Environmental risks of farmed and barren alkaline coal ash landfills in Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina

The disposal of coal combustion residues (CCR) has led to a significant consumption of land in the West Balkan region. In Tuzla (Bosnia and Herzegovina) we studied previously soil-covered (farmed) and barren CCR landfills including management practises, field ageing of CCR and the transfer of trace elements into crops, wild plants and wastewaters. Soil tillage resulted in mixing of cover soil with CCR. Medicago sativa showed very low Cu:Mo ratios (1.25) which may cause hypocuprosis in ruminants. Total loads of inorganic pollutants in the CCR transport water, but not pH ( approximately 12), were below regulatory limits of most EU countries. Arsenic concentrations in CCR transport water were <2microgl(-1) whereas reductive conditions in an abandoned landfill significantly enhanced concentrations in leachates (44microgl(-1)). The opposite pattern was found for Cr likely due to large initial leaching of CrVI. Public use of landfills, including farming, should be based on a prior risk assessment due to the heterogeneity of CCR.     

Photolytic dehalogenation of the marine halogenated natural product Q1

The marine halogenated natural product 2,3,3',4,4',5,5'-heptachloro-1'-methyl-1,2'-bipyrrole (Q1) has been detected in high-trophic level biota throughout the world. In this study we UV-irradiated Q1 in order to produce hexahalogenated 1'-methylbipyrroles (Cl(6)-MBPs). Q1 was transformed with half-lives of <5 min. Already after 5 min, all of the five existing Cl(6)-MBPs (H1-H5) were detected in the irradiated sample. Only one Cl(6)-MBP (2,3,3',4',5,5'-hexachloro-1'-methyl-1,2'-bipyrrole (MBP-77, H2) has been previously described in the literature. H5 was identified as 2,3,3',4,4',5'-hexachloro-1'-methyl-1,2'-bipyrrole (MBP-75) by a specific fragment ion detected by GC/ECNI-MS. Fractionations of the irradiation mixture by reversed-phase HPLC followed by (1)H NMR analysis led to the structure of H4, i.e. 2,3,3',4,4',5-hexachloro-1'-methyl-1,2'-bipyrrole (MBP-74). H1 and H3 showed virtually identical (1)H NMR data. Therefore, it could not determined which of either isomers is 2,3,3',4,5,5'-hexachloro-1'-methyl-1,2'-bipyrrole (MBP-76) and which is 2,3,4,4',5,5'-hexachloro-1'-methyl-1,2'-bipyrrole (MBP-78). In addition, two pentachloro-MBPs (P1 and P3) could be traced back to MBP-62 and MBP-69. Cl(6)-MBPs were analyzed in whale blubber from Australia and skua adipose tissue from Antarctica. The marine mammals contained all Cl(6)-MBPs except for the most abundant in the irradiation experiment. The concentrations of the Cl(6)-MBPs amounted to 0.04-1.76% of the concentration of Q1. The highest concentrations of Cl(6)-MBP isomers in the biota samples were found for MBP-76, MBP-77, and MBP-78. These congeners appeared to be the most lipophilic ones owing to the highest retention time in RP-HPLC. Nevertheless, it remained unclear whether the Cl(6)-MBPs were actual halogenated natural products or environmental metabolites of Q1.     

Flood risk,climate change and settlement development: a micro-scale assessment of Austrian municipalities

This paper analyses the influence of climate change and land development on future flood risk for selected Austrian flood-prone municipalities. As part of an anticipatory micro-scale risk assessment we simulated four different inundation scenarios for current and future 100- and 300-year floods (which included a climate change allowance), developed scenarios of future settlement growth in floodplains and evaluated changes in flood damage potentials and flood risk until the year 2030. Findings show that both climate change and settlement development significantly increase future levels of flood risk. However, the respective impacts vary strongly across the different cases. The analysis indicates that local conditions, such as the topography of the floodplain, the spatial allocation of vulnerable land uses or the type of land development (e.g. residential, commercial or industrial) in the floodplain are the key determinants of the respective effects of climate change and land development on future levels of flood risk. The case study analysis highlights the general need for a more comprehensive consideration of the local determinants of flood risk in order to increase the effectiveness of an adaptive management of flood risk dynamics.     

Automotive Emissions After Hot and Cold Starts in Summer and Winter

Randomly selected passenger automobiles were driven over a 7.5-mile composite route in Cincinnati, Ohio. Samples of the exhaust gases were collected from each car by means of a proportional sampler and analyzed for gross hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, and oxides of nitrogen. In addition, detailed analysis of the hydrocarbons was made. This included parafins, 1 through 8 carbon, olefins, 2 through 6 carbon, and aromatics, 6 through 10 carbon. This paper compares the differences in these emissions immediately after starting with “cold” engines as opposed to emissions from cars started with engines already warmed up or “hot.” This determination was made under both cold and warm weather conditions. A comparison is also made in air pollutants emitted from cars driven under the summer as opposed to the winter conditions normally encountered in Cincinnati, Ohio.     

Performance of Exhaust Control Devices on 1966 Model Passenger Cars

Road tests have been carried out in five different cities with a fleet of 300 passenger cars consisting of three different makes, half of which are equipped with the 1966 exhaust control devices required by the state of California. The performance of these devices during the first series of tests has been evaluated. All three makes of device-equipped cars produced significantly lower emissions of hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide than did similar cars tested in 1962 and 1963. There were no consistent differences among the three makes of cars with respect to carbon monoxide and hydrocarbon emissions.     

An Air Quality Data Analysis System for Interrelating Effects,Standards, and Needed Source Reductions: Part 3. Vegetation Injury

Acute leaf injury data are analyzed for 19 plant species exposed to ozone or sulfur dioxide. The data can be depicted by a new leaf injury mathematical model with two characteristics: (1) a constant percentage of leaf surface is injured by an air pollutant concentration that is inversely proportional to exposure duration raised to an exponent; (2) for a given exposure duration, the percent leaf injury as a function of pollutant concentration tends to fit a lognormal frequency distribution. Leaf injury as a function of laboratory exposure duration is modeled and compared with ambient air pollutant concentration measurements for various averaging times to determine which exposure durations are probably most important for setting ambient air quality standards to prevent or reduce visible leaf injury. The 8 hour average appears to be most important for most of the plants investigated for most sites, 1 hr concentrations are important for most plants at a few sites, and 3 hr S0₂ concentrations are important for some plants, especially those exposed to isolated point sources of the pollutant. The 1, 3, and 8 hr threshold injury concentrations are listed for each of the 19 plant species studied. To prevent or reduce acute leaf injury, fixed, nonoverlapping ambient air quality measurements and standards are recommended for averaging times of 1, 3, and 8hr.     

An Air Quality Data Analysis System for Interrelating Effects,Standards, and Needed Source Reductions: Part 8. An Effective Mean O3 Crop Reduction Mathematical Model

A plant injury mathematical model, applied previously to acute and chronic leaf injury data, is used here to model National Crop Loss Assessment Network (NCLAN) data for 15 cultivars and to calculate species parameters from the cultivar analyses. Percent crop yield reduction is estimated as a function of a new parameter, the effective mean O₃ concentration: m_e = [(Σ c_h ^?1/v)/n]^?v, where c_h is the hourly average ambient O₃ concentration for each daytime hour (defined here as 9:00 A.M.–4:00 P.M., always standard time) of data available at an air sampling site for summer (defined here as June 1–August 31), n is the total number of such available hours, and v is an exposure time-concentration parameter, calculated here to be approximately –0.376. Crop yield reduction for soybean is calculated here as z = 0.478 In (tm_e ^2-66) – 0.42, where z is the Gaussian transform of percent crop reduction, t is the hours of exposure (525 h is used here; 7 h/day for 75 days), and In indicates that the natural logarithm is taken of the quantity within parentheses. Crop yield reductions for seven plant species are estimated with similar equations for each of the 1824 site-years of 1981–1983 hourly O₃ concentration data available in the National Aerometric Data Bank (NADB). County-average effective mean O₃ concentrations are indicated by shading on a U.S. map. State-average O₃ parameters and estimated percent crop yield reductions are tabulated. The National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) for O₃ specifies that, on the average, the second highest daily maximum 1-h average O₃ concentration in a year shall not exceed 0.12 ppm. For years 1981-1983,71% of the NADB sites recorded annual second highest daily maximum 1-h average O3 concentrations below 0.125 ppm (for summer daytime hours). Ambient O₃ concentrations reduced the total U.S. crop yield an estimated 5% for years 1981–1983. (Summer, daytime, and all acronyms are always used herein as defined above.)