PRELIMINARY HYDROLOGIC DESIGN OF SMALL FLOOD DETENTION RESERVOIRS1

ABSTRACT. Flood detention reservoir design is a common problem encountered by engineers and others involved with water resources problems. This paper presents a method by which the volume of flood storage required for a single reservoir or a series of reservoirs may be estimated without using numeric flood-routing techniques. The proposed procedure requires a minimum of computations and is most applicable to preliminary design situations where a high degree of accuracy is not required.     

Clutch size and the cost of incubation in the Bengalese finch (Lonchura striata var. domestica)

Summary By measuring daily intake of food, we compared the cost of incubation for small and large clutches in adult Bengalese finches (Lonchura striata var. domestica). Natural clutches of captive finches were experimentally manipulated to produce two egg or six egg clutches. While incubating large clutches, parents ate significantly more food and took longer to hatch their first egg than did the same birds when provided with small clutches. This supports the hypothesis that the cost of incubation increases with clutch size. This cost should influence other energy allocation decisions in birds such as determination of clutch size and parental investment decisions.     

An instrumental analytical technique for vapour-phase mercury species in air

This paper describes the research and development activities culminating in a methodology for the speciation of several volatile forms of mercury in the atmosphere: elemental mercury, mercuric chloride, methylmercuric chloride, and dimethyl mercury.     

AN EVALUATION OF EIGHT WASTELOAD ALLOCATION METHODS1

Evidence suggests that there is no superior wasteload allocation method. Eight allocation strategies have been evaluated based on: total cost of implementation, equity in distributing costs and loads among dischargers, effectiveness in use of available waste assimilative capacity, and sensitivity to changes in water-quality-related variables. One method, which allocated equal percentages of the maximum allowable dissolved oxygen deficit, was eliminated as a feasible strategy because it led to excessive costs and overly conservative load estimates. The other seven methods remained viable alternatives. Two methods proved to be insensitive to changes in the water-quality-related variables tested, which may be advantageous in certain applications. This report presents seven workable alternatives that may be used in wasteload allocation and demonstrates a procedure to determine the practicability of other methods.     

Preface

Water, Air, &; Soil Pollution: Focus -     

Sustainable rural development in Sokoto State, Nigeria

In Nigeria, as in most countries, institutional barriers to successful rural development exist and need to be addressed. In Sokoto State, a variable and unpredictable Sahelian climate in combination with conditions of high population growth, low levels of income, and environmental degradation, create and intensify institutional challenges. This study examines the sustainability of government initiatives regarding the provision of agricultural inputs, assistance and extension services to farmers, and the extent to which agency efforts are coordinated and integrated, particularly regarding water management. In some cases, rural development agencies demonstrated the capability to meet the needs of the people. Some farmers were satisfied with government assistance and in some areas the tube well programme was quite successful. Yet in Sokoto State many institutional barriers to sustainable rural development exist and need to be addressed. In general, implementation strategies and management procedures appeared narrowly focused and placed little emphasis on coordination and integration among rural development agencies. The result was often inappropriate overlap or oversights in activities .     

Two granular-activated carbons for adsorbing army explosives

Explosives-contaminated groundwater percolating from storage ponds at the Milan Army Ammunition Plant (MAAP) in Milan, Tennessee, into the Claiborne aquifer threatens to contaminate more groundwater—and possibly surface water—in the area. The research described in this article sought to determine whether granular-activated carbon (GAC) could help remove the explosives from the water and to identify which carbons can adsorb the most TNT, RDX, HMX, Tetryl, and others. Two carbons—Atochem, Inc. GAC 830 and Calgon Filtrasorb 300—were found to be promising candidates. As for what to do with the explosives that would be adsorbed, as well as the contaminated carbon, stay tuned.     

Whither stress research?: An agenda for the 1980s

This paper offers a way of identifying fruitful research avenues through the maze of possibilities existing in the field of occupational stress. The field appears to be at a crossroads in which key choices will have to be made in the 1980s. The choices involve: How should we study stress? Who do we want to study? And what problems should we study? Central methodological challenges include: highlighting the relative value of various methods with respect to the level of explanation and the nature of the audience; examining the meaning and phenomenology of the stress experience; and evaluating the validity of measures in the hope of standardizing diagnostic instruments. Regarding research populations, more care must be devoted to selection of subjects. Subjects who are strained should be selected noting whether the state is acute versus chronic. Researchers should concentrate on blue collar jobs which are demanding but of low discretion; the long term unemployed; chronically threatened job incumbents; the wives of men who are themselves in stressful occupations; women in professional and executive roles; the wives of the unemployed; and single parent families in general. Stress problems worthy of study include: acute versus chronic states of stress; the role of the objective and subjective environment; the relationship between psychological strain and physiological mechanisms; coping behaviours; and the work, family and societal interface. The quality of knowledge of about each of these elements needs to be improved if we are to achieve a more comprehensive analysis of the stress process.     

ACUTE RESIDUAL TOXICITY OF SEVERAL WASTEWATER DISINFECTANTS TO AQUATIC LIFE1

ABSTRACT: This study was conducted to determine the comparative acute toxicity of chlorine, bromine chloride and ozone in wastewater, and to determine any acute toxicity associated with chlorinated wastewater which had been dechlorinated with sulfur dioxide. Toxicity tests were conducted with several species of cyprinids, salmonids and centrarchids, and the freshwater macroinvertebrate, Daphnia magna. Chlorinated effluent exhibited the greatest potential for residual toxicity of any disinfected stream tested. The reduced residual toxicity of chlorobrominated or ozonated effluent was largely the result of the more rapid dissipation of these disinfectants in wastewater. The acute residual toxicity of chlorinated effluent was eliminated by dechlorination with sulfur dioxide.