Controlling the fate of roxarsone and inorganic arsenic in poultry litter

A growing body of literature reports 3-nitro-4-hydroxyphenylarsonic acid (roxarsone) degradation in poultry litter (PL) to the more toxic inorganic arsenic (As). Aluminum-based drinking-water treatment residuals (WTR) present a low-cost amendment technology to reduce As availability in PL, similar to the use of alum to reduce phosphorus availability. Batch experiments investigated the effectiveness of WTR in removing roxarsone and inorganic As species from PL aqueous suspensions. Incubation experiments with WTR-amended PL evaluated the effects of WTR application rates (2.5-15% by weight) and incubation time (up to 32 d) at two incubation temperatures (23 and 35 degrees C) on As availability in PL. Batch PL aqueous experiments showed the high affinity of As(V), As(III), dimethylarsinic acid (DMA), monomethylarsonic acid (MMA), and roxarsone for the WTR. The 10% WTR amendment rate decreased As availability in PL by half of that of the unamended (no WTR) PL-incubated samples. The reduction in dissolved As concentrations during incubation of WTR-amended PL samples was kinetically limited, being complete within 13 d. Parallel reductions in roxarsone, As(V), and DMA concentrations were observed with liquid chromatography-inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry, whereas As(III) and MMA concentrations were always <5% of dissolved As. Incubation temperature did not significantly (p > 0.05) influence dissolved As concentrations in the WTR-amended PL. Potential formation of a copper-containing roxarsone metabolite was considered in PL aqueous suspensions with the aid of electrospray mass spectrometry. Further experiments in the field are necessary to ensure that sorbed As is stable in WTR-amended PL.     

Assessing and selecting interventions for river water quality improvement within the context of population growth and urbanization: a case study of the Cau River basin in Vietnam

In this study, a multi-criteria methodology is proposed to identify and prioritize interventions for water quality improvement with the aid of computer simulation models. The methodology can be used to elaborate and compare future socio-economic development scenarios to select the best interventions based on three criteria: (1) ideas of experts and stakeholders about the importance of scenarios, (2) impacts of each scenario on surface water quality in watershed, and (3) benefit–cost analysis for each scenario. A score is computed for each scenario based on a weighted sum technique which enables to take into consideration different level of importance for the three criteria. The methodology is applied to Cau River basin in Vietnam, with the aid of a computer tool, to assess interventions for river water quality improvement within the context of population growth and urbanization. The results show that fast future population growth in upstream has significant impacts. In 2020, an increase of 116 % of the population in Bac Kan town can lead to an increase of 120 and 135 % in BOD₅ and NH₄ ⁺ median concentrations, respectively, with the implementation of a treatment plant for 10,000 people in Bac Kan town. Therefore, the increase of the domestic wastewater treatment plant’s capacity in Bac Kan town, at least twice as the projection of local government, is necessary. These results will help decision makers to select the best interventions for Cau River basin management.     

Genotoxic and epigenetic effects of diuron in the Pacific oyster: in vitro evidence of interaction between DNA damage and DNA methylation

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Recently, research has contributed to better knowledge on the occurrence of pesticides in coastal water by identifying frequently detected substances,...     

Does tradeoff between financial and social indicators matters in environmental consideration: evidence from G7 region

The study tries to discover the impact of financial and social indicators’ growth towards environmental considerations to understand the drivers of economic growth and carbon dioxide emissions change in G7 countries. The DEA-like composite index has been used to examine the tradeoff between financial and social indicator matters in environmental consideration by using a multi-objective goal programming approach. The data from 2008 to 2018 is collected from G-7 countries. The results from the DEA-like composite index reveals that there is a mixed condition of environmental sustainability in G-7 countries where the USA is performing better and Japan is performing worse among the set of other countries. The further result shows that the energy and fiscal indicators help to decrease the dangerous gas emissions. Divergent to that, the human and financial index positively contributes to greenhouse gas emissions. Fostering sustainable development is essential to successfully reduce emissions, meet established objectives, and ensure steady development. The study provides valuable information for policymakers.

     

Phthalic acid esters (PAEs) in workplace and house dust from Vietnam: concentrations,profiles, emission sources,and exposure risk

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - The occurrence of nine phthalic acid esters (PAEs) were determined in indoor dust samples collected from vehicle repair shops, waste processing...     

Landsat-8 and Sentinel-2 data for mapping plastic-covered greenhouse farming areas: a study from Dalat City (Lam Dong Province), Vietnam

Plastic-covered greenhouse (PCG) farming has been practiced worldwide, particularly in highland areas, for planting fruits and garden plants. Highland areas in south-central Vietnam have been witnessing an expansion of PCG farming in recent decades. For sustainable management of plastic-covered greenhouse farming areas, a proper and continuous monitoring of their spatial patterns is necessary. In this study, we used spaceborne multispectral imagery (Landsat-8 OLI and Sentinel-2 MSI) for automatic detection and mapping of plastic covered greenhouse farming areas in and surrounding areas of Dalat City in Lam Dong province, south-central Vietnam. Unsupervised (K-Means algorithm) and automatic delineation using spectral indices were applied to the Sentinel-2 and Landsat-8 data for mapping plastic-covered greenhouses in Dalat City and surrounding areas. The results were evaluated using field data; automatic spectral index-based mapping of PCGs using Sentinel-2 and Landsat-8 data was found as robust in terms of the overall accuracy. The overall accuracies of PCG maps derived from Sentinel-2 and Landsat-8 data by applying spectral indices were 90.8% and 88.7%, respectively, and those of unsupervised K-Means classification were estimated as 73.2% and 71.7%, respectively. This study estimated that about 2425 ha of plastic-covered greenhouses existed within in Dalat City in 2020.

     

Simulation of the Environmental Impact of an Airport on the Surrounding Air Quality

It is the purpose of this study to demonstrate the procedure involved in simulating those average and maximum pollutant concentrations at or around an airport which fall under the control of the Clean Air Act. The information is useful, when planning new or expanding existing airports, when estimating the impact of airports on the surrounding air quality, and when assessing the effectiveness of control procedures. Simulation of airport air quality requires the accurate assessment of the temporal and spatial emission patterns. This involves the tabulation of air traffic density by type and engine, make and model of aircraft, and engine mode number; the use of fuel by different aircraft; the pollutant emission rates by engine model and operational mode; the allocation of emission rates to the respective runways, turn-off points, taxi-ways, and parking areas, and the time each aircraft spent in the different operational modes. The resulting emission pattern for the Honolulu International Airport reflects scheduled and unscheduled commercial and military jet and piston aircraft and nonaircraft operations. Using this and the appropriate meteorological information average and maximum surface concentrations were calculated and compared with local ambient air quality standards. The calculation of concentrations is based on a newly developed diffusion model incorporating harmonic mean wind speeds for every degree of wind direction as determined by a Parzen maximum likelihood interpolation technique, and the assumption of log-normal concentration distributions. It is shown that for some pollutants the air quality standards are substantially exceeded, and it is concluded that airports may have a considerable adverse impact on their surrounding air quality.