ASSESSING ENVIRONMENTAL ATTITUDES AND CONCERNS ABOUT A CONTAMINATED SITE IN A DENSELY POPULATED SUBURBAN ENVIRONMENT

Considerable attention has been devoted to the concerns and perceptions of people residing around contaminated facilities, both brownfields in urban areas and others located in remote and lightly populated areas. This paper examines the concerns of recreationists and sportsmen residing near the Department of Energys (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory, in central Long Island, one of the most densely populated regions in the United States, where tourism is of prime importance. On an open-ended question, the greatest concern was pollution, followed by environmental health as a global concern, and human health as a concern for Brookhaven. Accidents/spills, loss of public health, and loss of ecological health were rated highest among a list of concerns, and change in property values was rated lowest. When asked to rank seven concerns, protecting human health was ranked the highest, and economic interests were ranked the lowest. For future land use at Brookhaven, recreational uses were rated the highest, while building houses and factories, and storage of nuclear material were rated the lowest. These data can be used by managers, decision and policy makers, and the general public to assess and manage local and regional environmental concerns and to consider future land uses for decommissioned lands, such as those at Brookhaven.     

Attitudes and Perceptions about Ecological Resources, Hazards, and Future Land Use of People Living near the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory

This paper examines the attitudes and perceptions of local people about ecological resources, environmental hazards, and future land use of the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL). Such monitoring of attitudes is an important aspect of environmental assessment. We interviewed 262 people who attended the 42nd Annual Free Fishermen's Breakfast at St. Anthony, Idaho, on 23 March 1997. We tested the null hypotheses that there were no differences in perceptions about ecological resources, hazards and future land use of INEEL as a function of gender, age, education, and place of residence. Dumping trash in the ocean and cutting rainforests rated as the environmental problems of highest concern, and ozone, radon and high voltage lines rated the lowest; cleaning up Department of Energy sites rated intermediate. Respondents were most willing to expend government funds to make drinking water clean. Three significant differences were found: 1) women rated environmental problems as more severe than did men, and women were more willing to expend federal funds to solve these problems, 2) respondents under 30 years of age rated environmental problems as more severe than older people, and they were more willing to spend money to solve them, and, 3) respondents who had not finished high school were more concerned with environmental problems and were more willing to spend money to solve them than respondents with a high school education. Maintaining INEEL as a National Environmental Research Park (NERP) rated as the most preferred future land use, followed by continued reprocessing of nuclear materials and hunting. Using INEEL for housing and additional nuclear waste storage rated the lowest. Men rated grazing livestock and additional nuclear waste storage higher than did women. In general, respondents from 30 – 49 rated several economic uses (hunting, grazing livestock, growing crops) higher than did people in other age groups. Respondents with some college rated these economic uses higher than did respondents who had not graduated from high school. These results indicate that respondents living around INEEL believe that INEEL should continue with a reprocessing and NERP mission, but that other peripheral uses, such as hunting, hiking and grazing, should be allowed on some of the land. These views should aid in environmental assessment of the site, and in developing further management plans for INEEL.     

Responses of Physical, Chemical, and Biological Indicators of Water Quality to a Gradient of Agricultural Land Use in the Yakima River Basin, Washington

The condition of 25 stream sites in the Yakima River Basin, Washington, were assessed by the U.S. Geological Survey's National Water-Quality Assessment Program. Multimetric condition indices were developed and used to rank sites on the basis of physical, chemical, and biological characteristics. These indices showed that sites in the Cascades and Eastern Cascades ecoregions were largely unimpaired. In contrast, all but two sites in the Columbia Basin ecoregion were impaired, some severely. Agriculture (nutrients and pesticides) was the primary factor associated with impairment and all impaired sites were characterized by multiple indicators of impairment. All indices of biological condition (fish, invertebrates, and algae) declined as agricultural intensity increased. The response exhibited by invertebrates and algae suggested a threshold response with conditions declining precipitously at relatively low levels of agricultural intensity and little response at moderate to high levels of agricultural intensity. This pattern of response suggests that the success of mitigation will vary depending upon where on the response curve the mitigation is undertaken. Because the form of the community condition response is critical to effective water-quality management, the National Water-Quality Assessment Program is conducting studies to examine the response of biota to gradients of land-use intensity and the relevance of these responses to water-quality management. These land-use gradient pilot studies will be conducted in several urban areas starting in 1999.     

GIS for Environmental Assessment of the Impacts of Urban Encroachment on Rosetta Region, Egypt

Unplanned urban expansion of the new urban cluster of Rosetta City, Egypt is reaching a critical stage. This unplanned expansion of slum areas threatens the land on which the high quality palm trees, by which Rosetta region is known, are cultivated. This research is concerned with studying the manner, rate, extent and impact of the expansion of the urban cluster of Rosetta City. A multi-temporal analysis of mainly the limits of the built up urban areas and their surrounding land cover is the main evaluation technique. By using Geographic Information Systems, it was possible to study the geographic base of the concerned area. An increase in area of the urban clusters of about 0.1 km² occurred from 1917–1945, and a second increase of over 0.07 km² occurred from 1945–1963. Just after the end of the Second World War, an abrupt increase took place in 1963–1993 that reached 1.7 km². The majority of all the urban expansion was unplanned. By studying the topographic map of Rosetta city and the urban clusters on the western bank of the river Nile, it was found that most of the urban conglomeration of the city is located on relatively elevated land. The western part of the urban area is of an elevation varying around 5.0 m, and inclining with moderate slope towards the eastern edge of the city adjacent to the river Nile. The urban expansion on inclined land has caused severe problems with the sanitary drainage, as the city lacks any sanitary drainage systems. Sanitary drainage currently operates through precipitation trenches. Sanitary sewage gather beneath the ground forming continuos streams which reach the basements of many of the monuments present.     

Urban Air Pollution Patterns, Land Use, and Thermal Landscape: An Examination of the Linkage Using GIS

This article investigates the relationship of local air pollution pattern with urban land use and with urban thermal landscape using a GIS approach. Ambient air quality measurements for sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, carbon monoxide, total suspended particles, and dust level were obtained for Guangzhou City in South China between 1981 and 2000. Landsat TM images and aerial photo derived maps were used to examine city's land use and land cover at different times and changes. Landsat thermal infrared data were employed to compute land surface temperatures and to assess urban thermal patterns. Relationships among the spatial patterns of air pollution, land use, and thermal landscape were sought through GIS and correlation analyses. Results show that the spatial patterns of air pollutants probed were positively correlated with urban built-up density, and with satellite derived land surface temperature values, particularly with measurements taken during the summer. It is suggested that further studies investigate the mechanisms of this linkage, and that remote sensing of air pollution delves into how the energy interacts with the atmosphere and the environment and how sensors see pollutants. Thermal infrared imagery could play a unique role in monitoring and modeling atmospheric pollution.     

Integration of Optical and Microwave Remote Sensing Data for Agricultural Land Use Classification

An agricultural land use classification of Oltrepo' Pavese region (in Northern Italy) is performed through integration of remote sensing data from optical and radar sensors. The source of optical data was a Landsat-TM image acquired on April 1994, while the source of microwave data was a contemporaneous image of the new radar sensor SIR-C/X-SAR which was flown on-board the Space Shuttle during an experimental mission over the chosen test site. Then, they were combined through calculation of the principal components of the multidimensional data sets and a final classification was carried out and compared with the classifications obtained from optical and radar recordings separately. Results showed remarkable improvement in the classification accuracy of seedbeds and uncultivated fields with radar recordings and of herbaceous crop type with integrated data. Potential ability of a multi-sensor classification and limits of a single-temporal approach are discussed.     

Changes of Land Use and of Ecosystem Service Values in Sanjiang Plain, Northeast China

Agricultural activities, especially reclamation, are considered major threats to the wetland ecosystems in Sanjiang Plain, the largest concentrated area of the freshwater wetlands in China. In the past decades, the area of the cultivated land and its grain production have been increased at the cost of wetlands shrinkage. The large-scale land reclamation severely affected the ecosystems in this region. However, such effects at the regional scale are seldom evaluated quantitatively. We used three datasets of LANDSAT MSS and/or TM imagery to estimate the area changes and the transition of land use types from 1980 to 2000. We also valued changes in ecosystem services delivered by each land category using value coefficients published by Costanza et al. [Nature 387, 1997, 253–260]. Sensitivity analysis suggested that these estimates were relatively robust. Finally, the contribution of various ecosystem functions was ranked to the overall value of the ecosystem services in this study. According to our estimates, the total annual ecosystem service values in Sanjiang Plain have declined by about 40% between 1980 and 2000 ($156284–182572.18 million in total over 20 years). This substantial decline is largely attributed to the 53.4% loss of wetlands. For individual ecosystem functions, waste treatment, water supply and disturbance regulation account for more than 60% to the total ecological values. During those two decades, the contribution of disturbance regulation, cultural and recreation decreased, while the contribution of water regulation, nutrient cycling, food production, raw materials and climate regulation increased during the same period. We also put forward a few proposals concerning the future land use policy formulation and sustainable ecosystems. They are adjusting the ‘food first’ agricultural policy, establishing more nature reserves for wetlands, creating systems for the rational use of water, harnessing the degraded cultivated land and encouraging eco-tourism.     

Environmental Monitoring of Land-Use and Land-Cover Changes in a Mediterranean Region of Turkey

Unprecedented rates of human-induced changes in land use and land cover (LULC) at local and regional scales lead to alterations of global biogeochemical cycles. Driving forces behind LULC changes mainly include rapid growth rates of population and consumption, lack of valuation of ecological services, poverty, ignorance of biophysical limitations, and use of ecologically incompatible technologies. One of the major ecological tragedies of the commons in a Mediterranean region of Turkey is the loss of Lake Amik at the expense of increasing the area of croplands, which used to provide vital ecosystem goods and services for the region. In this study, we aimed at quantifying the effects of past land-use transitions on soil organic carbon (SOC) pools (0–20 cm) in a Mediterranean region of 3930 km², between 1972 and 2000. LULC changes were quantified from a time series of satellite images of Landsat-MSS in 1972, Landsat-5 TM in 1987, and Landsat-7 ETM+ in 2000 using geographic information systems. The study showed that the increase in croplands between 1972 and 1987 took place at the expense of the irreversible losses of Lake Amik and its related wetlands of over 53 km². In the period of 1972 to 2000, croplands, settlements, and evergreen forests increased by 174%, 106%, and 14%, respectively. The increase in settlements occurred mostly to the detriment of croplands. Given the average rates of all the land-use transitions, and associated changes in SOC density for the study region of 3930 km², total SOC pool was estimated to decrease by 14.1% from 130.1 Mt in 1972 to 111.7 Mt in 2000.     

Relations of Habitat-Specific Algal Assemblages to Land Use and Water Chemistry in the Willamette Basin, Oregon

Benthic algal assemblages, water chemistry, and habitat were characterized at 25 stream sites in the Willamette Basin, Oregon, during low flow in 1994. Seventy-three algal samples yielded 420 taxa — mostly diatoms, blue-green algae, and green algae. Algal assemblages from depositional samples were strongly dominated by diatoms (76% mean relative abundance), whereas erosional samples were dominated by blue-green algae (68% mean relative abundance).Canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) of semiquantitative and qualitative (presence/absence) data sets identified four environmental variables (maximum specific conductance, % open canopy, pH, and drainage area) that were significant in describing patterns of algal taxa among sites. Based on CCA, four groups of sites were identified: streams in forested basins that supported oligotrophic taxa, such as Diatoma mesodon;small streams in agricultural and urban basins that contained a variety of eutrophic and nitrogen-heterotrophic algal taxa; larger rivers draining areas of mixed land use that supported planktonic, eutrophic, and nitrogen-heterotrophic algal taxa; and streams with severely degraded or absent riparian vegetation (> 75% open canopy) that were dominated by other planktonic, eutrophic, and nitrogen-heterotrophic algal taxa. Patterns in water chemistry were consistent with the algal autecological interpretations and clearly demonstrated relationships between land use, water quality, and algal distribution patterns.     

Estimation of Land Use Specific Runoff and Pollutant Concentration for Tapi River Basin in India

Non-point source (NPS) pollution is the result of various land use practices such as agriculture, sites of construction and waste disposal, urban development and so on. The control of NPS pollution is possible by regular monitoring and assessment on watershed basis to educate people for implementing well-known structural and non-structural measures. Recent trend is to use GIS based modelling tool for assessment of rainfall-runoff and non-point loading. The approach requires generation and analysis of basin wide data on various features of land and estimates of Event Mean Concentrations (EMCs) of pollutants in the runoff. In the present paper, basin wide data in different districts of Tapi basin has been analysed for land use distribution; fertilizer application; low, medium and high-density habitation; and annual rainfall. Coefficients of runoff have been estimated considering pervious and impervious area for different land use types, and compared with the reported values for Indian conditions. The estimated mean annual runoff flow indicated that two districts Jalgaon and Dhule contribute maximum runoff to the Tapi River. Estimates of EMCs for BOD and nutrients (N and P) in the runoff from various districts are useful in GIS-based modelling study for NPS pollution assessment.     

Monitoring the Hydrology of Canadian Prairie Wetlands to Detect the Effects of Climate Change and Land Use Changes

There are millions of small isolatedwetlands in the semi-arid Canadian prairies. These`sloughs' are refuges for wildlife in an area that isotherwise intensively used for agriculture. They areparticularly important as waterfowl habitat, with morethan half of all North American ducks nesting inprairie sloughs. The water levels and ecology of thewetlands are sensitive to atmospheric change and tochanges of agricultural practices in the surroundingfields. Monitoring of the hydrological conditions ofthe wetlands across the region is vital for detectinglong-term trends and for studying the processes thatcontrol the water balance of the wetlands. Suchmonitoring therefore requires extensive regional-scaledata complemented by intensive measurements at a fewlocations. At present, wetlands are being enumeratedacross the region once each year and year-roundmonitoring is being carried out at a few locations. Theregional-scale data can be statistically related toregional climate data, but such analyses cast littlelight on the hydrological processes and have limitedpredictive value when climate and land use arechanging. The intensive monitoring network has providedimportant insights but it now needs to be expanded andrevised to meet new questions concerning the effects ofclimate change and land use.     

Ecological Monitoring and Assessment Network's Proposed Core Monitoring Variables: An Early Warning of Environmental Change

This article reports on the evaluation of existing ecologicalmonitoring variables from a variety of sources to select a suiteof core variables suitable for monitoring at the Ecological Monitoring and Assessment Network (EMAN) sites located acrossCanada. The purpose of EMAN is to promote the acquisition of relevant and consistent data that can be used to report on national trends and provide an early warning of ecosystem change. Existing monitoring variables were evaluated in twosteps. In the first step, three primary criteria were used to pre-screen preliminary variables. In the second step, a moredetailed evaluation considered twenty criteria based on dataquality, applicability, data collection methods, data analysisand interpretation, existing data and programs, and cost effectiveness to select a draft set of core monitoring variables(CMV). An ecological framework was developed to organize the CMVin a manner that permitted a gap analysis to confirm the CMV assessed a wide range of relevant environment components. Thesuite of CMV were then tested to determine their effectiveness in detecting ecosystem change caused by stressors with ecosystemresponses that have been well documented in the literature. Thisproject is part of a process lead by Environment Canada to select CMV to detect and track ecosystem change at EMAN sites. It is anticipated that the proposed CMV will undergo future discussion and development leading to the final selection of asuite of CMV for use at EMAN sites.     

The Impact of Urbanization and Protection of Water Resources in Owerri and Environs SE, Nigeria

Untreated sewage and agriculture are the most important sources of contamination. The study was carried out by conducting a short-term surface water and groundwater pollution survey of the Owerri Urban area and its environs, in order to establish the current levels of pollution. An attempt has been made to show the relationships between pollution levels, population density, industrial and agricultural activities. The spatial distribution of pollutants due to a poor land use system and to human activities was investigated. This emphasises integrated planned development as a preventive measure for arresting pollution levels in fast growing urban centres. The total groundwater stored in the area amounts to 7.87 × 10⁹ m³. Twenty five percent of this is released as base flow into the adjacent rivers (Otamiri and Nworie). The annual groundwater recharge is 3.4 × 10⁹ m³. The enormous volume of groundwater stored and the comparatively low cost of development makes groundwater an excellent alternative supply source for the area (Uma et al., 1984).     

Spatial Variability of Soil Organic Carbon in Relation to Environmental Factors of a Typical Small Watershed in the Black Soil Region, Northeast China

A total of 292 soil samples were taken from surface soil (0–20 cm) of a typical small watershed–Tongshuang in the black soil region of Heilongjiang province, northeast China in June 2005 for examining the concentration of soil organic carbon (SOC). Spatial variability of SOC in relation to topography and land use was evaluated using classical statistics, geostatistics and geographic information system (GIS) analyses. The objective of this study was to provide a scientific basis for land management targeting at improving soil quality in this region. Classical statistical analysis results indicated that the variability of SOC was moderate (C _V = 0.30). Slope position and land use types were discriminating factors for its spatial variability. Geostatistics analyses showed that SOC had a strong spatial autocorrelation, which was mainly induced by structural factors. Mean concentration of SOC in surface soil was 2.27% in this watershed, which was a very low level in the northern black soil region of northeast China. In this small watershed, present soil and water conservation measures played an important role in controlling soil loss. But SOC's restoration was unsatisfactory. Nearly three-quarters of the area had worrisome productivity. How to improve SOC concentration targeting at soil fertility is a pressing need in the future.