The effect of oxidation and acidification on the speciation of heavy metals in sulfide-rich freshwater sediments using a sequential extraction procedure

The speciation of metals in a contaminated, anoxic, sulfide-rich, freshwater sediment was determined experimentally, using a sequential extraction procedure based on the method of Tessier et al. Taking into account the advantages and disadvantages of sequential extractions, the applied methodology allowed the investigation of the influence of aeration and acidification on the distribution of various metals in the sediment. Aeration caused Zn and Cd to be released from sulfides. Carbonates were partly dissolved by the oxidation process, causing mobilisation of Ca. Fe became less mobile owing to a stronger binding to organic matter. The speciation of K, Al, Ni, Pb and Mn and to a lesser extent of Cu was not affected by aeration. As a result of acidification of the aerated sediment, Ca, Mn, Ni, Zn and Cd became more mobile owing to the dissolution of carbonates.     

Dioxin emissions after installation of a polishing wet scrubber in a hazardous waste incineration facility

Dioxin levels measured after wet scrubbing systems have been found to be higher than levels measured before the scrubber. It is believed that there is an adsorption of PCDD/Fs on plastic materials in the scrubber. The PCDD/F levels after a polishing wet scrubber were followed continuously for 18 months using long-time sampling equipment at a hazardous waste incineration facility in Sweden. Each sampling period lasted two weeks. It was found that the levels during and shortly after start-up periods were elevated. The decline was very slowly, which supports a memory effect in the scrubber. Further, a multivariate model showed that the relation between different homologues changed over time, which is in agreement with a desorption model, taking into account the vapour pressures for different congeners.     

The acetochlor registration partnership: prospective ground water monitoring program

The Acetochlor Registration Partnership conducted a prospective ground water (PGW) monitoring program to investigate acetochlor [2-chloro-N-(ethoxymethyl)-N-(2-ethyl-6-methylphenyl)-acetamide] transport to ground water at eight sites. The distribution of soil textures among these sites was weighted toward coarser soil types, while also including finer-textured soils that dominate most corn (Zea mays L.)-growing areas of the United States. Each site consisted of a 1.2-ha test plot adjacent to a 0.2-ha control plot. Suction lysimeters and monitoring wells were installed at multiple depths within each test and control plot to sample soil-pore water and near-surface ground water. Irrigation was applied to each site during the growing season to ensure water input of 110 to 200% of average historical rainfall. Acetochlor dissipated rapidly from surface soils at all sites with a DT(50) (time for 50% of the initial residues to dissipate) of only 3 to 9 d, but leaching was not an important loss mechanism, with only 0.25% of the 15,312 soil-pore water and ground water samples analyzed containing parent acetochlor at or above 0.05 microg L(-1). However, quantifiable residues of a soil degradation product, acetochlor ethanesulfonic acid, were more common, with approximately 16% of water samples containing concentrations at or above 1.0 microg L(-1). A second soil degradation product, acetochlor oxanilic acid, was present at concentrations at or above 1.0 microg L(-1) in only 0.15% of water samples analyzed. The acetochlor PGW program demonstrated that acetochlor lacks the potential to leach to ground water at detectable concentrations, and when applied in accordance with label restrictions, is unlikely to move to ground water at concentrations hazardous to human health.     

Priority assessment of toxic substances in life cycle assessment. Part II: assessing parameter uncertainty and human variability in the calculation of toxicity potentials

Toxicity potentials are standard values used in life cycle assessment (LCA) to enable a comparison of toxic impacts between substances. This paper presents the results of an uncertainty assessment of toxicity potentials that were calculated with the global nested multi-media fate, exposure and effects model USES-LCA. The variance in toxicity potentials resulting from input parameter uncertainties and human variability was quantified by means of Monte Carlo analysis with Latin Hypercube sampling (LHS). For Atrazine, 2,3,7,8-TCDD and Lead, variation, expressed by the ratio of the 97.5%-ile and the 2.5%-ile, ranges from about 1.5 to 6 orders of magnitude. The major part of this variation originates from a limited set of substance-specific input parameters, i.e. parameters that describe transport mechanisms, substance degradation, indirect exposure routes and no-effect concentrations. Considerable correlations were found between the toxicity potentials of one substance, in particular within one impact category. The uncertainties and correlations reported in the present study may have a significant impact on the outcome of LCA case studies.     

Organochlorine compounds in the Gulf of Bothnia: sediment and benthic species

Surface sediment, amphipods (Monoporeia affinis), isopods (Saduria entomon) and fourhorn sculpins (Oncocottus quadricornis) were collected at two coastal stations in the Gulf of Bothnia, one in the Bothnian Bay and the other in the Bothnian Sea. The objective was to study the concentrations, composition profiles, bioaccumulation features and spatial differences of organochlorine compounds such as hexachlorocyclohexanes (HCHs), DDTs, hexachlorobenzene (HCBz), chlordanes (CHLs), dieldrin, Mirex and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). All groups of compounds were found in every sample investigated, with the exception of Mirex that was not detected in the sediment samples. The concentrations for e.g. PCBs and CHLs ranged from 700 to 2400 and 70 to 400 ng/g lipid in the specimens. For the corresponding sediments the results were 9.0-9.3 ng/g dw for PCBs and 0.54-0.57 ng/g dw for CHLs, respectively. Bioaccumulation differences between the species with regard to both degree of and type of compound were observed. The highest accumulation potential was found for the cyclodiene compounds including CHLs and Mirex in isopod. Finally, there were only small concentration and bioaccumulation differences between the two stations.     

Blast phenomena in urban tunnel systems

Traffic infrastructure in urbanised areas is increasingly projected in tunnels underground or covered over, these days. A consequence is that in case of an incident with hazardous materials the safety level for fellow road users in tunnels is considerably less than it is in surface infrastructure. To reduce the consequences of incidents for fellow tunnel users, urban tunnels are sometimes interrupted by open spaces of limited length. Open spaces allow, for instance, the release of smoke in case of a fire. In this way, possible lethal effects are limited to the tunnel section in which the incident occurred. To what extent an open space may also be effective in the mitigation of blast effects from an explosion in a tunnel system is subject of this paper.

To this end, the blast effects originating from the rupture of a 50 m³ LPG pressure vessel in an urban tunnel system have been computed by numerical simulation. The results show that an open space in a tunnel system has a significant mitigating effect on the blast effects indeed. However, as a consequence of the ingress of a high-velocity jet flow that follows on a primary blast wave, a second blast wave develops in the tunnel section following on an open space. The strength of this second blast wave is not very dependent on the length of the open space. It shows that an open space in a tunnel system may not always limit the lethal effects of explosion incidents in tunnels to the tube in which the incident occurred. The second blast wave in the tunnel section following on an open space may have lethal consequences for fellow tunnel users by car window failure.     

Equity and productivity assessments in the Olifants River basin, South Africa

Emerging approaches to water resources development and management typically highlight equity and productivity as two main objectives. In the context of integrated water resources management within a river basin, managers and stakeholders often need a comparative assessment of different options for water augmentation and/or allocation. Pitting such options against predefined objectives, such as equity and productivity, requires an assessment of the effects that available options will have on these objectives. Available documentation indicates that not only does the interpretation of such objectives vary widely, but also the available methods for assessing equity and productivity run into significant limitations in the availability of adequate data. This limitation has largely kept decision makers from gaining a comprehensive overview of equity and productivity scenarios, whether within or across sectors, that could facilitate better‐informed decisions. To address this methodological gap, this article scrutinizes different notions associated with equity and water productivity, and limitations in prevalent assessment methods with the view to develop and demonstrate pragmatic methodologies for assessing equity and productivity in data‐scarce contexts. The discussion and findings are based on a review of relevant literature and empirical and consultative research work in the Olifants River basin in South Africa. The demonstrated methodologies for assessing equity and productivity, besides being useful in data‐scarce contexts, are insightful for initiating several policy measures and also for exploring the relationship between equity and water productivity.     

Prenatal diagnosis of the Hunter syndrome and the introduction of a new fluorimetric enzyme assay

Prenatal diagnosis of the Hunter syndrome (mucopolysaccharidosis type II; MPS II) is preferably achieved by the assay of iduronate-2-sulphate sulphatase (IDS) in uncultured chorionic villi (CV) as this allows early (12th week), rapid (2–3 days) and reliable results. We summarize the results of 174 prenatal analyses in the past 30 years, using various methods such as radiolabelled sulphate incorporation in amniotic fluid (AF) cells, glycosaminoglycan (GAG)-electrophoresis in AF and IDS assay in CV, CV-cells, AF and AF-cells. Twenty-seven fetuses with MPS II were diagnosed after finding clearly abnormal results in pregnancies with a male fetus; very low IDS activity has also been measured in some pregnancies with a (heterozygous) female fetus, emphasizing the need to combine enzyme assay with fetal sex determination. IDS activity has until recently been assessed by a cumbersome radioactive enzyme assay. Here we describe the use of a novel fluorigenic 4-methylumbelliferyl substrate, which allows a sensitive, rapid and convenient assay of IDS activity and reliable early prenatal diagnosis. This novel IDS assay was validated in retrospective analyses of 14 CV, CV-cell, AF and AF-cell samples from affected pregnancies in addition to prospective prenatal diagnosis in eight pregnancies at risk with one MPS II-affected fetus. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.