Development of a multi-criteria index ranking system for urban runoff best management practices (BMPs) selection

Low impact development best management practices (LID-BMPs) are considered to be cost-effective measures for mitigating the water quantity and quality impact of urban runoff. Currently, there are many types of LID-BMPs, and each type has its own intrinsic technical and/or economical characteristics and limitations for implementation. The selection of the most appropriate BMP type(s) for a specific installation site is therefore a very important planning step. In the present study, a multi-criteria selection index system (MCIS) for LID-BMP planning was developed. The selection indexes include 12 first-level indices and 26 second-level indices which reflect the specific installation site characteristics pertaining to site suitability, runoff control performance, and economics of implementation. A mechanism for ranking the BMPs was devised. First, each individual second-level index was assigned a numeric value that was based on site characteristics and information on LID-BMPs. The quantified indices were normalized and then integrated to obtain the score for each of the first-level index. The final evaluation scores of each LID-BMP were then calculated based on the scores for the first-level indices. Finally, the appropriate BMP types for a specific installation site were determined according to the rank of the final evaluation scores. In order to facilitate the application of the MCIS BMP ranking system, the computational process has been coded into a software program, BMPSELEC. A case study demonstrating the MCIS methodology, using an LID-BMP implementation planning at a college campus in Foshan, Guangdong Province, is presented.     

Occurrence and congeners specific of poiychlorinated biphenyls in agricultural soils from Southern Jiangsu, China

A total of 198 agricultural soil samples were collected from Zhangjiagang and Changshu in Southern Jiangsu for analysis of 13 polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in order to assess the levels of pollution, sources, area distribution, and potential risk for the environment. All methods were rigorously tested and an adequate quality control was ensured. Only one site had no PCBs residues, and the highest total PCBs concentration in the surface soils was 32.83 ng/g. The average concentration in all the soil samples was 4.13 ng/g, signaling low-level pollution. Tetra-, penta-, and hexa-chlorinated biphenyls were dominant species in soil samples, accounting for more than 75% ofΣPCBs in the soil samples. PCB118 was the most abundant congener in all the samples. The PCB118 was about 20% ofΣPCBs. The soil organic matter content showed only a weak correlation with the levels of all PCB congeners, in which a better correlation was noted for the more volatile lighter PCB congeners than for the heavier homologues. To a certain extent, the sources and land use seemed to influence the levels of PCBs.     

浅谈我国农村环保法制建设

就我国现行的环保法律法规存在问题，以及对农村环保事业发展的影响进行了探讨，提出了健全和完善我国农村环保法制的设想．以促进农村环境保护的可持续发展。     

GIS在环境监测数据管理分析中的应用

根据环境监测的特点和地理信息系统(GIS)所具备的功能,讨论了GIS与环境监测结合的必要性,按照环境监测的目的不同分环境质量监测、污染源监督监测和应急监测三个方面阐述GIS在环境监测数据管理分析中的具体应用,并利用现有的一些基于GIS的环境监测信息系统实例进行进一步说明GIS在环境监测数据管理分析中的应用,充分发挥了GIS空间信息表达处理及综合分析的优势,使得环境监测数据的管理分析更加快速、实时、有效.随着GIS技术的发展,GIS在环境监测数据管理分析中的应用也将获得源源不绝的驱动力.     

氮气中二氧化硫气体浓度测量不确定度的评定

采用紫外荧光法测定氮气中的二氧化硫气体浓度的测量不确定度.充分考虑重复测量的重现性、测量仪器的计量性能局限性、标定仪器所用的标准气体等因素对测量的影响,计算氮气中的二氧化硫气体浓度测量合成标准不确定度为0.4.     

Simulation of soil loss processes based on rainfall runoff and the time factor of governance in the Jialing River Watershed,China

Jialing River is the largest tributary in the catchment area of Three Gorges Reservoir, and it is also one of the important areas of sediment yield in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River. In recent years, significant changes of water and sediment characteristics have taken place. The "Long Control" Project implemented since 1989 had greatly changed the surface appearance of the Jialing River Watershed (JRW), and it had made the environments of the watershed sediment yield and sediment transport change significantly. In this research, the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation was selected and used to predict the annual average amount of soil erosion for the special water and sediment environments in the JRW after the implementation of the "Long Control" Project, and then the rainfall–runoff modulus and the time factor of governance were both considered as dynamic factors, the dynamic sediment transport model was built for soil erosion monitoring and forecasting based on the average sediment yield model. According to the dynamic model, the spatial and temporal distribution of soil erosion amount and sediment transport amount of the JRW from 1990 to 2007 was simulated using geographic information system (GIS) technology and space-grid algorithm. Simulation results showed that the average relative error of sediment transport was less than 10% except for the extreme hydrological year. The relationship between water and sediment from 1990 to 2007 showed that sediment interception effects of the soil and water conservation projects were obvious: the annual average sediment discharge reduced from 145.3 to 35 million tons, the decrement of sediment amount was about 111 million tons, and decreasing amplitude was 76%; the sediment concentration was also decreased from 2.01 to 0.578 kg/m³. These data are of great significance for the prediction and estimation of the future changing trends of sediment storage in the Three Gorges Reservoir and the particulate non-point source pollution load carried by sediment transport from watershed surface.     

A novel approach to rapid detection of acute water toxicity and its policy implications for grassroots sustainable environmental monitoring

Unknown chemicals, emerging contaminants, and the resulting reactions among them make early detection and warning of acute water toxicity extremely challenging. The conventional approach using small fish for toxicity monitoring normally requires a designated species of fish and over a week's time to complete, including dilution of the wastewater, a pre-test, and a full test. It often increases chances for error and delays emergency management. This paper reports a novel approach, based on grassroots knowledge and field and lab experience in Jilin, China. This approach uses a combination of different species of aquarium fish to achieve fast and reliable monitoring. It tests the original source water directly without going through the dilution procedure, while paying attention to the time factor. The approach does not require a pre-test and may shorten the time needed for detecting acute toxicity to a few minutes, using a new classification of aquatic toxicity levels. It is inexpensive to use and may be easily adopted by grassroots organizations. The approach is "greener" and more financially and socially sustainable than traditional approaches. The wide use of the approach has the potential to encourage policy innovations for making toxicity monitoring grassroots based and more effective in reducing acute contamination emergencies.     

Improve Compliance with Limited Resources by a Three-Group Inspection Regime

Frequent monitoring and relatively high fines are usually necessary to bring about improvements in environmental quality, but more challenging for many countries with limited human, material, and financial resources is to put them into practice. This paper developed a three-group model of a state-dependent enforcement in a repeated game to improve the policy implementation under limited inspection capacities. A certain number of firms are grouped (group 1, group 2, group 3) for different supervision intensity (e.g., the order of inspection probability corresponding to each group is p ₁?<?p ₂?<?p ₃) based on their environmental performance. The optimal policy parameters, such as inspection probability of each group and the probability that a firm found in compliance is moved to a better reputation group, were obtained as the basis for regulator’s policy making. Numerical simulations indicated that the three-group inspection regime can significantly increase compliance rate as compared with static enforcement with the same monitoring probability. Among the number of firms in each group under steady state conditions, group 2 had the most, group 1 was the second, and group 3 had the smallest. Analysis and prediction of a three-group reputation example provided a good experiment for the model. The results give a practical reference for the policy makers with inspection capacity constraints to achieve higher compliance rate.     

Biodegradation of methyl red by Bacillus sp. strain UN2: decolorization capacity,metabolites characterization,and enzyme analysis

Azo dyes are recalcitrant and refractory pollutants that constitute a significant menace to the environment. The present study is focused on exploring the capability of Bacillus sp. strain UN2 for application in methyl red (MR) degradation. Effects of physicochemical parameters (pH of medium, temperature, initial concentration of dye, and composition of the medium) were studied in detail. The suitable pH and temperature range for MR degradation by strain UN2 were respectively 7.0–9.0 and 30–40 °C, and the optimal pH value and temperature were respectively 8.0 and 35 °C. Mg²⁺ and Mn²⁺ (1 mM) were found to significantly accelerate the MR removal rate, while the enhancement by either Fe³⁺ or Fe²⁺ was slight. Under the optimal degradation conditions, strain UN2 exhibited greater than 98 % degradation of the toxic azo dye MR (100 ppm) within 30 min. Analysis of samples from decolorized culture flasks confirmed biodegradation of MR into two prime metabolites: N,N′dimethyl-p-phenyle-nediamine and 2-aminobenzoic acid. A study of the enzymes responsible for the biodegradation of MR, in the control and cells obtained during (10 min) and after (30 min) degradation, showed a significant increase in the activities of azoreductase, laccase, and NADH-DCIP reductase. Furthermore, a phytotoxicity analysis demonstrated that the germination inhibition was almost eliminated for both the plants Triticum aestivum and Sorghum bicolor by MR metabolites at 100 mg/L concentration, yet the germination inhibition of parent dye was significant. Consequently, the high efficiency of MR degradation enables this strain to be a potential candidate for bioremediation of wastewater containing MR.     

西安市及周边地区MODIS气溶胶光学厚度与PM10浓度关系模型研究

西安是空气污染监控和防治有代表性的西部大型城市。研究了西安市及周边地区上空气溶胶光学厚度与PM10浓度的关系模型。利用2011—2012年MODIS卫星气溶胶光学厚度（AOD）遥感产品,通过数据匹配,利用地面气象观测站点的能见度数据和相对湿度数据对AOD产品进行垂直标高订正和湿度订正,2项订正显著提高了AOD和地面PM10浓度的相关性,相关系数从0．36提高到0．65,按季节分类统计和订正春至冬四季的相关系数分别为0．57、0．71、0．62和0．87,夏季和冬季的订正更为有效,可用性更高,这可能由于受到不同季节气溶胶来源和特征的影响。为研究中国西部大型城市,特别是西安市空气环境监测和区域联防联控提供了一种有效方法。