Building an integrated environmental,health, and safety management system

This article discusses an integrated management system that aligns and integrates the various environmental, health, and safety functions and disciplines. This model is easily adopted to provide performance measures required to satisfy Responsible Care®, ISO 14001, and the European Union EMAS requirements.     

The imprecision in rates of down syndrome by 1-year maternal age intervals: A critical analysis of rates used in biochemical screening

Current algorithms to determine eligibility for prenatal cytogenetic diagnostic services depend critically on the accuracy and precision of the underlying rates of cytogenetic abnormality used in the calculations. We examine the maternal age-specific rates of Down syndrome livebirths in eight studies of European-origin populations, pooled rates from which are widely used for baseline calculations in biochemical screening. These studies vary significantly in such factors as methods of ascertainment of cases, likelihood of complete ascertainment, and methods of correction, if any, for underascertainment. Restriction of analysis to those two studies among the eight whose methods suggest the greatest likelihood of complete ascertainment for Down syndrome generates rates significantly higher than those in widespread use. Confidence intervals about previously reported and currently derived rates indicate that even with large-scale data, there is considerable residual uncertainty in derived rates.     

Book Reviews

CARCINOGENESIS AND MUTAGENESIS, by Myron A. Mehlman, Morris F. Cranmer and Raymond E. Shapiro, from the Journal of Environmental Pathology and Toxicology (Official Organ of the American College of Toxicology), 388 pages and 135 tables and figures, 1977, linen, format 261 × 178 mm, ISBN 0–930376–02–1, printed by Pathotox Publishers, Inc., Park Forest South, Illinois 60466, $23.00

WASTE TREATMENT AND UTILIZATION (Theory and Practice of Waste Management) by Murray Moo‐Young and Grahame J. Farquhar, University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada; 574 pages, 211 illustrations and 513 literature references, linen, format 256 × 182mm, ISBN 0–08–023831–9, printed by Pergamon Press Ltd., Oxford OX3 OBW, England 1979, US$ 70.00 or £32.00.

HANDBOOK ON THE TOXICOLOGY OF METALS by Lars Friberg (S‐10401 Stockholm), Gunnar F. Nordberg (DK‐5000 Odense) and Velimir B. Vouk (WHO, CH‐1211 Geneva), and sponsored by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency 1979, 709 pages, linen, format 246 × 173 mm, ISBN 0–444–80075–1, printed by Elsevier/North‐Holland Biomedical Press, Amsterdam NL, $117.00/Dfl. 240.00     

Volatile organic chloramines formation during ClO2 treatment

Volatile organic chloramines are reported as the disinfection byproducts during chlorination or chloramination.However,ClO_2,as an important alternative disinfectant for chlorine,was not considered to produce halogenated amines.In the present work,volatile organic chloramines including(CH_3)_2 NCl and CH_3 NCl_2 were found to be generated during the reaction of ClO_2 and the dye pollutants.(CH_3)_2 NCl was the dominant volatile DBP to result from ClO_2 treated all four dye pollutants including Methyl Orange,Methyl Red,Methylene Blue and Malachite Green,with molar yields ranging from 2.6% to 38.5% at a ClO_2 to precursor(ClO_2/P) molar ratio of 10.HOCl was identified and proved to be the reactive species for the formation of (CH_3)_2 NCl,which implied(CH_3)_2 NCl was transformed by a combined oxidation of ClO_2 and hypochlorous acid.(CH_3)_2 NCl concentrations in the ppb range were observed when real water samples were treated by ClO_2 in the presence of the dye pollutants.The results suggest that these azo dyes are one of the significant precursors for the formation of HOCl during ClO_2 treatment and that organic chloramines should be considered in ClO_2 disinfection chemistry and water treatment.     

A numerical study of soil cover performance

In the investigation of soil cover design options for final decommissioning of reactive mine waste, it is often necessary to analyze or predict the anticipated cover performance as a function of the cost of implementation, which is governed by the type, number and thickness of the layers in the cover system. An example of such investigation is presented in this study where one-dimensional evaporation from hypothetical moisture-retaining cover systems is simulated to assess the influence of several cover properties and hydrogeologic parameters on performance. The commercially available transient flow model, SoilCover, was used to compute suction and water content profiles for different cover design scenarios. The predicted water content profile and porosity of layers were then used to estimate the oxygen diffusion coefficients of the various layers. The oxygen diffusion coefficients were used to estimate oxygen flux through the cover systems. The oxygen flux was, in turn, related to the maximum acid flux. The studied cover and hydrogeologic parameters included soil type, thickness of barriers, and water table elevation. Two types of infiltration and oxygen barrier and two types of capillary layer with different thicknesses were studied. The water table was either kept constant at the base of the waste (tailings) or dropped by 0.5, 1, 2, and 3m over 120 days. The results showed that the relationship between water table depression and the thickness of capillary layers, on one hand, and desaturation of the infiltration and oxygen barrier, on the other, is not linear. Relationships between oxygen flux and barrier thickness and between cost increase and performance improvement of the studied cover systems are presented. Finally, a method that outlines steps for site-specific and economically feasible design of multi-layer cover systems is introduced.     

EFFECTIVE WATER RESOURCES MANAGEMENT IN THE URBAN SETTING1

Water resources management in the urban areas of the United States to be effective must include dimensions far beyond water supply and sewerage. This paper concerns itself with those problem areas of water resource management outside of potable water supply and sanitary sewers. These areas include flood plain management, greenways and blueways, storm water, vistas of waterways, and other attributes of living in or near a water-related environment. The perceptions and attitudes of the concerned public and community power structure must be known in order to manage the water environment effectively. Methods of measuring these perceptions and attitudes are described and ways in which the resulting citizen-resource can be tapped and used as a management device are explored.     

Mesophilic biomethanation and treatment of poultry waste-water using pilot scale UASB reactor

The feasibility of applying the up-flow anaerobicsludge blanket (UASB) treatment for poultry waste (faeces)water was examined. A continuous-flow UASB pilot scalereactor of 3.50 L capacity using mixed culture was operatedfor 95 days to assess the treatability of poultry waste-water and its methane production. The maximum chemicaloxygen demand (COD) removed was found to be 78% whenorganic loading rate (OLR) was 2.9 kg COD m^-3 day^-1 athydraulic retention times (HRT) of 13.2 hr. The averagebiogas recovery was 0.26 m³ CH₄ kg COD with an averagemethane content of 57% at mean temperature of 30 °C.Data indicate more rapid methanogenesis with higher loadingrates and shorter hydraulic retention times. At feedconcentration of 4.8 kg COD m^-3 day^-1, anaerobic digestionwas severely retarded at all hydraulic retention timetested. This complication in the reactor operations may belinked to build-up of colloidal solids often associated withpoultry waste water and ammonia toxicity. Isolates fromgranular sludge and effluent were found to be facultativeanaerobes most of which were Pseudomonas genera.