Guinea worm control: Assessing the effectiveness of drum-lined water holes

Summary The purpose of the paper is to examine the feasibility of used oil drums as a lining material for shallow rural wells. The discussion focuses upon the comparison of the water quality in the oil drum-lined holes with other local water sources. The response to the innovation, from a range of guinea worm prone rural environments in Ibarapa district, Oyo State, Nigeria, was encouraging. The study noted substantial reductions in cyclop population (potential for guinea worm infection) and improved water quality in the sanitary wells as compared to rural ponds. Investigations also reveal substantial saving in costs in using oil drum-lining as opposed to concrete. Findings point to the need for this kind of water scheme as opposed to sophisticated boreholes, and deep well programmes, especially in situations of limited funds and technical skills necessary to install and maintain water supply systems.Dr Abimbola Y. Sangodoyin obtained his first degree in Agricultural Engineering at the University of Ibadan. He subsequently obtained a MSc in Water Resources Technology and a PhD in Civil Engineering at the University of Birmingham, UK. He is currently a lecturer in the Department of Agricultural Engineering, University of Ibadan where his research has focused on rural water systems and urban solid waste disposal and pollution problems.Mr Miebaka J. Ayotamuno has trained to Master's level as an Agricultural Engineer at the University of Ibadan. He is currently a member of staff at the Department of Agricultural Engineering, River State University of Science and Technology, Port Harcourt, Nigeria.     

Phosphorus release from ash and remaining tissues of two wetland species after a prescribed fire

Dead plant tissues and ash from a prescribed fire play an important role in nutrient balance and cycling in the Florida Everglades ecosystem. The objective of this study was to assess the dynamic changes in total phosphorus release (TPr) from ash or tissues of either cattail (Typha domingensis Pers.) or sawgrass (Cladium jamaicense Crantz) to water. Natural-dead (senesced-dead) and burning-dead (standing-dead due to a prescribed fire) cattail and sawgrass were collected from highly (H) and moderately (M) impacted zones in the Florida Everglades. This experiment was conducted by incubation and water-extraction of the materials in plastic bottles for 65 d at room temperature (24 +/- 1 degrees C). Results showed that 63 to 88%, 17 to 48%, 9 to 20%, and 13 to 28% of total P (TPp) were released as TPr from cattail and sawgrass ash, cattail tissues from the H zone, cattail tissues, and sawgrass tissues from the M zone, respectively. TPp means total P of plant tissues, whereas TPr is total P release from the tissues or ash. Most of the TPr was released within 24 h after burning. The quick release of TPr observed in this experiment may help explain the P surge in the surface water immediately following a fire in the marsh. These findings suggest that prescribed burning accelerates P release from cattail and sawgrass. They also imply that it is very important to keep the water stagnant in the first 24 h to maximize the benefits of a prescribed fire in the Everglades.     

Climate adaptation management and institutional erosion: insights from a major Canadian port

This paper performs an institutional analysis of the adaptation to climate change by ports, through a case study of the port of Vancouver, Canada. While previous literature has demonstrated the value of informal institutions for filling gaps left by formal institutions, the role of failed informal institutions has received less attention. Our analysis reveals how, in the case of an unprecedented challenge like climate adaptation, relying on informal institutions with less agency can actually erode the strength of existing institutions in a form of negative institutional plasticity. In this case, emerging polycentric governance was unsuccessful, unable to construct clearly demarcated responsibilities due to impedance by the path dependence of the current federalist system. The latter works well for traditional infrastructure investments with a closed pool of stakeholders, but not for ports where multiple scales of embeddedness, both horizontally and vertically, produce a collective action problem with no mechanism for resolution.     

Treatment of mature landfill leachate by biofilters and Fenton oxidation

A series of processes by biofilter and Fenton oxidation to treat mature landfill leachate has been devised. At a hydraulic loading rate of 20 l m^?3 d^?1, a biofilter packed with aged refuse is found to remove 80% of chemical oxygen demand (COD), 89% of ammonia nitrogen and 96% of total phosphorus (TP). Particularly, TP levels dropped below 1 mg l^?1. The optimal condition for Fenton oxidation was selected to be an initial pH of 5, a dosage of 0.01 and 0.02 mol l^?1 of FeSO₄ and H₂O₂, respectively, and a duration of 3 h, where COD removal efficiency reaches 58.6%, and BOD₅/COD ratio is raised from 0.05 to 0.20. Subsequent treatment by a biofilter packed with slag reduces COD, ammonia nitrogen levels to less than 100, 25 mg l^?1, respectively. A pilot scale experiment conducted in situ demonstrates that this series of processes exhibits a high efficiency in removing pollutants from mature landfill leachate and it is viable for application.     

Malachite green in synthetic medium for the isolation ofFusarium spp. from plant tissues

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