Evaluating Beijing’s human carrying capacity from the perspective of water resource constraints

As the demands on limited water resources intensify, concerns are being raised about the human carrying capacity of these resources. However, few researchers have studied the carrying capacity of regional water resources. Beijing, the second-largest city in China, faces a critical water shortage that will limit the city’s future development. We developed a method to quantify the carrying capacity of Beijing’s water resources by considering water-use structures based on the proportions of water used for agricultural, industrial, and domestic purposes. We defined a reference structure as 45:22:33 (% of total, respectively), an optimized structure as 40:20:40, and an ideal structure as 50:15:35. We also considered four domestic water quotas: 55, 75, 95, and 115 m 3 /(person·yr). The urban carrying capacity of 10–12 million was closest to Beijing’s actual 2003 population for all three water-use structures with urban domestic water use of 75 m 3 /(person·yr). However, after accounting for our underlying assumptions, the adjusted carrying capacity is closer to 5–6 million. Thus, Beijing’s population in 2003 was almost twice the adjusted carrying capacity. Based on this result, we discussed the ecological and environmental problems created by Beijing’s excessive population and propose measures to mitigate these problems.     

Mortality rates of pathogen indicator microorganisms discharged from point and non-point sources in an urban area

This research measured the mortality rates of pathogen indicator microorganisms discharged from various point and non-point sources in an urban area.Water samples were collected from a domestic sewer,a combined sewer overflow,the effluent of a wastewater treatment plant,and an urban river.Mortality rates of indicator microorganisms in sediment of an urban river were also measured.Mortality rates of indicator microorganisms in domestic sewage,estimated by assuming first order kinetics at 20°C were 0.197 day -1 ,0.234 day -1 ,0.258 day -1 and 0.276 day -1 for total coliform,fecal coliform,Escherichia coli,and fecal streptococci,respectively.Effects of temperature,sunlight irradiation and settlement on the mortality rate were measured.Results of this research can be used as input data for water quality modeling or can be used as design factors for treatment facilities.     

An innovative integrated oxidation ditch with vertical circle (IODVC) for wastewater treatment

The oxidation ditch process is economic and efficient for wastewater treatment, but its application is limited in case where land is costly due to its large land area required. An innovative integrated oxidation ditch with vertical circle(IODVC) system was developed to treat domestic and industrial wastewater aiming to save land area. The new system consists of a single-channel divided into two ditches(the top one and the bottom one by a plate), a brush,and an innovative integral clarifier. Different from the horizontal circle of the conventional oxidation ditch, the flow of IODVC system recycles from the top zone to the bottom zone in the vertical circle as the brush is running, and then the IODVC saved land area required by about 50% compared with a conventional oxidation ditch with an intrachannel clarifier. The innovative integral clarifier is effective for separation of liquid and solids, and is preferably positioned at the opposite end of the brush in the ditch. It does not affect the hydrodynamic characteristics of the mixed liquor in the ditch, and the sludge can automatically return to the down ditch without any pump. In this study, experiments of domestic and dye wastewater treatment were carried out in bench scale and in full scale, respectively. Results clearly showed that the IODVC efficiently removed pollutants in the wastewaters, i.e., the average of COD removals for domestic and dye wastewater treatment were 95 % and 90%, respectively, and that the IODVC process may provide a cost effective way for full scale dye wastewater treatment.     

Community analysis of ammonia-oxidizing bacteria in activated sludge of eight wastewater treatment systems

We investigated the communities of ammonia-oxidizing bacteria(AOB) in activated sludge collected from eight wastewater treatment systems using polymerase chain reaction(PCR) followed by terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism(T-RFLP),cloning,and sequencing of the α-subunit of the ammonia monooxygenase gene(amoA).The T-RFLP fingerprint analyses showed that different wastewater treatment systems harbored distinct AOB communities.However,there was no remarkable difference among the AOB TRFLP profiles from different parts of the same system.The T-RFLP fingerprints showed that a full-scale wastewater treatment plant(WWTP) contained a larger number of dominant AOB species than a pilot-scale reactor.The source of influent affected the AOB community,and the WWTPs treating domestic wastewater contained a higher AOB diversity than those receiving mixed domestic and industrial wastewater.However,the AOB community structure was little affected by the treatment process in this study.Phylogenetic analysis of the cloned amoA genes clearly indicated that all the dominant AOB in the systems was closely related to Nitrosomonas spp.not to Nitrosospira spp.Members of the Nitrosomonas oligotropha and Nitrosomonas communis clusters were found in all samples,while members of Nitrosomonas europaea cluster occurred in some systems.     

Inhibition effect of magnetic field on nitrous oxide emission from sequencing batch reactor treating domestic wastewater at low temperature

This study aims to investigate the effect of a magnetic field on nitrous oxide(N_2O) emission from a sequencing batch reactor treating low-strength domestic wastewater at low temperature(10℃).After running for 124 days in parallel,results indicated that the conversion rate of N_2O for a magnetic field-sequencing batch reactor(MF-SBR) decreased by34.3% compared to that of a conventional SBR(C-SBR).Meanwhile,the removal efficiencies for total nitrogen(TN) and ammonia nitrogen(NH4-N) of the MF-SBR were 22.4% and 39.5% higher than those of the C-SBR.High-throughput sequencing revealed that the abundances of AOB(Nitrosomonas),NOB(Nitrospira) and denitrifiers(Zoogloea),which could reduce N_2O to N_2,were promoted significantly in the MF-SBR.Enzyme activities(Nir) and gene abundances(nos Z nir S and nir K) for denitrification in the MF-SBR were also notably higher compared to C-SBR.Our study shows that application of a magnetic field is a useful approach for inhibiting the generation of N_2O and promoting the nitrogen removal efficiency by affecting the microbial characteristics of sludge in an SBR treating domestic wastewater at low temperature.     

New emergy indices for sustainable development

The emergy indices for the evaluation of system‘ s sustainable development ability were studied. Results indicated that the emergy indices are simplified and merged, and a new emergy index for sustainable development(EISD) is deduced. Employing EISD, two cases areconducted. The first one is to compare three different dike-pond agro-ecological engineering modes, which are: melon-melon-cabbage-four domestic fishes (mode I ), melon-melon-cabbage-pig-four domestic fishes (mode H ) and melon-melon-cabbage-pig-four domestic fishes combined with Siniperca chuatsi B. ( mode Ⅲ ).The result is that the EISD of mode I is 0.53. Mode Ⅱ‘ s EISD is 5.26 times of mode I ,and mode Ⅲ‘s EISD is 6.83 times of mode I The second one is to evaluate the development of Zhongshan City, Pearl Delta, during 1996 to 2000.The result indicated that the EISD of Zhongshan had appreciably declined from 1996 to 1998, and quickly improved from 1998 to 2000, partly because of its environment protection and product construction. Both of the two cases studies showed that EISD can assessment the sustainable development ability more roundly, with the consideration of environmental impact and social-economic effect at the same time.     

Biodegradation of acrylamide by Enterobacter aerogenes isolated from wastewater in Thailand

A widespread use of acrylamide,probably a neurotoxicant and carcinogen,in various industrial processes has led to environmental contamination.Fortunately,some microorganisms are able to derive energy from acrylamide.In the present work,we reported the isolation and characterization of a novel acrylamide-degrading bacterium from domestic wastewater in Chonburi,Thailand.The strain grew well in the presence of acrylamide as 0.5% (W/V),at pH 6.0 to 9.0 and 25°C.Identification based on biochemical characteristic...     

Effect of domestic sewage on growth of phytoplankton-mathematical model

A mathematical model relating to the change in phytoplankton biomass in the period of growth and nutrient concentration in the media was proposed on the basis of the Monod equation and was testified by simulation experiments. Analysis of the experiment data showed that: the half-saturation constants for growth Kp (μmol/L) for Skeletonema, Chaetoceros and Prorocentrum were 5.52, 1.90 and 0.46, respectively; the balance between stimulation of nutrients and the inhibition of some other materials was found in the effect of domestic sewage on algal growth and the stimulation played a leading role; domestic sewage was more stimulative on dinoflag-ellate than on diatom and chlorophyte when the assemblage of the algae was cultured. The experiment suggested that mathematical model reasonably explained the characteristics of phytoplankton growth in different nutrient conditions and was worthy to be further improved for eutrophication prediction in off-shore water.     

Urban garbage disposal and management in China

This paper, probing into the present situation of urban domestic garbage by analyzing its growing trend, compositional change and regional difference, reveals the problems existing in its disposul and management in China. Meanwhile, a questionnaire was conducted in five big cities around China for surveying urban residents‘ attitudes towards garbage disposal and management policies and measures. Results showed the outlmt of urban domestic garbage in Chinese cities is ever increasing, and the recoverable materials and energy in garbage composition are also increasing. The population growth, economic development, and increase of residents‘ expenditure level are the main factors influencing the growing output and changing composition of the garbage. Information acquired from the questionnaire showed that majority of the urban residentsare in favor d the garbage reduction policies and managerial measures and are willing to collaborate with municipal government in battling against gadbage. Based on the analysis and questionnaire, some policymaking-oriented suggestions such as operating the garbage disposal from a social welfare service to a sector of profit-gaining enterprises, transferring the garbage management from passive end control to active source control,promoting the classified garbage collection in cities around China, and charging garbage fees for its cleanup and disposal, have also been put forward in the paper.     

Removal and transformation of organic matters in domestic wastewater during lab-scale chemically enhanced primary treatment and a trickling filter treatment

To find a simple and economical way for treating the domestic wastewater in small counties and towns, a process combining chemically enhanced primary treatment and a trickling filter (CEPT-TF, representing the physical and biological effects) was constructed and operated in laboratory conditions. The characteristic behaviors of dissolved organic matter in raw wastewater and effluents were examined during steady-state operation. Experimental results showed that the process of CEPT and TF in series was beneficial for the removal of hydrophobic and hydrophilic organics. Specially, the hydrophobic and aromatic materials could be preferentially removed in the CEPT unit, and the hydrophilic fraction in the TF. Structural changes of the organic fractions during the operation of the different units were also characterized via spectrum analysis.     

Evaluation of the effectiveness of horizontal subsurface flow constructed wetlands for different media

Two media bed (gravel and Filtralite NR) were tested in a mesocosm to evaluate the removal of organic matter (as chemical oxygen demand (COD)),ammonia (NH4-N),nitrite,nitrate and solid matter (as total suspended solids (TSS)) for a synthetic wastewater (acetate-based) and a domestic wastewater.The use of Filtralite allowed average removal rates (6–16.8 g COD/(m2·day),0.8–1.1 g NH4-N/(m2·day) and 3.1 g TSS/(m2·day)) and removal effciencies (65%–93%,57%–85% and 78% for COD,NH4-N and TSS,respectively),higher than that observed in the experiments with gravel.The applied loads of COD,ammonia,nitrate and TSS seem to influence the respective removal rates but only for the treatment of domestic wastewater with higher correlation coefficients for Filtralite.Regardless the type of media bed and the type of wastewater,nitrate was completely removed for nitrogen loading rates up to 1.3 g NO3-N/(m2·day).There was no evidence of the influence of nitrate loads on the removal of organic matter.     

Evaluation of the e ectiveness of horizontal subsurface flow constructed wetlands for di erent media

Two media bed (gravel and Filtralite NR) were tested in a mesocosm to evaluate the removal of organic matter (as chemical oxygen demand (COD)), ammonia (NH4-N), nitrite, nitrate and solid matter (as total suspended solids (TSS)) for a synthetic wastewater (acetate-based) and a domestic wastewater. The use of Filtralite allowed average removal rates (6–16.8 g COD/(m2 day), 0.8–1.1 g NH4-N/(m2 day) and 3.1 g TSS/(m2 day)) and removal e ciencies (65%–93%, 57%–85% and 78% for COD, NH4-N and TSS, respectively), higher than that observed in the experiments with gravel. The applied loads of COD, ammonia, nitrate and TSS seem to influence the respective removal rates but only for the treatment of domestic wastewater with higher correlation coe cients for Filtralite. Regardless the type of media bed and the type of wastewater, nitrate was completely removed for nitrogen loading rates up to 1.3 g NO3-N/(m2 day). There was no evidence of the influence of nitrate loads on the removal of organic matter.     

Three decades of changes in water environment of a large freshwater Lake and its relationship with socio-economic indicators

Tai Lake (Ch: Taihu) has attracted international attention forcyanobacteria blooms. However, the drivers of cultural eutrophication, especially long-term socio-economic indicators have been little researched. The results of research demonstrate how socio-economic development affected quality of water and how it has been improved by anthropogenic activities. This study described variability in indicators of water quality in Tai Lakeand investigated thedrivers. Significant relationships existed between concentrations of annual mean total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorous (TP), chemical oxygen demand (COD) and biological oxygen demand (BOD), and population, per capital gross domestic production (GDP) and sewage discharge (p?<?0.05). However, mechanisms causing change varied among TN, TP, COD and BOD. Before 2000, the main contributors to increases in concentrations of TN were human population, GDP and volumes of domestic sewage discharges. After 2000, discharges of industrial sewage become the primary contributor. After 1998, the regressions of annual mean TN, TP and COD on per capital GDP, population and domestic sewage discharge were reversed compared to the former period. Since 1999, an apparent inverted U-shaped relationship between environmental pollution and economic development has developed, which indicated that actions taken by governments have markedly improved quality of water in Tai Lake. The statistical relationship between BOD and per capital GDP didn’t conform to the Kuznet curve. The U-shaped Kuznet curve may offer hope for the future that with significant environmental investments a high GDP can be reached and maintained without degradation of the environment, especially through appropriate management of industrial sewage discharge.     

Dynamic phosphorus budget for lake-watershed ecosystems

Lake eutrophication caused by excess phosphorus （P） loading from point sources （PS） and nonpoint sources （NPS） is a persistent and serious ecological problem in China. A phosphorus budget, based on material flow analysis（MFA） and system dynamic （SD）, is proposed and applied for the agriculture-dominated Qionghai Lake watershed located in southwestern China. The MFA-SD approach will not only cover the transporting process of P in the lake-watershed ecosystems, but also can deal with the changes of P budget due to the dynamics of watershed. P inflows include the fertilizer for agricultural croplands, soil losses, domestic sewage discharges, and the atmospheric disposition such as precipitation and dust sinking. Outflows are consisted of hydrologic export, water resources development, fishery and aquatic plants harvesting. The internal P recycling processes are also considered in this paper. From 1988 to 2015, the total P inflows for Lake Qionghai are in a rapid increase from 35.65 to 78.73 t/a, which results in the rising of P concentration in the lake. Among the total P load 2015, agricultural loss and domestic sewage account for 70.60% and 17.27% respectively, directly related to the rapid social-economic development and the swift urbanization. Future management programs designed to reduce P inputs must be put into practices in the coming years to ensure the ecosystem health in the watershed.     

An innovative approach to minimize excess sludge production in sewage treatment using integrated bioreactors

The present investigation deals with an application of integrated sequential oxic and anoxic bioreactor(SOABR) and fluidized immobilized cell carbon oxidation(FICCO) reactor for the treatment of domestic wastewater with minimum sludge generation. The performance of integrated SOABR-FICCO system was evaluated on treating the domestic wastewater at hydraulic retention time(HRT) of 3 hr and 6 hr for 120 days at organic loading rate(OLR)of 191 ± 31 mg/(L·hr). The influent wastewater was characterized by chemical oxygen demand(COD) 573 ± 93 mg/L; biochemical oxygen demand(BOD5) 197 ± 35 mg/L and total suspended solids(TSS) 450 ± 136 mg/L. The integrated SOABR-FICCO reactors have established a significant removal of COD by 94% ± 1%, BOD5 by 95% ± 0.6% and TSS by 95% ± 4% with treated domestic wastewater characteristics COD 33 ± 5 mg/L; BOD59 ± 0.8 mg/L and TSS 17 ± 9 mg/L under continuous mode of operation for 120 days. The mass of dry sludge generated from SOABR-FICCO system was 22.9 g/m~3. The sludge volume index of sludge formed in the SOABR reactor was 32 mL/g and in FICCO reactor it was 46 mL/g. The sludge formed in SOABR and FICCO reactor was characterized by TGA, DSC and SEM analysis. Overall, the results demonstrated that the integrated SOABR-FICCO reactors substantially removed the pollution parameters from domestic wastewater with minimum sludge production.     

Intercross real-time control strategy in alternating activated sludge process for short-cut biological nitrogen removal treating domestic wastewater

To develop technically feasible and economically favorable dynamic process control(DPC)strategies for an alternating activated sludge(AAS)system,a bench-scale continuous-flow alternating aerobic and anoxic reactor,performing short-cut nitrogen removal from real domestic wastewater was operated under different control strategies for more than five months.A fixed-time control(FTC) study showed that bending-points on pH and oxidation-reduction potential(ORP)profiles accurately coincided with the major biolo...     

Fluoride distibution and the effect of some ions along Alexandria coastal Mediterranean seawater of Egypt

The coastal seawater of Mediterranean of Alexandria receives large amount of discharged waters containing industrial wastes, sewage, and agricultural and domestic drainage. Fluoride and some parameters were(chemical and physical) determined. The data gave indication that the content and the amount of the discharged water largely affect the chemical composition of the coastal water. Stepwise regression analysis was highly significant and the model was very fruitful, where the observed and calculated values were mostly concordant. This may indicated that there was a relation between fluoride content in coastal seawater and its content in the discharged water.     

Fluoride distribution and the effect of some ions along Alexandria coastal Mediterranean seawater of Egypt

The coastal seawater of Mediterranean of Alexandria receives large amount of discharged waters containing industrial wastes, sewage, and agricultural and domestic drainage. Fluoride and some parameters were( chemical and physical) determined. The data gave indication that the content and the amount of the discharged water largely affect the chemical composition of the coastal water. Stepwise regression analysis was highly significant and the model was very fruitful, where the observed and calculated values were mostly concordant. This may indicated that there was a relation between fluoride content in cosslal seawater and its content in the discharged water.     

Achieving partial nitrification by inhibiting the activity of Nitrospira-like bacteria under high-DO conditions in an intermittent aeration reactor

It is generally accepted that a low dissolved oxygen(DO) concentration is more beneficial for achieving partial nitrification than high-DO. In this study, partial nitrification was not established under low-DO conditions in an intermittent aeration reactor for treating domestic wastewater. During the operational period of low-DO conditions(DO: 0.3 ±0.14 mg/L), stable complete nitrification was observed. The abundance of Nitrospira-like bacteria, which were the major nitrite-oxidizing bacteria, increased from 1.03 × 10~6to2.64 × 10~6cells/m L. At the end of the low-DO period, the batch tests showed that high-DO concentration(1.5, 2.0 mg/L) could inhibit nitrite oxidation, and enhance ammonia oxidation. After switching to the high-DO period(1.8 ± 0.32 mg/L), partial nitrification was gradually achieved. Nitrospira decreased from 2.64 × 10~6 to 8.85 × 10~5cells/m L. It was found that suddenly switching to a high-DO condition could inhibit the activity and abundance of Nitrospira-like bacteria, resulting in partial nitrification.     

Nitrous oxide production during nitrogen removal from domestic wastewater in lab-scale sequencing batch reactor

The production of N2O during nitrogen removal from real domestic wastewater was investigated in a lab-scale aerobic-anoxic sequencing batch reactor with a working volume of 14 L. The results showed that the total N2O-N production reached higher than 1.87 mg/L, and up to 4% of removed nitrogen was converted into N20. In addition, N20 led to a much higher greenhouse effect than CO2 during aerobic reaction phase, this proved that N2O production could not be neglected. The N2O-N production during nitrification was 1.85mg/L, whereas, during denitrification, no N2O was produced, nitrification was the main source of N2O production during nitrogen removal. Furthermore, during denitrification, the dissolved N2O at the end of aeration was found to be further reduced to N2. Denitrification thus had the potential of controlling N2O production.