Case study: An innovative approach to chemical landfill remediation

This article presents a case history of hazardous waste landfill remediation activities at General Electric's Silicone's (GES's) manufacturing facility in Waterford, New York. The approach presented describes the development of the remedial program and its subsequent modification in achieving regulatory compliance goals, providing environmental benefit, and satisfying business considerations and budgetary constraints.     

Theory in practice: the anatomy of a borough plan

This paper focuses on the development plan activities of the London Boroughs and simply seeks to explain the relatively limited progress that has been made in the preparation and adoption of statutory local plans, by showing how production was constrained as local planners were caught up in the shifting ground of contemporary planning theory. The author suggests that uncertainty about the acceptable scope and content of local plans, at a time when planners were being encouraged to extend the emphasis of their work beyond the purely physical, led to serious problems as planners began to experiment with new approaches to local planning but failed to appreciate the operational implications of each approach.     

New Zealand environmental standards and energy policies

This paper describes the primary energy resources of New Zealand and their relative importance. It describes the principal legislation that provides environmental protection and public participation with which State and private agencies are bound to comply. The paper then discusses air pollution in further detail and cites three examples where there is cause for concern. By international standards, air pollution is not a serious problem in New Zealand and so the economic consequences have received little attention Two simple examples are cited. A map showing the main centers and the location of facilities referred to in the text is included     

Total organic carbon analysis as a precursor to disinfection byproducts in potable water: oxidation technique considerations

In recent years, an increasing number of regulations and methodologies have begun to utilize total organic carbon (TOC) analysis for monitoring microbial contamination and/or disinfectant byproduct (DBP) precursors. This paper highlights some analytical differences and similarities between the two widely used TOC oxidation techniques: UV persulfate and high temperature combustion (HTC). Previous papers have come to different and sometimes contradictory conclusions on this subject. However, these studies either compared instruments with significantly different flow paths or TOC systems from different eras. Unlike previous studies, this paper compares two modern TOC analyzers with nearly identical flow paths for sample recovery, detection limits, and analysis of real world samples. On average, both persulfate and HTC oxidation yielded good recoveries for 10 hard to oxidize compounds and potable water samples from 5 different locations across the USA. In general, persulfate yielded more precise results because of its lower background response relative to sample response while HTC gave slightly higher results (roughly 2% to 3%) for surface water samples.     

Environmental fate of alkylphenols and alkylphenol ethoxylates--a review

Alkylphenol ethoxylates (APEs) are widely used surfactants in domestic and industrial products, which are commonly found in wastewater discharges and in sewage treatment plant (STP) effluents. Degradation of APEs in wastewater treatment plants or in the environment generates more persistent shorter-chain APEs and alkylphenols (APs) such as nonylphenol (NP), octylphenol (OP) and AP mono- to triethoxylates (NPE1, NPE2 and NPE3). There is concern that APE metabolites (NP, OP, NPE1-3) can mimic natural hormones and that the levels present in the environment may be sufficient to disrupt endocrine function in wildlife and humans. The physicochemical properties of the APE metabolites (NP, NPE1-4, OP, OPE1-4), in particular the high K(ow) values, indicate that they will partition effectively into sediments following discharge from STPs. The aqueous solubility data for the APE metabolites indicate that the concentration in water combined with the high partition coefficients will provide a significant reservoir (load) in various environmental compartments. Data from studies conducted in many regions across the world have shown significant levels in samples of every environmental compartment examined. In the US, levels of NP in air ranged from 0.01 to 81 ng/m3, with seasonal trends observed. Concentrations of APE metabolites in treated wastewater effluents in the US ranged from < 0.1 to 369 microg/l, in Spain they were between 6 and 343 microg/l and concentrations up to 330 microg/l were found in the UK. Levels in sediments reflected the high partition coefficients with concentrations reported ranging from < 0.1 to 13,700 microg/kg for sediments in the US. Fish in the UK were found to contain up to 0.8 microg/kg NP in muscle tissue. APEs degraded faster in the water column than in sediment. Aerobic conditions facilitate easier further biotransformation of APE metabolites than anaerobic conditions.     

SEASONAL OCCURRENCE OF ANNUAL FLOODS ON SMALL PENNSYLVANIA WATERSHEDS1

A study is presented of the months in which the instantaneous annual maximum discharges from 66 watersheds occurred. The 2,052 flood values were measured on areas ranging from 2.4 through 214 square miles. The longest record was 60 years; the three shortest were 20. Pictorial results show both the number of floods for each month and individual discharges relative to the mean flood. A parameter which is weighted in this manner accounts for both the incidence and the magnitude of floods. Peculiarities of flood-timing charts, based on this parameter, are discussed with respect to watershed size, soils, geology, and land use. After anomolous watersheds had been assigned to special categories, flood-timing charts from most records exhibit a regional dichotomy dividing eastern from western Pennsylvania.     

Environmental Management and the New Politics of Western Water: The Animas-La Plata Project and Implementation of the Endangered Species Act

/ This paper explores the new politics of western water policy through an examination of the Animas-La Plata water project and implementation of the Endangered Species Act. It is suggested that the focus of western water programming has shifted from the source of distributed funds, the United States Congress, to the agencies originally created to deliver federal benefits because funding for new project construction has not been forthcoming. Under this new system, members of Congress continue to excite their constituents with promises of money for new project starts, while the administrative agencies perform the myriad duties needed to keep these projects alive. The result is that political objectives have replaced operational/management objectives in administrative processes. In this case, the author demonstrates how resource managers in the Bureau of Reclamation manipulated hydrological analysis to control administrative process, why their manipulation was unfair, and perhaps illegal, and why biologists from the US Fish and Wildlife Service accepted the analysis. While ostensibly protecting all interests, the result is that none of the objectives of federal water programming are achieved. KEY WORDS: Environmental management; Administrative politics; Water policy; Endangered Species Act; Animas-La Plata, Bureau of Reclamation     

Uncertainties and recommendations

An assessment of the impacts of changes in climate and UV-B radiation on Arctic terrestrial ecosystems, made within the Arctic Climate Impacts Assessment (ACIA), highlighted the profound implications of projected warming in particular for future ecosystem services, biodiversity and feedbacks to climate. However, although our current understanding of ecological processes and changes driven by climate and UV-B is strong in some geographical areas and in some disciplines, it is weak in others. Even though recently the strength of our predictions has increased dramatically with increased research effort in the Arctic and the introduction of new technologies, our current understanding is still constrained by various uncertainties. The assessment is based on a range of approaches that each have uncertainties, and on data sets that are often far from complete. Uncertainties arise from methodologies and conceptual frameworks, from unpredictable surprises, from lack of validation of models, and from the use of particular scenarios, rather than predictions, of future greenhouse gas emissions and climates. Recommendations to reduce the uncertainties are wide-ranging and relate to all disciplines within the assessment. However, a repeated theme is the critical importance of achieving an adequate spatial and long-term coverage of experiments, observations and monitoring of environmental changes and their impacts throughout the sparsely populated and remote region that is the Arctic.