Skärgårdsstiftelsen, which is responsible for several of the archipelago islands in Stockholm, has chosen to explore the possibilities for more sustainable heating systems in buildings on the islands in collaboration with KTH. A reduction of energy use and improving the efficiency of existing heating systems are included as part of the environmental work. This report studies the island of Grinda, which is located outside the area of Vaxholm in Stockholm. The study area consists of a guesthouse consisting of a restaurant as well as conference facilities and four neighboring cottages used for overnighting. The cottages now run solely on direct electricity, both for heating and hot water.

Billions of children, women and men lack access to safe water supplies, whichputs the affected in both social as well as economic despair. This paper willpresent some of the conclusions leading Non Governmental Organisations suchas the UN has presented recently concerning the terms of sustainability. Much ofit is true and important, but nothing can be done without extended cooperationbetween nations worldwide to find arguments that prevent short-term thinkingand economic wealth on the behalf of future sustainability.With a growing population and an increased competition for fresh water, theworld will soon face a severe shortage of good quality water for irrigation. This isbecause the distributions rarely match the demand, neither in Australia nor inAfrica. Important to notice is the major factor that the degradation of theenvironment is not one country?s problem to solve.

Timber floating operations in Scandinavia during the 19th and 20th centuries has contributed to severe negative impacts on riverine ecosystems. Increase in water velocity and lack of stream bed heterogeneity as a result of stream channelization lead to increased bed load transport. Since availability and recruitment of new suitable spawning substrate in Scandinavian watercourses is sparse, spawning habitats for salmonids has become a scarce commodity. Lately, increasingly more attention has been given to the recreation and improvement of brown trout (Salmo trutta) spawning habitats in restoration projects. While much of the research on spawning habitat has been focused on evaluation of the influence that the constructed spawning grounds have on fish populations, few studies have been conducted to evaluate the persistence of these constructions over time. I evaluate erosion of constructed spawning beds as an effect of sediment transport attributable to water discharge.

The overall aim is to examine how the European Union Water Framework Directive has affected the local water management in the catchment Märstaån situated in the eastern part of the lake Mälaren river basin, Sweden. The first part of the study gives an historical overview of the area with focus on how the old agricultural landscape was handling the nutrient load from farming activities by means of different kinds of wetlands. By using the concept of the procedural landscape, introduced by Torsten Hägerstrand , together with historical maps with dates starting from the 17th century, the pre-modern landscape is analyzed.  The second part is an investigation, based on qualitative data, on how the different actors in the catchment area work together to secure the water quality for the Märstaån river. The analysis shows that the Märstaån catchment river systems are mostly unchanged in the rural areas.  The exception is the mainstream section of the Märstaån river running partly underground today and the Halmsjöbäcken river that is heavily affected by the Arlanda airport situated within the catchment area.

Lake Bornsjön is situated 30 km southwest of Stockholm in a rift valley lake and consist three basins outstretched in northwest-southeast direction. The surface area is 6,7 km2 with a maximum depth of 18,3 meters, a mean depth of 9,8 meters and a retention time of the water of 6,5 years. The drainage area is 42 km2 and consists mainly of arable land (ca 1000 ha) and productive forestry land (2500 ha), but in the drainage area there are also restored and fairly newly constructed wetlands.Today the Stockholm area receives its drinking water from Lake Mälaren, but if there would be any pollution of this source, Lake Bornsjön would act as the water source. The area surrounding the lake was bought already in 1899 by Stockholm Stad for protection of the lake and was taken over 1993 by Stockholm Vatten AB. It has been a water protection area from 1988 and it was also accepted as a nature reserve in 1995.

Water related problems are highlighted as a challenge to sustainable development and the topic of forests and water is gaining increased attention worldwide. Governing forest and water is a complex issue, as the interactions are affected by policies and actors from multiple levels and sectors. In Sweden, forests cover much of the land and forestry is an important land-use, inevitably impacting the water in the landscape. This study aims to understand and explain the existing governance framework around forestry and water in Sweden. Based on the Policy Arrangement Approach, the study?s research questions focused on the actors involved, the formal and informal rules, the resources and power structures and the discourses related to forestry and water in Sweden.

This essay aims to explore continuity in water centric cult within the period of the Christianization of Scandinavia (ca 800-1100 AD) and to understand the changing of symbolism of water in pre-Christian cult and early Christian religion. It has previously been thought that Christian priests took over the old holy wells and renamed them after saint, all to ease the pagan people into a Christian lifestyle. But archaeological evidence shows that the cult at these wells, and other water centric sites, where almost completely abandoned a few hundred years before the Christians came to Scandinavia. The Christians should not have felt the need to transform this tradition since it was only practiced in a very small and supposedly private scale. On the contrary, religious activities at these wells seems to increase with the new religion and perhaps this is explained by Christianity itself.

Water hardness indicates the concentration of calcium and magnesium ions in water. Water with high concentrations of these ions is described as hard water and water with low concentrations is described as soft water. Water that is too hard or too soft can lead to technical and economical problems. In collaboration with Midvatten AB, groundwater hardness in the Badelunda esker between Leksand and Avesta has been mapped, and an attempt has been made to explain the variations. For this purpose, different GIS programs, such as ArcView, ArcInfo, IDIRISI, and one geochemical modelling program, PHREEQC, has been used.

In this study potential health risks for employees in connection with handling of bottom ash and bottom ash water at a Municipal Waste Incineration (MWI) plant have been investigated. Air surrounding the bottom ash and the bottom ash water has been examined. MWI is one of the primary ways to manage solid household waste, and bottom ash is the main solid residue produced by the incineration process. Bottom ash constitutes about 15-20% of the original waste. The bottom ash is extinguished in a water bath (bottom ash water).The study was carried out in a MWI plant in Karlstad, Sweden.

AbstractThe purpose of this study is to find out how pupils give expression of a water cycle model and if the model causes any misunderstanding. Two problems constitute the starting point for this investigation. The first question is: how do the pupils explain the water cycle with the help of the jar model (can of glass). The other question is: can the children see any similarities between the can of glass and our earth. Qualitative semi structured interviews with seven pupils in the ages of 8-9 have been used to show the pupils? own thoughts and how they express them.

Interference in an ecosystem means a disturbance. When harvesting, forest roads have to be build to cope with heavy duty vehicles. Crossing brooks can not always be avoided. In this case bridges or culverts have to be built. There are many different kinds of culverts and depending on what type you choose and how you place the culvert, the watercourse and the water organisms can be harmed in different ways.

The municipality of Västervik, with support from Envipro Miljöteknik AB, is carrying out a main study of the minefields at Gladhammar. Mining of iron, copper and cobalt under different periods from the 16th century until the end of the 19th century has led to discharges of metals to the lakes situated downstream. The aim of the main study is to investigate the possibilities to reduce the environmental load on the surrounding ground and water caused by heavy metals from the mine. The present report is a part of the main study. The aim of the work is to investigate the geochemistry of the groundwater.

Turbiditet är ett mått på partikelinnehåll i dricksvatten samt ett sätt att beskriva vattenkvaliteten. Vattentäkten i Gäddvik, Luleå kommun, har periodvis hög turbiditet. Syftet med examensarbetet är att utreda orsaker till turbiditet i dricksvatten, från Gäddviks vattentäkt till konsumenter i Luleå kommun. Målet är att ge svar på vilken typ av partiklar som orsakar turbiditen. Analyser utfördes före och efter filtrering av dricksvatten.

Studies have shown that air pollution, as well as bark fissure depth and sun exposure of a tree can have an effect on lichen growth as well as abundance of lichen species. The aim of this study was to find out the relative importance of these factors. 211 oaks in south eastern Sweden were surveyed for presence of 17 lichen species, as well as the total number of lichen species. Half of the trees were situated in urban areas and half in the countryside. For each tree the bark fissure depth was measured and the sun exposure of the trunk was estimated.

Mosquitoes are found in extremely large numbers in the lower parts of the River Dalälven. In the year 2000 the mosquito nuisance was especially high, resulting in foundation of the Biological mosquito control project. Since 2001 mosquito larvae are controlled by using a biological pesticide BTI (Bacillus thuringiensis ssp israelensis). The mosquito fauna in the area is dominated by flood water mosquitoes, a group of mosquitoes that are very aggressive and form new generations of mosquitoes during every single flooding event during the summer. To be able to efficiently control the mosquitoes it is essential to know the extension and locality of the flooding.