This paper presents an analysis of the content and spatial distribution of heavy metals (HM) in street dust in Suwałki, a city located in northeastern Poland. The HM content of street dust was also evaluated using the geochemical index (Igeo), enrichment factor (EF), and contamination factor (CF), and local HM sources were identified using chemometric methods. The arithmetic averages of HM contents in dust arranged in the following order: Fe > Zn > Mn > Cu > Cr > Ni > Pb, were 11,692.80, 215.97, 194.78, 142.84, 63.59, 17.50, 17.04 mg∙kg−1, respectively. Higher values than the local background occurred for Cr, Cu, Ni, Zn and Pb. The values of Igeo, CF, and EF indicate that the highest pollution in dust is due to Zn and Cu. The spatial distribution of metals was evaluated using maps of HM content in road dust samples from Suwałki. The spatial distribution of HM showed areas with high contents of Cr, Cu, Ni, Zn and Pb located mainly in the central and eastern parts of the city. In these areas, high traffic volume, the presence of shopping centers, administrative buildings and bus stops dominate. Statistical models of multivariate analysis (FA) and cluster analysis (CA) identified two sources of HM. The first source of pollution was associated with local industrial activity and motor vehicle travel, and the second with natural sources.

In this paper, the biosorption capacity of activated sludge sand bed was investigated for copper removal from wastewater. A sand bed consisting of three layers was used for the study: (1) filter gravel with a diameter of 2 to 3 mm, (2) a biological part inoculated with 200 ml of flocculent activated sludge with a dry weight of 5 kg/m 3 , (3) filter sand with a grain diameter of about 3 mm. The filter was fed with model wastewater prepared with sodium acetate, potassium nitrate, ammonium chloride, and potassium dihydrogen phosphate I and II basic. The source of Cu ions in the wastewater was CuSO 4 . The model wastewater used in this study was collected every 24 hours. The experiment was terminated when the concentration of Cu in the treated wastewater sample was equal to that in the treated wastewater. Such a phenomenon was indicative of the depletion of the sorption capacity of the tested bed, which was observed after 26 days. The concentration of copper in raw and effluent from the bed was studied using atomic absorption spectroscopy (ASA) in samples mineralized in nitric acid (HNO 3 ) with the addition of perhydrol (H 2 O 2 ). Two equilibrium models, Langmuir and Freudlich, were analyzed to study the absorption isotherms.