More frequent and intensified rainfalls are expected to occur due to climate change in the nearfuture. This together with a higher proportion of paved areas increases the pressure on today?sstorm water systems (Risinger, 2014; Boverket, 2013; Stahre, 2006). Traditional storm watersystems (i.e. underground pipe systems) have during last decades started to be questioned(Olshammar & Baresel, 2012).

More frequent and intensified rainfalls are expected to occur due to climate change in the nearfuture. This together with a higher proportion of paved areas increases the pressure on today?sstorm water systems (Risinger, 2014; Boverket, 2013; Stahre, 2006). Traditional storm watersystems (i.e. underground pipe systems) have during last decades started to be questioned(Olshammar & Baresel, 2012).

Storm water causes a number of problems in our country, particularly in city environment with its surfaces of non-absorbing ground materials. At heavy rain falls there are floods due to lack of capacity in the drain system when meeting heavy water masses over a short time. When the drain system is overloaded huge water masses reach the recipient untreated and there causing disturbances in the aquatic ecosystem. Due to emissions from mainly traffic, industries and other human activities the storm water is polluted. Earlier the problem used to be solved technically, by increasing the capacity of the tubes and by construction of reservoirs to delay the floods peaks.

During the nineties, ecological handling of urban storm water became very popular in Sweden. Together with Chalmers University of Technology and two Swedish communities, DHI Water and Environment has been doing research of storm water ponds and constructed wetlands. This thesis work is a part of that research project. The work has been applied at the Bäckaslöv storm water treatment plant in Växjö, Sweden. The plant consists of one storm water pond and a downstream constructed wetland.

The construction of buildings and paved surfaces changes the natural water balance.Precipitation generates surface runoff and storm water instead of infiltrating into the soil.Storm water has come to be considered as a major source of pollution in lakes and streams inthe vicinity of urban areas. Reduction of pollutants in storm water is a key action in order toprotect sensitive recipients and maintain high water quality. Storm water is traditionallytransported by storm sewers to the nearest recipient. In recent years the approach to stormwater management has changed; storm water should primarily be disposed of on site, throughlocal disposal of storm water, LOD. LOD is created by a combination of the function ofseveral smaller local facilities and the general sewer system.

The construction of buildings and paved surfaces changes the natural water balance.Precipitation generates surface runoff and storm water instead of infiltrating into the soil.Storm water has come to be considered as a major source of pollution in lakes and streams inthe vicinity of urban areas. Reduction of pollutants in storm water is a key action in order toprotect sensitive recipients and maintain high water quality. Storm water is traditionallytransported by storm sewers to the nearest recipient. In recent years the approach to stormwater management has changed; storm water should primarily be disposed of on site, throughlocal disposal of storm water, LOD. LOD is created by a combination of the function ofseveral smaller local facilities and the general sewer system.

The filters used today to purify water are often expensive and the need to find new filter materials is substantial. Studies of pine bark have shown that this is a material that may be used as an alternative to conventional filter materials, such as activated carbon. However, the study of pine bark has shown that a leakage of phenolic compounds may occur when using the material for water purification. Therefore, the purpose of this report is to investigate the release of phenols from pine bark, in order to evaluate the use of pine bark as a filter material. Another assignment is to investigate the amount of metals adsorbed by the filter material.

To guarantee protection of our drinking water, water catchment protections are established. These are divided into three different zones and in the first zone it is most likely that an activity, such as agriculture, will contaminate the water resource. Hence the activities are strongly regulated or banned. The EU communion is working towards a sustained water quality through several directives; Nitrate Directive, Waterframwork directives and Sustainable use of pesticide directive. The main purpose is to regulate the diffuse pollution from agriculture.This thesis is about how Denmark, Germany and France are working towards a sustainable agriculture within water protection areas.

Fresh water has become more and more of a scarce commodity. Water scarcity isn't first and foremost a cause of drought and wasting, but a cause of inequality and mismanagement. This is not only a problem for developing countries, and there can also be variations within countries. The municipality of Gotland has a development program called Vision Gotland 2025, with goals for growth and sustainable development. The aim of this study is to examine whether the use and management of water resources on Gotland and Vision Gotland 2025 is conformed to the Water Framework Directive and the Ecosystem Approach in terms of sustainability.

Storm water management has become a more important matter as urban areas are expanding and natural areas are being exploited. As nature landscapes are being converted into hard surface areas storm water flow is affected both in terms of velocity and size. A flow increase can easily result in a flooding if the dimensions of the pipeline system are inadequate. Considering predicted upcoming climate changes, flooding?s may become more common in urban areas in the future.

The EU's Water Framework Directive aims to a long-term and sustainable use of our water resources and wants to ensure good water quality in Europe's water bodies. Discharge of polluted stormwater into receiving waters can be a threat to their ecological and chemical status. Municipalities are responsible for supervision of the environmental quality standards (EQS) and therefore need to gain knowledge of current stormwater management, the expected level of pollution emissions and possible appropriate purification steps to ensure that the goal of good water quality is achieved.This master thesis aims to provide this knowledge in the example case of Vallentunas urban area and wants to prepare future oversight so that it can be assessed how much the discharge of polluted stormwater into the local receiving water is a threat to its status. With the help of maps, aerial photographs, site observations and individual discussions those areas are mapped where appearance of moderate to highly polluted stormwater could be suspected. The degree of pollution at the discharge points is determined based on land use upstream and uses standard values according to the administrators assistance "Tillsyn av dagvatten" (MSL 2014).The study identifies 100 areas in need of supervision regarding their stormwater management.

Storm water is defined as runoff from precipitation such as rain or snow. It is collected in sewage disposal systems and since it mainly originates from urban areas it can contain high levels of heavy metals, nutrients and oil etc. Polluted storm water is currently treated by different methods such as wet ponds, constructed wetlands and filter strips. This study investigates these methods, which in earlier studies have shown to give varying results regarding their treatment efficiency.This thesis has been written on commission of SWECO VIAK and was aimed at studying those parameters that may affect the treatment efficiency of nutrients and heavy metals in storm water treatment facilities (STF:s). Through literature studies the dominating treatment processes in ponds and wetlands were examined.

With knowledge of how the southern Swedish forests have been affected by storms the past years, this study intended to find out which factors affect the storm firmness of a stand the most. The study was based on data from stands in the, by the storm Gudrun, affected area. The results of the analyses that tested the stand factors that influence the amount of storm damage to the greatest extent showed that the storm sensitivity of Norway spruce stands were largely due to previous management actions. The factors that could be controlled by thinning and had relevance of storm damage standpoint, according to the results were; the dominant height, volume, basal area weighted mean diameter and stand age at last thinning. In this study, these results are not as clear for Scots pine.

The aim of my thesis is to obtain knowledge of textile wastewater and textile sludge from an environmental perspective, which can be used as a basis for the  ?Sweden Textile Water Initiative? guidelines for a sustainable sludge management. In my study I have mainly focused on textile dyes, salts and metals and their routes during wastewater treatment.This paper is partly a literature review, which I began by identifying the pollutants discharged from each textile process. Then I studied wastewater and sludge quality, environmental aspects, possible treatment and recycling methods. I have also tried to find existing type of guidelines in order to make comparisons.

1.1 billion people are today living without sustainable access to improved water. The debate over the water sector has been dominated by the discussion over whether public or private actors are the most competent to manage it. In this paper the arguments pro and contra the two positions are presented to try to overview the debate and to try to find new ways to approach the question of the people living without clean water. By examining possible alternatives towards the discussion of public and private actors, it might result in some new approaches on how to move closer towards a solution. One alternative is local, small- scale projects which focus on the situation of the targetgroup in most need.