Public-Private Partnerships in China’s Urban Water Sector

During the past decades, the traditional state monopoly in urban water management has been debated heavily, resulting in different forms and degrees of private sector involvement across the globe. Since the 1990s, China has also started experiments with new modes of urban water service management and governance in which the private sector is involved. It is premature to conclude whether the various forms of private sector involvement will successfully overcome the major problems (capital shortage, inefficient operation, and service quality) in China’s water sector. But at the same time, private sector involvement in water provisioning and waste water treatments seems to have become mainstream in transitional China.     

大气监测网络通信系统设计与实现

根据监测网络通信的特点,设计了大气监测网络通信体系,并在系统中引入了学习算法和缓存机制,有效地提高了大气监测网络通信系统的灵活性和效率。     

吸烟室内污染对家庭成员呼吸系统健康的影响

应用“家庭健康问卷调查”的方法,对中国兰州,重庆,武汉,广州４城市８所小学中的儿童家庭进行“吸烟室内污染对家庭成员呼吸系统健康的影响”调查,结果表明,吸烟的家庭比不吸烟的家庭室内污染严重,对人体健康有明显影响,其儿童患感冒咳嗽咳痰,支气管等病症的发生率,父亲吸烟的家庭比不吸烟的家庭要高出２倍６倍。     

The accounting method and application of CO2 emissions responsibility by the electricity sector at the provincial level in China

When accounting the CO₂ emissions responsibility of the electricity sector at the provincial level in China,it is of great significance to consider the scope of both producers’ and the consumers’ responsibility,since this will promote fairness in defining emission responsibility and enhance cooperation in emission reduction among provinces.This paper proposes a new method for calculating carbon emissions from the power sector at the provincial level based on the shared responsibility principle and taking into account interregional power exchange.This method can not only be used to account the emission responsibility shared by both the electricity production side and the consumption side,but it is also applicable for calculating the corresponding emission responsibility undertaken by those provinces with net electricity outflow and inflow.This method has been used to account for the carbon emissions responsibilities of the power sector at the provincial level in China since 2011.The empirical results indicate that compared with the production-based accounting method,the carbon emissions of major power-generation provinces in China calculated by the shared responsibility accounting method are reduced by at least 10%,but those of other power-consumption provinces are increased by 20% or more.Secondly,based on the principle of shared responsibility accounting,Inner Mongolia has the highest carbon emissions from the power sector while Hainan has the lowest.Thirdly,four provinces,including Inner Mongolia,Shanxi,Hubei and Anhui,have the highest carbon emissions from net electricity outflow- 14 million t in 2011,accounting for 74.42% of total carbon emissions from net electricity outflow in China.Six provinces,including Hebei,Beijing,Guangdong,Liaoning,Shandong,and Jiangsu,have the highest carbon emissions from net electricity inflow- 11 million t in 2011,accounting for 71.44% of total carbon emissions from net electricity inflow in China.Lastly,this paper has estimated the emission factors of electricity consumption at the provincial level,which can avoid repeated calculations when accounting the emission responsibility of power consumption terminals（e.g.construction,automobile manufacturing and other industries）.In addition,these emission factors can also be used to account the emission responsibilities of provincial power grids.     

Occurrence and distribution of polycyclic aromatic carbons in sludges from wastewater treatment plants in Guangdong, China

In this study, the occurrence and distribution of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were investigated in six sludge samples collected from Guangdong Province, China. Concentrations of PAHs varying from 2,534.1 to 6,926.6 μg kg^???1 (dry sludge) were observed in three municipal wastewater treatment plants with phenanthrene (Phe), fluoranthene, and pyrene being the main compounds. In addition, 682.6 μg kg^???1 PAHs were detected in one sludge sample from a food processing plant, with fluorene, Phe, and chrysene being the main components. No PAHs were detected in sludge samples obtained from two cosmetic plants. The levels and distributional characteristics of PAHs, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and polycyclic musks (PMs) from the samples were also compared. The results of this comparison indicated that petrochemical refineries and road traffic played important roles in the PAH loads in sludge, while PMs primarily originated from domestic wastewater and industrial wastewater from cosmetic plants. Finally, the presence of 98.8 μg kg^???1 PCBs in sludge suggested diffusional emission sources from electrical components containing PCBs.     

Chlorinated and brominated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans in surface sediment from Taihu Lake, China

Polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans (PCDD/Fs) and polybrominated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans (PBDD/Fs) in surface sediment samples from Taihu Lake--an important water supply of the Yangtze River Delta, China--were investigated in the present study. Concentrations of PCDD/Fs ranged from 0.91 to 4.8 pg TEQ g(-1) dw (mean: 2.9 pg TEQ g(-1) dw, TEQ: Toxic Equivalent), which were all higher than the threshold effect level established by interim sediment quality guidelines in Canada (0.85 pg TEQ g(-1) dw). The levels of PBDD/Fs ranged from 0.16 to 1.6 pg TEQ g(-1) dw (mean: 0.52 pg TEQ g(-1) dw) and accounted for 5-33% (mean: 14%) of the total PCDD/Fs and PBDD/Fs TEQ. Comparatively, the abundance of sedimentary PCDD/Fs in the three regions (Meiliang Bay, Gonghu Bay, and Xukou Bay) showed a decreasing trend from the inflow region to the outflow region, while no significant difference was observed among their 2,3,7,8-PBDD/Fs levels, which suggested that the sources of PCDD/Fs and PBDD/Fs differed in this area. Principal component analysis suggested that the historical production/usage of pentachlorophenol and sodium pentachlorophenate was the dominant source of PCDD/Fs in the sediment of these regions. Although the specific sources of PBDD/Fs in the sediment of Taihu Lake were unclear, it was suspected to be due to atmospheric deposition; however, an additional study is needed to confirm this.     

环境空气中汞的直接测定方法研究与应用

研究了环境空气中汞浓度的直接测定方法。利用金汞齐富集－便携式测汞仪对环境空气中的汞进行直接测定,具有简便、快捷、不使用化学试剂的优点。经测试,该方法在0～180 ng／m^3范围内具有良好的线性关系,最低检出浓度为5 ng／m^3。     

Characteristics of atmospheric carbonyls and VOCs in Forest Park in South China

The diurnal variation of atmospheric carbonyls and VOCs in a forest in south China were studied in summer 2004. Twenty kinds of carbonyls and eight kinds of VOCs were identified and quantified. Formaldehyde and acetaldehyde were the two most abundant carbonyls, while the most abundant VOCs were isoprene, followed by o-xylene. Most C₃-C₁₀ carbonyls had higher concentrations from 09:00 to 15:00, and their levels were lower during night-time and often reached the lowest in early morning. Formaldehyde and acetaldehyde, however, showed two high levels in their diurnal patterns partly due to their different sources and sinks. The VOCs had different diurnal patterns compared to most carbonyls. The highest concentrations were observed from 03:00 to 06:00 for 1-butene, from 06:00 to 12:00 for isoprene, and from 12:00 to 15:00 for α-pinene. The highest levels for aromatic hydrocarbons occurred during midnight and the lowest in late afternoon. According to the study, emissions from vegetation and photo-oxidation of gas-phase hydrocarbons were the main sources for some carbonyls and VOCs in this region. Other compounds, such as formaldehyde, acetaldehyde and BTEX, showed anthropogenic sources.     

Even sampling designs generation by charges repulsion simulation

Evenly distributed sampling design is generally considered as an efficient sampling design. It is widely used in sampling for the environmental survey. In this paper, we present a novel method for generating N evenly distributed samples within a given irregular polygon via simulating the movements of some ideal homogeneous point charges. Initially, charges are randomly put into the sampling region; then, they are freed and held orderly; and after enough runs, the charges will finally reach a stable state with all of them having a zero resultant force and velocity; and so they distribute evenly within the region. Their layout can thus be considered as an evenly distributed sampling design. The main advantages of this method are: (1) it is easy to understand and implement; (2) it is efficient in both running and generating better designs. Analysis and experimental results indicate that this method is an efficient and robust method for generating even sampling designs for 2D polygonal sampling region.     

Characteristic, composition, and sources of TSP investigated by HRTEM/EDS and ESEM/EDS

Total suspended particle (TSP) collected at the fifth floor of House Dust in Hunan University, China, was analyzed in terms of microscopic morphology and chemical composition. The fine particles (50?nm-2?μm) in the TSP were analyzed by a high-resolution transmission electron microscope equipped with an energy-dispersive X-ray analyzer (HRTEM/EDS). Results showed that the particles were in shapes of plate, irregular and agglomerate. Based on EDS results, these fine particulate matter was primarily composed of Fe-rich (35.82-61.29%), Ca-rich (30.18-36.77%) and Si-rich (18.95-32.28%) particles. Other elements mainly including Mg (0.47-4.97%), Al (0.45-14.57%), S (0.45-4.73%), K (1.13-2.13%) and Zn (0.67-3.85%) were also observed. The sources analysis indicated that the HRTEM particles mainly originated from coal combustion, traffic emission, vehicles exhaust emission and fugitive soil or cement particulate matter. The coarse particles (4-50?μm) were detected by environmental scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy-dispersive X-ray detector (ESEM/EDS). Based on a simple algorithm, ESEM particles were categorized into five groups: C-bearing (46.15%, 67% and 86.98%), Si + Ca-bearing (21.48?+?11.80%, 16.51?+?10.81% and 16.32?+?10.62%), Si + Al-bearing (20.06?+?12.40%, 20.16?+?11.22% and 15.31?+?11.25%), Si-bearing (34.40%, 26.92% and 27.15%) particles and aggregates, most of which exhibit obvious crystalline structure, and these ESEM particles mainly derived from vehicles exhaust emission, coal combustion, soil, and biomass burning, while the aggregates are indicative of atmospheric reaction progress. HRTEM/EDS and ESEM/EDS are mutual complementary in analyzing the characteristic and determining the sources of TSP.