A hierarchical framework for stream habitat classification: Viewing streams in a watershed context

Environmental Management - Classification of streams and stream habitats is useful for research involving establishment of monitoring stations, determination of local impacts of land-use practices,...     

ADDRESSING SOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES IN WATER RESOURCES PLANNING AND MANAGEMENT1

Understanding social goals and objectives and incorporating them in water resources planning, management, education and engineering processes is the key to solving many current and emerging water resources problems. Water resources professionals must turn more of their attention to this issue. Various avenues are open for their involvement. They include lobbying, participating in government, education and research, publishing, establishing institutions, interacting with the public and analyzing existing systems.     

National water policy: The need for institutional reform

The water policy of the United States of America has evolved over many years from an uncoordinated and often narrowly focused collection of legislative and administrative actions. Unfortunately, these elements are frequently in conflict, with the result that efforts to assure adequate water supplies for the future are ineffective. Water policy reform is urgently needed to preclude a major scale water crisis.The views expressed are those of the author and not necessarily those of the Library of Congress or any member of Congress.     

Ecological Monitoring for Assessing the State of the Nearshore and Open Waters of the Great Lakes

The Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement stipulates that the Governments of Canada and the United States are responsible for restoring and maintaining the chemical, physical and biological integrity of the waters of the Great Lakes Basin Ecosystem. Due to varying mandates and areas of expertise, monitoring to assess progress towards this objective is conducted by a multitude of Canadian and U.S. federal and provincial/state agencies, in cooperation with academia and regional authorities. This paper highlights selected long-term monitoring programs and discusses a number of documented ecological changes that indicate the present state of the open and nearshore waters of the Great Lakes.     

‘Green On Green’: Public perceptions of wind power in Scotland and Ireland

The wind energy debate represents a new kind of environmental controversy which divides environmentalists of different persuasions who attach contrasting priority to global and local concerns. Case studies of public attitudes towards existing and proposed windfarm developments in Scotland and Ireland are used to test three counter-intuitive hypotheses derived from previous attitudinal research. These are: (a) that local people become more favourable towards windfarms after construction; (b) that the degree of acceptance increases with proximity to them; and (c) that the NIMBY syndrome(not-in-my-back-yard) does not adequately explain variations in public attitudes. All three hypotheses are supported by this study. Large majorities favour wind power development in principle and in (local) practice. Although some aspects of NIMBY attitudes exist, the surveys reveal an ‘inverse NIMBY’ syndrome, whereby those with windfarms in their ‘backyard’ strongly support the technology. The research endorses the view that aesthetic perceptions, both positive and negative, are the strongest single influence on individuals' attitudes towards wind power projects. Comparison of the current institutional factors driving wind energy development with those during earlier eras of hydro-power development and large-scale afforestation emphasizes the need for strategic planning guidance. The potential for using a planning-led approach to windfarm developments by adopting ‘Indicative Windfarm Strategies’ is discussed.     

Utility of laboratory streams for ecosystem toxicity studies

Laboratory stream microcosms have been used to study transport, fate, and effects of toxic substances in stream ecosystems. Several general concerns exist in utilizing laboratory streams in this way. We summarize some of the most important and difficult of these problems and endeavor to provide theoretical understanding, evaluation, and empirical approaches necessary for making laboratory stream ecosystem studies more useful in solving problems of toxic substance behavior in natural stream ecosystems. Well-designed laboratory streams and other microcosms are complex dynamic systems that can contribute to our understanding of the behavior of toxic substances. But such systems are far too complex and dynamic to be employed as bioassay, monitoring, or predictive tools, as individual organisms have been.     

Secondary organic aerosol formation from cyclohexene ozonolysis in the presence of water vapor and dissolved salts

A series of 90 experiments were conducted in the UC Riverside/CE-CERT environmental chamber to evaluate the impact of water vapor and dissolved salts on secondary organic aerosol formation for cyclohexene ozonolysis. Water vapor (low – 30 ± 2% RH, medium – 46 ± 2% RH, high – 63 ± 2% RH) was found to directly participate in the atmospheric chemistry altering the composition of the condensing species, thus increasing total organic aerosol formation by ～22% as compared to the system under dry (<0.1% RH) conditions. Hygroscopicity measurements also indicate that the organic aerosol composition is altered in the presence of gaseous water. These results are consistent with water vapor reacting with the crigee intermediate in the gas phase resulting in increased aldehyde formation. The addition of dissolved salts ((NH₄)₂SO₄, NH₄HSO₄, CaCl₂, NaCl) had minimal effect; only the (NH₄)₂SO₄ and NaCl were found to significantly impact the system with ～10% increase in total organic aerosol formation. These results indicate that the organics may be partitioning to an outer organic shell as opposed to into the aqueous salt. Hygroscopicity measurements indicate that the addition of salts does not alter the aerosol composition for the dry or water vapor system.     

Incorporating cleaner production analysis into environmental impact assessment in china

An environmental impact assessment (EIA) system was established in 1979 in China. Although EIA was designed as a tool for pollution prevention, in practice it has been based on end-of-pipe (EOP) treatment control since it was first introduced. This approach has ensured an overwhelming focus by enterprises on the use of EOP treatment, rather than pollution prevention, to meet environmental standards, and it has produced a low rate of operation for EOP facilities. The low operation rate for EOP facilities can be traced to the traditional EIA system: it leads project proponents to develop large EOP treatment facilities, but once the main production lines are put into operation, proponents rarely have sufficient funds to operate the treatment facilities. This paper analyzes problems that exist in the EIA system in China, and it describes the Cleaner Production Index and Evaluation System, which is being proposed by environmental authorities in China to evaluate EIA projects based on cleaner production criteria. The paper also suggests how cleaner production analysis can be integrated into the EIA system to improve it.