AN OPTIMIZATION MODEL FOR EFFICIENT MANAGEMENT OF URBAN WATER RESOURCES1

ABSTRACT: A mathematical programming model is proposed to determine economically efficient urban water resource allocation and pricing policy by maximizing the sum of the consumer and producer surplus. The optimization of this nonlinear problem is accomplished by the use of linear programming algorithm. The feasibility of using recycled water for municipal purposes is examined in a planning context. The impact of higher water quality discharge standards on pricing and allocation of water is analyzed and the attractiveness of water reuse option is demonstrated.     

Making water policy work in the United Kingdom: A case study of practical approaches to strengthening complex,multi-tiered systems of water governance

We propose a suite of actions for strengthening water governance in contexts with complex, multi-tiered arrangements. In doing so, we focus on the collective water policies and approaches of the United Kingdom (UK), including those of devolved governments, which confront a host of serious water-related challenges—from massive flooding of urban areas and agricultural lands, to pressure on aquifers from rising water demand and drought. Further complexity in addressing these challenges has emerged in the wake of the June 2016 vote to leave the European Union (EU), so-called ‘Brexit’, and the ensuing ‘separation process’ with uncertainties for institutional and governance arrangements to follow. We make ten proposals for improving and reinvigorating water policy in complex, multi-layered situations, and comment specifically on their application in the UK setting. These are: put in place a system-wide water policy; fully embrace community-led nested river basin planning and management; fully fund river basin planning and management; re-focus the policy framing; use best-available data and information; create conversational spaces and become a more water-literate society; mobilise people; support and sustain core community networks; underpin river basin plans with regulatory provisions and effective monitoring and enforcement; and address systemic institutional amnesia. Individually and collectively, we contend that these actions will have a marked effect on transforming the planning and management of water resources. A system-wide water policy that maintains and builds on the substantive biophysical and socio-economic benefits delivered through implementation of the EU Water Framework Directive, together with the more recent Floods Directive, will galvanise stewardship of water in the UK. We urge more active engagement with and empowerment of the multiplicity of system ‘actors’, and highlight the role of non-government actors in a post-Brexit world as conduits for reaching out to and connecting directly with a wide range of water-related actors, especially across the EU. While attention to-date has focused on a plethora of specifically water-related projects, initiatives, plans and regulations, what is really needed is a systemic, long-term view of water resource management.     

Benzene Exposure Assessment at Indoor, Outdoor and Personal Levels. The French Contribution to the Life MACBETH Programme

Many VOC represent hazards to human health through chronic exposure. Recent European and world-wide legislation proposes limit values for ambient concentrations of these compounds. However, very little experimental data exists for true population exposure. In 1996, the European MACBETH initiative set out to measure population exposure to benzene in six European cities. This study details the French contribution to this program. Six campaigns were carried out, each comprising measurements at 100 outdoor sites and the participation of 50 non-smoking volunteers who wore personal samplers and had passive monitors installed in their homes. Iso-concentration maps were drawn for each campaign and the results showed that outdoor concentrations were significantly lower than indoors. Almost 75% of the volunteers were exposed to mean concentrations higher than the limit value of 5µgm³. It is demonstrated that personal exposure levels cannot be deduced simply by combining indoor and outdoor background concentrations. It is also shown that there is need for better knowledge of the contributions to overall exposure of outdoor microenvironments and the authors hope that future European directives will take this into account.     

Ecosystem mapping for the implementation of the European Biodiversity Strategy at the national level: The case of Italy

Several international initiatives, including the European Biodiversity Strategy to 2020, promote the identification and mapping of ecosystems as basic tools for the conservation of biodiversity and related services. On coarse scales, the spatial representation of ecosystems is usually based on broad land cover categories that largely overlook important ecological and biogeographic features of the biotic communities they are meant to exemplify. This paper presents a nationwide ecosystem mapping approach that promotes a degree of thematic detail, which is more suited than that found in the continental maps to meeting biodiversity conservation targets in Italy. The approach is based on the rationale that current and potential vegetation cover are valuable proxies for outlining ecosystems. The resulting Ecosystem Map of Italy includes 43 types of forest ecosystems instead of the 5 woodland, forest and other wooded land types recognized at the European level. We outline the expected advantages of this enhanced thematic detail for a number of conservation purposes and highlight how the resulting maps may help to meet biodiversity conservation targets at the national level. In particular, we refer to the assessment of conservation status, the definition of restoration priorities, the planning of green infrastructure and the identification of collapse risks for the ecosystems identified. Comprehensively, the definition, characterization and assessment of ecosystem types represent the carrying structure of the recently launched national system of natural capital accounting.     

Protection of ash (Fraxinus excelsior) trees from ozone injury by ethylenediurea (EDU): roles of biochemical changes and decreased stomatal conductance in enhancement of growth

Treatments with ethylenediurea (EDU) protect plants from ozone foliar injury, but the processes underlying this protection are poorly understood. Adult ash trees (Fraxinus excelsior), with or without foliar ozone symptoms in previous years, were treated with EDU at 450ppm by gravitational trunk infusion in May-September 2005 (32.5ppmh AOT40). At 30-day intervals, shoot growth, gas exchange, chlorophyll a fluorescence, and water potential were determined. In September, several biochemical parameters were measured. The protective influence of EDU was supported by enhancement in the number of leaflets. EDU did not contribute its nitrogen to leaf tissue as a fertiliser, as determined from lack of difference in foliar N between treatments. Both biochemical (increase in ascorbate-peroxidase and ascorbic acid, and decrease in apoplastic hydrogen peroxide) and biophysical (decrease in stomatal conductance) processes regulated EDU action. As total ascorbic acid increased only in the asymptomatic trees, its role in alleviating O(3) effects on leaf growth and visible injury is controversial.     

Europe’s energy deficit: a population dilemma

Europe’s growing energy deficit and destabilising climate may lead the EU and its constituent member states to change its attitude to population size and growth.     

Assessing the role of consumers in sustainable product policies

A global analysis shows that considerable forces contribute nowadays to the perpetuation of the so-called “developed” model of consumption, and its extension to growing parts of the world, despite reiterated calls for “modification of production and consumption patterns”. Environmental product regulation can be situated in this general perspective. This paper returns to the framing of policies devoted to ecologically sustainable consumption, taking the example of the Integrated product policy at the European level. How are the objectives of such policies defined? What instruments are privileged? Comparing theoretical approaches with policy design, we focus on the role devoted to consumers in these contexts. Bringing in literature evidence, survey results and findings from an original study, we argue that appropriate knowledge of the diversity of consumers’ attitudes and about the limitations of their possible actions is not properly taken into account in product policies, notably when information and voluntary tools are dominant. From this point of view, environmental product regulations are well justified, but they should, as all policy instruments implicating consumers, take careful notice of their situation.     

在用轻型汽油车排放水平及趋势变化拟合研究

基于佛山市2.7万条稳态加载模拟工况法(ASM)的尾气排放检测数据,在分析了总体排放劣化特征随行驶里程呈规律性变化的基础上,通过分类统计和回归分析方法研究了在用轻型汽油车的排放劣化增长模型及不同排放标准机动车的排放特征.分析结果表明,线性增长模型能很好地表现CO,HC,NO三种污染物随行驶里程的劣化规律;不同排放标准的轻型汽油车排放特征差异很大,国零、Ⅰ、Ⅱ排放水平很高,对总体排放影响较大.研究结论对于预测机动车污染变化趋势,完善在用车检查/维护制度等方面可以提供理论支持.     

Assessment of Eutrophication in Estuaries: Pressure–State–Response and Nitrogen Source Apportionment

A eutrophication assessment method was developed as part of the National Estuarine Eutrophication Assessment (NEEA) Program. The program is designed to improve monitoring and assessment of eutrophication in the estuaries and coastal bays of the United States with the intent to guide management plans and develop analytical and research models and tools for managers. These tools will help guide and improve management success for estuaries and coastal resources. The assessment method, a Pressure-State-Response approach, uses a simple model to determine Pressure and statistical criteria for indicator variables (where applicable) to determine State. The Response determination is mostly heuristic, although research models are being developed to improve that component. The three components are determined individually and then combined into a single rating. Application to several systems in the European Union (E.U.), specifically in Portugal, shows that the method is transferable, and thus is useful for development of management measures in both the Unites States and E.U. This approach identifies and quantifies the key anthropogenic nutrient input sources to estuaries so that management measures can target inputs for maximum effect. Because nitrogen is often the limiting nutrient in estuarine systems, examples of source identification and quantification for nitrogen have been developed for 11 coastal watersheds on the U.S. east coast using the WATERSN model. In general, estuaries in the Northeastern United States receive most of their nitrogen from human sewage, followed by atmospheric deposition. This is in contrast to some watersheds in the Mid-Atlantic (Chesapeake Bay) and South Atlantic (Pamlico Sound), which receive most of their nitrogen from agricultural runoff. Source identification is important for implementing effective management measures that should be monitored for success using assessment methods, as described herein. For instance, these results suggest that Northeastern estuaries would likely benefit most from improved sewage treatment, where as the Mid and South Atlantic systems would benefit most from agricultural runoff reductions.     

城市轨道交通上盖物业振动影响评价标准选取探讨

对现行的振动评价标准中相关问题进行分析,认为VLzmax和VLz10分别作为城市轨道交通列车振动和环境振动背景评价量是合理的。并对标准JGJ/T 170-2009应用提出了建议。