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Sediments are usually regarded as the ultimate sink for heavy metals discharged into environment, and can be sensitive indicators for monitoring contaminants in aquatic environments. Therefore, the environmental problem of sediment pollution by heavy metals has received increasing attention in the last few decades in both developing and developed countries through the world. Environmental risk assessments, including sediment monitoring, are typical tools for supporting decision making in the regulatory context, and cover all kinds of spatial situations, from local to world-wide assessments, under very different regulatory contexts. This contribution provides an overview of the sediment management legislative. River sediment quality in the territory of East of Slovakia, representing the water basins of the rivers Hornad, Laborec, Poprad, Torysa, Ondava and Topla was investigated. Sampling points were selected based on the current surface water quality monitoring network. This study presents the results of pollutants concentration in sediments from the rivers on Eastern Slovakia and their comparison with worldwide legislation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The contamination of aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems with heavy metals and other mining chemicals have been major environmental problems in many mining areas of the world. Industrial wastes, geochemical structure and metals mining form a potential source of metal contaminants in the aquatic environment especially in sediment. Pollution of the natural environment by heavy metals is a universal problem because of their undegradability. Transmission spectroscopy is the oldest and most commonly used method for identifying either organic or inorganic chemicals providing specific information on molecular structure, chemical bonding and molecular environment. It can be applied to study solids, liquids or gaseous samples being a powerful tool for qualitative and quantitative studies. From the IR absorption band or locations of the different peaks, the minerals were identified with the available literature. In addition to the band position, sharpness or diffuseness of bands helpful in the identification of mineral components. The IR study on sediment samples was highly useful in identifying the various minerals in sediment. This method was non-destructive and can be used in the identification of mineralogical composition. These results confirmed that applied technique is relatively quicker and more reliable in mineral analysis. The IR study on sediment samples was highly use. The paper deals with the study of sediment quality from different sampling sites from watersheds of East Slovakia using of XRF, FTIR and XRD analyses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aquatic sediment contaminated with heavy metals is still an unsolved problem in Europe. The problem is serious also in the Slovak water reservoirs. Water reservoir Ruzin located in east Slovakia (situated on the Hornad river) is one of the most contaminated sites by heavy metals coming from abandoned metallurgical mines produced acid mine drainage (AMD). These acidic waters, which frequently contain high concentrations of heavy metals, often have adverse effect on the quality and ecology of waters receiving the effluent. Bottom sediments in this reservoir are contaminated above all by heavy metals, which are alluvial into the reservoir from localities of former mining activities and thus they represent ecological load mainly at the inputs into reservoir. The large share of pollution is coming from the Hnilec catchment where is situated the abandoned mine Smolnik. The aim of this paper is assess the quality of sediments along its course from the source (Smolnik creek - Hnilec creek) to the mouth (reservoir Ruzin) based on the requirements of Slovak and EÚ legislation. Use of these tools can provide essential characterizations of key watershed sources, sensitive receptors, natural variation, and both natural and anthropogenic stressors. Only with these multiple tools and an understanding of their interactions can reliable determinations of sediment pollution and longterm consequences be made. Then cost-effective, environmentally protective management decisions can be made about the type, extent, and need for sediment remediation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sediment delivered from water erosion causes substantial waterway damages and water quality degradation. Characterization of bottom deposits is an important factor in the study of water quality because they are responsible for transporting a significant proportion of many contaminants, particularly nutrients. The valuable tools for assessment of the behaviour of chemicals in the environment are simulation models. Soil erosion models can simulate erosion processes in the watershed and may be able to take into account many of the complex interactions that affect rates of erosion. The aim of this paper is verification of the suggested model for prediction of nutrient concentrations in bottom sediment, which is carried out by statistical assessment of calculated concentrations and measured concentrations in small water basin Klusov, Slovakia, using t-test and F-test, at 0.05 significance level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aquatic sediments contaminated with heavy metals are still an unsolved problem in numerous industry sites in Europe. Water reservoir Ruzin located in east Slovakia is one of the most contaminated sites by heavy metals coming from mining and metallurgical industry. Mining activities are known to release significant amounts of toxic metals into the surrounding environment. The Ruzin water reservoir is situated in the Hornad River. The filling process of the reservoir began in 1969. During 40 years its volume was diminished by 10 million cubic meters. Bottom sediments are contaminated by heavy metals, namely Hg, Cu, Zn, Cd, Pb, Cr, Co, Sb and As which originate from the former mining activities e.g. locality Smolnik and represent the ecological loads mainly at the inputs into reservoir. This study presents the characterisation of the contaminated sediments from the water reservoir Ruzin by using of qualitative XRF analysis and FTIR method [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]