Occurrence of pharmaceutical and personal care products in Cau River,Vietnam

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - This study evaluated the occurrence of PPCPs in Cau River (Vietnam). Surface water and sediment samples were collected to determine PPCP...     

Optimal environmental policy for waste disposal and recycling when firms are not compliant

We investigate a model that considers disposal and recycling activities after the consumption of products. In the field, the deposit–refund (D–R) policy has been considered as an ideal policy for internalizing disposal costs, which can result in the realization of the first-best policy. However, the possibility of firms' illegal disposal has been neglected. We introduce a monitoring cost to prevent firms from disposing of collected residuals illegally and induce the second-best D–R policy. We find that the relation between the monitoring problem for firms and the price of the recycling market brings about a variation in the optimal level of the refunds (which is typically smaller than the first-best level). Further, we investigate an alternative policy that requires producers to take-back residuals and show how this policy works equivalently to the second-best D–R policy by applying the theory of the tradable rights market.     

Estrogen content and relative performance of Japanese and British sewage treatment plants and their potential impact on endocrine disruption.

Both the UK and Japan are densely populated islands with relatively short rivers. Therefore, both countries are likely to be highly exposed to contaminants emanating from their human populations. This review considered how effective the different sewage treatment facilities of the two countries are at removing steroid estrogens from the effluent. The methods of estrogen analysis in sewage effluent, the number and importance of different sewage treatment types, and their apparent effectiveness at removing estrogens were all considered. In both countries, the activated sludge treatment was dominant in terms of people served and water discharged. The analytical techniques used by those studying estrogen concentrations in effluents in both countries were broadly similar. Activated sludge plant (ASP) effluent in the UK typically contained around 2 ng/L estradiol (E2) and 8 ng/L estrone (E1), while Japanese ASPs typically reported E2 as below detection, and 10 ng/L E1 in their effluents. When estrogenic bioassays were used in Japan, they typically record an estrogenic potency of 10 ng/L E2 equivalents. Even taking into account ethinylestradiol (EE2) (not found in Japanese effluents), the overall estrogenicity of British sewage effluents would appear to be the same as that of Japanese sewage effluents (around 10 ng/L E2 equivalents). This suggests that the ASPs serving the large urban communities in Japan and the UK would have effluent of similar estrogenic potencies. Less information is available about the more numerous biological (trickling) filter plants (BFP) in the UK and oxygen ditches (OD) in Japan which tend to serve smaller, more rural communities. The available data would suggest that the BFPs are significantly less efficient than the ODs at removing E1. This would suggest that in similar circumstances, British headwaters (where this sewage treatment plant (STP) type is often found) might be more at risk from endocrine disruption than their Japanese counterparts. Overall, the apparently higher incidence of endocrine disruption in British wild fish than in Japanese wild fish cannot be attributed to differences in the efficiency of their respective STPs.     

Effects of selected metal oxides on the dechlorination and destruction of PCDD and PCDF

OCDD and OCDF spiked silica/graphite based model fly ash containing various copper compounds and metal oxides were thermally treated under oxygen deficient conditions. All copper compounds tested showed a considerable dechlorination/hydrogenation reaction at 260 °C. After 30 min at 340 °C, less than 1% of the spiked OCDD and OCDF was recovered as T₄CDD/F to OCDD/F. Other compounds tested demonstrated a lower rate of dechlorination compared to the copper compounds. However, all other metal oxides showed a small dechlorination effect at 260 °C, which was considerably increased at 340 °C.

The model fly ash containing the different copper compounds or metal oxides showed comparable PCDD and PCDF isomer patterns after thermal treatment. However, small differences were observed among the different tested compounds. The PCDD and PCDF isomer patterns on the model fly ashes were similar to patterns found during dechlorination experiments on fly ashes from waste incineration processes.

Model fly ash containing Ca(OH)₂ exhibited the highest destruction potential, but a low dechlorination potential. In contrast, model fly ash containing any of the remaining compounds tested, was found to predominantly dechlorinate the spiked OCDD and OCDF.     

Relation of dietary inorganic arsenic exposure and urinary inorganic arsenic metabolites excretion in Japanese subjects

Inorganic arsenic (InAs) is a ubiquitous metalloid that has been shown to exert multiple adverse health outcomes. Urinary InAs and its metabolite concentration has been used as a biomarker of arsenic (As) exposure in some epidemiological studies, however, quantitative relationship between daily InAs exposure and urinary InAs metabolites concentration has not been well characterized. We collected a set of 24-h duplicated diet and spot urine sample of the next morning of diet sampling from 20 male and 19 female subjects in Japan from August 2011 to October 2012. Concentrations of As species in duplicated diet and urine samples were determined by using liquid chromatography-ICP mass spectrometry with a hydride generation system. Sum of the concentrations of urinary InAs and methylarsonic acid (MMA) was used as a measure of InAs exposure. Daily dietary InAs exposure was estimated to be 0.087 µg kg^?1 day^?1 (Geometric mean, GM), and GM of urinary InAs+MMA concentrations was 3.5 ng mL^?1. Analysis of covariance did not find gender-difference in regression coefficients as significant (P > 0.05). Regression equation Log ₁₀ [urinary InAs+MMA concentration] = 0.570× Log ₁₀ [dietary InAs exposure level per body weight] + 1.15 was obtained for whole data set. This equation would be valuable in converting urinary InAs concentration to daily InAs exposure, which will be important information in risk assessment.     

A numerical experiment of roadside diffusion under traffic-produced flow and turbulence

Roadside air pollution due to heavy traffic is one of the unsettled issues in the atmospheric environment in urban areas. As a practical application of a Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) model, a coupled mesoscale-CFD model was applied to the Ikegamicho area of Kawasaki City, Japan. For this study, the effects of traffic-produced flow and turbulence (TPFT) on the dispersion of the pollutants near the heavy traffic road were mainly investigated in an actual urban area. First, a series of preliminary CFD calculations was conducted for a road tunnel field experiment to obtain a fitting parameter for the traffic-produced flow. The calculation was then performed for 24 h in December 2005 around Ikegamicho, and the results were compared with the data at a roadside monitoring post in the area, located 10 m from the boundary of the ground road. In general, the effect of traffic-produced flow and turbulence was limited at the downstream side of the roads. The maximum concentration of NO_x was reduced and smoothed out along the traffic flow by the traffic-produced flow and turbulence on the road. The effects of traffic-produced turbulence on the dispersion of pollutants were greater than those of traffic-produced flow; however, the effects of traffic-produced flow were not negligible. The concentration of pollutants was not particularly dependent on the turbulent Schmidt number because most of the emission sources were introduced as volume sources in the present calculations, and the effect caused by differences in the material diffusion coefficient was not particularly significant at the outside of the road.     

Cryptic invasion of northeast Pacific estuaries by the Asian polychaete, Hediste diadroma (Nereididae)

The estuarine polychaete, Hediste diadroma (Nereididae), of eastern Asia was found at all six sites sampled in October 2009 in northeast Pacific estuaries, including the Columbia River, along a 300-km stretch of coastline in Washington and Oregon, USA. The immature worms were returned to the laboratory in Japan where 13 of them were cultured to sexual maturity after 5–7 months. These worms had the diagnostic, epitoke-specific spinigers that distinguish H. diadroma from all other Hediste species. Their egg sizes (140–170 μm), paragnath numbers on the proboscis, and chromosome number (2n = 28) were also consistent with those previously reported for the Japanese population of H. diadroma. The widespread distribution of H. diadroma indicates that it is a successful invader of the North American Pacific and it may have long escaped detection because of its morphological similarity to the native species, H. limnicola. The long pelagic life of H. diadroma larvae could have facilitated its successful trans-ocean dispersal with ballast water of ships.     

流域的可持续管理:国际多个流域的案例研究

全球淡水资源正在不断受到污染和亏耗,威胁着可持续发展及人类和生态系统的健康.本文通过美国、日本、瑞士和巴西四个不同流域的案例研究,阐述了与淡水资源密切相关的可持续发展中的缺陷,指明了水资源可持续管理的总体方向.由于近几十年来人口的增长和经济的发展,每个流域的水质、流量和生物资源量都在下降.但是对于不同的流域来说,与水有关的这些问题的严重程度和文化观念大不相同,因而形成各自独特的水资源管理政策.在工业化国家,例如美国、瑞士和日本,这类政策允许采用资金密集型和能源密集型技术,使得这些国家在满足其水资源需求的同时还能尽量降低人类健康风险.然而,从可持续发展的观点看,以有限的自然资源为基础制定的这类政策,并非长久之计.对于新兴工业化国家(如巴西)来说,昂贵的水资源管理技术在经济上常常行不通,因而限制了新兴工业化国家和发展中国家对发达国家提供的技术的利用程度.要实现水资源的可持续管理,发达国家、新兴工业化国家和发展中国家都需要经历一个学习的过程,同时还需要遵循本文介绍的可持续发展的通用原则.     

Bisphenol A in hazardous waste landfill leachates

The levels of bisphenol A in hazardous waste landfill leachates collected in Japan in 1996 were determined by gas chromatograph/mass spectrometer (GC/MS). Bisphenol A was found in seven of 10 sites investigated. All the hazardous waste landfills with leachates contaminated by bisphenol A were controlled. The concentrations of bisphenol A ranged from 1.3 to 17,200 microg/l with a median concentration of 269 microg/l. The source of bisphenol A in landfill leachates may be the waste plastics in waste landfill. The concentrations of bisphenol A in some samples exceeded the EC50 or LC50 levels for aquatic biota. Landfill leachates may be a significant source of bisphenol A found in the environment.