Evolution of environmental impact assessment as applied to watershed modification projects in Canada

This article reviews the application of environmental impact assessment (EIA) procedures and practices to three watershed modification projects situaled in western Canada. These ventures were justified for accelerating regional economic development, and cover the period during which public concerns for protecting the environment rapidly made their way into the national political agenda. An historical account and analysis of the situation, therefore, seems desirable in order to understand the development of EIA processes, practices, and methodologies since the start of construction of the first project in 1961. This study concludes that there has been good progress in predicting and evaluating environmental and related social impacts of watershed modification proposals. However, a number of obstacles need to be overcome before EIA can firmly establish itself as an effective planning tool. These difficulties include jurisdictional confusions and conflicts, division of authority and responsibility in designing and implementing appropriate mitigative and monitoring measures, lack of tested EIA methodologies, and limited availability of qualified human resources. A number of conclusions and suggestions are offered so that future watershed modification proposals may be planned and implemented in a more environmentally sustainable fashion. These include: (1) EIA processes must be completed before irrevocable decisions are made. (2) Any major intrusion into a watershed is likely to impact on some major components of the ecosystem(s). (3) Mitigation costs must form part of the benefit-cost analysis of any project proposal. (4) Interjurisdictional cooperation is imperative where watersheds cross political boundaries. (5) The EIA process is a public process, hence public concerns must be dealt with fairly. (6) The role of science in the EIA process must be at arms length from project proponents and regulators, and allowed to function in the interest of the protection of the environment and public health and safety. The views expressed here are the authors’ own and do not necessarily reflect those of FEARO and/or other government agencies and officials involved in the review of these projects.     

Modelling Tracer Dispersion from Landfills

Several wind tunnel experiments of tracer dispersion from reduced-scale landfill models are presented in this paper. Different experimental set-ups, hot-wire anemometry, particle image velocimetry and tracer concentration measurements were used for the characterisation of flow and dispersion phenomena nearby the models. The main aim of these experiments is to build an extensive experimental data set useful for model validation purposes. To demonstrate the potentiality of the experimental data set, a validation exercise on several mathematical models was performed by means of a statistical technique. The experiments highlighted an increase in pollutant ground level concentrations immediately downwind from the landfill because of induced turbulence and mean flow deflection. This phenomenon turns out to be predominant for the dispersion process. Tests with a different set-up showed an important dependence of the dispersion phenomena from the landfill height and highlighted how complex orographic conditions downwind of the landfill do not affect significantly the dispersion behaviour. Validation exercises were useful for model calibration, improving code reliability, as well as evaluating performances. The Van Ulden model proved to give the most encouraging results.     

Extension of the EUROS Integrated Air Quality Model to Fine Particulate Matter by Coupling to CACM/MADRID 2

The European Operational Smog (EUROS) integrated air quality modelling system has been extended to model fine particulate matter (PM). From an extended literature study, the Caltech Atmospheric Chemistry Mechanism and the Model of Aerosol Dynamics, Reaction, Ionisation and Dissolution were selected and recently coupled to EUROS. Currently, modelling of mass and chemical composition of aerosols in two size fractions (PM_2.5 and PM_10–2.5) is possible. The chemical composition is expressed in terms of seven components: ammonium, nitrate, sulphate, elementary carbon, primary inorganic compounds, primary organic compounds and secondary organic compounds. Calculated PM₁₀ concentrations and chemical composition are presented for two summer months of the year 2003 (1 July to 31 August).     

Analysis of pollutant levels in central Hong Kong applying neural network method with particle swarm optimization

Air pollution has emerged as an imminent issue in modernsociety. Prediction of pollutant levels is an importantresearch topic in atmospheric environment today. For fulfillingsuch prediction, the use of neural network (NN), and inparticular the multi-layer perceptrons, has presented to be acost-effective technique superior to traditional statisticalmethods. But their training, usually with back-propagation (BP)algorithm or other gradient algorithms, is often with certaindrawbacks, such as: 1) very slow convergence, and 2) easilygetting stuck in a local minimum. In this paper, a newlydeveloped method, particle swarm optimization (PSO) model, isadopted to train perceptrons, to predict pollutant levels, andas a result, a PSO-based neural network approach is presented. The approach is demonstrated to be feasible and effective bypredicting some real air-quality problems.     

Trihalomethanes in Drinking Water of Greater Québec Region (Canada): Occurrence, Variations and Modelling

The levels of trihalomethanes (THMs) – the main species of by-product from water chlorination – were monitored in thedistribution systems of the five major drinking water utilitiesof the greater area of Québec City in order to investigate andmodel their occurrence on a spatial and seasonal basis. Data forTHMs and other water quality and operational parametersassociated with their formation were generated through a 16 monthsampling program involving several sites representing variablewater residence times, from the plant to the system extremity.The results demonstrate that the differences in measured THMlevels between the five utilities are mainly due to the variablequality of raw waters, the type of water treatment process beingused and the type and levels of applied disinfectant. Dependingon the utility, average THM levels were from 1.3 to 2.5 timeshigher in the system extremities than in the water leaving thetreatment plant. Also, average levels of THMs measured in summerat the distribution system extremities were, depending on theutility, from 2.5 to 5 times higher than the average levelsmeasured in winter. The seasonal differences were found to besignificantly greater than those observed by others in waterutilities in the United States and Europe and are explained inlarge part by the considerable changes, over the year, in thequality and temperature of surface waters in Southern Québec. Forthe five utilities under study, multivariate regression modelswere developed in order to predict spatial and seasonalvariations of THMs. Both residual chlorine demand and temperaturewere found to be better, statistically, as predictors for THMoccurrence. The usefulness of the developed models for routineand long term water quality management, as well as for assessmentof human exposure to THMs, are also discussed.     

linking various aspects of atmospheric change through a systems analysis of food

Although interdisciplinary collaboration to address a singleenvironmental problem is more common than in the past, all toooften the significant atmospheric problems of our day such asstratospheric ozone depletion, acidic deposition or climaticchange are addressed on a single issue basis. Systems analysis isa way of looking at a problem in a holistic, integrated fashionthrough including as many as practicable of the importantcomponents, and the linkages among them. Systems analysisoften begins with a conceptual model which, even if lackingquantification, is a useful means of changing ones thinking to amulti-issue approach. If possible, conceptual models areoperationalized by quantification (using the best availablescientific knowledge) of the stocks and flows of the relevantcomponents of the problem, and the processes that are involved.In this paper, a systems approach to food production is used tolink various atmospheric issues such as regional acidification andclimatic change. A spreadsheet model of food demand andproduction in various world regions examined the possible effectof atmospheric change on how much food we can grow, andwhether or not we may be able to meet the increased demand inthe year 2025. Using relatively modest changes in factors ofagricultural production, the spreadsheet model calculated globalshortfalls by the year 2025 of the order of 10 to 20% in someimportant agricultural crops, despite the improvements in cropproduction factors that are envisaged by the Food andAgricultural Organization from now until the year 2010, and thatwere extrapolated in this paper to 2025. The model alsocalculated that climatic change in combination with eithertropospheric ozone or increased UV-B radiation caused bydepletion of the stratospheric ozone layer may in general makethe situation worse than in the case of climatic change alone.Given the large uncertainties in the input data, the results in thispaper should not be viewed as predictions but rather as anexample of taking a relatively simple systems approach to foodproduction using a spreadsheet model, and calculating the effectsthat various aspects of atmospheric change might have upon it.Therefore, it is extremely important to know the effects uponcrop production factors of climatic change, tropospheric ozoneand increased UV-B radiation not only as individual issues, butalso of their combined effect since it is probable that in manyregions they will occur in combination.     

Application of CFD Methods for Modelling in Air Pollution Problems: Possibilities and Gaps

Different urban air pollution problems deal with complex structure of air flows and turbulence. For such problems the Computer Fluid Dynamics (CFD) methods become widely used. However, this approach despite a number of advantages has some problems. Experience of use of CFD tools for development of models and suggestions of their applications for a local scale air pollution over a complex terrain and stable stratification are discussed in this paper, including: Topography and complex geometry: choose of the co-ordinate system and computer grid; Turbulence closure for air pollution modelling: modified k- model for stable stratified ABL; Boundary conditions for vertical profiles of velocity for stable-stratified atmosphere; Effects of the radiation and thermal budget of inclined surfaces to dispersion of pollutants; Artificial sources of air dynamics and circulation.Some examples of CFD applications for air pollution modelling for a flat terrain, mountainous area, mining open cast and indoor ventilation are discussed. Modified k- model for stably-stratified ABL is suggested. Due to the isotropic character of the k- model a combination of it in vertical with the sub-grid turbulence closure in horizontal can be more suitable for ABL. An effective scheme of boundary conditions for velocity profiles, based on the developed similarity theory for stable-stratified ABL, is suggested. Alongside with the common studies of atmospheric dispersion, the CFD methods have also demonstrated a good potential for studying anthropogenic and artificial-ventilation sources of air dynamic and circulation in local-scale processes of air pollution.     

Multipoint source method in air pollution modelling of cold start emission

The paper presents a new method of air pollution modelling on a micro scale. For estimation of concentration of car exhaust pollutants, each car is treated as an instantaneous moving emission source. This approach enables us to model time and spatial changes of emission, especially during cold and cool start of an engine. These stages of engine work are a source of significant pollution concentration in urban areas. In this work, two models are proposed: one for the estimation of emission after cold start of the engine and another for the prediction of pollutant concentration. The first model (defined for individual exhaust gas pollutants) enables us to calculate the emission as a function of time after the cold or cool start, ambient temperature and average speed of motion. This model uses the HBEFA database. The second mathematical model is developed in order to calculate the pollutant dispersion and concentrations. The finite volume method is applied to discretise the set of partial differential equations describing wind flow and pollutant dispersion in the domain considered. Models presented in this paper can be called short-term models on a small spatial scale. The results of numerical simulation of pollutant emission and dispersion are also presented.     

基于WARMF模型的杭埠-丰乐河流域水文模拟研究

研究了WARMF模型在杭埠-丰乐河流域(巢湖流域最大支流)的水文模拟适应性能并进行了流域水文系统分析.利用AVSWAT2000模型将流域划分为37个子流域,利用流域地貌-土壤分布对应关系、土壤剖面结构、地下水位埋深等条件,确定了子流域的平面分组与剖面土层结构,较大程度上降低了流域模型参数校准的难度与不确定性.利用2000～2003年的水文观测数据,在参数灵敏度分析基础上,对模型水文参数进行了校准与检验.结果表明,WARMF在研究区具有较好的适应性能.WARMF模型与AVSWAT2000模型的水文模拟结果对比表明,WARMF模型具有更好的日拟合性能.基于模型的模拟结果,在空间尺度上定量分析了流域从降水开始到入湖的水循环过程,在时间尺度上分析了年内降雨、径流的分布及其对应关系.流域概化、模型的校准与检验以及流域水文时空变化的系统分析方法等对流域水文、环境的模拟研究与系统分析具有探索意义.