Measurements and analysis of criteria pollutants in New Delhi, India

Ambient concentrations of carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen oxides (NOx), sulfur dioxide (SO2), and total suspended particulates (TSP) were measured from January 1997 to November 1998 in the center of downtown [the Income Tax Office (ITO) located on B.S.G. Marg] New Delhi, India. The data consist of 24-h averages of SO2, NOx, and TSP as well as 8 and 24-h averages of CO. The measurements were made in an effort to characterize air pollution in the urban environment of New Delhi and assist in the development of an air quality index. The yearly average CO, NOx, SO2, and TSP concentrations for 1997 and 1998 were found to be 4810+/-2287 and 5772+/-2116 microg/m3, 83+/-35 and 64+/-22 microg/m3, 20+/-8 and 23+/-7 microg/m3, and 409+/-110 and 365+/-100 microg/m3, respectively. In general, the maximum CO, SO2, NOx, and TSP values occurred during the winter with minimum values occurring during the summer, which can be attributed to a combination of meteorological conditions and photochemical activity in the region. The ratio of CO/NOx (approximately 50) indicates that mobile sources are the predominant contributors for these two compounds in the urban air pollution problem in New Delhi. The ratio of SO2/NOx (approximately 0.6) indicates that point sources are contributing to SO2 pollution in the city. The averaged background CO concentrations in New Delhi were also calculated (approximately 1939 microg/m3) which exceed those for Eastern USA (approximately 500 microg/m3). Further, all measured concentrations exceeded the US National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) except for SO2. TSP was identified as exceeding the standard on the most frequent basis.     

Phosalone applied to cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.): its deposition and persistence on foliages, soils and final residues in seeds

Phosalone, O,O-diethyl-S-(6-chloro-1,3-benzoxazol-2(3H)-onyl)methyl phosphorodithioate, was field-applied by ground equipment to cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) at the rates of 1050 and 2100 g a.i./ha, respectively, to determine its dissipation on leaves and soils and the residues in seeds at harvest. The insecticide concentrations on cotton leaves and soils were measured periodically for 14 days following its application. It was found that the half lives of the insecticide on cotton leaves at the dosages of 1050 and 2100 g a.i./ha were 6.8 and 6.3 days, respectively. And the half lives on soils for the 2 dosages were 7 and 5.8 days, respectively. The residues remaining in soils at harvest time were 0.072 and 0.121 mg/kg 14 days post-application and the residues in cotton seeds were relatively low (less than 0.02-0.12 mg/kg).     

Groundwater and Nutrient Discharge into Jiaozhou Bay,North China

The health of near shore marine ecosystems has long been a concern because of its importance to coastal areas. Jiaozhou Bay (JZB) is one such marine ecosystem experiencing rapid water quality degradation in the last several decades. From the area surrounding the bay, the nutrients discharged into the bay through surface water and groundwater has been greatly changed. The thickness of the aquifers and the permeability is relatively high, the concentrations of nutrients in the groundwater are generally high, and so the groundwater discharged into JZB is very significant. However, no attempt has ever been made to evaluate the amount of nutrients discharged into the bay area via groundwater. In this study, the cross-section method and water balance method were used to estimate the amount of groundwater and nutrients discharged into JZB via the subsurface. Groundwater was monitored and sampled at aquifers surrounding the bay area, and some previously available data was also analyzed. The results indicated that groundwater from the Baisha Aquifer east of JZB now is the major source of nutrients (nitrate, dissolved SiO₂) being discharged into the bay. The concentrations of nutrients in the groundwater have been increasing with intensive agricultural land use. However, Dagu Aquifer, the largest aquifer north of JZB, only provides limited nutrients to the bay area because of the construction of a low permeability subsurface dam. Historically, during the 1970s to the 1990s, the Baisha Aquifer experienced seawater intrusion due to excessive groundwater withdrawal. The same was true for the Dagu Aquifer from the 1980s to the 1990s. Because of this, no significant nutrients were discharged into the bay.     

Microcalorimetric studies on the metabolism of Chlorella vulgaris

The heat output of the non-growth metabolism of Chlorella vulgaris has been determined using an LKB-2277 BioActivity Monitor. The experimental results indicate that there is a turn-point on the metabolic thermogenic curves, which can be divided into two parts, an early phase and a later phase. For the early phase, there is a linear relationship between the metabolic power (P) and the cell concentration (C), and that the heat output produced by a single cell's metabolism (P0) depends on the cell concentration (C) and is inhibited by the cell density, the thermokinetic equation of their metabolism is dP/dt = k0, k0 = 0.     

The effect of coal combustion flue gas components on low-level chlorine speciation using EPA method 26A

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Method 26A is the recommended procedure for capturing and speciating halogen (X2) and hydrogen halide (HX) stack emissions from combustion sources. Previous evaluation studies of Method 26A have focused primarily on hydrogen chloride (HCl) speciation. Capture efficiency, bias, and the potential interference of Cl2 at high levels (> 20 ppm [microgram/m3]) and NH4Cl in the flue gas stream have been investigated. It has been suggested that precise Cl2 measurement and accuracy in quantifying HX or X2 using Method 26A are difficult to achieve at Cl2 concentrations < 5 ppm; however, no performance data exist to support this. Coal contains low levels of Cl, in the range of 5-2000 ppmw, which results in the presence of HCl and Cl2 in the products of combustion. HCl is the predominant Cl compound formed in the high-temperature combustion process, and it persists in the gas as the products of combustion cool. Concentrations of Cl2 in coal combustion flue gas at stack temperatures typically do not exceed 5 ppm. For this research, bench-scale experiments using simulated combustion flue gas were designed to validate the ability of Method 26A to speciate low levels of Cl2 accurately. This paper presents the results of the bench-scale tests. The effect of various flue gas components is discussed. The results indicate that SO2 is the only component in coal combustion flue gas that has an appreciable effect on Cl2 distribution in Method 26A impingers, and that Method 26A cannot accurately speciate HCl and Cl2 in coal combustion flue gas without modification.     

Role of phosphate solubilizing bacteria on rock phosphate solubility and growth of aerobic rice

Use of phosphate-solubilizing bacteria (PSB) as inoculants has concurrently increased phosphorous uptake in plants and improved yields in several crop species. The ability of PSB to improve growth of aerobic rice (Oryza sativa L.) through enhanced phosphorus (P) uptake from Christmas island rock phosphate (RP) was studied in glasshouse experiments. Two isolated PSB strains; Bacillus spp. PSB9 and PSB16, were evaluated with RP treatments at 0, 30 and 60 kg ha(-1). Surface sterilized seeds of aerobic rice were planted in plastic pots containing 3 kg soil and the effect of treatments incorporated at planting were observed over 60 days of growth. The isolated PSB strains (PSB9 and PSB16) solubilized significantly high amounts of P (20.05-24.08 mg kg(-1)) compared to non-inoculated (19-23.10 mg kg(-1)) treatments. Significantly higher P solubilization (24.08 mg kg(-1)) and plant P uptake (5.31 mg plant(-1)) was observed with the PSB16 strain at the highest P level of 60 kg ha(-1). The higher amounts of soluble P in the soil solution increased P uptake in plants and resulted in higher plant biomass (21.48 g plant(-1)). PSB strains also increased plant height (80 cm) and improved root morphology in aerobic rice. The results showed that inoculation of aerobic rice with PSB improved phosphate solubilizing activity of incorporated RP.     

Greenhouse gas emissions and natural resources use by the world economy: Ecological input-output modeling

For the world economy as a biophysical network associated with financial links, an ecological endowment inventory and corresponding ecological input-output modeling are presented to investigate the greenhouse gas emissions and natural resources use in 2000. A forty-sector global economic input-output table is constructed through an integration and extension of existing statistics which covers thirty-four countries accounting for about 80% of the world economy. Global inventories for ecological endowments of six categories, i.e., greenhouse gas emissions, energy sources, water resources, exergy resources, solar emergy resources, and cosmic emergy resources, are accounted in detail. As a result of the modeling, embodied intensities of different ecological endowments are obtained for all forty sectors, based on which the sectoral embodiments for consumptive and productive uses are presented separately. Results of this study provide a sound scientific database for policy making on global climate change mitigation as well as on global resources management.     

A multi-variate methodology for analyzing pre-existing lake water quality data

Environmental agencies are given the task of monitoring water quality in rivers, lakes, and other bodies of water, for the purpose of comparing the results with regulatory standards. Monitoring follows requirements set by regulations, and data are collected in a systematic way for the intended purpose. Monitoring enables agencies to determine whether water bodies are polluted. Much effort is spent per monitoring event, resulting in hundreds of data points typically used solely for comparison with regulatory standards and then stored for little further use. This paper devises a data analysis methodology that can make use of the pre-existing datasets to extract more useful information on water quality trends, without new sample collection and analysis. In this paper, measured lake water quality data are subjected to statistical analyses including Principal Component Analysis (PCA) to deduce changes in water quality spatially and temporally over several years. It was found that the lake as a whole changed temporally by season, rather than spatially. Storm events caused the greatest shifts in water quality, though the shifts were fairly consistent across sampling stations. This methodology can be applied to similar datasets, especially with the recent emphasis by the U.S. EPA on protection of lakes as water sources. Water quality managers using these techniques may be able to lower their monitoring costs by eliminating redundant water quality parameters found in this analysis.     

Performance assessment and microbial diversity of two pilot scale multi-stage sub-surface flow constructed wetland systems

This study assessed the performance and diversity of microbial communities in multi-stage sub-surface flow constructed wetland systems(CWs). Our aim was to assess the impact of configuration on treatment performance and microbial diversity in the systems. Results indicate that at loading rates up to 100 g BOD5/(m2·day), similar treatment performances can be achieved using either a 3 or 4 stage configuration. In the case of phosphorus(P), the impact of configuration was less obvious and a minimum of 80% P removal can be expected for loadings up to 10 g P/(m2·day) based on the performance results obtained within the first16 months of operation. Microbial analysis showed an increased bacterial diversity in stage four compared to the first stage. These results indicate that the design and configuration of multi-stage constructed wetland systems may have an impact on the treatment performance and the composition of the microbial community in the systems, and such knowledge can be used to improve their design and performance.     

Irrigation quotas for high water use efficiency and economic water productivity of typical crops in Shiyang River Basin北大核心CSCD

Water consumption in agricultural activities is the main water use in inland oases in Northwest China. Research on water conservation in agriculture is of great significance to alleviate the conflict between the use of agricultural and ecological water and is of great importance to local farmers’ livelihoods. This study, based on traditional irrigation practices (flood irrigation and fixed irrigation frequency) of Minqin County in Shiyang River Basion, was designed to reveal the impacts of five irrigation quotas (1 800, 1 440, 1 080, 720, and 360 m3/hm2) on crop yield, biomass, irrigation water use efficiency (IWUE), and economic water productivity (EWP) to determine the optimal irrigation for five crops and guide local irrigation practices. The results showed that: (1) Under the five irrigation quotas, IWUE of corn, with the highest of 12.27 kg/m3, was higher than the other four crops; (2) The average EWP of cotton with a 2-year-average of 8.0 yuan/m3 was higher than the other four crops. Thus, the economic output of cotton is the best under the same irrigation quota; (3) Considering the yield, IWUE, EWP, and biomass, corn was better than the other four typical crops; and (4) 1 080 m3/hm2 was the optimal irrigation quota for sunflower in local planting practices. In addition, 720 m3/hm2 was suitable for corn, pepper, wheat, and cotton as their irrigation quota. This study shows that reducing the amount of irrigation quota in the Shiyang River Basin can effectively improve local IWUE and EWP. © 2022 Authors. All rights reserved.