EIA — Its potential application to appropriate technology in developing countries

Summary Many developed countries in the Western world employ some form of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA). A number of sophisticated procedures are used for the assessment of the impact of large- scale developments upon the environment. In developing countries there are both large-scale schemes that are often financed by foreign aid, and small-scale projects in which technology is less sophisticated but more appropriate to human needs. Standard EIA procedures are followed for large-scale developments but assessment of the impact of small-scale projects is often ignored.This paper attempts to define appropriate technology and to describe some of the often less apparent adverse effects of such technology upon society and the environment. The need for assessment of small-scale projects is established and the possibility of applying current EIA procedures to such developments is considered. The final paragraphs refer to the advantages and disadvantages of environmental impact assessment of small-scale technology.Dr Pamela M. Goode and Alastair I. Johnstone are both members of staff at the Environmental Institute, University of Salford, UK.     

An examination of attributions and emotions in the transactional approach to the organizational stress process

Although the transactional model of the stress process (Lazarus, 1966, 1993; Lazarus and Folkman, 1984, 1987) continues to be utilized in a significant amount of stress research, much of the current literature on job stress focuses on pinpointing objective stressors. This paper examines Lazarus' transactional appraisal approach and includes a specific discussion of the process by which employees' attributions regarding stressors and the resulting emotions significantly influence their choices of coping mechanisms. Given that a single work event can be interpreted in a variety of ways, the role of individuals' cognitive processing is being ignored by much of the current empirical stress research. This paper examines and highlights the importance of the cognitive and emotional components within the organizational stress process. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Temporal and Spatial Trends in Chlorinated Hydrocarbon Concentrations of Mink in Canadian Lakes Erie and St. Clair

Mink (Mustela vison) carcasses were collected from local commercial trappers from fall 1998 to spring 2003 from tributaries and marshes within 4.8km from the shores of Lakes Erie and St. Clair, including the Wheatley Harbour and St. Clair River Areas of Concern (AOCs), as well as from inland sites (8 to 40km from shore). Liver concentrations, on a lipid weight basis, of chlorinated hydrocarbons were measured and compared among sites and to tissue concentrations of mink from two previous collections from similar sites over the past 25 years. Mink from the western Lake Erie sites, which included the Wheatley Harbour AOC, had significantly higher concentrations of sum PCBs and PCB Aroclors than those from the St. Clair corridor or inland sites, with concentrations from the rest of Lake Erie being intermediate. Dieldrin concentrations were also significantly higher in western Lake Erie than many other sites, and those of oxychlordane and mirex also tended to be higher (0.05 < p < 0.1). There were no differences in contaminant concentrations between the St. Clair River AOC and the downstream non-AOC Lake St. Clair site, with the exception of slightly higher levels of octachlorostyrene (OCS). Concentrations of PCBs and other chlorinated hydrocarbons in mink showed a general decrease over the past two decades. In contrast, PCBs and some organochlorine pesticides tended to increase, significantly so with oxychlordane, in western Lake Erie mink over the same time period. DDE declined at all sites. Currently, mink liver PCB concentrations are within the range associated with reproductive impairment, as determined from captive mink studies, in 11.7% of all animals collected from the Lakes Erie and St. Clair basin overall, but in almost 40% of individuals from western Lake Erie.     

Ultra trace simultaneous determination of 50 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in biota using pMRM GC-MS/MS

Abstract

A saponification extraction method with gas chromatography pseudo-MRM (pMRM) mass spectrometry detection was developed for the determination of 50 total polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (TPAH50, a combination of parent and alkylated homologues) in biota. The method was aimed at monitoring and identification of potential TPAH contaminants in bitumen impacted environments. Alkylated PAHs were determined by multi-level, quantitative calibration using parent PAHs. The developed and thoroughly validated method required only one injection for TPAH50 analysis which represents significant saving of time and expensive authentic alkylated standards. The current method was tested with certified reference mussel tissue NIST 1974c and performed well. In a comparison study, the method reached a limit of quantitation (LOQ) for the TPAH50 between 0.1 and 0.2?ng g^?1, while the QuEChERs enhanced matrix removal – lipid (EMR) kit produced by Agilent showed an LOQ of 5–10?ng g^?1. The current method relied on response factors (RF) for the quantitation of alkylated PAHs determined against parent PAHs. These RFs were shown to be stable and consistent over the course of 1 year, during which over 200 routine environmental biota monitoring samples were analyzed. The environmental biota monitoring samples analyzed include muscle, carcass and liver, with an average total PAH50 concentration of 13, 90 and 135?ng g^?1, respectively. Results show significant differences in the distributions of 1 ringed, 2 ringed, 3 ringed, 4 ringed, and 5+ ringed TPAHs between the types of biota samples.     

Development and application of a video-mosaic survey technology to document the status of coral reef communities

The recent decline in the condition of coral reef communities worldwide has fueled the need to develop innovative assessment tools to document coral abundance and distribution rapidly and effectively. While most monitoring programs rely primarily on data collected in situ by trained divers, digital photographs and video are used increasingly to extract ecological indicators, provide a permanent visual record of reef condition, and reduce the time that divers spend underwater. In this study, we describe the development and application of a video-based reef survey methodology based on an algorithm for image registration and the estimation of image motion and camera trajectory. This technology was used to construct two-dimensional, spatially accurate, high-resolution mosaics of the reef benthos at a scale of up to 400 m². The mosaics were analyzed to estimate the size and percent cover of reef organisms and these ecological indicators of reef condition were compared to similar measurements collected by divers to evaluate the potential of the mosaics as monitoring tools. The ecological indicators collected by trained divers compared favorably with those measured directly from the video mosaics. Five out of the eight categories chosen (hard corals, octocorals, Palythoa, algal turf, and sand) showed no significant differences in percent cover based on survey method. Moreover, no significant differences based on survey method were found in the size of coral colonies. Lastly, the capability to extract the same reef location from mosaics collected at different times proved to be an important tool for documenting change in coral abundance as the removal of even small colonies (<10 cm in diameter) was easily documented. The two-dimensional video mosaics constructed in this study can provide repeatable, accurate measurements on the reef-plot scale that can complement measurements on the colony-scale made by divers and surveys conducted at regional scales using remote sensing tools.     

Chlorinated Solvents: Will the Alternatives be Safer?

Over the next decade, use of chlorinated solvents, a widely employed class of chemicals, will decline significantly because of increasingly stringent environmental regulations. These solvents pose certain health and environmental problems and they have been heavily scrutinized. The alternatives to the solvents are being adopted without controls. In some cases, these substances will pose other health and environmental problems that are likely to be as serious; in other cases, the alternatives have not been examined for their health and environmental effects at all. This case study demonstrates that regulations on chlorinated solvents and their potential alternatives are inconsistent with one another and conflicting.     

Control of Fine Particulate (PM2.5) Emissions from Restaurant Operations

ABSTRACT

This paper describes efforts to reduce particulate matter (PM) emissions from restaurant operations, including application of an existing control method to a new equipment type. Commercial charbroiling in the South Coast Air Basin results in emissions of approximately 10 tons/day of fine particulate matter ₍PM_2.5) and 1.3 tons/day of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Over a seven-year period, the South Coast Air Quality Management District worked with industry to develop test methods for measuring emissions from various cooking operations, evaluate control technologies, and develop a rule to reduce these emissions.

Of the two basic types of charbroilers—chain-driven and underfired—underfired produce four times the emissions when equivalent amounts of product are cooked. Cost-effective control technology is currently available only for chain-driven charbroilers. The application of flameless catalytic oxidizers to chain-driven charbroilers was found to effectively reduce emissions by at least 83% and is cost-effective. The catalysts have been used worldwide at restaurants for several years. Research efforts are underway to identify control options for underfired charbroilers.

Implementation of Rule 1138, Control of Emissions from Restaurant Operations, adopted November 14, 1997, will result in reductions of 0.5 tons/day of PM_2.5 and 0.2 tons/day of VOCs. Future rules will result in reductions from underfired charbroilers and possibly other restaurant equipment when cost-effective solutions are available.     

Determination of lindane leachability in soil-biosolid systems and its bioavailability in wheat plants

The leachability of lindane from different biosolid amended soils was determined and compared to its bioavailability. Sand, soil, and a mixture of soil-sand (1:1 w/w) were spiked with lindane, blended with different amounts of biosolids, and subjected to a leaching process with water that lasted for 1-28 d. This procedure is in accordance with ISO/TS 21268-1: 2007. After these batch tests, lindane was extracted from the leachates using three different solvent-free microextraction techniques, including solid phase microextraction (SPME), stir-bar sorptive extraction (SBSE), and silicone rod extraction (SRE). The amount of lindane was determined with thermal desorption and gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The efficiencies of the three microextraction techniques were statistically different, and the efficiency could be related to the amount of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) in each extraction device. However, all of the techniques provide data that shows that the leachability of lindane is dependent on the amount of organic matter contained in the matrix.The results of the lindane leachability assay were compared to the bioavailability of lindane, which was determined by measuring the amount of lindane that accumulated in the roots of wheat plants grown in similar soil-biosolid systems.It was confirmed that the amount of organic matter in the matrix is a determining factor for lindane immobilization. The presence of biosolids decreases the mobility of lindane in all of the systems under study. Similarly, increasing biosolid concentrations in the soil significantly decreased the bioavailability of lindane and, consequently, plant absorption.The good correlation (R² = 0.997) between the leachability of lindane from the matrix and plant absorption of lindane indicates that the proposed biomimetic methodology can predict the bioavailability of lindane in a time period as short as 7 d.The results of this work confirm that amending contaminated soils with biosolids is beneficial for immobilizing lindane and helps prevent the percolation of lindane through the soil profile and into groundwater.     

Bioaccumulation of 10 trace elements in juvenile fishes of the Lower Paraná River,Argentina: implications associated with essential fish growing habitat

This study assessed the concentration, bioconcentration, and bioaccumulation of As, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Mg, Mn, Ni, Pb, and Zn in juvenile fishes (Acestrorynchus pantaneiro, Brycon orbygnianus, Cyphocharax voga, Megaleporinus obtusidens, Odontesthes bonariensis, Pimelodus maculatus, Prochilodus lineatus, Salminus brasiliensis, and Schizodon borelli) in the Lower Paraná River (Argentina), the most extensive floodplain from the Plata Basin. The floodplain is crucial for the reproduction and growth of various species such as P. lineatus, M. obtusidens, and S. brasiliensis, which complete their life cycle in this environment. In total, 90 individuals were sampled for nitrogen stable isotope, and trace element analysis in muscle tissue, water, and sediment was analyzed. The results show that all the studied species bioaccumulate Cr, Mg, Ni, and Zn. In particular, B. orbygnianus and P. maculatus presented the highest bioaccumulation factor for Cr. A biodilution of Co through the food chain was observed. No positive correlation was found between element concentration and trophic level, but we observed significant differences between trophic guilds (herbivorous, omnivorous, and carnivorous). Our findings suggest that feeding habits determine trace element concentrations. To establish differential behavior between different species within the aquatic web further studies are necessary, particularly in the floodplain of the Paraná, which is a crucial nursery area for most commercially important fishes from the Plata Basin.

Graphical abstract