ALTERNATIVES TO THE USE OF AGRICULTURAL DRAINAGE WELLS1

ABSTRACT: A large number of agricultural drainage wells (ADWs) are located in north-central Iowa. These wells permit sediments, pesticides, nitrate, and bacteria in surface and subsurface drainage water to enter regional aquifers that are currently being used for drinking-water supplies, mostly by rural families and communities. This paper reports some possible alternatives to control the entry of surface and subsurface drainage waters into groundwater systems, and describes a methodology to make comprehensive economic feasibility studies of alternative drainage outlets. The estimated cost of providing main subsurface drains varied from $220 to $960 per hectare. If the use of ADWs was completely eliminated without providing alternative drainage, it is estimated that the average annual loss to the farmers of the area would be at least $270 per hectare in reduced crop yields. Of course, losses would be weather dependent and highly variable. Management practices to reduce the pollutant load in water draining to ADWs are also discussed.     

Developing Institutional Capacity at the Regional Level: The Development of a Coastal Forum in the North West of England

This paper examines the process of establishing a coastal forum in the North West region of England. The North West Coastal Forum is one of the first attempts at the establishment of a regional forum in England and is especially notable for the role played by the Government Office for the North West in its formation. The paper examines the relationships between the key agencies involved and, in particular, the key role played by the Government Office for the North West in promoting and establishing the forum and how this has influenced its organization, structure and composition. It provides a critical analysis of the apparent and potential strengths and weaknesses of the forum as an example of a partnership approach to the planning and management of coastal issues in the North West. The conclusions are not only of relevance to the future development of the forum within the North West of England, and to the potential establishment of similar coastal fora elsewhere, but are also of much broader interest as a case example of the development of institutional capacities and collaborative partnership approaches to planning issues at the regional level in the wider context of the changing nature of regional governance in the UK and the enhanced 'regional partnership' role being embraced by the government offices for the regions.     

Book reviews

Environment Systems and Decisions -     

An investigation into pay valence and performance in a pay-for-performance field setting

Inconsistent findings have been reported in the few studies investigating the relationship between the perceived value of pay and incentive performance. One hundred and seventy-eight female incentive employees with a nine-week, non-judgmental performance measure responded to a developed valence of pay scale. This measure used items assessing the perceived ability of pay to address employee needs. Three factor-scales were found within these items. Support for the hypothesized positive relationship between pay valence and incentive performance was found, dependent on which of the three scales was used. These findings provide initial insight into the means by which pay, with its ability to address different needs, might provide differential employee motivation and performance levels. This study and future research issues are discussed.     

Industrial relations,worksite stress reduction,and employee well-being: A participatory action research investigation

The workplace has become the locus of many stress management and stress reduction interventions. However, little attention has focused on how worksite factors affect the implementation and impact of such interventions. In this paper, we investigate the effect of new versus traditional industrial relations practices on the impact of a worksite stress reduction program in a manufacturing setting. More specifically, a participatory action research (PAR) stress project is described and evaluated in two different labor–management relations contexts. One organization is characterized by the emerging ’new‘ industrial relations system where labor–management relations incorporate elements of joint problem-solving. The other organization has a more traditional approach where labor–management relations are formally adversarial. Results indicate that the labor–management relations context did influence the impact of the stress project. Involvement in the PAR stress project enhanced employee participation in decision-making in both contexts. However, involvement in the stress project enhanced employees' perceptions of the climate for participation only in the organization with more cooperative industrial relations. Increases in coworker support and decreases in depressive symptoms were associated with involvement in the PAR stress project in the organization with more adversarial industrial relations.     

Reconstruction of radioactive plume characteristics along Chernobyl's Western Trace

Using data obtained from 435 radiation sampling stations in the Red Forest, 1.5 km W if the Chernobyl Nuclear Complex, we reconstructed the deposition pathway of the first plume released by the accident, Chernobyl's Western Trace. The dimensions and deposition rates of the plume remain sharply defined 15 years after the accident. Assuming a uniform particle distribution within the original cloud, we derived estimates of plume dimensions by applying geometric transformations to the coordinates at each sample point. Our derived estimates for the radioactive cloud accounted for 87% of the variation of radioactivity in this region. Results show a highly integrated bell-shaped cross-section of the cloud of radiation, approximately 660 m wide and 290 m high, traveling at a bearing of 264 degrees from reactor IV. Particle sizes within Chernobyl's Western Trace were within the most dangerous range for inhaled aerosols (2-5 microm). Therefore, reconstruction of the dispersion of such particles is critical for understanding the aftermath of nuclear and biological aerosol releases.     

Findings from long-term monitoring studies at MSW landfill facilities with leachate recirculation

This paper presents findings from long-term monitoring studies performed at full-scale municipal solid waste landfill facilities with leachate recirculation. Data from two facilities at a landfill site in Delaware, USA were evaluated as part of this study: (1) Area A/B landfill cells; and (2) two test cells (one with leachate recirculation and one control cell). Data from Area A/B were compared with proposed waste stability criteria for leachate quality, landfill gas production, and landfill settlement. Data from the test cells were directly compared with each other. Overall, the trends at Area A/B pointed to the positive effects (i.e., more rapid waste degradation) that may be realized through increasing moisture availability in a landfill relative to the reported behavior of more traditionally operated (i.e., drier) landfills. Some significant behavioral differences between the two test cells were evident, including dissimilarities in total landfill gas production quantity and the extent of waste degradation observed in recovered time capsules. Differences in leachate quality were not as dramatic as anticipated, probably because the efficiency of the leachate recirculation system at distributing leachate throughout the waste body in the recirculation cell was low.     

Phosphorus budgets and riverine phosphorus export in northwestern Ohio watersheds

Phosphorus (P) budgets for large watersheds are often used to predict trends in riverine P export. To test such predictions, we calculated annual P budgets for 1975-1995 for soils of the Maumee and Sandusky watersheds of northwestern Ohio and compared them with riverine P export from these watersheds. Phosphorus inputs to the soils include fertilizers, manure, rainfall, and sludge while outputs include crop removal and nonpoint-source export via rivers. Annual P inputs decreased due to reductions in fertilizer and manure inputs. Annual outputs increased due to increasing crop yields. Net P accumulation decreased from peak values of 13.4 and 9.5 kg P ha(-1) yr(-1) to 3.7 and 2.6 kg P ha(-1) yr(-1) for the Maumee and Sandusky watersheds, respectively. Thus, P budget analysis suggests that riverine P export should have increased throughout the study period, with smaller increases during more recent years. However, detailed water quality studies show that riverine export of total phosphorus (TP) has decreased by 25 to 40% and soluble reactive phosphorus (SRP) by 60 to 89%, both due primarily to decreases from nonpoint sources. We suggest that these decreases are associated with farmers' adoption of practices that minimize transport of recently applied P fertilizer and of sediments via surface runoff, coupled with changes in winter weather conditions. In comparison with most Midwestern watersheds, rivers draining these watersheds have high unit area yields of TP, low unit area yields of SRP, and high ratios of nonpoint source- to point source-derived P.     

MEASURING IMPACTS OF WATER RESOURCE DEVELOPMENTS ON THE HUMAN ENVIRONMENT1

The parameters and the measurement procedures described in this paper are seen as being part of the first stage in development of the human environment assessment process. Additional parameters need to be identified, and methods of measuring impacts reflected by the parameters must be developed and refined. Considerations of the human environment and those elements of the natural environment that are of importance to people must be included as an integral part of the environmental impact assessment process. Therefore, there is a need for continuing to identify parameters of the human environment and to develop methods of measuring impacts so that these considerations will become a well-integrated part of the environmental impact assessment process.