Demographic shifts around drinking water supply reservoirs in North Carolina,USA

Infrastructure intended to serve the public good frequently has implications for environmental justice and social sustainability. Drinking water supplies for sub/urban areas in North Carolina, USA, have regularly been secured by constructing dams to impound reservoirs. We used high-resolution, publicly available US Census data to explore whether 66 such reservoirs in North Carolina have induced demographic shifts in the communities that find themselves adjacent to the newly created lakeshores. Our principal findings include: (1) The ratio of white people to non-white people was significantly higher in communities within 0.5 miles of reservoir shorelines than in more distant communities; (2) even as North Carolina overall became less white from 1990 to 2010, the ratio of white people to non-white people within the 0.5 miles of the shoreline increased relative to the overall ratio in the State; and (3) similar, but less distinct, shifts in per capita income occurred during the period. Our results are consistent with the proposition that reservoirs have induced demographic shifts in communities adjacent to newly created lakeshores similar to the shifts associated with environmental gentrification and amenity migration, and may now be associated with perpetuating those shifts. These findings raise concerns about environmental justice and social sustainability that should be considered when planning and building infrastructure that creates environmental amenities. Where reservoirs are being planned, social costs, including the costs of demographic shifts associated with environmental gentrification or amenity migration, and disproportionate regulatory burdens, should be mitigated through innovative policy if possible.     

A Comparison of Three Federal Datasets for Thermoelectric Water Withdrawals in the United States for 2010

Historically, thermoelectric water withdrawal has been estimated by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) and the U.S. Geological Survey's (USGS) water‐use compilations. Recently, the USGS developed models for estimating withdrawal at thermoelectric plants to provide estimates independent from plant operator‐reported withdrawal data. This article compares three federal datasets of thermoelectric withdrawals for the United States in 2010: one based on the USGS water‐use compilation, another based on EIA data, and the third based on USGS model‐estimated data. The withdrawal data varied widely. Many plants had three different withdrawal values, and for approximately 54% of the plants the largest withdrawal value was twice the smallest, or larger. The causes of discrepancies among withdrawal estimates included definitional differences, definitional noise, and various nondefinitional causes. The uncertainty in national totals can be characterized by the range among the three datasets, from 5,640 m³/s (129 billion gallons per day [bgd]) to 6,954 m³/s (158 bgd), or by the aggregate difference between the smallest and largest values at each plant, from 4,014 m³/s (92 bgd) to 8,590 m³/s (196 bgd). When used to assess the accuracy of reported values, the USGS model estimates identify plants that need to be reviewed.     

Real-World Vehicle Emissions: A Summary of the Sixth Coordinating Research Council On-Road Vehicle Emissions Workshop

The Coordinating Research Council (CRC) has conducted a series of workshops on real-world vehicle emissions. This article summarizes findings from the most recent research regarding on-road emissions from mobile sources, presented at the CRC workshop held in March 1996. Among the topics discussed were efforts to improve and update emission models, results from field studies designed to understand the contribution of mobile sources to emission inventories, results from gas-and particle-phase emissions studies from in-use motor vehicles, and areas of future research.

The Sixth Coordinating Research Council (CRC) On-Road Vehicle Emissions Workshop was held March 18-20, 1996, in San Diego, CA. More than 160 representatives from academia, industry, government, and consulting firms in the United States, Canada, and Europe participated in the three-day meeting. The objective of the Workshop was to present the most recent information from research programs on:

mobile source contributions to the emission inventory

emission factor models and activity data

model comparison and development

emission reduction programs

new developments in remote sensing

studies of on-road vehicle exhaust and non-tailpipe emissions

off-cycle Federal Test Procedure (FTP) studies and revisions to the FTP

particle emissions from the light- and heavy-duty fleets

future research needs

Nine sessions were devoted to vehicle emissions models, improvements to the emission inventory, on-road and tunnel studies, off-cycle emissions, non-tailpipe and diesel emissions, emission reduction programs, and remote sensing. Overall workshop coordination was provided by Timothy Belian and the CRC staff, with Steven Cadle and Robert Gorse serving as cochairmen. Individual session chairmen were Brent Bailey (National Renewable Energy Laboratory), Mark Carlock (California Air Resources Board), Harold Haskew (General Motors), Kenneth Knapp and Philip Lorang (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency), Douglas Lawson (Colorado State University), Alan Lloyd (Desert Research Institute), Robert Slott (Shell Oil), and Timothy Truex (University of California, Riverside). In addition, during the Workshop, Lesha Hrynchuk of the California Air Resources Board (CARB) presented a hands-on demonstration using the Internet to obtain motor vehicle emissions information from groups throughout the world. The complete Workshop proceedings are available from the Coordinating Research Council, 219 Perimeter Center Parkway, Atlanta, GA 30346; phone: (770) 396-3400; fax: (770) 396-3404. The following summarizes each session and includes a short synopsis of all the papers that were presented.     

Near-road multipollutant profiles: associations between volatile organic compounds and a tracer gas surrogate near a busy highway

This research characterizes associations between multiple pollutants in the near-road environment attributed to a roadway line source. It also examines the use of a tracer gas as a surrogate of mobile source pollutants. Air samples were collected in summa canisters along a 300 m transect normal to a highway in Raleigh, North Carolina for five sampling periods spanning four days. Samples were subsequently measured for volatile organic compounds (VOCs) using an electron capture gas chromatograph. Sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) was released from a finite line source adjacent to the roadway for two of the sampling periods, collected in the canisters and measured with the VOCs. Associations between each VOC, and between VOCs and the tracer, were quantified with Pearson correlation coefficients to assess the consistency of the multi-pollutant dispersion profiles, and assess the tracer as a potential surrogate for mobile source pollutants. As expected, benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and m,p- and o-xylenes (collectively, BTEX) show strong correlations between each other; further BTEX shows a strong correlation to SF6. Between 26 VOCs, correlation coefficients were greater than 0.8, and 14 VOCs had coefficients greater than 0.6 with the tracer gas. Even under non-downwind conditions, chemical concentrations had significant correlations with distance. Results indicate that certain VOCs are representative of a larger multi-pollutant mixture, and many VOCs are well-correlated with the tracer gas.     

Multilevel Water Governance and Problems of Scale: Setting the Stage for a Broader Debate

Environmental governance and management are facing a multiplicity of challenges related to spatial scales and multiple levels of governance. Water management is a field particularly sensitive to issues of scale because the hydrological system with its different scalar levels from small catchments to large river basins plays such a prominent role. It thus exemplifies fundamental issues and dilemmas of scale in modern environmental management and governance. In this introductory article to an Environmental Management special feature on “Multilevel Water Governance: Coping with Problems of Scale,” we delineate our understanding of problems of scale and the dimensions of scalar politics that are central to water resource management. We provide an overview of the contributions to this special feature, concluding with a discussion of how scalar research can usefully challenge conventional wisdom on water resource management. We hope that this discussion of water governance stimulates a broader debate and inquiry relating to the scalar dimensions of environmental governance and management in general.     

Evaluation of the Impact of the Natural Forest Protection Program on Rural Household Livelihoods

In this study, we estimated the impact on local household livelihoods of the Natural Forest Protection Program (NFPP), which is the largest logging-ban program in the world, which aims to protect watersheds and conserve natural forests. In doing so, we used a series of microeconometric policy-evaluation techniques to assess the impacts of the NFPP on two interrelated facets of household livelihoods: income and off-farm labor supply. We found that the NFPP has had a negative impact on incomes from timber harvesting but has actually had a positive impact on total household incomes from all sources. Furthermore, we found that off-farm labor supply outside the village has increased more rapidly in NFPP than in non-NFPP areas. Based on these results, policy implications for household livelihoods were drawn and are presented herein.     

The effects of elevated carbon dioxide levels on a Vibrio sp. isolated from the deep-sea

Introduction

The effect of oceanic CO₂ sequestration was examined exposing a deep-sea bacterium identified as Vibrio alginolyticus (9NA) to elevated levels of carbon dioxide and monitoring its growth at 2,750 psi (1,846 m depth).

Findings

The wild-type strain of 9NA could not grow in acidified marine broth below a pH of 5. The pH of marine broth did not drop below this level until at least 20.8 mM of CO₂ was injected into the medium. 9NA did not grow at this CO₂ concentration or higher concentrations (31.2 and 41.6 mM) for at least 72 h. Carbon dioxide at 10.4 mM also inhibited growth, but the bacterium was able to recover and grow. Exposure to CO₂ caused the cell to undergo a morphological change and form a dimple-like structure. The membrane was also damaged but with no protein leakage.     

Understanding vulnerability in southern Africa: comparative findings using a multiple-stressor approach in South Africa and Malawi

Within southern Africa, many households are facing increasing pressures as they deal with multiple challenges such as low employment, high levels of disease, environmental resources under pressure and changing political landscapes. To respond to the needs of different individuals and households, it is important to define the nature of their vulnerability. An increasing amount of theoretical and empirical work on the concept of ‘vulnerability’ has led to a range of definitions, indicators and measurement tools, which have come to characterise this field of study. As a result, there is no one general consensus. This paper presents the results from the latest in a series of applied studies conducted since 2004 by a network of scientists working in southern Africa, aimed at refining the definition and application of the concept of vulnerability. The study employed a recently developed multiple-stressor model to guide the collection and analysis of data from three sites in South Africa and Malawi. In this paper, we identify and explore five key ‘symptoms’ of vulnerability emerging from our multi-country data and reflect on the usefulness of the model employed.     

Estimation of regional building-related C&D debris generation and composition: case study for Florida, US

Methodology for the accounting, generation, and composition of building-related construction and demolition (C&D) at a regional level was explored. Six specific categories of debris were examined: residential construction, nonresidential construction, residential demolition, nonresidential demolition, residential renovation, and nonresidential renovation. Debris produced from each activity was calculated as the product of the total area of activity and waste generated per unit area of activity. Similarly, composition was estimated as the product of the total area of activity and the amount of each waste component generated per unit area. The area of activity was calculated using statistical data, and individual site studies were used to assess the average amount of waste generated per unit area. The application of the methodology was illustrated using Florida, US approximately 3,750,000 metric tons of building-related C&D debris were estimated as generated in Florida in 2000. Of that amount, concrete represented 56%, wood 13%, drywall 11%, miscellaneous debris 8%, asphalt roofing materials 7%, metal 3%, cardboard 1%, and plastic 1%. This model differs from others because it accommodates regional construction styles and available data. The resulting generation amount per capita is less than the US estimate - attributable to the high construction, low demolition activity seen in Florida.