Selected aspects of studies of sediments from the Ebro River （Spain） and the Dobczyce drinking water reservoir （Poland） within the frames of the European and national research projects

Mineral and organic matter either soluble or suspended are transported by the rivers and when deposited in the bed of the river or in the water reservoir, sediments are formed, whose chemical composition may serve as a fingerprint of the history of the ecosystem. The results of the studies of sediments in water systems （river catchments, reservoirs） can be used not only for the evaluation of the current state of the ecosystem but also to prevent any dangerous environmental changes. Bottom sediments can in many ways accumulate both suspended and soluble components. The process is influenced by several factors like pH, red-ox potential, oxygen content, interactions, etc. The complexity of those phenomena causes that in order to study the accumulation processes of compounds in sediments the application of various analytical techniques is required. The authors participate in two big projects on sediment studies. The AquaTerra Project is the EU funded project on understanding river-sediment-soil-groundwater interactions for support of management of river basins and catchment areas. Our group＇s studies are focused on mercury determination and its speciation in sediments and fish from the Ebro River in Spain. The Dobczyce Project is the national project funded by the Ministry of Education and sciences of Poland which is also a EU member country. The latter covers many aspects of accumulation and fate processes of chemical compounds in sediments of the reservoir which supplies 60% of drinking water to about one million population in the city of Krakow in Poland.