A Field Demonstration of the UV/Oxidation Technology to Treat Ground Water Contaminated with VOCs

This paper presents the Geld evaluation results of the ultraviolet radiation (UV)/oxidation technology developed by Ultrox International, Santa Ana, California. The Geld evaluation was performed at the Lorentz Barrel and Drum (LB&D) site in San Jose, California, under the Superfund Innovative Technology Evaluation program in February and March of 1989.

The UV/oxidation technology uses UV radiation, ozone, and hydrogen peroxide to oxidize organic contaminants present in water. At the LB&D site, this technology was evaluated in treating ground water contaminated with volatile organic compounds (VOCs). The Ultrox system achieved VOC removals greater than 90 percent. Most VOCs were removed through chemical oxidation. However, for a few VOCs, such as 1, 1, 1-trichloroethane and 1, 1-dichloroethane, stripping also contributed toward removal. The treated ground water met the applicable discharge standards for discharge into a local waterway at 95 percent confidence level. There were no harmful air emissions to the atmosphere from the Ultrox system, which is equipped with an off-gas treatment unit.     

Monopoly exploitation of an exhaustible resource

The popular notion that a monopolist will exhaust a nonrenewable natural resource at a slower than socially optimal rate is examined. Contrary to the prevailing belief, instances do exist for which the monopolist uses the resource faster than the social maximizer. This is demonstrated first by finding conditions for which the expected result—a monopoly rate which is slower than optimal-will always hold, and second, by showing that for situations where these conditions are violated the result may be reversed.     

Life cycle assessment of DRAM in Taiwan's semiconductor industry

The semiconductor industry plays a leading role in supporting economic stabilization and social progress in Taiwan. In this paper, Eco-indicator 95 and Impact 2002+ are utilized to evaluate the potential environmental impacts from five production processes of the double data rate synchronous dynamic random access memory (DDR SDRAM). The comparisons between these two impact methods and their scopes are also discussed.From our results, global warming potential and non-renewable energy consumption were identified as the major environmental impacts. Applications of Eco-indicator 95 and IMPACT 2002+ also suggest that summer smog and respiratory inorganics are significant impact categories. The comparison of the scopes of these two methods identifies that low GWP potential PFCs substitution and electricity saving are effective ways to decrease environmental impacts of DRAM manufacturing. In addition, IMPACT 2002+ is a more applicable LCA method for the semiconductor industry in Taiwan due to the structure and reference area of this method and the characteristics of the semiconductor industry in Taiwan.     

Natural disaster mitigation: Environmental approaches in Tonga and Algeria

Summary The mitigation of natural disasters essentially depends upon the identification and adjustment of human ecological processes contributing to conditions of vulnerability. The analysis of vulnerability requires the local study of political, social, and economic processes which have contributed, and are contributing, to a vulnerable condition in a hazardous environment. One of the few similarities between Tonga and Algeria is a continuing experience of natural disaster after independence from previous colonial administrations. In two very different but complementary projects, ways are identified for the adjustment of assumed or inherited priorities for development, to take practical account of continuing hazards. The high vulnerability of rural areas is a factor common to both countries, as well as to many others. The analysis of conditions and systems in two dissimilar countries may have begun a process of implementation, one which must necessarily follow theoretical analysis for the realisation of practical value. The degree and nature of disaster impact is conditioned as much by normally prevailing conditions and systems as by the manifestation of natural hazard. Direct experience of hazardous environments, and of problems caused by disaster, must be made to result in the creation of multi-disciplinary environmental policies for disaster mitigation, inclusive of small scale development and education and training programmes for continued implementation. Comprehensive and simultaneous strategies for disaster avoidance, disaster resistance, and disaster accomodation must be made integral components of local development planning.     

PREFERENCES FOR ALLOCATING RIVER RECREATION USE1

Allocating river recreation use to commercial and private sectors on white water rivers has been highly controversial. How this process is implemented may affect not only the availability of recreation opportunities to individual users, but may also negatively impact the user's desire to escape from the pressures and stresses of everyday life. In a study of users of Idaho's Middle Fork of the Salmon River, an Even-Pool allotment technique was preferred over others by the commercial, private, and rejectee individuals sampled. A lottery technique for rationing private use permits was preferred by private users and rejectees, while commercial users preferred Advance Reservation. No relationship was found between the users' stress release/escape expectations and their preferences for the different allotment and rationing techniques studies. Such results suggest that river managers may have considerable latitude in selecting allocation techniques that do not adversely affect on-site recreation experiences.     

Change,and vulnerability to natural hazard: Chiswell,dorset

Summary The occurrence of disastrous manifestations of hazard are not usually unique events. In analysis of the causes and effects of these occurrences there are problems for analysts, academics and policy-makers in the understanding of long-term perspectives as the context for recent events and future policies. Understanding will be made initially, but necessarily, more complex by the variety of standpoints of different interest groups in the affected community, and of the community at large. Physical permanence of a community cannot beassumed in a changing environmental condition. Vulnerability to the sea has increased during the thousand years of Chiswell's existence, and is continuing to do so. Understanding of this changing state by various groups in society, and their administrators, is the key to the selection and effectiveness of interacting social and technological measures whether undertaken specifically against hazard or not. The extent to which technology can be effectively mobilised and implemented to ensure prolonged community permanence may only be assessed by detailed analysis of environmental phenomena on the one hand, and by comparison with social adjustments on the other. Social adjustments cannot be compared until those options are made realistically available by the authorities elected for their administration. The condition of vulnerability is not static. Analysis and assessment of short- and longer-term issues is at once a multi-disciplinary process calling for a fusion of physical and earth sciences, social sciences, and political and administrative processes. That these sciences and processes are themselves evolving, and are not static, is as true as for vulnerability itself. That all are in short- and long-term processes of change must be understood if each is to be integrated with the other for maximum comprehensive and effective response to natural hazard.     

A PARTITIONING PROCEDURE FOR WATER QUALITY MANAGEMENT MODELS1

ABSTRACT: An improved computational procedure for solving water quality management models containing interacting pollutants and control policies is presented. The method is developed with respect to the specific problem of minimizing the costs of basin-wide thermal and organic pollution control to meet water quality standards. It views the problem in partitioned form where a master problem is used to find cooling levels for thermal polluters while subproblems determine optimal organic pollutant reductions for fixed cooling levels. A gradient based search procedure is used to solve the master problem. Computational results for several river systems are presented. Application of the method to other water quality management models is suggested.     

A NEW FLASHINESS INDEX: CHARACTERISTICS AND APPLICATIONS TO MIDWESTERN RIVERS AND STREAMS1

ABSTRACT: The term flashiness reflects the frequency and rapidity of short term changes in streamflow, especially during runoff events. Flashiness is an important component of a stream's hydrologic regime. A variety of land use and land management changes may lead to increased or decreased flashiness, often to the detriment of aquatic life. This paper presents a newly developed flashiness index, which is based on mean daily flows. The index is calculated by dividing the pathlength of flow oscillations for a time interval (i.e., the sum of the absolute values of day‐to‐day changes in mean daily flow) by total discharge during that time interval. This index has low interannual variability, relative to most flow regime indicators, and thus greater power to detect trends. Index values were calculated for 515 Midwestern streams for the 27‐year period from 1975 through 2001. Statistically significant increases were present in 22 percent of the streams, primarily in the eastern portion of the study area, while decreases were present in 9 percent, primarily in the western portion. Index values tend to decrease with increasing watershed area and with increasing unit area ground water inputs. Area compensated index values often shift at ecoregion boundaries. Potential index applications include evaluation of programs to restore more natural flow regimes.     

Phosphorus runoff relationships for Louisiana Coastal Plain soils amended with poultry litter

Long-term application of poultry (Gallus gallus domesticus) litter has built high levels of P in certain Coastal Plain soils of north Louisiana. However, soil P/runoff P relationships for soil and environmental conditions of the area have not been examined. This study measured soil P (total, Bray 1, Bray 2, Mehlich 3, resin-exchangeable, and water-extractable) and runoff P (dissolved P, DP; and total P, TP) at four pasture sites previously amended with poultry litter. Sites varied in soil P due to annual litter applications ranging from 1 to more than 20. Three replicated plots at each site were subjected to simulated rainfalls over 2 yr, and concentrations of DP and TP in runoff were measured and related to soil P. This allowed examination of soil P/runoff P relationships and their changes over time. Runoff DP was also related to DP desorbed from surface soil in a miscible displacement experiment. Among measures of soil P, only resin-exchangeable and water-extractable P showed significant decreases over 2 yr. These measures of soil P explained 54 to 64% of the variability in runoff DP data. However, the miscible displacement technique proved the best indicator of runoff DP, explaining 70% of the variability. Runoff varied among sites (decreasing with increasing years of litter application), limiting the predictive capability of the soil extraction methods. Linking runoff characteristics with miscible displacement data may be a useful predictive tool and warrants further examination.