The environmental audit. II. Application to stream network design

The planning and execution of water quality management programs requires careful collection and analysis of data coupled with a systematic review and analysis of programmatic success. The environmental audit is a tool which facilitates improved water quality planning and management. This article demonstrates the utility of the environmental audit by reviewing portions of a comprehensive review of the water quality management program for the state of Idaho. The audit is a tool which forces careful design of a sampling program before data are collected. In the audit approach, program objectives are clearly stated prior to initiation of sampling. Stated objectives are also evaluated regularly to identify tension points, that is, conflicts between expectations and reality. In the example taken from Idaho, a management review team followed a directive to redesign the water quality monitoring program. We present a summary of the redesign as proposed by that team, to illustrate the results of a typical review of monitoring programs. That summary is followed by an example of how the proposed program would differ if the audit approach had been used. The two approaches offered both coincident and conflicting recommendations. Management review team and audit recommendations for lake sampling programs were similar even though a different process was used to develop the recommendations. The most striking contrast between the two results lies in the review team's approach to the problem. The directives followed, and the team's responses, concentrate on tools, such as increasing biological monitoring or reliance on monthly BWMP stations. In contrast, the audit results stress addressing management questions for which clear objectives have been stated, depending on specific tools only as needed to meet stated objectives. Although the audit does integrate externalities in its structure, it is little affected by economic or political influences. A major strength of the audit approach is its ability to provide defensible data for management decision making.     

大型水库水质监测采样和溶解氧的测定

本文选用两种水质采样器，在升钟水库对比采样监测，对大型水库水质监测采样和溶解氧的测定进行讨论。证明一大型水库水质监测采样适宜采样器类型，以及溶解氧水样现场测定的好处。     

Detection and decision-making in environmental effects monitoring

The majority of environmental effects monitoring (EEM) frameworks that have been proposed compare selected indicator variables as a means of assessing whether significant changes in stressed ecosystems have occurred. Most are deterministic in nature and do not appropriately account for the natural variability and dynamics within the systems being comapred. This suggests that the comparative procedures should be statistically based and immediately raises the issue of whether the selected comparative procedures are to be used as decision-making tools or conclusive procedures. Conclusive procedures require a significant body of evidence before rejecting the postulated null hypothesis. The costs and time involved in environmental data collection accordingly bias action toward the maintenance of a status quo approach to environmental management. if, however, EEM is treated as a decision-making procedure, risk functions that include consideration of type I and II statistical error may be developed and combined with costs to select a minimum expected loss strategy for environemental management. Examples of the interpretative difficulties and conclusion reversal phenomena caused when EEM is used as a conclusive procedure are presented. In addition, risk functions appropriate for environmental management within an EEM context are constructed and applied. Only when such tools are fully developed and applied can EEM expect to have significant impacts on minimizing environmental degradation.     

浅议环境监测数据的审核

环境监测数据的审核工作是整个质量保证体系中最后有效的质量控制手段。针对我国环境监测数据审核现状与存在的问题,将\"五性\"质量指标贯穿于整个环境监测工作当中,是提升监测数据的审核力度,保证监测数据正确、可靠的有力措施之一。     

环境监测数据处理与分析

环境监测是保护环境的重要手段。随着科技发展,监测数据的处理与分析也有了很大的进步,为人类的生活提供了有力的保障。本文从数据获取出发,从多个角度对环境监测数据处理进行分析和研究,同时探讨新型方法在监测数据领域的应用。     

Environmental audit: III. Improving the management of environmental information for toxic substances

Environmental programs have been commonly driven by a preoccupation with the collection of data in the mistaken belief thatdata is synonymous withinformation. The distinction between data (that is, the quantified and qualitative attributes of a particular environment) and information (specifically, data processed so as to focus upon a particular environmental problem) will become far more important to environmental managers. They will increasingly manage their information through use of what has become known as information resource management (IRM) and the attendant use of critical success factors methodology. Environmental managers will thereby move away from concerns about data and specific EDP hardware and applications toward managing information as a valuable agency resource. In applying IRM, they will find it helpful to include a number of planning elements and to resolve early a number of issues critical to its successful use.     

The environmental regulator and industrial development

Environmental regulatory agencies' administrative procedures have a significant impact on plant location. The authors review the basic reasons why companies build new plants and the constraints they operate under during site searches. The relationship between these issues and the regulatory agencies' administrative procedures is then shown, as well as the manner in which these procedures influence the site search. On the basis of this discussion, recommendations are made about how state environmental protection agencies can assist site seekers in a manner consistent with their regulatory responsibilities.     

State-of-the-art science and environmental assessments: the case of acid deposition

Scientific quality in a technical policy document is defined in terms of the proportion of contemporary scientific principles on a subject that the document competently discusses. As a case study of the scientific quality of such documents, this articles examines the treatment of acid deposition effects in 126 environmental impact statements on fossil-fuel power plants. On average, the relevant environmental statements cover only a quarter of the eligible scientific principles. Bureaucratic and political factors influence the quality of discussion of acid deposition more than do strictly objective or scientific factors. In particular, public participation and interagency review processes foster relatively thorough consideration of scientific information in environmental impact statements.     

Survey on environmental monitoring requirements of European ports

A group of 26 European ports was interviewed to understand their requirements for environmental information and to establish how widespread the use of Earth Observation (EO) data was amongst them. Aspects covered by the research included port profile characterisation, environmental management activities, environmental needs and current monitoring practices. The study reflected the diversity amongst European ports and their environmental performances. Most of the ports were publicly owned and located in estuaries and rivers. General cargo was the most popular commodity handled. Practically all the ports had an environmental policy in place and half of them had been accredited by an external body. The main environmental parameters that ports required to be monitored were marine related issues (currents, waves and tide), water quality, meteorological parameters, turbidity and sediment processes. The principal driver for monitoring was maintaining key port operations, followed by legislation, and local responsibilities. Ports in general collected their own data in situ and only one-third had used remotely sensed data (data from Earth Observation satellites or from airplane mounted sensors) for environmental purposes. Half of them used computer modelling. This study was conducted within the framework of the European funded port environmental information collector project (PEARL).     

Biological monitoring and environmental assessment: a conceptual framework

Direct biological monitoring is essential for effective assessment efforts. Past approaches to biomonitoring are too simplistic (for example, toxicity testing, indicator species) or conceptually invalid (diversity indexes). Assessments that use ecological guilds use ecological principles in a more integrative fashion. The best long-term approach is development of suites of metrics, like those used in the index of biotic integrity (IBI), to reflect individual, population, community, and ecosystem attributes in an integrative framework. Efforts to use the conceptual content of IBI in a wider diversity of habitats should be encouraged and followed up with effective control actions.     

四川省自贡市声环境质量监督性监测结果分析与建议

开展了四川省自贡市城市声环境质量监督性抽测工作,进行了历史监测数据核查、仪器设备检查、日常质控情况检查、现场比对监测与监测点位核查,抽测结果显示自贡市声环境质量监测工作在监测数据管理、仪器设备管理、监测点位有效性及监测人员业务素质等方面存在一些问题,提出了加强声环境监测技术贮备和人员培养,及时调整监测点位,加强质量管理等建议。     

县级环境监测站质量保证工作的讨论

本文根据县级环境监测站的实际情况,从外部和内部两方面因素出发,讨论了开展质量保证工作的具体作法。     

Brazilian Amazonia: Industrial development and environmental monitoring

After a critical analysis of the strategies for conservation of the environment in Latin America and of large-scale development projects (agriculture and livestock raising, mining and electrical power plants) in the Amazon region of Brazil, this paper deals with the use of high-resolution satellite imagery for environmental monitoring. Two areas were considered in the study, Tucurui and Altamira. Spot/XS and Landsat/TM multispectral images were used, together with color aerial photographs of these areas. A computer-assisted visual interpretation procedure was employed to analyze images, and linear multispectral transformation was applied in selected subscenes in order to improve information extraction. The results indicate that high-resolution satellite imagery is generally compatible with the scale of the environmental problems in Amazonia and is a very efficient source of detailed information at a local scale on many aspects of the environment, in particular for monitoring changes over time in selected areas. Therefore, commercial satellite imagery, processed by specialized software, can accommodate a variety of analysis needs for decision makers and can also be an effective means of verification of international agreements on conservation of the environment in Amazonia.     

The need to integrate values into environmental curricula

Many environmental problems are controversial because of conflicting values people hold and because there is not a consensus as to which values should have precedence over others. If environmental managers are to make ethical decisions that reflect environmental values, they must have full understanding of such values and types of ethics and principles of moral reasoning to use in the decision-making process. Unfortunately, integration of values into environmental curricula has often not been explicit or comprehensive. One result is that university-trained environmental managers do not possess the knowledge, skills, and methods necessary for more ethically based decisions. An analysis of attitudes about integrating values and/or ethics into environmental curricula and approaches to do so yields the conclusion that environmental programs should more fully include teaching about values and ethics so that environmental managers can make more ethically sound decisions.     

Evaluating the effects of spatial monitoring policy on groundwater quality portrayal

What size sample is sufficient for spatially sampling ambient groundwater quality? Water quality data are only as spatially accurate as the geographic sampling strategies used to collect them. This research used sequential sampling and regression analysis to evaluate groundwater quality spatial sampling policy changes proposed by California's Department of Water Resources. Iterative or sequential sampling of a hypothetical groundwater basin's water quality produced data sets from sample sizes ranging from 2.8% to 95% coverage of available point sample sites. Contour maps based on these sample data sets were compared to an original (control), mapped hypothetical data set, to determine at which point map information content and pattern portrayal are not improved by increasing sample sizes. Comparing series of contour maps of ground water quality concentration is a common means of evaluating the geographic extent of groundwater quality change. Comparisons included visual inspection of contout maps and statistical tests on digital versions of these map files, including correlation and regression products. This research demonstrated that, down to about 15% sample site coverage, there is no difference between contour maps produced from the different sampling strategies and the contout map of the original data set.     

环境监测数据管理系统简介--以湖南省为例

介绍了适合地市级环境监测站的数据管理系统,系统的技术路线,技术特征和主要功能。该系统提高了数据管理水平和效率。为实现环境监测数据信息的电脑化管理、质量保证提供了保障,同时为推进环境监测数据管理工作的规范化和标准化提供了有效的现代化手段。     

浅谈环境监测数据的三级质量审核管理

本文较为全面介绍了三明市环境监测站监测数据处理及数据三级审核质量控制管理方法。     

Survey of state water quality monitoring programs

Budget changes, whether positive or negative, in water quality management agencies often mean a change in resources available for water quality monitoring. Many state agencies are currently facing monitoring budget cuts and, as a result, are reevaluating their monitoring programs. Such evaluations make use of a number of information sources, not the least of which are monitoring activities in other states. This article reports results of a survey of all fifty state water quality monitoring programs. Twenty questions were asked in the general areas of fixed-station monitoring, special studies, and biological monitoring. Each state was contacted by telephone at least twice during the survey. Fixed-station monitoring is conducted by 48 of 50 states. An average of 75 stations per state are sampled, generally on a monthly basis. There is a large variation in the way data are analyzed by the states; water quality indices and plots of concentration or loading over time are the most common methods. All but three states conduct special studies, but only seven repeat the studies on a regular basis. Special studies are generally problem specific as opposed to basin oriented. Biological monitoring is performed by 33 states; however, this is an area in which budget cuts are having a noticeable impact. In some cases, biological monitoring is being completely eliminated or suspended. Macroinvertebrate sampling is performed quarterly to biannualiy by 50% of the states; 75% of the states that sample macroinvertebrates do so annually. Periphyton sampling is performed by 33% of the states. Over 50% of the states are in the process of revising, or have revised, their monitoring program during the past five years. However, only four states had a detailed rationale and operating procedure for the entire monitoring system. Results of the survey are, therefore, averages of existing monitoring programs. Average results do not necessarily represent ideal situations, but do give an indication of how states are coping with their monitoring responsibilities.