RED RIVER OF THE NORTH BASIN,MINNESOTA, NORTH DAKOTA,AND SOUTH DAKOTA1

ABSTRACT: The environmental setting of the Red River of the North basin within the United States is diverse in ways that could significantly control the areal distribution and flow of water and, therefore, the distribution and concentration of constituents that affect water quality. Continental glaciers shaped a landscape of very flat lake plains near the center of the basin, and gently rolling uplands, lakes, and wetlands along the basin margins. The fertile, black, fine-grained soils and landscape are conducive to agriculture. Productive cropland covers 66 percent of the land area. The principal crops are wheat, barley, soybeans, sunflowers, corn, and hay. Pasture, forests, open water, and wetlands comprise most of the remaining land area. About one-third of the 1990 population (511,000) lives in the cities of Fargo and Grand Forks, North Dakota and Moorhead, Minnesota. The climate of the Red River of the North basin is continental and ranges from dry subhumid in the western part of the basin to subhumid in the eastern part. From its origin, the Red River of the North meanders northward for 394 miles to the Canadian border, a path that is nearly double the straight-line distance. The Red River of the North normally receives over 75 percent of its annual flow from the eastern tributaries as a result of regional patterns of precipitation, evapotranspiration, soils, and topography. Most runoff occurs in spring and early summer as a result of rains falling on melting snow or heavy rains falling on saturated soils. Lakes, prairie potholes, and wetlands are abundant in most physiographic areas outside of the Red River Valley Lake Plain. Dams, drainage ditches, and wetlands alter the residence time of water, thereby affecting the amount of sediment, biota, and dissolved constituents carried by the water. Ground water available to wells, streams, and springs primarily comes from sand and gravel aquifers near land surface or buried within 100 to 300 feet of glacial drift that mantles the entire Red River of the North basin. Water moves through the system of bedrock and glacial-drift aquifers in a regional flow system generally toward the Red River of the North and in complex local flow systems controlled by local topography. Many of the bedrock and glacial-drift aquifers are hydraulically connected to streams in the region. The total water use in 1990, about 196 million gallons per day, was mostly for public supply and irrigation. Slightly more than one half of the water used comes from ground-water sources compared to surface-water sources. Most municipalities obtain their water from ground-water sources. However, the largest cities (Fargo, Grand Forks and Moorhead) obtain most of their water from the Red River of the North. The types and relative amounts of various habitats change among the five primary ecological regions within the Red River of the North basin. Headwater tributaries are more diverse and tend to be similar to middle-reach tributaries in character rather than the lower reaches of these tributaries for the Red River of the North. Concentrations of dissolved chemical constituents in surface waters are normally low during spring runoff and after thunderstorms. The Red River of the North generally has a dissolved-solids concentration less than 600 milligrams per liter with mean values ranging from 347 milligrams per liter near the headwaters to 406 milligrams per liter at the Canadian border near Emerson, Manitoba. Calcium and magnesium are the principal cations and bicarbonate is the principal anion along most of the reach of the Red River of the North. Dissolved-solids concentrations generally are lower in the eastern tributaries than in the tributaries draining the western part of the basin. At times of low flow, when water in streams is largely from ground-water seepage, the water quality more reflects the chemistry of the glacial-drift aquifer system. Ground water in the surficial aquifers commonly is a calcium bicarbonate type with dissolved-solids concentration generally between 300 and 700 milligrams per liter. As the ground water moves down gradient, dissolved-solids concentration increases, and magnesium and sulfate are predominant ions. Water in sedimentary bedrock aquifers is predominantly sodium and chloride and is characterized by dissolved-solids concentrations in excess of 1,000 milligrams per liter. Sediment erosion by wind and water can be increased by cultivation practices and by livestock that trample streambanks. Nitrate-nitrogen concentrations also can increase locally in surficial aquifers beneath cropland that is fertilized, particularly where irrigated. Nitrogen and phosphorous in surface runoff from cropland fertilizers and nitrogen from manure can contribute nutrients to lakes, reservoirs, and streams. Some of the more persistent pesticides, such as atrazine, have been detected in the Red River of the North. Few data are available to conclusively define the presence or absence of pesticides and their break-down products in Red River of the North basin aquifers or streams. Urban runoff and treated effluent from municipalities are discharged into streams. These point discharges contain some quantity of organic compounds from storm runoff, turf-applied pesticides, and trace metals. The largest releases of treated-municipal wastes are from the population centers along the Red River of the North and its larger tributaries. Sugar-beet refining, potato processing, poultry and meat packing, and milk, cheese, and cream processing are among the major food processes from which treated wastes are released to streams, mostly in or near the Red River of the North.     

Shifts within ecological modernization in South Africa: Deliberation, innovation and institutional opportunities

Sustainable development is now widely accepted as a policy framework in planning and development both internationally and in South Africa. Within this framework, technocentric scientific approaches to environmental management, which are reflective of weak ecological modernization, have dominated environmental practice both in the developed and developing world. South Africa is a country in transition and as a result environmental law and policy have undergone significant reform. However, implementation and practice remains embedded within a weak ecological modernization approach. Through the lens of two case studies reflecting changing approaches and practices within state institutions, this paper explores the shifts taking place in the construction, adaptation and application of policy frameworks and tools used in the drive towards sustainability in South Africa. The research uses critical approaches to ecological modernization (Hajer, 1995; Christoff, 1996) and deliberative policy analysis (Hajer and Wagenaar, 2003; Hajer, 2003, 2003; Hajer, 2004) to explore these shifts. It suggests that the shift towards strong ecological modernization has taken place as a result of the adaptation of international practice to the South Africa context, the global acceptance of more integrated approaches, the opportunities for change that 'institutional ambiguity' and 'multi-signification' create, and pockets of innovation that have developed when intellectual actors shift the boundaries of environmental practice.     

Accelerating Adaptation of Natural Resource Management to Address Climate Change

Natural resource managers are seeking tools to help them address current and future effects of climate change. We present a model for collaborative planning aimed at identifying ways to adapt management actions to address the effects of climate change in landscapes that cross public and private jurisdictional boundaries. The Southwest Climate Change Initiative (SWCCI) piloted the Adaptation for Conservation Targets (ACT) planning approach at workshops in 4 southwestern U.S. landscapes. This planning approach successfully increased participants’ self‐reported capacity to address climate change by providing them with a better understanding of potential effects and guiding the identification of solutions. The workshops fostered cross‐jurisdictional and multidisciplinary dialogue on climate change through active participation of scientists and managers in assessing climate change effects, discussing the implications of those effects for determining management goals and activities, and cultivating opportunities for regional coordination on adaptation of management plans. Facilitated application of the ACT framework advanced group discussions beyond assessing effects to devising options to mitigate the effects of climate change on specific species, ecological functions, and ecosystems. Participants addressed uncertainty about future conditions by considering more than one climate‐change scenario. They outlined opportunities and identified next steps for implementing several actions, and local partnerships have begun implementing actions and conducting additional planning. Continued investment in adaptation of management plans and actions to address the effects of climate change in the southwestern United States and extension of the approaches used in this project to additional landscapes are needed if biological diversity and ecosystem services are to be maintained in a rapidly changing world. Acelerando la Adaptación del Manejo de Recursos Naturales para Atender el Cambio Climático     

Water-Quality Performance of a Constructed Stormwater Wetland for All Flow Conditions1

Wadzuk, Bridget M., Matthew Rea, Gregg Woodruff, Kelly Flynn, and Robert G. Traver, 2010. Water-Quality Performance of a Constructed Stormwater Wetland for All Flow Conditions. Journal of the American Water Resources Association (JAWRA) 46(2):385-394. DOI: 10.1111/j.1752-1688.2009.00408.x Abstract: Results from a multiyear study demonstrate that a constructed stormwater wetland (CSW) improves urban stormwater runoff quality mitigating downstream impacts. Best management practices, such as CSWs, can comprehensively treat the various scales of stormwater runoff issues. Discrete sample analysis was used to investigate the CSW effect for storm events and base-flow periods on water-quality parameters [i.e., total suspended solids, total dissolved solids, total nitrogen, phosphorous (total and reactive), chloride, heavy metals (zinc, lead, and copper), and Escherichia coli]. The primary finding was that stormwater sediment load was removed through the CSW for all flow conditions during all seasons. The mechanisms responsible for the removal of suspended solids, including slower flow velocity, longer retention times, and vegetative contact, also reduced the mass of nutrients discharged downstream throughout the year. Exceedance probabilities were used to evaluate the expected pollutant reductions of nutrients and to incorporate the effect of natural flow variation on quality. Other findings included the observation that there was no significant difference in the performance of the CSW over two-year-long periods four years apart, indicating that a CSW is effective for an extended period.     

Can biotransformation of BDE-209 in lake trout cause bioaccumulation of more toxic, lower-brominated PBDEs (BDE-47, -99) over the long term?

Much debate exists on the future direction of policy related to the deca-brominated diphenyl ethers (deca-BDE) mixture. This debate, in part, results from the fact that BDE-209 can debrominate to more toxic lower-polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs). However, such debromination is difficult to study using measured concentrations alone because of the short-term nature of laboratory experiments and the presence of lower-brominated congeners in the environment. Here, a rigorously calibrated, multichemical, dynamic fish model (Bhavsar et al. 2008, Environ. Sci. Technol., 42, 3724-3731) is used to predict the debromination of BDE-209 to more toxic lower-brominated PBDEs over a 15-year life period of piscivorous- and non-piscivorous lake trout (pLT, npLT; Salvelinus namaycush). A sensitivity analysis was performed by changing BDE-209 dietary dose, gut absorption efficiency and half-life for generally conservative scenarios. Estimated BDE-209, -99 and -47 concentrations were compared with human fish consumption guidelines developed using the draft U.S.EPA tolerable daily intakes. The model predicted that bioaccumulation of BDE-209 as well as BDE-47 and -99 due to dietary exposure to deca-BDE over the 15-year period would not be appreciable in pLT (generally unrestricted consumption advisory) and would be moderate in npLT (unrestricted to 2 meals/month advisory) even for worst-case scenarios.     

A little knowledge is a dangerous thing – Unexpected reaction case studies make the case for technical discipline

The old saying, “what you don't know can't hurt you,” implies that ignorance is bliss. “A little knowledge is a dangerous thing,” may be closer to the truth; however, it is not the little that we know that is dangerous, but that which is not known. By design, the processes used in the chemical industry are reactive, and the intended reaction receives much scrutiny. However, other reactions occur, often unexpectedly, and possibly with severe consequences. The lessons we learn from these reactions must drive the improvement of our process development and technology management processes and the culture that shapes those processes, a culture of Technical Discipline.Technical Discipline, analogous to Operating Discipline in the manufacturing organization, is a culture committed to fully identifying and characterizing chemical and reaction hazards, and properly documenting and communicating those hazards to create a permanent knowledge and understanding within the organization operating that process.A culture of Technical Discipline will reveal reaction hazards that might otherwise remain unknown until being unveiled in a dramatic and unexpected fashion. Until you fully identify and characterize the hazards of the materials you handle in your processes…what you don't know can hurt you.     

Policy And Practice The Future Tenure of Rural Public Lands in Slovakia

The adoption of democracy and the market economy ideology in post-communist Central and Eastern Europe is encouraging changes in rural public land policy. A system of state public land is being partly dismantled, to be replaced by private ownership.This paper exploresthe present dynamics of the rural public land reprivatization process in Slovakia. In Slovakia approximately 40% of rural public land are being reprivatized. Evidence indicates that the reprivatization of public land is having a detrimental effect on the management of State Forests, National Parks and game management.The integrated, centrally planned public land system of the communist era is being fragmented by reprivatization. This paper argues that this process is creating barriers to the achievement of the sustainable management of the natural resources of rural Slovakia. Recent Governmentof Slovakia laws and policies on sustainable development and environmental management, and adherence to international environmental conventions may provide opportunities for enlightened change in the reprivatization process. A public land system in a democratic free market economy can be an effective mechanism to secure the protection and the sustainable managementof forests, farmland, game, outstanding landscapes and wildlife. This is an opportune time to debate the future of rural public land in Central and Eastern Europe in order that enlightened policy making may be fostered.     

Direct measurement of octanol-water partition coefficients of some environmentally relevant brominated diphenyl ether congeners

Octanol-water partition coefficients (K(OW)) of nine environmentally relevant brominated diphenyl ether (BDE) congeners present in two technical mixtures were directly measured using a slow-stir technique. LogK(OW) values of tri- to heptabrominated BDE congeners ranged from 5.74 to 8.27, and were related to bromine content by the equation logK(OW)=0.621(#Br)+4.12(R(2)=0.970). The directly determined K(OW) values were generally lower than those calculated using fragment constant methods, particularly at higher levels of bromine substitution. The quasi-experimental approach of using fragment constants to modify a "backbone" compound of known K(OW) was much more successful than using the fragment constants to "build" the entire molecule. The tri- and tetrabrominated congeners are in the range of optimum bioaccumulation potential.     

Distribution of hexabromocyclododecane in Detroit River suspended sediments

The distribution of hexabromocyclododecane (HBCD) isomers (alpha, beta and gamma) was determined in Detroit River suspended sediments using liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS). Individual isomers of HBCD were measured at concentrations ranging from <0.025 to 1.9 ng/g (dry wt.) for the alpha-isomer, <0.025 to 0.28 ng/g for the beta-isomer, and <0.025 to 2.3 ng/g for the gamma-isomer. Concentrations of total HBCD ranged from <0.075 to 3.7 ng/g. Roughly two-thirds of HBCD profiles in suspended sediments were dominated by the gamma-isomer, and were similar to profiles of commercial technical mixtures. Profiles in the remaining samples were dominated by the alpha-isomer. The beta-isomer was consistently detected at substantially lower levels than the other isomers; this isomer is a minor constituent in the commercial technical mixtures. Seasonal sampling showed significant shifts in the relative ratios of the HBCD isomers. The spatial distribution of HBCD in the Detroit River was similar to other persistent organic pollutants (e.g., PCBs), and showed a strong association with urban/industrial activities in the watershed. However, the highest HBCD concentrations (2.6-3.7 ng/g) were associated with areas of contemporary industrial activity, and were much lower than maximum concentrations of PCBs (2.2 microg/g) found in areas of the Detroit River associated with historical industrial activity.