Performance assessment of NAPL remediation in heterogeneous alluvium

Over the last few years, more than 40 partitioning interwell tracer tests (PITTs) have been conducted at many different sites to measure nonaqueous phase liquid (NAPL) saturations in the subsurface. While the main goal of these PITTs was to estimate the NAPL volume in the subsurface, some were specifically conducted to assess the performance of remedial actions involving NAPL removal. In this paper, we present a quantitative approach to assess the performance of remedial actions to recover NAPL that can be used to assess any NAPL removal technology. It combines the use of PITTs (to estimate the NAPL volume in the swept pore volume between injection and extraction wells of a test area) with the use of several cores to determine the vertical NAPL distribution in the subsurface. We illustrate the effectiveness of such an approach by assessing the performance of a surfactant/foam flood conducted at Hill Air Force Base, UT, to remove a TCE-rich NAPL from alluvium with permeability contrasts as high as one order of magnitude. In addition, we compare the NAPL volumes determined by the PITTs with volumes estimated through geostatistical interpolation of aquifer sediment core data collected with a vertical frequency of 5-10 cm and a lateral borehole spacing of 0.15 m. We demonstrate the use of several innovations including the explicit estimation of not only the errors associated with NAPL volumes and saturations derived from PITTs but also the heterogeneity of the aquifer sediments based upon permeability estimates. Most importantly, we demonstrate the reliability of the     

Functional flax fiber with UV-induced switchable wettability for multipurpose oil-water separation

● A PAA-ZnO-HDTMS flax fiber with UV-induced switchable wettability was developed. ● The property of flax fiber could be switched from hydrophobicity to hydrophilicity. ● The mechanism of the acquired UV-induced switchable wettability was discussed. ● The developed flax fiber was successfully used for multipurpose oil-water separation. The large number of oily wastewater discharges and oil spills are bringing about severe threats to environment and human health. Corresponding to this challenge, a functional PAA-ZnO-HDTMS flax fiber with UV-induced switchable wettability was developed for efficient oil-water separation in this study. The developed flax fiber was obtained through PAA grafted polymerization and then ZnO-HDTMS nanocomposite immobilization. The as-prepared PAA-ZnO-HDTMS flax fiber was hydrophobic initially and could be switched to hydrophilic through UV irradiation. Its hydrophobicity could be easily recovered through being stored in dark environment for several days. To optimize the performance of the PAA-ZnO-HDTMS flax fiber, the effects of ZnO and HDTMS concentrations on its switchable wettability were investigated. The optimized PAA-ZnO-HDTMS flax fiber had a large water contact angle (~130°) in air and an extremely small oil contact angle (~0°) underwater initially. After UV treatment, the water contact angle was decreased to 30°, while the underwater oil contact angle was increased to more than 150°. Based on this UV-induced switchable wettability, the developed PAA-ZnO-HDTMS flax fiber was applied to remove oil from immiscible oil-water mixtures and oil-in-water emulsion with great reusability for multiple cycles. Thus, the developed flax fiber could be further fabricated into oil barrier or oil sorbent for oil-water separation, which could be an environmentally-friendly alternative in oil spill response and oily wastewater treatment.     

Distribution and early life history of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Kaupichthys</Emphasis> leptocephali (family Chlopsidae) in the central Indonesian Seas

Leptocephali of the widely distributed tropical marine eels of the genus Kaupichthys (family Chlopsidae) were collected around Sulawesi Island during a sampling survey in the Indonesian Seas in late September and early October 2002, and the otolith microstructure of 24 of the 59 specimens captured was examined to learn about the larval growth rates and spawning times of these small sized eels. Leptocephali ranging in size from 25 to 60 mm were collected in Makassar Strait and the Celebes Sea, but they were most abundant in the semi-enclosed Tomini Bay of northeast Sulawesi Island. The Kaupichthys leptocephali examined had 39–161 otolith growth increments. Their back-calculated hatching dates indicated that five age groups were present and each group appeared to have been spawned around the full moon of previous months. Average growth rate estimates of the first two age groups were 0.65 and 0.54 mm/day for the 27.4–30.4 and 37.6–45.6 mm age classes. The growth rates of the oldest three age groups (52.0–60.8 mm) appeared to have slowed down after they reached their approximate maximum size. An increase in increment widths at the outer margin of the otoliths of those larger than 53 mm suggested that the process of metamorphosis had begun even though there were few external morphological changes indicating metamorphosis. It is hypothesized that chlopsid leptocephali have an unusually short gut that may not need to move forward during early metamorphosis. The presence of four age classes in Tomini Bay suggests that the Togian Islands region may be productive habitats for Kaupichthys juveniles and adults.     

Positive buoyancy in eel leptocephali: an adaptation for life in the ocean surface layer

Many planktonic organisms have adaptations such as floats or lighter substances to obtain buoyancy to help them remain in the surface layer of the ocean where photosynthetic primary production occurs and food is most abundant. The almost totally transparent eel larvae, called leptocephali, are a unique member of the planktonic community of the surface layer, but their ecology and physiology are poorly understood. We conducted a comparative study on the specific gravity of planktonic animals including 25 taxa of 7 phyla of marine invertebrates and 6 taxa of leptocephali (vertebrate) to gain a broad perspective on the buoyancy of the eggs and larval stages of the Japanese eel. The specific gravity values of the various freshly caught marine invertebrate taxa varied widely from 1.020 to 1.425, but leptocephali had some of the lowest values (1.028–1.043). Artificially cultured live leptocephali had even greater buoyancies with specific gravities of 1.019–1.025 that were close to or lower than seawater, and their buoyancy showed ontogenetic changes among the different early life history stages. Leptocephali appear to have a unique mechanism of buoyancy control by chloride cells all over body surface through osmoregulation of body fluid contained in the extracellular matrix of transparent gelatinous glycosaminoglycans filling their bodies. This adaptation is likely a key factor for their survival by helping them to remain in the surface layer where food particles are the most abundant, while being transparent for predator avoidance. The ontogenetic change in buoyancy of eel eggs, leptocephali and glass eels likely enhances their larval survival, transport, and recruitment to terrestrial freshwater habitats.     

ACCURACY AND PRECISION OF NRCS MODELS FOR SMALL WATERSHEDS1

ABSTRACT: In the last 30 years, the National Resource Conservation Service's TR‐55 and TR‐20 models have seen a dramatic increase in use for stormwater management purposes. This paper reviews some of the data that were originally used to develop these models and tests how well the models estimate annual series peak runoff rates for the same watersheds using longer historical data record lengths. The paper also explores differences between TR‐55 and TR‐20 peak runoff rate estimates and time of concentration methods. It was found that of the 37 watersheds tested, 25 were either over‐ or under‐predicting the actual historical watershed runoff rates by more than 30 percent. The results of this study indicate that these NRCS models should not be used to model small wooded watersheds less than 20 acres. This would be especially true if the watershed consisted of an area without a clearly defined outlet channel. This study also supports the need for regulators to allow educated hydrologists to alter pre‐packaged model parameters or results more easily than is currently permitted.     

Full‐scale in‐situ biobarrier demonstration for containment and treatment of MTBE

The Naval Facilities Engineering Service Center (NFESC), Arizona State University, and Equilon Enterprises LLC are partners in an innovative Environmental Security Technology Certification Program cleanup technology demonstration designed to contain dissolved MTBE groundwater plumes. This full‐scale demonstration is being performed to test the use of an oxygenated biobarrier at Naval Base Ventura County, in Port Hueneme, California. Surprisingly, few cost‐effective in‐situ remedies are known for the cleanup of MTBE‐impacted aquifers, and remediation by engineered in‐situ biodegradation was thought to be an unlikely candidate just a few years ago. This project demonstrates that MTBE‐impacted groundwater can be remediated in‐situ through engineered aerobic biodegradation under natural‐flow conditions. With respect to economics, the installation and operation costs associated with this innovative biobarrier system are at least 50 percent lower than those of a conventional pump and treat system. Furthermore, although it has been suggested that aerobic MTBE biodegradation will not occur in mixed MTBE‐BTEX dissolved plumes, this project demonstrates otherwise. The biobarrier system discussed in this article is the largest of its kind ever implemented, spanning a dissolved MTBE plume that is over 500 feet wide. This biobarrier system has achieved an in‐situ treatment efficiency of greater than 99.9 percent for dissolved MTBE and BTEX concentrations. Perhaps of greater importance is the fact that extensive performance data has been collected, which is being used to generate best‐practice design and cost information for this biobarrier technology. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Habitat and landscape characteristics underlying anuran community structure along an urban-rural gradient

Urbanization has been cited as an important factor in worldwide amphibian declines, and although recent work has illustrated the important influence of broad-scale ecological patterns and processes on amphibian populations, little is known about the factors structuring amphibian communities in urban landscapes. We therefore examined amphibian community responses to wetland habitat availability and landscape characteristics along an urban-rural gradient in central Iowa, USA, a region experiencing rapid suburban growth. We conducted call surveys at 61 wetlands to estimate anuran calling activity, and quantified wetland habitat structure and landscape context. We used canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) to examine patterns in anuran community structure and identify the most important variables associated with those patterns. Urban density at the landscape scale had a significant negative influence on overall anuran abundance and diversity. While every species exhibited a decrease in abundance with increasing urban density, this pattern was especially pronounced for species requiring post-breeding upland habitats. Anurans most affected by urbanization were those associated with short hydroperiods, early breeding activity, and substantial upland habitat use. We suggest that broad-scale landscape fragmentation is an important factor underlying anuran community structure in this region, possibly due to limitations on the accessibility of otherwise suitable habitat in fragmented urban landscapes. This study underscores the importance of a regional approach to amphibian conservation in urban and urbanizing areas; in fragmented landscapes, a network of interconnected wetland and upland habitats may be more likely to support a successful, diverse anuran community than will isolated sites.     

New hypothesis helps explain elasmobranch "outburst" on Georges Bank in the 1980s.

Regime shifts are a feature of many ecosystems. During the last 40 years, intensive commercial exploitation and environmental changes have driven substantial shifts in ecosystem structure and function in the northwest Atlantic. In the Georges Bank-southern New England region, commercially important species have declined, and the ecosystem shifted to one dominated by economically undesirable species such as skates and dogfish. Aggregated abundance indices indicate a large increase of small and medium-sized elasmobranchs in the early 1980s following the decline of many commercial species. It has been hypothesized that ecological interactions such as competition and predation within the Georges Bank region were responsible for and are maintaining the "elasmobranch outburst" at the heart of the observed ecosystem shift. We offer an alternative hypothesis invoking population connectivity among winter skate populations such that the observed abundance increase is a result of migratory dynamics, perhaps with the Scotian Shelf (i.e., it is an open population). Here we critically evaluate the survey data for winter skate, the species principally responsible for the increase in total skate abundance during the 1980s on Georges Bank, to assess support for both hypotheses. We show that time series from different surveys within the Georges Bank region exhibit low coherence, indicating that a widespread population increase was not consistently shown by all surveys. Further, we argue that observed length-frequency data for Georges Bank indicate biologically unrealistic population fluctuations if the population is closed. Neither finding supports the elasmobranch outburst hypothesis. In contrast, survey time series for Georges Bank and the Scotian Shelf are negatively correlated, in support of the population connectivity hypothesis. Further, we argue that understanding the mechanisms of ecosystem state changes and population connectivity are needed to make inferences about both the causes and appropriate management responses to large-scale system change.     

Farm factors associated with reducing Cryptosporidium loading in storm runoff from dairies

A systems approach was used to evaluate environmental loading of Cryptosporidium oocysts on five coastal dairies in California. One aspect of the study was to determine Cryptosporidium oocyst concentrations and loads for 350 storm runoff samples from dairy high use areas collected over two storm seasons. Selected farm factors and beneficial management practices (BMPs) associated with reducing the Cryptosporidium load in storm runoff were assessed. Using immunomagnetic separation (IMS) with direct fluorescent antibody (DFA) analysis, Cryptosporidium oocysts were detected on four of the five farms and in 21% of storm runoff samples overall. Oocysts were detected in 59% of runoff samples collected near cattle less than 2 mo old, while 10% of runoff samples collected near cattle over 6 mo old were positive. Factors associated with environmental loading of Cryptosporidium oocysts included cattle age class, 24 h precipitation, and cumulative seasonal precipitation, but not percent slope, lot acreage, cattle stocking number, or cattle density. Vegetated buffer strips and straw mulch application significantly reduced the protozoal concentrations and loads in storm runoff, while cattle exclusion and removal of manure did not. The study findings suggest that BMPs such as vegetated buffer strips and straw mulch application, especially when placed near calf areas, will reduce environmental loading of fecal protozoa and improve stormwater quality. These findings are assisting working dairies in their efforts to improve farm and ecosystem health along the California coast.