ISOTOPIC TRACKING OF NITROGEN: INCREASING THE EFFICIENCY OF NATURE-BASED SOLUTIONS FOR URBAN WATER REMEDIATION

• Grant number: 25/00954-1
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Doctorate (Direct)
• Start date: April 09, 2025
• End date: April 08, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Geosciences
• Principal Investigator: Reginaldo Antonio Bertolo
• Grantee: Vinicius Rogel Paulino de Oliveira
• Supervisor: Shinichi Onodera
• Host Institution: Instituto de Geociências (IGC). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Hiroshima University, Japan
• Associated to the scholarship: 22/02220-7 - Analyzing water ecosystem services in green urban areas and efficiency of Nature-based Solutions (NbS) for removing nutrients from surface and groundwater, BP.DD

Abstract

Urbanization intensifies the contamination of water resources due to inadequate waste management and sanitation failures, impacting ecosystems and exacerbating nutrient presence in both surface and groundwater. The degradation of water quality demands sustainable and cost-effective solutions. Strategies such as Riverbank Filtration (RbF) and Vegetal Filtration (VF) have demonstrated potential in mitigating pollution by promoting contaminant attenuation through natural treatment. Thus, a pilot-scale experiment at the Horto Florestal in Bauru (SP) integrates RbF and VF. The RbF performs pre-treatment of 3.5 m³ day¿¹ with a total nitrogen concentration of up to 30 mg L¿¹, followed by the irrigation of 1000 L day¿¹ across three 100 m² forest areas for VF. The experiment began in September 2024 and is scheduled to conclude in August 2025. Monitoring will encompass physicochemical parameters, major ions, nitrogen species, and nitrogen isotopes (¿¹¿N and ¿¹¿O). This research project abroad aims to conduct isotopic analyses of oxygen and nitrogen in dissolved nitrate from water samples, as well as to interpret the overall experimental results and optimize the RbF and VF processes for greater efficiency at Hiroshima University under the supervision of Prof. Shin-Ichi Onodera. Prof. Onodera leads a research group specializing in nutrient cycling and nitrogen isotopes. Through nitrogen isotopes, this BEPE project seeks to identify the sources and transformation processes governing nitrogen cycling to assess the efficiency of the MF-VF system, an innovative solution to improve water quality in the Água Comprida stream, in Bauru.