Is Gray Water the Key to Unlocking Water for Resource-Poor Areas of the Middle East,North Africa,and Other Arid Regions of the World?

Support for the use of treated gray water as an alternative water resource in the Middle East and North Africa is high, especially given the lack of religious restrictions against its use, but several obstacles have kept application of treated gray water near 1 % in some areas. The largest of obstacles include the cost of treatment and the ambiguity surrounding the health safety of gray water and treated gray water. This paper aims to provide an overview of current gray water practices globally, with specific focus on household-level gray water practices in the Middle East and North Africa region, and highlight the need for cost reduction strategies and epidemiological evidence on the use of household-level gray water and treated gray water. Such actions are likely to increase the application of treated gray water in water-deprived areas of the Middle East and North Africa.     

A livelihood in a risky environment: Farmers’ preferences for irrigation with wastewater in Hyderabad,India

Most cities in developing countries fail to treat their wastewater comprehensively. Consequently, farmers downstream use poor-quality water for irrigation. This practice implies risks for farmers, consumers and the environment. Conversely, this water supply supports the livelihood of these farmers and other stakeholders along the value chains. Linking safer options for wastewater management with irrigation could therefore be a win–win solution: removing the risks for society and maintaining the benefits for farmers. However, in developing countries, the high investment costs for the required treatment are problematic and the willingness of farmers to pay for the water (cost recovery) is often questionable. Using a choice experiment, this paper gives insight into farmers’ preferences for wastewater use scenarios, quantifying their willingness to pay. The case study is Hyderabad, India. Farmers there prefer water treatment and are prepared to pay a surplus for this. Considering the cost-recovery challenge, this information could be valuable for planning small on site wastewater treatment systems.     

Ballast water treatment systems: design,regulations, and selection under the choice varying priorities

This paper investigates the role of ballast water treatment systems (BWTSs) and proposes a selection procedure for conventional merchant ships based on the financial, legal, and operational circumstances. Through the metallurgical revolution of the nineteenth century, commercial ships are converted to steel hull from wooden structures. By this innovative shift, use of ballast water became an essential part of ships for improving propulsion and stability while reducing stress on hull (instead of rocks). However, the content of ballast water is emerged since it relocates marine species from an ecological composition (usually cargo discharging port) to another one (loading port). Uncontrolled relocation of marine species may cause severe damage to existing ecological basis on ballast discharging area. BWTSs are developed for ships to eliminate marine species (i.e., aquatic invasive species) content by using a filtering device. It ensures an eco-friendly ballasting and de-ballasting process. The selection of proper BWTS is another debate since the BWTSs are designed with cost-quality and cost (eco)-performance variations. The proposed approach denoted that both tonnage and the age of ship are indicative factors on selection. The cost of installation varies based on installation space and active vs. project vessel cases.     

Climate Change in the Baltic Sea Region: A Cross-Country Analysis of Institutional Stakeholder Perceptions

Before climate change is considered in long-term coastal management, it is necessary to investigate how institutional stakeholders in coastal management conceptualize climate change, as their awareness will ultimately affect their actions. Using questionnaires in eight Baltic Sea riparian countries, this study examines environmental managers' awareness of climate change. Our results indicate that problems related to global warming are deemed secondary to short-term social and economic issues. Respondents agree that problems caused by global warming will become increasingly important, but pay little attention to adaptation and mitigation strategies. Current environmental problems are expected to continue to be urgent in the future. We conclude that an apparent gap exists between decision making, public concerns, and scientific consensus, resulting in a situation in which the latest evidence rarely influences commonly held opinions.     

Survey and evaluation on residents' environmental awareness in Jiangsu Province of China

A survey was designed to evaluate the present status of residents' environmental awareness in Nanjing and Yangzhong in China. First, it set up an index model to evaluate the level of residents' environmental awareness from three aspects: environmental attitudes, environmental behaviour and environmental knowledge. Then, the influence of individual factors on environmental awareness was analysed. The questionnaire shows that people have certain knowledge about the subject, common feelings about the severity of environmental pollution, anxiety about the effects of environmental pollution on personal health, and objection to developing the economy at the cost of environmental destruction. Most of the residents investigated showed a willingness to do voluntary work for environmental improvement. When asked for individual donations, however, some of them showed some reluctance. Some people lacked the initiative to acquire environmental protection knowledge and increase their environmental awareness.     

Social perceptions of the impacts of Colombo water supply projects

The complexity of development activities, in which the interactions between various forces often mean that outcomes are unpredictable and unanticipated, highlights the importance of objective and comprehensive evaluations. In the specific case of the evaluation of towns east and south of Colombo water supply projects, the findings have major implications for the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals, if the water-related objectives are to be fulfilled. The study found that 30% of the households of these towns that are receiving clean, piped water are not using it for drinking. Instead, they are continuing to drink contaminated well water. Whereas it is considered that the main beneficiaries of water supply projects have been women and people who are sick, elderly, or disabled, the general perception is that the health conditions of the families have not improved with the provision of clean water (in fact, many claim that their health conditions have deteriorated). In spite of the higher cost of the supplied water, people are willing to pay for it as long as the supply is reliable.     

Cost-Effective Enforcement Of Environmental Standards

The body of information presented in this paper is directed to those individuals concerned with cost-effective enforcement of environmental standards. Its aim is twofold. One is to determine some of the differing impacts upon firm behavior of legal enforcement, of economic incentive enforcement, and of mixed legal-economic enforcement. A second objective is to initiate identification of enforcement systems which are most likely to minimize resource costs to firms and enforcement agencies of meeting environmental standards. A computerized model is used to simulate enforcement of the new source particu-late matter discharge standard for coal-fired power plants. Under current legal enforcement it is found that most plants will violate the standard, that small plants will control to higher removal levels than large plants and that firms will install relatively costly pollution control technology. Three enforcement alternatives are considered for overcoming these shortcomings: more stringent legal enforcement, economic incentive enforcement using effluent taxes, and a mixed system which uses device certification tests and effluent taxes. It is found that each of the alternatives can lead to the standard being met and tc more-or-less equal sharing in control burden across plant size. But it is only the two systems which use effluent taxes that give incentive for choosing least costly control technology. It is concluded that the two enforcement systems which use effluent taxes probably would encourage adoption of least cost control technology. This is likely to be a desirable outcome since it may lead to minimum resource costs to power plants and pollution control agencies of meeting fty ash standards. The general applicability of this conclusion to other enforcement situations is discussed.     

An efficient supply management in water flow network using graph spectral techniques

An efficient way of distributing water in urban cities is one of the major global challenges of our time. A Water Distribution Network (WDN) is a vital infrastructure, intended to provide fresh water to households within a city or designated boundary. Given the WDN’s complexity, effective numerical techniques are required to aid in the development of an ideal monitoring system. Flow meters and gate valves should be placed in low-connected areas of the WDN with water flow reaching several regions of the network. This study proposes a general strategy for assisting water utilities in making decisions for effective water supply. The aim of the research is to use weighted spectral clustering algorithms to outline water districts while addressing hydraulic restrictions via weighted adjacency and Laplacian matrices of the weighted network. This work aims to identify influenced nodes in the network based on Eigen centrality and effectively distribute water across those nodes. This project also looks at how to measure the network’s connection strength to avoid water leaks. The best clusters are found using Eigenvalues and Eigenvectors of weighted adjacency matrices and Laplacian matrices of the water network in the proposed graph spectral framework. In order to establish the optimum water network division approach, topological and graph metrics were used to compare multiple spectral clustering techniques. The proposed graph spectral approach is tested using a genuine water distribution network serving an urban area of Coimbatore city in India and offering a method for partitioning complex networks that employ the spectral graph partitioning algorithm.

     

城市生活垃圾中转站举升装置设计与应用

对地平式城市垃圾中转站的 3种举升装置进行了详细分析 ,指出了其存在的问题 ,提出了一种新型的链条式城市垃圾中转站举升装置 ,它结构紧凑 ,运行平稳可靠 ,成本低 ,噪音小 ,节能省电 ,是垃圾中转站新型优选产品 ,现已成功应用于环卫工程中     

Road de-icing salt as a potential constraint on urban growth in the Greater Toronto Area, Canada

North America's fifth most populated municipality--the Greater Toronto Area (GTA)--is undergoing rapid urban development with serious questions being raised regarding the long-term impacts of urban growth on the quality and quantity of ground and surface water. Degradation of groundwater quality by NaCl de-icing salt is the primary concern since there are no cost effective alternatives to NaCl de-icing salt and there is little evidence that salt loadings to the subsurface can be significantly reduced. In 2001, the issue acquired a new sense of urgency when de-icing chemicals containing inorganic chloride salts (with or without ferrocyanide de-caking agents) were designated as toxic under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act. To heighten concerns, future growth in the GTA will inevitably take place in areas where groundwater is regularly used for potable supply. Studies using groundwater flow and transport models show that significant deterioration of groundwater quality can be expected in shallow aquifers as a result of urban development with chloride concentrations approaching the drinking water quality standard of 250 mg/l. Results demonstrate that urban planning needs a fresh approach that explicitly includes groundwater protection and aquifer management in the decision-making process, clearly defines acceptable environmental performance standards and makes greater use of groundwater models to evaluate alternative urban designs.     

Optimal restrictions on vehicle use for urban sustainability for Mexico City

This paper describes and develops the conditions that make the demand side policy of vehicle use restrictions part of a cost-effective set of environmental control policies. Mexico City's experience with vehicle use restrictions is described and its failure analysed. It is argued that Mexico City took a step in the right direction, but failed to make the restrictions flexible, thereby making the policy perverse. A programme of tradable vehicle use permits is presented and described that would provide the needed flexibility and promote urban sustainability.     

Measuring ammonia concentrations and emissions from agricultural land and liquid surfaces: a review

Aerial ammonia concentrations (Cg) are measured using acid scrubbers, filter packs, denuders, or optical methods. Using Cg and wind speed or airflow rate, ammonia emission rate or flux can be directly estimated using enclosures or micrometeorological methods. Using nitrogen (N) recovery is not recommended, mainly because the different gaseous N components cannot be separated. Although low cost and replicable, chambers modify environmental conditions and are suitable only for comparing treatments. Wind tunnels do not modify environmental conditions as much as chambers, but they may not be appropriate for determining ammonia fluxes; however, they can be used to compare emissions and test models. Larger wind tunnels that also simulate natural wind profiles may be more useful for comparing treatments than micrometeorological methods because the latter require larger plots and are, thus, difficult to replicate. For determining absolute ammonia flux, the micrometeorological methods are the most suitable because they are nonintrusive. For use with micrometeorological methods, both the passive denuders and optical methods give comparable accuracies, although the latter give real-time Cg but at a higher cost. The passive denuder is wind weighted and also costs less than forced-air Cg measurement methods, but it requires calibration. When ammonia contamination during sample preparation and handling is a concern and separating the gas-phase ammonia and aerosol ammonium is not required, the scrubber is preferred over the passive denuder. The photothermal interferometer, because of its low detection limit and robustness, may hold potential for use in agriculture, but it requires evaluation. With its simpler theoretical basis and fewer restrictions, the integrated horizontal flux (IHF) method is preferable over other micrometeorological methods, particularly for lagoons, where berms and land-lagoon boundaries modify wind flow and flux gradients. With uniform wind flow, the ZINST method requiring measurement at one predetermined height may perform comparably to the IHF method but at a lower cost.     

新型高效絮凝剂生物聚合硫酸铁的制备及性能研究

利用恒化器原理和SBR技术 ,以FeSO4为原料 ,用经过驯化培养的微生物为催化剂 ,在常温常压下用空气氧化 ,连续生产或序批式生产生物聚合铁 ,产品性能稳定 ,投资少 ,设备简单 ,操作方便 ,无污染 ,可实现清洁生产 ,生产成本极低。试验证明 :生物聚合铁性能优良 ,除浊、除有机物性能好 ,对pH适应范围宽 ,对水温不敏感 ,对低温、低浊水有很好的处理效果 ,凝聚作用显著 ,处理效果明显优于普通聚合铁 ,是一种新型高效絮凝剂。     

连云港市天然山泉水和井水调查

于2018年六五环境日期间开展便民服务,监测山泉水或井水。监测项目主要有:酸碱度、溶解性总固体、总硬度、氟化物、氯化物、硫酸盐、硝酸盐、亚硝酸盐、重金属等。参照《生活饮用水标准检验法》(GB/T5750-2006)和《生活饮用水卫生标准》(GB5749-2006)对居民送样水监测分析后评价,80%的水样存在某一项或几项指标超标,其中一半水样硝酸盐超标,需予以重视,建议提高安全用水意识,不要作为饮用水使用。     

Adaptive coastal planning and the European Union's water framework directive: a Swedish perspective

The implementation of the EU Water Framework Directive and the achievement of its water quality objectives will to a large degree depend on scientific knowledge about the sources and status of water resources and the effects of mitigative measures. Coastal waters will be of central interest, since the management of whole river basins may be affected if coastal water status is not satisfactory. The Water Directive's general directions on what information the water authorities need and on suitable methods for obtaining such information leave it to the Member states to decide on more precise instructions. Improved legal mechanisms are needed to assist and guide the managers and scientists charged with implementing the directive and achieving its water quality objectives, particularly when faced with insufficient information, flawed knowledge, or changed circumstances. We assess progress in the current process of implementing the Water Directive in Sweden, focussing on coastal waters, and on general problems arising using this type of legal technique.     

Legal requirements and wastewater discharges to Polish water bodies, 1945-2003

The postwar development of water protection legislation and wastewater discharges is poorly known for the Baltic Sea region as a whole. This article presents national efforts to govern wastewater discharges in Poland using legal tools over the twentieth century with an emphasis on the postwar period, 1945-2003. The study also attempts to evaluate how the state authority responded to changing legal demands in terms of urban and industrial wastewater discharges in the postwar period. It outlines the main changes during the socialist regime in Poland and after it regained independence. Also the implications of Poland's integration into the European Union are briefly discussed. Mathematical calculations are used to illustrate some changes in legal requirements over time.     

Predictors of urinary bisphenol A and phthalate metabolite concentrations in Mexican children

Exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals such as bisphenol A (BPA) and phthalates is prevalent among children and adolescents, but little is known regarding important sources of exposure at these sensitive life stages. In this study, we measured urinary concentrations of BPA and nine phthalate metabolites in 108 Mexican children aged 8–13 years. Associations of age, time of day, and questionnaire items on external environment, water use, and food container use with specific gravity-corrected urinary concentrations were assessed, as were questionnaire items concerning the use of 17 personal care products in the past 48-h. As a secondary aim, third trimester urinary concentrations were measured in 99 mothers of these children, and the relationship between specific gravity-corrected urinary concentrations at these two time points was explored. After adjusting for potential confounding by other personal care product use in the past 48-h, there were statistically significant (p < 0.05) positive associations in boys for cologne/perfume use and monoethyl phthalate (MEP), mono(3-carboxypropyl) phthalate (MCPP), mono(2-ethyl-5-hydroxyhexyl) phthalate (MEHHP), and mono(2-ethyl-5-oxohexyl) phthalate (MEOHP), and in girls for colored cosmetics use and mono-n-butyl phthalate (MBP), mono(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (MEHP), MEHHP, MEOHP, and mono(2-ethyl-5-carboxypentyl) phthalate (MECPP), conditioner use and MEP, deodorant use and MEP, and other hair products use and MBP. There was a statistically significant positive trend for the number of personal care products used in the past 48-h and log-MEP in girls. However, there were no statistically significant associations between the analytes and the other questionnaire items and there were no strong correlations between the analytes measured during the third trimester and at 8–13 years of age. We demonstrated that personal care product use is associated with exposure to multiple phthalates in children. Due to rapid development, children may be susceptible to impacts from exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals; thus, reduced or delayed use of certain personal care products among children may be warranted.     

Triclosan—the forgotten priority substance?

Introduction  

Triclosan (TCS) is a multi-purpose biocide. Its wide use in personal care products (PCPs) fosters its dispersal in the aquatic environment. Despite enhanced awareness of both scientists and the public in the last decade with regard to fate and effects, TCS received little attention regarding its prioritisation as a candidate river basin-specific pollutant or even priority substance, due to scarce monitoring data.     

Effectiveness of Marine Protected Areas in Managing the Drivers of Ecosystem Change: A Case of Mnazi Bay Marine Park, Tanzania

Marine protected areas (MPAs) are being promoted in Tanzania to mitigate the drivers of ecosystem change such as overfishing and other anthropogenic impacts on marine resources. The effectiveness of MPAs in managing those drivers was assessed in three ecological zones, seafront, mangrove, and riverine of Mnazi Bay Marine Park, using Participatory Community Analysis techniques, questionnaire survey, checklist and fishery resource assessment methods. Eleven major drivers of ecosystem change were identified. Resource dependence had a major effect in all ecological zones of the park. The results indicated that the park’s legislations/regulations, management procedures, and conservation efforts are reasonably effective in managing its resources. The positive signs accrued from conservation efforts have been realized by the communities in terms of increased catch/income, awareness and compliance. However, some natural and anthropogenic drivers continued to threaten the park’s sustainability. Furthermore, implementation of resource use and benefit sharing mechanisms still remained a considerable challenge to be addressed.