Temporal and spatial assessment of groundwater contamination with nitrate using nitrate pollution index (NPI), groundwater pollution index (GPI), and GIS (case study: Essaouira basin,Morocco)

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Groundwater aquifers in Morocco’s coastal regions are under serious threat as a result of climate change. This study was conducted to evaluate...     

Environmental risk,toxicity, and biodegradation of polyethylene: a review

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Polyethylene is the second-most-commonly-used commercial polymer. It is used in various industries, including agricultural mulches, composite...     

Introducing artificial intelligence to the radiation early warning system

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Although radiation level is a serious concern which requires continuous monitoring, many existing systems are designed to perform this task. Radiation...     

Domestic water conservation potential in Saudi Arabia

Domestic water conservation in arid climates can result in efficient utilization of existing water supplies. The impacts of conservation measures such as the installation of water-saving devices, water metering and pricing schemes, water rationing and public awareness programs, strict plumbing codes, penalties for wasting water, programs designed to reduce leakage from public water lines and within the home, water-efficient landscaping, economic and ethical incentives are addressed in detail. Cost savings in arid climates, with particular reference to Saudi Arabia, in relation to some conservation techniques, are presented. Water conservation technology and tentative demonstration and implementation of water conservation programs are discussed.     

AN ECONOMIC ASSESSMENT OF GROUND WATER RECHARGE IN THE TUCSON BASIN1

ABSTRACT: Bringing water from Colorado River via the Central Arizona Project was perceived as the sole solution for Tucson Basin's water problem. Soon after Central Arizona Project's water arrived in Tucson in 1992, its quality provoked a quarrel over its use for potable purposes. A significant outcome of that quarrel was the enactment of the 1995 Proposition 200. The Proposition 200 precludes the use of Central Arizona Project's water for potable purposes, unless it is treated. Yet, it encourages using it for non‐potable purposes and for replenishing the Tucson aquifer through recharge. This paper examines the economic issues involved in utilizing Central Arizona Project's water for recharge. Four planning scenarios were designed to measure and compare the costs and benefits with and without Central Arizona Project's water recharge. Cost‐benefit analysis was utilized to measure recharge costs and benefits and to derive a rough estimate of cost savings from preventing land subsidence. The results indicate that the institutional requirements can be met with Central Arizona Project's water recharge. The economic benefits from reducing pumping cost and saving groundwater are not economically significant. Yet, when combining the use of Central Arizona Project's water for recharge and non‐potable purposes, it demonstrates positive net economic benefits.     

The grassroot development planning process: the role of physical planning in the rural environment

The concern of this paper is with the spatial consequences of development in a given rural setting and the way in which physical planning fits into the revival of a dying rural area, particularly in Third World Countries. It is based on experience derived from Dekinal in Benue State, Nigeria and endeavours to define a rural area by briefly discussing its characteristics and highlighting its problems. It proposes a comprehensive development planning process to induce development based on available resources.     

坦桑尼亚水质和污染研究回顾

坦桑尼亚的海岸带(图1)有多种生物栖息地,其中包括珊瑚礁、红树林、海草床、沙坝、湿地和沙滩.除了承担海岸带所有功能中的基本连接作用外,这些海岸带栖息地还提供了生物和非生物资源.     

A criticism of applications with multi-criteria decision analysis that are used for the site selection for the disposal of municipal solid wastes

The main aim of this study is to criticize the process of selecting the most appropriate site for the disposal of municipal solid wastes which is one of the problematic issues of waste management operations. These kinds of problems are pathological symptoms of existing problematical human–nature relationship which is related to the syndrome called ecological crisis. In this regard, solving the site selection problem, which is just a small part of a larger entity, for the good of ecological rationality and social justice is only possible by founding a new and extensive type of human–nature relationship. In this study, as a problematic point regarding the discussions on ecological problems, the existing structure of the applications using multi-criteria decision analysis in the process of site selection with three main criteria is criticized. Based on this critique, fundamental problematic points (to which applications are insufficient to find solutions) will be defined. Later, some modifications will be suggested in order to provide solutions to these problematical points. Finally, the criticism addressed to the structure of the method with three main criteria and the feasibility of the new method with four main criteria is subjected to an evaluation process. As a result, it is emphasized that the new structure with four main criteria may be effective in solution of the fundamental problematic points.     

On the extraction of an exhaustible resource by a monopoly

Hotelling's r-percent rule does not hold for monopoly extractors of durable exhaustible resources. An example with a nondurable resource in which the rule also fails to hold is presented. An economy with a fixed average propensity to save is modelled. The monopoly extractor recognizes that resource extraction, by affecting output and hence capital accumulation, affects future demand. The firm exploits this effect by causing the marginal profitability of extraction to grow faster or slower than the rate of interest, depending upon initial conditions. Conditions are developed under which the growth rate will be less than the interest rate.     

Geochemical variations in aeolian mineral particles from the Sahara-Sahel Dust Corridor

The Sahara-Sahel Dust Corridor runs from Chad to Mauritania and expels huge amounts of mineral aerosols into the Atlantic Ocean. Data on samples collected from Algeria, Chad, Niger, and Western Sahara illustrate how corridor dust mineralogy and chemistry relate to geological source and weathering/transport history. Dusts sourced directly from igneous and metamorphic massifs are geochemically immature, retaining soluble cations (e.g., K, Na, Rb, Sr) and accessory minerals containing HFSE (e.g., Zr, Hf, U, Th) and REE. In contrast, silicate dust chemistry in desert basins (e.g., Bodélé Depression) is influenced by a longer history of transport, physical winnowing (e.g., loss of Zr, Hf, Th), chemical leaching (e.g., loss of Na, K, Rb), and mixing with intrabasinal materials such as diatoms and evaporitic salts. Mineral aerosols blown along the corridor by the winter Harmattan winds mix these basinal and basement materials. Dusts blown into the corridor from sub-Saharan Africa during the summer monsoon source from deeply chemically weathered terrains and are therefore likely to be more kaolinitic and stripped of mobile elements (e.g., Na, K, Mg, Ca, LILE), but retain immobile and resistant elements (e.g., Zr, Hf, REE). Finally, dusts blown southwestwards into the corridor from along the Atlantic Coastal Basin will be enriched in carbonate from Mesozoic-Cenozoic marine limestones, depleted in Th, Nb, and Ta, and locally contaminated by uranium-bearing phosphate deposits.