The characteristics of size distribution of suspended particulates in the air for sulphates and selected metals in different areas and seasons

The characteristics of the distribution of particles by size were investigated for sulphates and selected metals (Pb, Fe, Mn, and Cu) in the air in two urban and an industrial area during the winter and summer periods using an Andersen cascade impactor.In the case of metals, but not sulphates, the character of the area affected the value of mass median diameter. Lowest values were obtained in a sparsely populated urban area, whereas in a densely populated urban area and in the industrial area the values were higher.In the industrial area a high correlation coefficient was found between sulphate and manganese, and between sulphate and lead, as well as a high value of the equivalent Mn²⁺/SO _inf4 ^sup2- ratio for the total sample. It may therefore be assumed that in the industrial area manganese produces a catalytic effect on SO₂ conversion to sulphate. Among the investigated metals lead stands out as a dominant cation which binds to the sulphate ion in the industrial and densely populated areas.     

Exploring data quality for some inorganic and organic constituents of inhalable particulate matter (PM10)

Quality assurance (QA) assessments of air pollution data sets provide a basis for evaluating the significance of various substances in the atmosphere. For non-criteria pollutants, QA results are seldom reported in the technical literature and are often difficult to estimate. The present report provides a summary of QA results such as recovery, precision and accuracy data. Of the six trace elements and nine organic constituents compared in detail, recoveries, laboratory precision and laboratory accuracy values were 100%, ±3% to ±19% and-2 to-13% for the former group and 69% to 98%, ±7% to 23% and-15 to-34% for the later group. System precision varied from ±22% to ±47% for the trace elements and ±42% to ±83% for the organic constituents. Limitations in the interpretation of non-criteria particulate-phase pollutant data bases are discussed with some emphasis placed on receptor-modelling and risk assessment applications. Finally, the relevance of NBS certified materials for QA estimates in non-criteria air pollutant studies is also reviewed.     

An evaluation of in situ microcosms for validating aquatic fate and transport models

The fates of two compounds, 2,4 Dichlorophenoxy Acetic Acid Butoxyethyl Ester (2,4-DBEE) and 1,4 Dichlorobenzene (1,4-DCB), were examined in in situ microcosms placed in a pond and compared with the fates in the pond itself. Results also were compared with predictions of an aquatic fate and transport model (EXAMS). Decay rates of 2,4-DBEE were not significantly different among the microcosms, pond and model predictions. The decay rate of 1,4-DCB in the microcosms was significantly lower than the rate for the pond, and lower than the rate predicted by the model. The low volatility of 1,4-DCB in the microcosms is attributed primarily to lack of water surface turbulence in the microcosms.     

Environmental audits: Proposed terminology

This paper presents a review of the fast developing subject of environmental auditing with the authors proposing a series of definitions. Of particular concern is a move towards the development of an accepted vocabulary for environmental impact assessment, even though the international dimension of the subject makes this a difficult task. Use of the word audit has become an accepted part of EIA vocabulary, however there are several types of audits being undertaken today. Presently, there are no commonly accepted definitions, consequently this paper will attempts to address this issue. Definitions for seven types of environmental audits are suggested, derived from the experience of the authors and from a review of the current literature. It is hoped that by the presentation of these definitions that such terms will be advocated for future EIA work, and thereby reducing confusion that otherwise may occur. The paper concludes with a brief review of the status of auditing.     

Determination of the working level of radon/thoron mixtures by personal α-dosimeters and environmental α-monitors using gross α-counting

Analytical procedures are presented which permit the determination of the Working Levels of the radon and thoron progenies with personal α-dosimeters and α-particle environmental monitors, operating on time integrating principles, from gross α-counts. Experiments have been carried out in an underground uranium mine and in a radon/thoron environmental chamber, specially designed for calibration purposes, to verify theoretical data. In general, and notwithstanding a number of complicating factors, fair to good agreement has been found between theoretical and experimental data. Experimental values have been found to be lower than theoretical values, an observation which is partly ascribed to plate-out of decay products in the instrument's sampling heads.     

Dose-time-response functions for toxic chemicals

In many situations, the effect of a toxic chemical on a biological system depends on both the intensity and the duration of exposure. The dependence on the time dimension can be the expression of a range of processes including the physical accumulation of toxic chemicals or their metabolites and the functional accumulation of damage. Measures and functions that have been used to describe this dependence are reviewed.Some of these functions are compared through a case study of the neurotoxicity of methylmercury. Use is made of data that indicates a dependency between the blood concentration at which monkeys were exposed and the length of time before damage was detected. Several exposure functions are fitted to these data and their appropriateness is compared. Using the most appropriate function, an exposure-response relationship is developed using probit analysis. An alternative data analysis procedure is also investigated. The apparent threshold after a 100 day exposure is estimated to be greater by a factor of 3–5 compared to the threshold for chronic exposure. Applying this factor to man, the blood concentration threshold for chronic exposure is estimated to be 40–170 ppb, a finding consistent with recent reports of neurological damage in humans exposed below the generally accepted threshold.     

Problems of correlation of global and local monitoring of air pollution

1. The Air Polluttion Monitoring System has got a significant development of late, which is in direct relation with a considerable extention and improvement of the observation network in cities and industrial areas, with creation of a new network for assessing regional and global background of the atmosphere pollution, as well as with the wide involvement of meteorologists to monitoring organization.
2. While developing a new global monitoring system, it is necessary to take into account its relationship with the local monitoring within the region of air pollution sources, i.e. at the \lsimpact\rs level. The need in such an account is dictated first of all by the physics of pollutant spreading that states: changes in air pollution over large territories must be in a certain agreement with greater changes in the vicinity of emission sources. Methods applied in the global and local monitoring have also a number of common peculiarities. White organizing regional network for observations of the background pollution of the atmosphere twin stations (one of the pair of stations located outside the city boundaries in a small community, and the other, in the nearest city with the population of 200–400 thousand inhabitants) were established in the U.S.S.R. and in a number of socialist countries in Europe.
3. Implementation of the twin-station principles in the U.S.S.R. has contributed to data interpretation and representativity assessment as well as to correction of the station location. Observation results from the Soviet background stations and those abroad have been compared by now according to a number of indices.
4. The correlation of monitoring systems of various scales tells positively both on mutual improvement and completion of observational methods. The methods of obtaining integral characteristics of air pollution were used for the global monitoring, in particular spectral actinometric observations and chemical analysis of the precipitation composition. Now they find still wider employment. Thus methods of spectral actinometric measurements and data processing were used to estimate the degree of aerosol pollution of a number of industrial centres. The theory of solar radiation spreading and aerosol contents determination in urban atmosphere has also been developed. It is a generalization of an earlier developed theory, used to estimate global atmosphere pollution basing on actinometric data. The organization of precipitation collection and analysis on a network of stations around Leningrad and in Donbass area enables us to compare the admixture content in precipitations falling in industrial and agricultural areas.
5. A considerable increase of possibilities to measure microconcentrations of sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and of a number of other pollutants is connected with the use of solid solvents for sampling. Their use will allow to avoid establishment of special laboratories at background stations and only send samples by post for their analysis in centralized laboratories.

They will also allow to considerably increase precision and accuracy of measurements. The international comparisons of methods of air pollution measurements on the background level allow to judge about the effiency of these methods.     

Transportation and fate of cationic surfactant in river water

The degradation, sorption, transportation and material balance of cationic surfactants discharged from domestic waste into river water was studied. Ion-pair solid-phase extraction behavior showed that the sorption of cationic surfactants as an ion-pair with anionic surfactant onto river sediment was so strong that little cationic surfactant was found in the bulk water. Cationic surfactant was found in river sediment at more than 500 times higher concentration than that in the bulk water. The degradation of the cationic surfactant was very slow in river water and much slower in the sediment. A material balance of cationic surfactant was estimated for a river running through Toyama City by measuring the flow rate and the concentration of cationic surfactant in the water at several points. It was found that more than 30% of cationic surfactant introduced to the river was lost during the river running through ca. 3 km in 3 h. This reduction probably comes from a quick transfer of the cationic surfactant from river water to sediment and water weed by means of adsorption or precipitation with suspending solids.     

Survey of the occurrence of residues of methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) in Dutch drinking water sources and drinking water

An indicative survey has been carried out in The Netherlands investigating the presence of methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) in drinking water and the corresponding sources. In total, 71 different sites used for the preparation of drinking water in The Netherlands were sampled in two successive seasons in 2001 involving the analysis of 156 samples. (ground water (n = 88), surface water (n = 17), bank filtrate water (n = 6) and drinking water (n = 45)). To combine high sample throughput with high selectivity and sensitivity, off-line purge and trap for sampling and gas chromatography mass spectrometry equipped with an automated thermal desorption sampler (TDS-GC-MS) was selected as the preferred analytical methodology. The developed procedure enabled the analysis of at least 40 samples per day and provided a limit of quantification of 2 ng l(-1). In the first period 63 samples of raw water were analyzed. Concentrations ranged between < 10 ng l(-1) and 420 ng l(-1) with a median concentration below 10 ng l(-1). The second period was focused at the re-sampling of positive locations (MTBE > 10 ng l(-1)) and a few additional drinking water utilities of which both the raw and drinking water of the utilities were analyzed. The median concentration of MTBE in the selected set of drinking water samples was 20 ng l(-1) (n = 45). At one location MTBE was found at a level of 2900 ng l(-1) caused by point source contamination of the ground water (11 900 ng l(-1)). Special attention has been paid to the quality of the results by analyzing all samples in duplicate and the analysis of control samples during each series of analyses.