The influence of acidic mine and spoil drainage on water quality in the mid-Wales area

The many abandoned base metal mines of the mid-Wales ore field are sources of extensive pollution. Some of the mineralised veins contain large amounts of pyrite and marcasite and oxidative weathering of these produces sulphuric acid resulting in very acidic mine drainage waters. In addition, the spoil tips associated with these mines can contain abundant iron sulphides. Drainage waters from these sources have pH values as low as 2.6 and are heavily contaminated with metals such as Al, Zn, Cd and Ni.Two of the main rivers of the area, the Rheidol and Ystwyth, intercept heavily contaminated acidic drainage which has a marked effect on water quality. The Rheidol contains over 100 g L^–1 Zn for 16 km downstream of the acid water influx. This level is over three times the recommended EEC limit for Zn in salmonoid waters of low hardness.     

Congestion and participation in outdoor recreation: A household production function approach

This paper examines the effects of congestion on recreational behavior within a household production model of consumer behavior. We assume that congestion affects the household's ability to produce constant quality recreational service flows and derive a reduced-form model for participation decisions in remote and developed camping. Empirical estimates of the effects of a congestion measure on the conditional probability of participation as well as on the level of participation are estimated for each activity by the type of trip using information from the 1972 National Recreation Survey. The findings suggest that congestion was most likely to affect the decision to participate and not the level once that decision had been made. While differences in these effects were observed across the activities studied, it is not clear how they should be interpreted since our congestion measure was a proxy variable likely to perform better for remote camping than developed camping.     

Intertemporal and intergenerational Pareto efficiency

Efficiency conditions are derived for both private and public goods which provide benefits over time. In deriving these conditions, the paper extends the notion of efficiency to an intertemporal Pareto-optimal concept requiring the maximization of the ith individual's utility at a point of time subject to the constancy of his utility in all future periods and that of all other individuals during the relevant time span. By permitting births and deaths, a generalization of the basic model recasts the analysis into an intergenerational setting. Additional extensions involve learning by doing and perpetual public goods. The paper concludes that several of the conventional practices in public expenditure analysis do not conform to our definition of intertemporal Pareto efficiency.     

Packaging waste and the polluter pays principle: a taxation solution

Packaging waste has become a focus for attention by policy‐makers in a number of countries. This article offers a simple policy measure — a packaging tax or levy — which serves the required aims of policy, namely: reducing waste at source; increasing the rate of recycling; and consistency with the polluter pays principle. The tax is illustrated in the context of beverage containers in the UK and Japan. The merits of the proposal are its simplicity and flexibility. The article suggests that the relevant environmental damages are captured by waste disposal costs and litter. Other life cycle impacts, such as emissions from energy use, could be included but only if there are not more efficient ways of regulating them.     

Overexpression of ATP sulfurylase in Indian mustard: effects on tolerance and accumulation of twelve metals

Indian mustard [Brassica juncea (L.) Czern.] transgenics overexpressing ATP sulfurylase (APS plants) were shown previously to have higher levels of total thiols, S, and Se. The present study explores the effect of ATP sulfurylase overexpression on tolerance and accumulation of other metals, both oxyanions and cations, reasoning that some anions may react directly with ATP sulfurylase, while other ions may be bound by its thiol end products. The APS transgenics were compared with wild-type plants with respect to tolerance and accumulation of As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Hg, Mn, Mo, Ni, Pb, V, W, and Zn, supplied individually in agar medium (seedlings) or in hydroponics (mature plants). At the seedling stage, APS transgenics were more tolerant than wild type to As(III), As(V), Cd, Cu, Hg, and Zn, but less tolerant to Mo and V. The APS seedlings had up to 2.5-fold higher shoot concentrations of As(III), As(V), Hg, Mo, Pb, and V, and somewhat lower Cr levels. Mature APS plants contained up to 2.5-fold higher shoot concentrations of Cd, Cr, Cu, Mo, V, and W than wild type. They also contained 1.5- to 2-fold higher levels of the essential elements Fe, Mo, and S in most of the treatments. Mature APS plants showed no differences in metal tolerance compared with the wild type. Overexpression of ATP sulfurylase may be a promising approach to create plants with enhanced phytoextraction capacity for mixtures of metals.     

Evaluation of catalyzed and electrically heated filters for removal of particulate emissions from diesel-A- and JP-8-fueled engines

In-service diesel engines are a significant source of particulate matter (PM) emissions, and they have been subjected to increasingly strict emissions standards. Consequently, the wide-scale use of some type of particulate filter is expected. This study evaluated the effect of an Engelhard catalyzed soot filter (CSF) and a Rypos electrically heated soot filter on the emissions from in-service diesel engines in terms of PM mass, black carbon concentration, particle-bound polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon concentration, and size distribution. Both filters capture PM. The CSF relies on the engine's exhaust to reach the catalyst regeneration temperature and oxidize soot, whereas the electrically heated filter contains a heating element to oxidize soot. The filters were installed on several military diesel engines. Particle concentrations and compositions were measured before and after installation of the filter and again after several months of operation. Generally, the CSF removed at least 90% of total PM, and the removal efficiency improved or remained constant after several months of operation. In contrast, the electrical filters removed 44-69% of PM mass. In addition to evaluating the soot filters, the sampling team also compared the results of several real-time particle measurement instruments to traditional filter measurements of total mass.     

Public reaction to the risks of energy technology

Implicit in every government decision on energy technology is a trade-off of a certain amount of risk in return for societal benefits. As a result of growing public concern over such risks, environmental analysts are increasingly being requested not only to describe potential adverse consequences but also to quantify their probability. However, this task is frustrated not only by inadequate experience with, and incomplete knowledge of, the causality of environmental impacts, but also by a disparity between individual and societal views of risk. While the societal view is based on objective risk functions andnet societal benefit, individuals tend to rely on subjective judgment, and consider the distribution as well as the amount of benefit. Thus, environmental risk assessments, produced by analysts on behalf of society as a whole, are likely to be quite speculative, and are unlikely to be reliable indicators of the acceptability of risk to the public.