The objective of the research presented in the paper was to analyze the ash formed in the process of incineration in the thermal sewage sludge treatment facility being a part of Sitkówka-Nowiny wastewater treatment plant, located in the vicinity of Kielce. The research involved the investigation of heavy metal and total phosphorus content, leachability of certain ions and X-ray phase analysis. The comparison of the obtained results with those available in literature revealed similarities in the crystallographic structure of ashes from different treatment plants. Then, the differences observed in the content of heavy metals in particular ashes are related to the composition of sewage flowing into treatment plants. Attention was also paid to a significant sulphate content revealed in the leachability analysis, found both in the ash from Sitkówka-Nowiny treatment plant and in the ash analyses results available in the literature sources. High sulphate concentration can limit the use of ash for construction purposes.

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Sewage sludge is a very complex system, with solids and water. It is generated as waste from wastewater treatment. Sewage sludge is used to fertilize agricultural and forest areas and to rehabilitate devastated areas. It is a good organic fertilizer because it contains significant amounts of nutrients beneficial for plant development and humus-forming substances. The composition of sludge from municipal wastewater treatment plants is similar to soil organic matter, therefore it can be used to improve the physicochemical properties of soil, increasing its sorption capacity. Research material was collected in the Swietokrzyskie and Mazowieckie Voivodships. Sewage sludge was collected from the wastewater treatment plants in Sitkowka Nowiny (Sitkowka) and Kunow, as well as high-quality agricultural soil from Opatowiec and sandy-clay soil from Jastrzebie. Research was carried out on the sorption of heavy metals (Cd, Cr, Cu, Pb, Ni, Zn) by mixtures of sewage sludge with soil. The calculations were made for the concentrations of heavy metals in sewage sludge, soil, and sewage sludge–soil mixtures. The geoaccumulation index (Igeo) and the risk assessment code (RAC) were calculated. Increased sorption capacity was demonstrated in samples with a predominance of sewage sludge. It was shown that heavy metals from sewage sludge, after mixing with soil, changed their form from immobile to mobile.

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The understanding of the spatial and temporal dynamics of farmland processes is essential to ensure the proper crop monitoring and early decision making needed to support efficient resource management in agriculture. By creating appropriate crop management strategies, one can increase harvest efficiency while reducing costs, waste, chemical spraying, and inhibiting the impact of biotic and abiotic factors on crop stress. Only reliable spatial information makes it possible to comprehend the influence of various factors on the environment. The main objective of the research presented in the paper was to assess the possibility of using maps of vegetation and soil indices, such as NDVI, SAVI, IRECI, CIred-edge, PSRI and HMSSI, calculated on the basis of images from the Sentinel-2 satellite, to qualitatively determine the increased amount of heavy metals in the soil in the areas of small agricultural plots around the Barania Góra nature reserve in Poland.The conducted pilot project shows that the spectral indices: NDVI, SAVI, IRECI, CIred-edge, PSRI, and HMSSI, calculated on the basis of images from Sentinel-2, have the potential to assess the content of nickel zinc, chromium and cobalt in the soil on agricultural plots. However, the confirmation of the obtained results requires continuation of the research.

The paper presents the results of research on the content of selected heavy metals (Cu, Pb, Zn, Ni) depending on pH, organic carbon content and soil sorption in the direct location of busy streets around the campus of the Kielce University of Technology. Based on the conducted studies of the sequential fractionation of metals by the BCR method was found that the highest content of nickel fraction FI (exchangeable) was 142.75 mg/kg. However, the total nickel concentration in all research areas exceeded the value specified in the Journal of Laws approx. 2 times. The lowest content from the analyzed metals in the surface layer of soil was found for zinc, the content of which was 1.5% in relation to the standard. The average percentage share of the analyzed metals in the separated fractions, in relation to the total content, was in decreasing series for Ni: FIII > FI> FII> FIV; for Pb: FII > FI > FIV > FIII; for Cu: FII > FI > FIII > FIV and for Zn: FII > FIII > FI > FIV. The studied soils are characterized by a varied granulometric composition of sand fraction, from very thick (1000 μm-2000 μm) to very fine 2 μm-50 μm). Statistical calculations showed that the pH, Corg content and sorptivity of the studied soil correlate with each other.