Predicting Water Quality Impaired Stream Segments using Landscape-Scale Data and a Regional Geostatistical Model: A Case Study in Maryland

In the United States, probability-based water quality surveys are typically used to meet the requirements of Section 305(b) of the Clean Water Act. The survey design allows an inference to be generated concerning regional stream condition, but it cannot be used to identify water quality impaired stream segments. Therefore, a rapid and cost-efficient method is needed to locate potentially impaired stream segments throughout large areas. We fit a set of geostatistical models to 312 samples of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) collected in 1996 for the Maryland Biological Stream Survey using coarse-scale watershed characteristics. The models were developed using two distance measures, straight-line distance (SLD) and weighted asymmetric hydrologic distance (WAHD). We used the Corrected Spatial Akaike Information Criterion and the mean square prediction error to compare models. The SLD models predicted more variability in DOC than models based on WAHD for every autocovariance model except the spherical model. The SLD model based on the Mariah autocovariance model showed the best fit (r² = 0.72). DOC demonstrated a positive relationship with the watershed attributes percent water, percent wetlands, and mean minimum temperature, but was negatively correlated to percent felsic rock type. We used universal kriging to generate predictions and prediction variances for 3083 stream segments throughout Maryland. The model predicted that 90.2% of stream kilometers had DOC values less than 5 mg/l, 6.7% were between 5 and 8 mg/l, and 3.1% of streams produced values greater than 8 mg/l. The geostatistical model generated more accurate DOC predictions than previous models, but did not fit the data equally well throughout the state. Consequently, it may be necessary to develop more than one geostatistical model to predict stream DOC throughout Maryland. Our methodology is an improvement over previous methods because additional field sampling is not necessary, inferences about regional stream condition can be made, and it can be used to locate potentially impaired stream segments. Further, the model results can be displayed visually, which allows results to be presented to a wide variety of audiences easily.     

A Simulation Study to Assess the Sensitivity of a Forest Health Monitoring Network to Outbreaks of Defoliating Insects

The sensitivity of the United States Forest Health Monitoring network to outbreaks of defoliating insects was examined by means of a simulation study. A model constructed specifically for the study was used to generate a wide variety of defoliation patterns in forested landscapes. Forest configuration was that of Minnesota, USA, as expressed by the GAP land cover classification. Combinations of model parameters were based on a Latin Hypercube sample. The relationship between the average number of plots defoliated and outbreak characteristics was then examined via multiple regression. Both theoretical and model results pointed to a strong, linear relationship between the average number of plots defoliated and outbreak size. Model results provided additional insight, suggesting a significant relationship between the average number of plots defoliated and other outbreak characteristics after outbreak size was taken into account.     

Targeted Sustainable Development: 15 Years of Government and Community Intervention on the St. Lawrence River

From 1988 to 2003, the St. Lawrence Action Plan, a Canada – Quebec cooperation agreement on the St. Lawrence River, helped to mobilize a still-growing number of stakeholders in the conservation and protection of this great river and generated tangible results in a number of areas of intervention. The successes enjoyed in the area of industrial, agricultural and urban clean-up, in protecting plant and animal species and their habitats, and in acquiring new knowledge on the state and trends of the ecosystem reflect the sustained efforts of government and non-government partners over the course of those 15 years. The committed involvement of local communities provides assurance of the sustainable development of this vast ecosystem.The Canadian Crown reserves the right to retain a non-exclusive, royalty free licence in and to any copyright.     

混合酸消解变化对土壤和沉积物中痕量硒分析影响

基于各3种采集环境样本、国家标准物质的土壤和沉积物,以当前环境监测行业常用的3种消解方法,探讨20种混合酸系统条件在消解条件变化中对复杂样本硒元素测定的影响.确定了最佳土壤和沉积物消解的组合为王水系统(盐酸∶硝酸∶氢氟酸∶过氧化氢∶高氯酸=3∶1∶1∶1∶1),各消解法的处理结果部分(n=5):水浴法消解时间仅需0.5...     

流动注射催化光度法测定环境水样中的痕量亚硝酸根

基于在pH为2.7的一氯乙酸缓冲溶液中亚硝酸根对溴酸钾氧化亮绿具有催化作用,建立了测定环境水样中痕量亚硝酸根的流动注射催化光度法。在室温下,当溴酸钾浓度为0.15mol/L、亮绿溶液浓度为1.12×10-3mol/L时,该方法的线性范围为0.04～0.36mg/L,检出限为7.44×10-4mg/L,测定频率为60次/h,相对标准偏差为1.1%(n=11)。     

Using Relative Risk to Compare the Effects of Aquatic Stressors at a Regional Scale

The regional-scale importance of an aquatic stressor depends both on its regional extent (i.e., how widespread it is) and on the severity of its effects in ecosystems where it is found. Sample surveys, such as those developed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program (EMAP), are designed to estimate and compare the extents, throughout a large region, of elevated conditions for various aquatic stressors. In this article, we propose relative risk as a complementary measure of the severity of each stressor’s effect on a response variable that characterizes aquatic ecological condition. Specifically, relative risk measures the strength of association between stressor and response variables that can be classified as either “good” (i.e., reference) or “poor” (i.e., different from reference). We present formulae for estimating relative risk and its confidence interval, adapted for the unequal sample inclusion probabilities employed in EMAP surveys. For a recent EMAP survey of streams in five Mid-Atlantic states, we estimated the relative extents of eight stressors as well as their relative risks to aquatic macroinvertebrate assemblages, with assemblage condition measured by an index of biotic integrity (IBI). For example, a measure of excess sedimentation had a relative risk of 1.60 for macroinvertebrate IBI, with the meaning that poor IBI conditions were 1.6 times more likely to be found in streams having poor conditions of sedimentation than in streams having good sedimentation conditions. We show how stressor extent and relative risk estimates, viewed together, offer a compact and comprehensive assessment of the relative importances of multiple stressors.     

审时度势创新发展全方位推进环境监测现代化建设

回顾了环境监测的发展历程,指出环境监测还面临着定位不明、服务单一、投入不足、监测能力建设滞后的问题。阐述了环境监测现代化建设的总体目标和要求,提出面向“十一五”,围绕建设环境友好型社会、构建和谐社会的时代要求,环境监测必须抓住战略发展机遇,努力开拓创新,健全法制,理顺体制,多元投入。激活机制。强化科研。拓展领域,增强能力。发展事业。全方位推进现代化建设。     

GSM移动通信基站电磁辐射污染状况研究

介绍了GSM移动通信基站系统,指出,在进行GSM移动通信基站环境影响分析时,要注意采样点位的设置和测量要求.现场监测结果表明,GSM移动通信基站对环境电磁辐射水平有一定的影响,特别是对50 m内建筑物影响显著,但绝大多数基站基本符合国家有关电磁辐射环境影响标准的要求,在设备正常运行情况下,不会对周围环境造成电磁辐射污染.     

冬季动态槽式堆肥温度的空间变异

以鲜鸡粪、蘑菇渣和污泥按照体积比3∶1∶1混合进行动态堆肥模拟试验.堆肥槽沿物料前进方向分为7个部分,对每个部分按等间距分别做5个水平方向上切分和5个垂直方向上切分,在形成的125个交叉点上进行温度监测.研究结果表明,第1天的混合物料温度在同一层中变异很小,不同层之间略有差异.随着动态过程的进行,同一层温度变异逐渐增大,从第一天相差1～3℃,增加到相差30～40℃,靠近墙体的堆料温度较低,远离墙体的温度较高.随着堆肥时间延长,差异增大.机械翻堆能起到通风的作用,同时使每一个堆方的堆料在纵向方向上上下混合,但达不到横向混匀,因此,靠近墙体两侧的堆料始终处于较低的温度,只有中部能达到较高的温度,以堆肥温度50℃作为无害化指标,自墙体向中心方向的1m为没有达到无害化厚度,无害化体积占堆肥总体积50%.整个动态堆肥过程符合二级动力学方程.     

瑞平塘河氟化物污染状况调查及溯源研究

以2016—2020年地表水常规监测结果为依据,发现瑞平塘河自2017年起出现氟化物质量浓度升高现象,2020年其中1个断面氟化物质量浓度平均值达到1.25 mg/L,比2016年高出145%。为此于2021年3—6月,对瑞平塘河流域的氟化物污染状况进行实地调查并开展溯源研究。研究结果显示,2021年氟化物质量浓度超过1.0 mg/L的点位占59.34%,其中超过1.5 mg/L的点位占42.86%,表明大部分河道氟化物质量浓度已经超过水体功能区要求,对生态环境安全构成较大潜在风险。溯源调查结果表明,排除了农业源及矿山源污染的可能,乳胶制品企业排放的废水为瑞平塘河氟化物的污染来源。针对目前该行业的排放标准和环境影响评价均未提及氟化物污染,企业废水处理设施也无除氟工艺单元,缺乏有效的污染防治措施与监管要求等问题。提出,应及时组织开展该区域乳胶制品行业整治提升,增加氟化物处理工艺单元,提升出水水质,确定氟化物排放浓度限值,并对该行业排放标准做进一步研究和完善等建议。