment plants may be limited by the low quality of the carbon from the effluent.
Efecte del substrat utilitzat en tècniques de bioenginyeria i del cicle biològic dels helòfits sobre la capacitat de retenció de nutrients procedents de l’efluent d’una EDAR.
PUBLICATIONS
Gacia, E., S. Bernal, M. Nikolakopoulou, E. Carreras, L. Morgado, M. Ribot, M. Isnard, A. Sorolla, F. Sabater, and E. Martí. 2019. The role of helophyte species on nitrogen and phosphorus retention from wastewater treatment plant effluents. Journal of Environmental Management 252:109585.
Ribot, M., J. Cochero, T. N. Vaessen, S. Bernal, E. Bastias, E. Gacia, A. Sorolla, F. Sabater, and E. Martí. 2019. Leachates from Helophyte Leaf-Litter Enhance Nitrogen Removal from Wastewater Treatment Plant Effluents. Environmental Science & Technology:acs.est.8b07218.
Nikolakopoulou, M., A. Argerich, J. Drummond, E. Gacia, E. Martí, A. Sorolla, and F. Sabater. 2018. Emergent Macrophyte Root Architecture Controls Subsurface Solute Transport. Water Resources Research. doi: 10.1002/2017WR022381.
Ribot, M., S. Bernal, M. Nikolakopoulou, T. N. Vaessen, J. Cochero, E. Gacia, A. Sorolla, A. Argerich, F. Sabater, M. Isnard, and E. Martí. 2017. Enhancement of carbon and nitrogen removal by helophytes along subsurface water flowpaths receiving treated wastewater. Science of the Total Environment 599–600:1667-1676.
Baranov, V., D. Milošević, M. J. Kurz, J. P. Zarnetske, F. Sabater, E. Marti, A. Robertson, T. Brandt, A. Sorolla, J. Lewandowski, and S. Krause. 2017. Helophyte impacts on the response of hyporheic invertebrate communities to inundation events in intermittent streams. Ecohydrology:e1857-n/a.
Under review:
THE URBAN RIVER LAB TECHNICAL REPORTS
Volume 1: Effect of water intermittency on the hydraulic conductivity.
Volume 2: Evaluation of solute retention capacity of 6 autochthonous macrophyte species.
Supporting institucions
Colaborators
