Institutional Constraints on Cost‐Effective Water Management: Selenium Contamination in Colorado's Lower Arkansas River Valley

Ground and surface water selenium (Se) contamination is problematic throughout the world, leading to harmful impacts on aquatic life, wildlife, livestock, and humans. A groundwater reactive transport model was applied to a regional‐scale irrigated groundwater system in the Lower Arkansas River Basin in southeastern Colorado to identify management practices that remediate Se contamination. The system has levels of surface water and groundwater Se concentrations exceeding the respective chronic standard and guidelines. We evaluate potential solutions by combining the transport model with an assessment of the cost to employ those practices. We use a framework common in economics and engineering fields alike, the Pareto frontier, to show the impact of four different best management practices on the tradeoffs between Se and cost objectives. We then extend that analysis to include institutional constraints that affect the economic feasibility associated with each practice. Results indicate that although water‐reducing strategies have the greatest impact on Se, they are the hardest for farmers to implement given constraints common to western water rights institutions. Therefore, our analysis shows that estimating economic and environmental tradeoffs, as is typically done with a Pareto frontier, will not provide an accurate picture of choices available to farmers where institutional constraints should also be considered.     

Linking Nitrogen Export to Landscape Heterogeneity: The Role of Infrastructure and Storm Flows in a Mediterranean Urban System

Urban ecosystems are often sources of nonpoint source (NPS) nitrogen (N) pollution to aquatic ecosystems. However, N export from urban watersheds is highly variable. Examples of densely urbanized watersheds are not well studied, and these may have comparatively low export rates. Commonly used metrics of landscape heterogeneity may obscure our ability to discern relationships among landscape characteristics that can explain these lower export rates. We expected that differences not often captured by these metrics in the relative cover of vegetation, structures, and impervious surfaces would better explain observed variation in N export. We examined these relationships during storms in residential watersheds. Contrary to expectations, land cover did not directly predict variation in N or water export. Instead, N export was strongly linked to drainage infrastructure density. Our research highlights the role of fine‐scaled landscape attributes, mainly infrastructure, in explaining patterns of N export from densely urbanized watersheds. Changes to hydrologic flow paths by infrastructure explained more variation in N export than land cover. Our findings support further development of landscape ecological models of urban N export that focus on hydrologic modification by infrastructure rather than traditional landscape measures such as land use, as indicators for evaluating patterns of NPS nitrogen pollution in densely urbanized watersheds.     

Connotation and principles of ecological compensation in water source reserve areas based on the theory of externality

Understanding the connotation and principles of ecological compensation in water source reserve areas is the basis and guarantee for establishing and improving the ecological compensation mechanism of water source reserve areas. First, this paper reviews the three stages of ecological compensation research progress. Based on the review, using the theory of externality, the ecological environment system of water source reserve areas is then analyzed. This paper argues that the connotation of ecological compensation in water source reserve areas is a kind of institutional arrangement, which is designed to internalize externalities. Finally, based on the understanding of the connotation of ecological compensation in water source reserve areas, five principles for establishing and improving the ecological compensation mechanism are proposed, including the principle of fairness and justice, the principle of equivalence of equality and responsibility, the principle of flexibility and effectiveness, the principle of “earmark funds, and implementation by law,” and the principle of government compensation supplemented with market compensation.     

基于MODIS地面温度数据的成都市热岛时空变化

研究利用2000、2005和2010年逐月的MODIS/Terra和MODIS/Aqua卫星的地表温度数据产品,通过等间距法进行分析,得出成都市建成区2000~2010年间昼夜热岛的时空变化以及相互间差异。研究结果表明:成都市昼夜热岛存在显著差异,日间热岛主要呈散点分布,夜间热岛集中在城市中心区域。日夜间热岛变化趋势有显著不同,日间热岛继续分散而夜间热岛范围则有所扩大。日间热岛分布与植被覆盖存在一定的负相关性,但道路也在一定程度上促使了地面温度的增加,夜间城市热岛范围及变化则与其下垫面组成存在关系。     

巢湖水及沉积物中总磷的分布变化特征

磷是导致巢湖水体富营养化的主要营养物质。采集大量巢湖表层水和沉积物样品,通过检测上覆水和沉积物中总磷含量,分析巢湖水体中磷的时空变化及赋存特征。结果显示:巢湖南淝河和裕溪河河口的上覆水中总磷含量值时间变化特征为8月5月3月12月;且南淝河口总磷含量年均值超过地表水Ⅴ类水质标准,明显高于裕溪河口值;表层水和沉积物中总磷含量在空间分布上呈西高东低趋势,最高值均出现在靠近合肥市河口处。巢湖周边土壤及湖区磷的等值线分布表明:杭埠河流域农业污染、东巢湖东南部水土流失可能是巢湖磷面源污染的主要来源。巢湖上覆水和沉积物中总磷的相关系数为0.515,蓝藻爆发期全湖表层沉积物中总磷含量显著减少,揭示目前内源磷释放已是巢湖富营养化的主要因素。结果将对巢湖流域的污染综合防治及蓝藻治理工作提供科学依据。     

Evaluating anthropogenic N inputs to diverse lake basins: A case study of three Chinese lakes

The environmental degradation of lakes in China has become increasingly serious over the last 30 years and eutrophication resulting from enhanced nutrient inputs is considered a top threat. In this study, a quasi-mass balance method, net anthropogenic N inputs (NANI), was introduced to assess the human influence on N input into three typical Chinese lake basins. The resultant NANI exceeded 10 000 kg N km⁻² year⁻¹ for all three basins, and mineral fertilizers were generally the largest sources. However, rapid urbanization and shrinking agricultural production capability may significantly increase N inputs from food and feed imports. Higher percentages of NANI were observed to be exported at urban river outlets, suggesting the acceleration of NANI transfer to rivers by urbanization. Over the last decade, the N inputs have declined in the basins dominated by the fertilizer use but have increased in the basins dominated by the food and feed import. In the foreseeable future, urban areas may arise as new hotspots for nitrogen in China while fertilizer use may decline in importance in areas of high population density.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s13280-015-0638-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

Screening risk areas for sediment and phosphorus losses to improve placement of mitigation measures

Identification of vulnerable arable areas to phosphorus (P) losses is needed to effectively implement mitigation measures. Indicators for source (soil test P, STP), potential mobilization by erosion (soil dispersion), and transport (unit-stream power length-slope, LS) risks were used to screen the vulnerability to suspended solids (SS) and P losses in two contrasting catchments regarding topography, soil textural distribution, and STP. Soils in the first catchment ranged from loamy sand to clay loam, while clay soils were dominant in the second catchment. Long-term SS and total P losses were higher in the second catchment in spite of significantly lower topsoil STP. A higher proportion of areas in the second catchment were identified with higher risk due to the significantly higher risk of overland flow generation (LS) and a significantly higher mobilization risk in the soil dispersion laboratory tests. A simple screening method was presented to improve the placement of mitigation measures.     

农业源水污染物削减技术探讨

农业面源污染是水体中COD、氮、磷等指标的主要来源。它包括农药化肥施用、畜禽养殖和农村生活污水排放。对农业源水污染物进行削减是实现污染物总量控制的重要手段。通过详细总结国内外现有农业源水污染物削减技术方法,分析对比其优缺点和实用性,筛选出适用于不同农业污染来源的污水处理技术。结果表明,畜禽养殖废水的适宜处理技术有厌氧/缺氧/好氧(A/A/O)、序批式活性污泥法(SBR)、膜生物反应器(MBR)、升流式厌氧污泥床(UASB)、厌氧沼气池;农地施肥污水的适宜处理技术有SBR、MBR、UASB;农村生活污水的适宜处理技术有厌氧沼气池、生物滴滤池、人工湿地、稳定塘。     

以聚己内酯作为生物反硝化固体碳源的研究

为解决水体因低碳氮比而导致脱氮效率差的问题,将颗粒聚己内酯(PCL)重新塑形为阶梯环状,研究其作为反硝化过程的生物膜载体与固相碳源的反硝化性能。结果表明,在静态实验中,平均反硝化速率为8.57 mg NO3-N/(L·h);反硝化过程为零级反应。连续填充床实验中,超过90%的硝酸盐可被去除,出水NO2-N质量浓度低于0.20 mg/L;出水NH3-N质量浓度略有上升;出水溶解性有机碳(DOC)先上升后降低至1 mg/L左右。电子扫描显微镜扫描显示,PCL阶梯环反应表面空隙率较高,表面生物膜以杆菌为主,反应后被明显腐蚀;液相色谱检测显示PCL阶梯环分子量反应前后略有下降,其结构未受到破坏;表明该材料适合作为反硝化反应的碳源的同时,又可以作为载体供微生物附着生长。     

不同混凝剂处理松花江低温水

东北松花江地区冬季有将近6个月的冰封期,低温季节水源水处理难度大。为了保证东北地区冬季饮用水供应,研究几种混凝剂在处理冬季松花江低温水时的混凝效果。实验结果表明,NPAC1和NPAC2水解产物中具有较高的Alb和Alc成分,拥有较高的电中和、吸附和网捕卷扫性能,高效聚铝铁(PAF)水解产物Fe(OH)3具有比表面积大、吸附架桥作用较强的优点。这3种混凝剂无论是在控制出水浊度还是在对水体有机物去除能力方面均优于目前水厂所使用的PAC和聚合氯化铝铁(水厂PAF);NPAC2的投加量达到50 mg/L时,出水浊度达到最优;当混凝剂投加量达到50 mg/L时,NPAC1的浊度去除率逐渐超过NPAC2,剩余浊度低于3.0 NTU;NPAC1、NPAC2和PAF 3种混凝剂对有机物的去除能力大致相当,当混凝剂投加量为50 mg/L时,这3种混凝剂处理后的水的UV254的值均低于0.06,而水厂使用的2种混凝剂处理后的水的UV254仍高于0.1;结合其对浊度去除的情况,可以判断55 mg/L的投药量为NPAC1的最优投药点,PAF的最佳投药量为65 mg/L;投加适量的粉末活性碳可以有效地提高氨氮的去除率,当粉末活性炭的投加量为30 mg/L时,氨氮的去除率基本达到最大(51.27%)。表面负荷对混凝效果具有重要的影响,合理降低沉淀池的表面负荷对于提高出水水质具有重要作用。