EFFECTIVENESS OF WASTE MINIMIZATION PROJECTS IN REDUCING WATER DEMAND BY UK INDUSTRY1

ABSTRACT: There is growing interest in managing water demand in the UK. A series of waste minimization clubs have been set up within the country and this paper identifies the effectiveness of these clubs in reducing the demand for water within industry. Membership of these clubs is voluntary and the only incentive for industry to reduce water consumption, and consequently the production of effluent, is the almost immediate financial saving made by the company, often achieved by accounting for the water consumption and loss within site from the point of input from the water supplier to output in the form of effluent. On average, companies are able to reduce water consumption by up to 30 percent. If the entire industrial sector within the UK were to achieve this degree of savings, it is possible that approximately 1300Ml/d could be saved.     

Bioremediation treatability studies of contaminated soils at wood preserving sites

Bioremediation has been used frequently at sites contaminated with organic hazardous chemicals where releases from processing vessels and the mismanagement of reagents and generated waste have contributed to significant impairment of the environment. At wood treater sites, process reagents such as pentachlorophenol (PCP), and creosote have adversely impacted the surrounding soil and groundwater. When PCP has been used at these sites, polychlorinated dibenzo‐p‐dioxins (PCDDs) and polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs) are typically found. Where creosote has been used as the wood preservative of choice, polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are commonly found. Many of these compounds are considered to be persistent, bioaccumulative, and toxic (PBT) and are particularly recalcitrant.     

Chemistry and aerosols in the marine boundary layer: 1-D modelling of the three ACE-2 Lagrangian experiments

Three Lagrangian experiments were conducted during IGAC's second aerosol characterization experiment (ACE-2) in the area between Portugal, Tenerife and Madeira in June/July 1997. During each Lagrangian experiment, a boundary layer air mass was followed for about 30 h, and the temporal evolution of its chemical and aerosol composition was documented by a series of vertical profiles and horizontal box pattern flown by the Meteorological Research Flight research aircraft Hercules C130. The wealth of observational data that has been collected during these three Lagrangian experiments is the basis for the development and testing of a one-dimensional Lagrangian boundary layer model with coupled gas, aqueous, and aerosol phase chemistry. The focus of this paper is on current model limitations and strengths. We show that the model is able to represent the dynamical and chemical evolution of the marine boundary layer, in some cases requiring adjustments of the subsidence velocity and of the surface heat fluxes. Entrainment of a layer rich in ozone and carbon monoxide from a residual continental boundary layer into the marine boundary layer as well as in-cloud oxidation of sulphur dioxide by hydrogen peroxide are simulated, and coherent results are obtained, concerning the evolution of the small, presumably sulphate–ammonia aerosol mode.     

A Comparison of Alternative Strategies for Cost-Effective Water Quality Management in Lakes

Roughly 45% of the assessed lakes in the United States are impaired for one or more reasons. Eutrophication due to excess phosphorus loading is common in many impaired lakes. Various strategies are available to lake residents for addressing declining lake water quality, including septic system upgrades and establishing riparian buffers. This study examines 25 lakes to determine whether septic upgrades or riparian buffers are a more cost-effective strategy to meet a phosphorus reduction target. We find that riparian buffers are the more cost-effective strategy in every case but one. Large transaction costs associated with the negotiation and monitoring of riparian buffers, however, may be prohibiting lake residents from implementing the most cost-effective strategy. An erratum to this article is available at .     

Spatial Relations Between Floodplain Environments and Land Use – Land Cover of a Large Lowland Tropical River Valley: Pánuco Basin, México

Large lowland river valleys include a variety of floodplain environments that represent opportunities and constraints for human activities. This study integrates extensive field observations and geomorphic data with analysis of satellite remote sensing data to examine spatial relations between land use/land cover (LULC) and floodplain environments in the lower Pánuco basin of eastern Mexico. The floodplain of the lower Pánuco basin was delineated by combining a digital elevation model with a satellite image of a large flood event. The LULC was classified by combining a hybrid classification strategy with image stratification, applied to 15-m-resolution ASTER data. A geomorphic classification of floodplain environments was performed using a dry-stage image (ASTER data) and a 1993 Landsat image acquired during a large flood event. Accuracy assessment was based on aerial photographs (1:38,000), global positioning satellite ground-truthing, and a Landsat 7ETM⁺ image from 2000, which resulted in an overall accuracy of 82.9% and a KHAT of 79.8% for the LULC classification. The geomorphic classification yielded 83.5% overall accuracy, whereas the KHAT was 81.5%. LULC analysis was performed for the entire floodplain and individually within four valley segments. The analysis indicates that the study area is primarily utilized for grazing and farming. Agriculture is primarily associated with coarse-grained (sandy/silty) natural levee and point bar units close to the river channel, whereas cattle grazing occurs in distal and lower-lying reaches dominated by cohesive fine-grained (clayey) deposits, such as backswamps. In the Pánuco valley, wetlands and lakes occur within backswamp environments, whereas in the Moctezuma segments, wetlands and lakes are associated with relict channels. This study reveals considerable variation in LULC related to spatial differences in floodplain environments and illustrates the importance of considering older anthropogenic influences on the landscape. The research design should be applicable for other large lowland coastal plain river valleys where agriculture is a major component of the floodplain landscape.     

Centrifugal Bioreactors and Their Application in Remediation

A new approach to the maintenance of large microbial populations for bioremediation purposes has been developed in which a centrifugal bioreactor is used to immobilize microbial populations at extremely high density. The cells are ordered into a three‐dimensional array through which wastewater or groundwater volumes may be flowed, unimpeded by frits or screens. The process methodology is independent of the type, shape, or viability of the individual cells immobilized and, thus, may be adapted to many different bioremediation needs. The utilization of this new process has been explored for three different types of remediation: the removal of heavy metals from wastewater, the aerobic degradation of methyl‐tert‐butyl ether (MTBE), and the anaerobic reduction of nitrate to nitrogen gas. This article discusses the use of centrifugal bioreactors and their application in remediation. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Comparing Burned and Mowed Treatments in Mountain Big Sagebrush Steppe

Fires in mountain big sagebrush [Artemisia tridentata spp. vaseyana (Rydb.) Beetle] plant communities historically shifted dominance from woody to herbaceous vegetation. However, fire return intervals have lengthened with European settlement, and sagebrush dominance has increased at the expense of herbaceous vegetation in some plant communities. Management actions may be needed to decrease sagebrush in dense sagebrush stands to increase herbaceous vegetation. Prescribed fire is often used to remove sagebrush; however, mechanical treatments, such as mowing, are increasingly used because they are more controllable and do not pose an inherent risk of escape compared with fire. However, information on the effects of burned and mowed treatments on herbaceous vegetation and whether fire and mowed applications elicit similar vegetation responses are limited. We evaluated the effects of prescribed burning and mowing for 3?years after treatment in mountain big sagebrush plant communities. The burned and mowed treatments generally increased herbaceous cover, density, and production compared with untreated controls (P??0.05). In contrast, annual forb (predominately natives) cover, density, and biomass increased with mowing and burning (P?相似文献   

Native Perennial Forb Variation Between Mountain Big Sagebrush and Wyoming Big Sagebrush Plant Communities

Big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata Nutt.) occupies large portions of the western United States and provides valuable wildlife habitat. However, information is lacking quantifying differences in native perennial forb characteristics between mountain big sagebrush [A. tridentata spp. vaseyana (Rydb.) Beetle] and Wyoming big sagebrush [A. tridentata spp. wyomingensis (Beetle & A. Young) S.L. Welsh] plant communities. This information is critical to accurately evaluate the quality of habitat and forage that these communities can produce because many wildlife species consume large quantities of native perennial forbs and depend on them for hiding cover. To compare native perennial forb characteristics on sites dominated by these two subspecies of big sagebrush, we sampled 106 intact big sagebrush plant communities. Mountain big sagebrush plant communities produced almost 4.5-fold more native perennial forb biomass and had greater native perennial forb species richness and diversity compared to Wyoming big sagebrush plant communities (P < 0.001). Nonmetric multidimensional scaling (NMS) and the multiple-response permutation procedure (MRPP) demonstrated that native perennial forb composition varied between these plant communities (P < 0.001). Native perennial forb composition was more similar within plant communities grouped by big sagebrush subspecies than expected by chance (A = 0.112) and composition varied between community groups (P < 0.001). Indicator analysis did not identify any perennial forbs that were completely exclusive and faithful, but did identify several perennial forbs that were relatively good indicators of either mountain big sagebrush or Wyoming big sagebrush plant communities. Our results suggest that management plans and habitat guidelines should recognize differences in native perennial forb characteristics between mountain and Wyoming big sagebrush plant communities.     

Singular Spectrum Analytic (SSA) Decomposition and Reconstruction of Flowering: Signatures of Climatic Impacts

An empirical approach for the decomposition and reconstruction of long-term flowering records of eight eucalypt species is presented. Results from singular spectrum analysis (SSA) allow for characterisation of the dynamic and complex flowering patterns in response to temperature and rainfall throughout the year. SSA identified trend, annual, biennial and other sub-components of flowering. The ability to discriminate flowering and climate relationships is demonstrated based on SSA (cross-)correlation analysis. SSA also identified the cyclical influence of temperature and rainfall on peak flowering. For each species, there is, on average, 6 months of the annual cycle when temperature positively influences flowering and 6 months when the influence of temperature is negative. For all species, rainfall exerts a negative influence when temperature is positive. Investigation of short-term and long-term lags of climate on flowering provided best-case climatic scenarios for each species’ flowering; e.g. more intense peak flowering is likely in Eucalyptus leucoxylon when cool, wet conditions coincide with peak flowering and is further enhanced if the preceding autumn and winter were warm and dry, and the previous spring and summer cool and wet. Three clear species groupings, according to similar SSA (cross-)correlation signatures, were identified: (1) E. leucoxylon and E. tricarpa; (2) E. camaldulensis, E. melliodora and E. polyanthemos and (3) E. goniocalyx, E. microcarpa and E. macrorhyncha. Lastly, change point years for flowering based on SSA sub-components in four of the species seem to align with years of major shift in global ENSO signal (1951/1957/1958) as indicated by the extended multivariate ENSO index.