Mercury emission and pollution in Chongqing City, China

1　ＩｎｔｒｏｄｕｃｔｉｏｎＣｈｏｎｇｑｉｎｇｉｓａｂｉｇｃｉｔｙｉｎｓｏｕｔｈｗｅｓｔＣｈｉｎａ,ａｎｄｉｓａｎｉｍｐｏｒｔａｎｔｉｎｄｕｓｔｒｉａｌｃｉｔｙｗｉｔｈ 2 30 0 0ｋｍ2 ａｒｅａ .Ａｂｏｕｔ 17ｍｉｌｌｉｏｎｔｏｎｓｏｆｃｏａｌａｒｅａｂｕｒｎｈｅｒｅｐｅｒｙｅａｒ.ＳｏｔｈｅａｃｉｄｐｒｅｃｉｐｉｔａｔｉｏｎａｎｄＨｇｅｍｉｓｓｉｏｎａｒｅｓｅｒｉｏｕｓａｎｄｔｈｅｅｃｏｓｙｓｔｅｍｉｓｓｉｇｎｉｆｉｃａｎｔｌｙａｆｆｅｃｔｅｄｉｎＣｈｏｎｇｑｉｎｇ(Ｍｏｕ ,1992 ;1995) ,ｍｏｒｅｔｈ…     

Control strategy for sulfur dioxide and acid rain pollution in China

Ｃｈｉｎａ′ｓｅｃｏｎｏｍｙｈａｓｅｘｐａｎｄｅｄａｔａｎａｖｅｒａｇｅｏｆｏｖｅｒ 9%ｅａｃｈｙｅａｒｆｏｒｔｈｅｐａｓｔｔｗｏｄｅｃａｄｅｓ.Ｃｏｎｔｉｎｕｉｎｇｔｈｉｓｒａｐｉｄｅｃｏｎｏｍｉｃ ｇｒｏｗｔｈｗｈｉｌｅｓｉｍｕｌｔａｎｅｏｕｓｌｙｉｍｐｌｅｍｅｎｔｉｎｇｅｆｆｅｃｔｉｖｅ ｐｏｌｌｕｔｉｏｎｃｏｎｔｒｏｌｓｔｒａｔｅｇｙｐｒｅｓｅｎｔｓＣｈｉｎａｗｉｔｈａｎｕｒｇｅｎｔｃｈａｌｌｅｎｇｅ .1　Ｃｕｒｒｅｎｔｓｔａｔｕｓｏｆｓｕｌｆｕｒｄｉｏｘｉｄｅａｎｄａｃｉｄｒａｉｎｐｏｌｌ…     

The role of science and technology in environmentally sound urbanization in China

In the process of accelerating industrialization,urbanization is inevitable and important to China's modernization drive. While people are cherishing the advantages of living in cities, the increasing negative impact of urbanization has to be put on the top of priority list. As urbanization proceeds, the existing pollution problem aggravates with not only increasing quantity of pollutants, but diversity as well. Science and technology have been contributing to urbanization process in both positive and negative ways. Nonetheless, the role of science an technology in promoting sustainable urbanization is increasingly important. China has been conducting environmental research and development since the early 1970's, and now is capable of supplying most technologies needed for urban environmental protection. To keep pace with the rapid urbanization process in China,environmental research and technology development should bestrengthened. This is mostly dependent on domestic resources withintroduction of advanced yet cost-effective technologies from therest of the world. With a survey of current urban environmental R & D in China and on-going activities of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), recommendations on future UCL(University College London)-CAS collaboration in the domain of urban environment aremade.     

Introductory remarks on mercury pollution in China

Ｃｈｉｎａｉｓｒｉｃｈｉｎｍｅｒｃｕｒｙｒｅｓｏｕｒｃｅｓ,ｒａｎｋｉｎｇｔｈｉｒｄｉｎｔｈｅｗｏｒｌｄ .ＭｅｒｃｕｒｙｏｒｅｓａｒｅｍｏｓｔｌｙｄｅｐｏｓｉｔｅｄｉｎＳｏｕｔｈｗｅｓｔａｎｄＣｅｎｔｒａｌＣｈｉｎａｌｉｋｅＧｕｉｚｈｏｕ ,ＳｏｕｔｈｅｒｎＳｈａａｎｘｉ,ＮｏｒｔｈｅｒｎＨｅｎａｎａｎｄＥａｓｔｅｒｎＳｉｃｈｕａｎ ｐｒｏｖｉｎｃｅｓ,ｐａｒｔｉｃｕｌａｒｌｙＧｕｉｚｈｏｕｗｈｅｒｅ 75%ｍｅｒｃｕｒｙｏｒｅｏｆａｌｌＣｈｉｎａｅｘｉｓｔｓ.Ａｎｎｕａｌｐｒｏｄｕｃｔｉｏｎｉｎ 60’ｓａ…     

Comparison of the effects of aluminum and iron(Ⅲ) salts on ultrafiltration membrane biofouling in drinking water treatment

Coagulation plays an important role in alleviating membrane fouling, and a noticeable problem is the development of microorganisms after long-time operation, which gradually secrete extracellular polymeric substances(EPS). To date, few studies have paid attention to the behavior of microorganisms in drinking water treatment with ultrafiltration(UF)membranes. Herein, the membrane biofouling was investigated with different aluminum and iron salts. We found that Al_2(SO_4)_3·18 H_2O performed better in reducing membrane fouling due to the slower growth rate of microorganisms. In comparison to Al_2(SO_4)_3·18H_2O,more EPS were induced with Fe_2(SO_4)_3·x18H_2O, both in the membrane tank and the sludge on the cake layer. We also found that bacteria were the major microorganisms, of which the concentration was much higher than those of fungi and archaea. Further analyses showed that Proteobacteria was dominant in bacterial communities, which caused severe membrane fouling by forming a biofilm, especially for Fe_2(SO_4)_3·x18H_2O. Additionally, the abundances of Bacteroidetes and Verrucomicrobia were relatively higher in the presence of Al_2(SO_4)_3·18 H_2O,resulting in less severe biofouling by effectively degrading the protein and polysaccharide in EPS. As a result, in terms of microorganism behaviors, Al-based salts should be given preference as coagulants during actual operations.     

Advances in chemical technologies for water and wastewater treatment： preface

Chemical technologies have been applied for water and wastewater treatment since more than 150 year ago,and are still playing the leading role in this field. With the fast development of sciences and technologies especially in the last     

Changes of surface water pollution of Suzhou region:a case study in Taicang County, China

ＣｈａｎｇｅｓｏｆｓｕｒｆａｃｅｗａｔｅｒｐｏｌｕｔｉｏｎｏｆＳｕｚｈｏｕｒｅｇｉｏｎ：ａｃａｓｅｓｔｕｄｙｉｎＴａｉｃａｎｇＣｏｕｎｔｙ，ＣｈｉｎａＬｉＹｏｎｇ，ＸｕＲｕｉｗｅｉ，ＺｈａｎｇＳｈｕｉｍｉｎｇ，ＡｎＱｉｏｎｇ，ＪｉｎＷｅｉ，Ｄｕ...     

Fighting against water crisis in China—A glimpse of water regime shift at county level

Three decades of economy growth and urbanization has brought China into the rim of water crisis. Transition to sustainability has gained consensus and put into practice at all administrative levels. However, due to locking mechanisms such as sunken investments, vested interests, and economic structure, such transition would not prove to be easy. Here we adopt the Multi-Level Perspective framework to analyze a county level water regime shift in Yiwu of Zhejiang province, which is representative for its economic success and severity of water problem in China. The transition is described as the interactions between water regime subsystems including society, economy, administration, infrastructure, and natural water cycling process, as well as the influence from the landscape level such as politics. Figures show that the water system is making a turnaround to the better side, while the government plays a key role in pushing and managing the transition. This study allows us to have a glimpse of the whole water regime transition currently happening in China, as well as being used for reference in other parts of the developing world, for the promoting of sustainable water resource management.     

Changes of surface water pollution of Suzhou region: a case study in Taicang County, China

Environmental pollution is a by product of industrialization when economy of a region is developing. China also suffers from such a problem, especially in the southern part like Suzhou region in Jiangsu Province. In this paper, data covering situations of surface water pollution and social and economic development showed that the surface water pollution in Taicang County, a typical economic zone of Suzhou region, is significantly correlated to the economic growth of this region     

Ecological and environmental water demand of the lakes in the Haihe—Luanhe Basic of North China

The purpose of this paper is to present a brief concept of the ecological and environmental water demand of lake. The present situation and affecting factors of lake ecological system in the Haihe-Luanhe Basin of North China was analyzed. The calculating method of the ecological and environmental water demand of the lake basis on the water body and the calculating method of the ecological and environmental water demand of the lake basis on the aquatic ecosystem, wetland and vegetation were compared and discussed. As the examples of Baiyangdian Lake and Beidagang Lake in Haihe-Luanhe river basin, the ecological and environmental water demand of the two lakes was calculated to be 27 x 10(8) m3. It is 6.75 times to the water demand according to the calculating method of the ecological and environmental water demand of the lake basis on the water body. The research result indicated: (1) The calculating methods of the ecological and environmental water demand of the lake basis on the aquatic ecosystem should be better than only basis on the water body of lake. (2) The data, such as area of the vegetation kind around and in the lake, the vegetation coefficient, the evaporating amount of the vegetation and the vegetation water demand itself around and in the lake are lack and urgent need. Some suggestions for controlling and regulating the water resource of the lake in North China were proposed.     

Validation of an agricultural non-point source （AGNPS） pollution model for a catchment in the Jiulong River watershed, China

This study tested and evaluated the agricultural non-point source(AGNPS)model for the Wuchuan catchment, a typical agricultural area in the Jiulong River watershed, Fujian Province. China. The AGNPS model was calibrated and validated for the study area with observed data onten storms. Thedata on eight stormsin 2002 were used for calibration while data on two stormswere used for validation of the model. Considering the lack of water quality data over a long-term series, a novel method, comparing an internal nested catchment with its surrounding catchment, was used to supplement the less long-term series data. Dual calibration and validation of the AGNPS model was obtained by this comparison. The results indicate that the correlation coefficients were 0. 99 and 0. 98 for runoff, 0. 94 and 0. 95 forthe peak runoff rate of the large catchment and the small catchment, respectively, and 0. 76 forthe sediment of the small catchment only. Each pair of correlation coefficients is homogeneous for the same event for the two catchments. With the exception of the sediment yield and particulate phosphorus, the peak nmofr rate and other nutrients were well predicted. Sensitivity analysis showed that the Soil Conservation Service curve number and rainfall quantity were the most sensitive parameters, which resulted in high output variations. Erosivitv and other parameters had little influence on the hydrological and quality outputs.     

Status of mercury pollution during resources development in Guizhou Province, China

1　ＩｎｔｒｏｄｕｃｔｉｏｎＧｕｉｚｈｏｕＰｒｏｖｉｎｃｅｉｓｌｏｃａｔｅｄｉｎｓｏｕｔｈｗｅｓｔＣｈｉｎａｗｉｔｈａｔｏｔａｌａｒｅａｏｆ 176.2 8ｔｈｏｕｓａｎｄｓｑｕａｒｅｋｉｌｏｍｅｔｅｒｓ,ｏｆｗｈｉｃｈ 87%ｉｓｍｏｕｎｔａｉｎ ,10 %ｉｓｈｉｌｌｓ,3%ｉｓｒｉｖｅｒ,ｂａｓｉｎａｎｄｐｌａｉｎ .Ｇｕｉｚｈｏｕｉｓａｍｏｕｎｔａｉｎｏｕｓｐｒｏｖｉｎｃｅｗｉｔｈｒｉｃｈｍｉｎｅｒａｌｒｅｓｏｕｒｃｅｓ,ａｍｏｎｇｗｈｉｃｈｍｅｒｃｕｒｙｒｅｓｅｒｖｅｒａｎｋｓｆｉｒｓｔｉｎＣｈｉｎａ,ｅｖｅｎｉ…     

Effects of atmospheric mercury pollution on terrestrial ecosystem in Chongqing, China

1　ＩｎｔｒｏｄｕｃｔｉｏｎＭｅｒｃｕｒｙ(Ｈｇ)ａｓａｇｌｏｂａｌｐｏｌｌｕｔａｎｔｈａｓｃａｕｓｅｄｃｏｎｃｅｒｎｗｏｒｌｄｗｉｄｅｓｉｎｃｅｔｈｅｅｎｄｏｆ 1980ｓ.Ｉｔｉｓｅｍｉｔｔｅｄｔｏｔｈｅａｔｍｏｓｐｈｅｒｅｆｒｏｍｂｏｔｈａｎｔｈｒｏｐｏｇｅｎｉｃａｎｄｎａｔｕｒａｌｓｏｕｒｃｅｓ.Ｉｍｐｏｒｔａｎｔｓｏｕｒｃｅｏｆｔｈｅｆｏｒｍｅｒｉｓｔｈｅｄｉｓｃｈａｒｇｅｆｒｏｍ ｐｒｏｄｕｃｔｉｏｎａｎｄｕｓｅｏｆＨｇａｓｗｅｌｌａｓｔｈｅｃｏｍｂｕｓｔｉｏｎｏｆｆｏｓｓｉｌｆｕｅｌｓ(Ｎｒｉ…     

The effect of coupling coagulation and flocculation with membrane filtration in water treatment： A review

Water supply and sanitation demands are foreseen to face enormous challenges over the coming decades to meet the fast growing needs in a global perspective. Significant growth in the industry is predicted and membrane separation technologies have been identified as one of the possible solutions to meet future demands. Application and implementation of membrane technology is expected both in production of potable water as well as in treatment of wastewater. In potable water production membranes are substituting conventional separation technologies due the superior performance, potential for less chemical use and sludge production, as well as the potential to fulfill hygienic barrier requirements. Membrane Bio-Reactor (MBR) technology is probably the membrane process which has had most success and has the best prospects for the future in wastewater treatment. Trends and developments indicate that this technology is becoming accepted and is rapidly becoming the best available technology (BAT) for many wastewater treatment applications. A major drawback of MBR systems is membrane fouling. Studies have shown that fouling mitigation in MBR systems can potentially be done by coupling coagulation and flocculation to the process.     

Spatial variations of aluminum species in drinking water supplies in Xi’anstudied applying geographic information system

This article aimed to investigate the variation of aluminum species and the effects of coagulant type and water quality on aluminum speciation in drinking water.Statistical analysis showed that the concentration of total aluminum(AlT) of drinking water in Xi'an ranged from 0.051 to 0.417 mg/L and the concentration of AlT in about 24.7% studied samples was higher than the currently recommended value(0.2 mg/L).The areas fed by surface water plants had a larger portion(39.4%) of samples over the recommended value.In drinking water treated by alum coagulant,the average concentration of monomeric aluminum(Ala) was higher than that in water treated by poly aluminum chlorine(PACl) and poly aluminum ferric chloride(PAFC).The average concentrations of polynuclear aluminum(Alb) and colloidal/suspended aluminum(Alc) in the drinking water treated by alum were lower than those in water treated by PACl and PAFC.There was a notable decrease in AlT along with the delivery pipeline away from the plants,with an average decline of about 36 μg/(L·km).Besides coagulant type,water quality also could afflect aluminum speciation.In drinking water without orthophosphate,the concentrations of Ala and AlT were positively correlated with pH;while,in drinking water with orthophosphate,the concentrations of Ala and AlT were negatively correlated with pH.The addition of orthophosphate salts in the drinking water treatment process would be an effective method for aluminum control in pH range 6.5-8.2.     

Application potential of carbon nanotubes in water treatment：A review

Water treatment is the key to coping with the conflict between people’s increasing demand for water and the world-wide water shortage. Owing to their unique and tunable structural, physical, and chemical properties, carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have exhibited great potentials in water treatment. This review makes an attempt to provide an overview of potential solutions to various environmental challenges by using CNTs as adsorbents, catalysts or catalyst support, membranes, and electrodes. The merits of incorporating CNT to conventional water-treatment material are emphasized, and the remaining challenges are discussed.     

Advanced oxidation of bromide-containing drinking water：A balance between bromate and trihalomethane formation control

Addition of H2O2 has been employed to repress bromate formation during ozonation of bromide-containing source water. However, the addition of H2O2 will change the oxidation pathways of organic compounds due to the generation of abundant hydroxyl radicals, which could affect the removal efficacy of trihalomethane precursors via the combination of ozone and biological activated carbon （O3-BAC）. In this study, we evaluated the effects of H2O2 addition on bromate formation and trihalomethane formation potential （THMFP） reduction during treatment of bromide-containing （97.6-129.1 μg/L） source water by the O3-BAC process. At an ozone dose of 4.2 mg/L, an H2O2/O3 （g/g） ratio of over 1.0 was required to maintain the bromate concentration below 10.0 μg/L, while a much lower H2O2/O3 ratio was sufficient for a lower ozone dose. An H2O2/O3 （g/g） ratio below 0.3 should be avoided since the bromate concentration will increase with increasing H2O2 dose below this ratio. However, the addition of H2O2 at an ozone dose of 3.2 mg/L and an H2O2/O3 ratio of 1.0 resulted in a 43% decrease in THMFP removal when compared with the O3-BAC process. The optimum H2O2/O3 （g/g） ratio for balancing bromate and trihalomethane control was about 0.7-1.0. Fractionation of organic materials showed that the addition of H2O2 decreased the removal efficacy of the hydrophilic matter fraction of DOC by ozonation and increased the reactivity of the hydrophobic fractions during formation of trihalomethane, which may be the two main reasons responsible for the decrease in THMFP reduction efficacy. Overall, this study clearly demonstrated that it is necessary to balance bromate reduction and THMFP control when adopting an H2O2 addition strategy.     

How water saving irrigation contributes to climate change resilience—a case study of practices in China

A warming climate system is now an indisputable fact. An effective response to climate change should include both mitigation and adaptation. Water is essential to human survival and social development. But the shortage of water resources is a worldwide problem, which in China has been exacerbated by climate change. In order to find out how to cope with climate change successfully, this study, on the basis of China statistical data 2007–2009, quantitatively analyzes the role of water saving irrigation (WSI) in addressing climate change. The study shows that water saving irrigation (WSI) can serve as a useful enabler in dealing with climate change. From the perspective of mitigation, the 3-year total CO₂ emission reduction stands at 34.67 (21.83 ~ 47.48) Mt, about per year 11.56(7.28 ~ 15.83)Mt. From the perspective of adaptation, the total water saved from 2007 to 2009 stands at 96.85 (61.81 ~ 129.66) Gm³. If per unit farmland irrigation takes a 3-year average of agricultural water consumption, the water saved in 2009 is enough to irrigate additional 5.70 (3.80 ~ 7.80) Mhm², or to increase the grain yield by 22.04 (14.68 ~ 30.15) Gt. In addition, WSI can reduce soil salinization and conserve soil to sustain land productivity and environmental benefits. So WSI can be a positive measure in coping with climate change when it is rightly deployed. However, the costs and local context of such practices call for further studies.     

Numerical modeling method on the movement of water flow and suspended solids in two-dimensional sedimentation tanks in the wastewater treatment plant

ＩｎｔｒｏｄｕｃｔｉｏｎＩｎｗａｔｅｒｔｒｅａｔｍｅｎｔｔｅｃｈｎｏｌｏｇｙ ,ｔｈｅｍｏｓｔｃｏｍｍｏｎｌｙｕｓｅｄｍｅｔｈｏｄｏｆｓｏｌｉｄｌｉｑｕｉｄｓｅｐａｒａｔｉｏｎｉｓｇｒａｖｉｔａｔｉｏｎａｌｓｅｄｉｍｅｎｔａｔｉｏｎ .Ｆｒｏｍｓｔａｔｉｓｔｉｃｓ,ｏｎｅｑｕａｒｔｅｒｏｆｔｈｅｔｏｔａｌｉｎｖｅｓｔｍｅｎｔｏｆｔｈｅｗａｓｔｅｗａｔｅｒｔｒｅａｔｍｅｎｔｐｌａｎｔｉｓｕｓｅｄｆｏｒｓｅｄｉｍｅｎｔａｔｉｏｎｔａｎｋｓ (Ｓｗａｍｅｅ ,1 996) .Ｗｉｔｈｔｈｅｄｅｖｅｌｏｐｍｅｎｔｏｆｃ…     

Enhanced removal of organic matter and typical disinfection byproduct precursors in combined iron–carbon micro electrolysis-UBAF process for drinking water pre-treatment

The organic matter and two types of disinfection byproduct(DBP) precursors in micropolluted source water were removed using an iron–carbon micro-electrolysis(ICME)combined with up-flow biological aerated filter(UBAF) process. Two pilot-scale experiments(ICME-UBAF and UBAF alone) were used to investigate the effect of the ICME system on the removal of organic matter and DBP precursors. The results showed that ICME pretreatment removed 15.6% of dissolved organic matter(DOM)and significantly improved the removal rate in the subsequent UBAF process. The ICME system removed 31% of trichloromethane(TCM) precursors and 20% of dichloroacetonitrile(DCAN) precursors. The results of measurements of the molecular weight distribution and hydrophilic fractions of DOM and DBP precursors showed that ICME pretreatment played a key role in breaking large-molecular-weight organic matter into low-molecular-weight components, and the hydrophobic fraction into hydrophilic compounds, which was favorable for subsequent biodegradation by UBAF.Three-dimensional fluorescence spectroscopy(3D-EEM) further indicated that the ICME system improved the removal of TCM and DCAN precursors. The biomass analysis indicated the presence of a larger and more diverse microbial community in the ICME-UBAF system than for the UBAF alone. The high-throughput sequencing results revealed that domination of the genera Sphingomonas, Brevundimonas and Sphingorhabdus contributed to the better removal of organic matter and two types of DBP precursors. Also, Nitrosomonas and Pseudomonas were beneficial for ammonia removal.