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Simple Summary: Environmental education is an important pillar for responding and adapting to climate change. The EU's common agricultural policy (CAP) has evolved from rules which supported the farming sector after years of famine and has become oriented towards looking at environmental aspects. The CAP policies oriented towards optimizing natural resource use, residue management, antimicrobial use reduction, the decrease in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and animal welfare, need educational programs linked to the environmental problems. In this context, veterinarians are experts in animal production, welfare, food safety, and its technology and in public health under the One Health concept. Unfortunately, they are barely trained in environmental aspects, which would help them to understand and face the consequences of climate change in the rural world. Veterinarians must be able to quantify the effects of animal production in the environment by using different analysis tools, which need to be included in their learning programs. In addition, they must be able to optimize the use of natural resources, minimize GHG emissions, and manage the risks associated with climate change. Environmental concerns have become priority issues over the last third of the 20th century. The EU's common agricultural policy (CAP) has gone from rules which supported the farming sector after years of famine to being oriented towards looking at environmental aspects. Therefore, it has evolved not only to react to a changing market and consumer demands but also to respond to climate change and the need for sustainable development. Environmental education is an important pillar for responding and adapting to climate change. The CAP policies oriented towards optimizing the use of natural resources, residue management, antimicrobial use reduction, the decrease of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG), and animal welfare need linked educational programs. In this context, veterinarians, being experts in animal production, welfare, and food safety and its technology and public health under the One Health concept, are scarcely informed in environmental aspects, which would help them to understand and face the consequences of climate change in the rural world. Future veterinarians must be able to quantify the effects of animal production on the environment, optimizing the use of natural resources, minimizing GHG emissions, and managing the risks associated with climate change by using different analysis tools that need to be included in their learning programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The presence of pharmaceutical compounds in the whole environment is a growing concern. These compounds might be present in the effluents of wastewater treatment plants and, hence, irrigation with treated sewage may be a source of groundwater pollution. The volcanic aquifer that lies NE of Gran Canaria (Spain) was studied to address the relationship of the occurrence of pharmaceutical compounds and a golf course that has been irrigated with regenerated water since 1973. Of the 14 analyzed groundwater samples, five wells were chosen to perform annual monitoring. Irrigation water and soil leachate were also evaluated. The target analytes were atenolol, metamizole, fluoxetine, ibuprofen, nicotine, permethrin, caffeine, and their metabolite paraxanthine. The environmental risk is limited as the concentrations of the pharmaceuticals measured in the sampled wells were always below 60 ng·L−1 (lower than the detected caffeine and nicotine concentrations). Wide variations for the same wells were measured among sampling campaigns, and also among the different wells. The study points to the importance of sample conservation during transport and the need to perform analyses immediately, or to follow an in-situ extraction procedure to carry concentrated samples under better conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cape Verde is a semiarid country where lack of rainfall exacerbates the scarce resources available for livestock which, therefore, make it very vulnerable to climate change. By providing reclaimed water (RW) for irrigation, it is possible to decrease forage importation. Subsurface drip irrigation (SDI) improves health security by preventing contact between water and harvested plants. Sorghum is a water-efficient crop that provides good nutritional value. The aim of this experiment was to study the nutrient and fiber contents of the Sorghum Payenne variety using subsurface (T1) and surface (T2) drip irrigation by RW vs. conventional water (T3) and plant maturity to assure the feasibility of water reuse to produce forage. Ntot–Ptot–Ca–Mg and Na were significantly higher in the RW plants than in the conventional water ones. Ntot–Ptot–K and Fe contents significantly lowered, while Ca–Na and Mn significantly rose as plant maturity increased. All the fiber values meet the Nos. 2 and 3 quality standards, and the Prime and No. 1 for NDF and ADF, respectively. The obtained good forage quality let to avoid the competence of conventional water and to reuse nutrients added by RW. If generalized, this solution would reduce forage importation by improving food sovereignty and farmers' profitability, and would enhance resilience against climate change effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cape Verde, which has agricultural land that is mainly rainfed, will be severely affected by climate change due to increased drought conditions. Scarce water availability makes this country highly dependent on imports for its food supply, resulting in more than 80% food importation. Improving water use efficiency, implementing precision irrigation could help achieve sustainable use of water resources. Cereal production reusing treated water could contribute to strengthening resilience and adaptation to climate change in Cape Verde. Our pilot project demonstrates that the safe and profitable reuse of water produced by Cape Verde's water treatment plants is possible by avoiding water and plant contact using Subsurface Drip Irrigation (SDI), obtaining food yields between 10,000 and 7000 kg of cob/ha, with a water consumption of about 300 L/kg Dry-Matter and a Water-Use-Efficiency of about 3 g/L. These studies also showed that it is necessary to provide training to farmers and to conduct further studies to help solve present challenges. This project identif installation failures as water shortages can compromise farmers' profitability. To guarantee the sustainability of water reuse, it is also necessary to consider economic and social factors, including that all water that is not reused is poured, increasing environmental and sanitary risk and decreasing the possibility of recovering water treatment costs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the Canary Islands, there is a hydrological imbalance between water consumption and renewable water availability. To provide more water resources, reverse osmosis (RO) from seawater is used. As boron (B) contents in irrigation water higher than 0.7 mg/L may be dangerous for sensible plants, B concentration in RO water (ROW) may be one of the key factors of irrigation sustainability. Some orchards have been studied after they have used drip irrigation using different water qualities for 30 years. B in water, soils, and banana leaves was determined to check the sustainability of ROW irrigation. When irrigating with ROW, in which B concentration varies between 1.0 and 1.4 mgB/L, B content in banana soils seems to be stabilized at 5–7 mg/kg, and no toxicity has been observed in banana leaves. The proper water and soil management used by the local farmers probably prevent the accumulation of higher B levels in soils. Considering water consumption of 9000 m3∙ha−1∙year−1, 8−11 kgB∙ha−1∙year−1 is applied to the soil. The banana plant removes approximately 1 kgB∙ha−1∙year−1; therefore, only 10% of the total B added gets exported. This raises the following question: is it better to use membranes that are able to reduce B in ROW, increase the leaching fraction, or blend water? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Irrigation with reclaimed water (R) is necessary to guarantee the sustainability of semi-arid areas. Results obtained during a two years monitoring network (2009–2011) in Gran Canaria are presented, including the analysis of chemical parameters, N and S isotopes, priority substances (2008/105/EC, 2013/39/EU), other organic contaminants and heavy metals in groundwater and R used to irrigate a golf course. The aims of this work are to evaluate the contamination in a volcanic aquifer, relate the presence of organic contaminants and heavy metals with the hydrogeochemistry and identify pollution sources in the area. No priority substance exceeded the EU thresholds for surface water, although seventeen were detected in R. The most frequent compounds were hexachlorobenzene, chlorpyrifos ethyl, fluorene, phenanthrene and pyrene. These compounds were detected at low concentration, except chlorpyrifos. Chlorpyrifos ethyl, terbuthylazine, diuron, terbutryn, procymidone, atrazine and propazine exceeded the European threshold concentration for pesticides in groundwater (100 ng L − 1 ). Therefore, the priority substances chlorpyrifos ethyl and diuron must be included in monitoring studies. The priority pesticides chlorfenvinphos and diazinon were always detected in R but rarely in groundwater. Besides, the existence of contaminants not related to the current R irrigation has been identified. Absence of environmental problems related to heavy metals can be expected. The relationship among contaminant presence, hydrogeochemistry, including the stable isotopic prints of δ 18 O, δ 15 N and δ 34 S and preferential recharge paths has been described. The coastal well shows high values of EC, nitrate, a variable chemistry, and 50% of organic contaminants detected above 100 ng L − 1 . The well located in the recharge area presents a stable hydrochemistry, the lowest value of δ 15 N and the lowest contaminants occurrence. The area is an example of a complex volcanic media with several sources of contaminants such as leakages from septic tanks and sewerage, agriculture practices, irrigation with reclaimed water or urban runoff. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In semiarid regions, reclaimed water can be an important source of emerging pollutants in groundwater. In Gran Canaria Island, reclaimed water irrigation has been practiced for over thirty years and currently represents 8% of water resources. The aim of this study was to monitor contaminants of emerging concern and priority substances (2008/105/EC) in a volcanic aquifer in the NE of Gran Canaria where the Bandama Golf Course has been sprinkled with reclaimed water since 1976. Reclaimed water and groundwater were monitoring quarterly from July 2009 to May 2010. Only 43% of the 183 pollutants analysed were detected: 42 pharmaceuticals, 20 pesticides, 12 polyaromatic hydrocarbons, 2 volatile organic compounds and 2 flame retardants. The most frequent compounds were caffeine, nicotine, chlorpyrifos ethyl, fluorene, phenanthrene and pyrene. Concentrations were always below 50ngL−1, although some pharmaceuticals and one pesticide, cholrpyrifos ethyl, were occasionally detected at higher concentrations. This priority substance for surface water exceeded the maximum threshold (0.1μgL−1) for pesticide concentration in groundwater (2006/118/EC). Sorption and degradation processes in soil account for more compounds being detected in reclaimed water than in groundwater, and that some contaminants were always detected in reclaimed water, but never in groundwater (flufenamic acid, propyphenazone, terbutryn and diazinon). Furthermore, erythromycin was always detected in reclaimed water (exceeding occasionally 0.1μgL−1), and was detected only once in groundwater. In contrast, some compounds (phenylephrine, nifuroxazide and miconazole) never detected in reclaimed water, were always detected in groundwater. This fact and the same concentration range detected for the groups, regardless of the water origin, indicated alternative contaminant sources (septic tanks, agricultural practices and sewerage breaks). The widespread detection of high adsorption potential compounds, and the independence of concentration with origin and depths, indicates the existence of preferential flows phenomena as potential contamination route in volcanic fractured materials. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]