The Role of Biological Indicators in a State Water Quality Management Process

State water quality agencies are custodians of water quality management programs under the Clean Water Act of which the protection and restoration of biological integrity in surface waters is an integral goal. However, an inappropriate reliance on chemical/physical stressor and exposure data or administrative indicators in place of the direct measurement of ecological response has led to an incomplete foundation for water resource management. As point sources have declined in significance, the consequences of this flawed foundation for dealing with the major limitations to biological integrity (nonpoint sources, habitat degradation) have become more apparent. The use of biocriteria in Ohio, for example, resulted in the identification of 50% more impairment than a water chemistry approach alone and other inconsistencies of a flawed monitoring foundation are illustrated in the national 305(b) report statistics on waters monitored, aquatic life use attainment, and habitat degradation. Biological criteria (biocriteria) incorporates the broader concept of water resource integrity to supplement the roles of chemical and toxicological approaches and reduces the likelihood of making overly optimistic estimates of aquatic life condition. A carefully conceived ambient monitoring approach comprised of biological, chemical, and physical measures ensures all relevant stressors to water resource integrity are identified and that the efficacy of administrative actions can be directly measured with environmental results. New multimetric indices, such as the IBI, ICI, and BIBI represent a significant advancement in aquatic resource characterization that have allowed the inclusion of biological information into many States water quality management programs. Ohio adopted numerical biocriteria in the Ohio water quality standards regulations in May 1990 and, through multiple aquatic life uses that reflect a continuum of biological condition, represents a tiered approach to water resource management. Biocriteria provide the impetus and opportunity to recognize and account for natural, ecological variability in the environment, something which previously was been lacking in state water quality management programs. The upper Great Miami River in Ohio illustrates a case study where bioassessment data documented the efficacy of efforts to permit, fund, and construct municipal treatment systems in restoring aquatic life. In contrast, in the Mahoning River similar administrative actions were inadequate to restore aquatic life in an environment with severe sediment contamination and impacts from combined sewer overflows. A biocriteria-based goal of restoring 75% of aquatic life uses by the year 2000 in Ohio has led to the use of biological data to identify trends and forecast the status and the causes and sources of impairment to Ohio streams, an effort that should affect the strategic focus of our water resource management efforts. A biocriteria-based approach has profoundly influenced strategic planning and priority setting, water quality based permitting, water quality standards, basic monitoring and reporting, nonpoint source assessment, and problem discovery within Ohio EPA.     

What are the implications of sea-level rise for a 1.5, 2 and 3 °C rise in global mean temperatures in the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna and other vulnerable deltas?

Even if climate change mitigation is successful, sea levels will keep rising. With subsidence, relative sea-level rise represents a long-term threat to low-lying deltas. A large part of coastal Bangladesh was analysed using the Delta Dynamic Integrated Emulator Model to determine changes in flood depth, area and population affected given sea-level rise equivalent to global mean temperature rises of 1.5, 2.0 and 3.0 °C with respect to pre-industrial for three ensemble members of a modified A1B scenario. Annual climate variability today (with approximately 1.0 °C of warming) is potentially more important, in terms of coastal impacts, than an additional 0.5 °C warming. In coastal Bangladesh, the average depth of flooding in protected areas is projected to double to between 0.07 and 0.09 m when temperatures are projected at 3.0 °C compared with 1.5 °C. In unprotected areas, the depth of flooding is projected to increase by approximately 50% to 0.21–0.27 m, whilst the average area inundated increases 2.5 times (from 5 to 13% of the region) in the same temperature frame. The greatest area of land flooded is projected in the central and north-east regions. In contrast, lower flood depths, less land area flooded and fewer people are projected in the poldered west of the region. Over multi-centennial timescales, climate change mitigation and controlled sedimentation to maintain relative delta height are key to a delta’s survival. With slow rates of sea-level rise, adaptation remains possible, but further support is required. Monitoring of sea-level rise and subsidence in deltas is recommended, together with improved datasets of elevation.

     

Women executives and off-the-job misconduct by high-profile employees: A study of National Football League team organizations

The risk of off-the-job misconduct by high-profile employees is a serious concern of top management in professional sport organizations, media and entertainment companies, and public-facing entities in the government and education sectors. Yet there is little research on how to prevent or mitigate this form of misconduct in organizations. Utilizing upper echelons theory and the literature on demographic composition, we examine the relationship between the gender composition of executives of team organizations in a men's professional sport league and subsequent misconduct by players on those teams. Specifically, we employed multilevel and logistic regression analyses to unique data on U.S. National Football League team organizations, and we found that firms with a critical mass of women executives experienced fewer player arrests. No support was found for executive power as a moderator of this relationship. We discuss the implications of our findings for the demographic composition literature. We also offer guidance for preventing and managing off-the-job misconduct by high-profile employees.     

The big five personality traits and environmental engagement: Associations at the individual and societal level

This study compared the person and national-level personality correlates of environmental engagement. Associations between specific personality traits and environmental concern have been observed in a number of studies, but few have examined associations between the Big Five personality traits and environmental engagement. Associations at the individual-level were examined with the environmental value ‘protecting the environment’ (Study 1) and retrospective self-reports of electricity conservation behaviour (Study 2) in national probability samples. Country-level indices of sustainability, environmental attitudes, and harmony values were related to aggregate personality traits with data across nations (Study 3). Across both persons and nations, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness and Openness to Experience were the traits most strongly linked to environmental engagement. These findings provide insight into the ways in which stable regularities in overall behavioural patterns are linked to more specific aspects of conservation behaviour and attitudes both in persons and across entire societies. Theoretical explanations for the findings are proposed.     

Microbially Mediated In Situ Desorption Accelerates Remediation of Large Gasoline Product Plume

Remediation of a large separate‐phase hydrocarbon product and associated dissolved‐phase gasoline plume was accelerated by coupling multiphase extraction with in situ microbial stimulation. At the beginning of remediation activities, the separate‐phase hydrocarbon plume extended an estimated seven acres with product thickness measuring up to 2.1 feet thick. Within 18 months after beginning extraction, reduction of gasoline constituents in groundwater became asymptotic and measureable product disappeared from the upgradient source area. At that time, the remediation team initiated a program of limited in situ anaerobic bioremediation with the goal of stimulating production of natural surfactants from native microbes to release petroleum from the soil matrix. Groundwater concentrations of gasoline constituents increased gradually over the next three years, improving recovery without biofouling the pump‐and‐treat infrastructure. Using this approach, the groundwater component of the remedy was completed in less than five years, substantially less than the 10 years to 15 years predicted by modeling. This strategy demonstrated a more sustainable approach to remediation, reducing electrical usage by an estimated 800 megawatt hours, reducing infrastructure requirements, and preserving an estimated 150 million gallons of groundwater for this arid agricultural area. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Assessing Water Quality Improvement Schemes: The Multi-Attribute Technique of the UK's Environment Agency

The Environment Agency for England and Wales is required to take account of likely costs and benefits in carrying out its duties. Given the complex nature of environmental problems, this task requires sensitivity to issues such as uncertainty, multiple objectives and conflicting value systems. This paper describes a multi-attribute methodology used to carry out this duty in one area of the Agency's work, the regulation of the water industry. The method includes nine attributes measuring the benefits from water quality improvement schemes, and one attribute measuring scheme costs. It is a workable method that clearly satisfies the requirements for the Environment Agency to take account of the costs and benefits of its actions. Refinements are suggested to improve the individual attribute scores, the weights used in prioritisation and the incorporation of costs. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Emissions of reduced sulphur compounds from the surface of primary and secondary wastewater clarifiers at a Kraft Mill

Emissions of reduced sulphur compounds (RSCs) from the primary and secondary clarifiers at a Kraft mill were measured for respectively 8 and 22 days using a floating flux chamber. In the primary clarifier, dimethyl disulphide (DMDS) had the highest mean flux (0.83 microg s(-1) m(-2)) among all RSCs, and the mean flux of total reduced sulphur (TRS) was 1.53 microg s(-1) m(-2). At the secondary clarifier, dimethyl sulphide (DMS) had the highest mean flux (0.024 microg s(-1) m(-2)), and the mean flux of total reduced sulphur (TRS) was 0.025 microg s(-1) m(-2). Large variations in fluxes as a function of sampling date were observed in both clarifiers. Emission fluxes of DMS from the secondary clarifier were correlated with temperature in the flux chamber and with the biological and chemical oxygen demands (BOD and COD) of the wastewater. Emission rates of RSCs from the clarifiers were found to be insignificant by comparison with other mill sources.     

Assessment of temporal variations of water quality in inland water bodies using atmospheric corrected satellite remotely sensed image data

The spatial distribution of silicate, ammonium, nitrate, nitrite, phosphate, chlorophyll a and dissolved oxygen in Obidos lagoon was obtained by surveying five sites in eight campaigns, between October 2004 and October 2006. A confined inner branch of the lagoon showed higher availability of ammonium (1.2-81 micromol l(-1)), phosphate (1.9-17 micromol l(-1)), silicate (0.85-86 micromol l(-1)) and chlorophyll a (0.30-18 microg l(-1)) than other sites (0.47-25 micromol l(-1), 0.10-3.9 micromol l(-1), 0.47-25 micromol l(-1), 0.25-11 microg l(-1), respectively). According to several trophic classification tools, that branch is considered eutrophic to polytrophic, emphasising its deteriorated conditions, while the rest of the lagoon is of better quality. In autumn/winter nutrients were inversely correlated to salinity (r > 0.93) reflecting the freshwater inputs enriched in nitrogen and phosphorous compounds to the inner branch. In warmer periods, dissolved oxygen concentrations dropped during the night, and sediments of the branch become an important source of ammonium and phosphate. The low DIN:P ratio (median = 10) obtained in the branch, which suggests an excess of phosphate, that increased in warmer periods and changed the limiting nutrient in the entire lagoon. These results emphasize the spatial heterogeneity of water quality in Obidos lagoon, its seasonal variability, and the importance of recognising these distributions before defining homogenous water body on the scope of Water Framework Directive.     

The Use of Health Risk Assessment to Estimate Desirable Sampling Detection Limits

Abstract

The inclusion of non-detected chemicals in a health risk assessment may lead, in some cases, to estimated risks that exceed regulatory thresholds, because one must use the detection limit or half of the detection limit. This study presents a methodology which will allow one to estimate appropriate detection limits by conducting a health risk assessment prior to the source sampling program. The advantages and shortcomings of various levels of detail in the risk assessment to determine those detection limits are discussed. The application of the methodology is demonstrated with a case study of the potential health effects of power plant stack emissions.