Integrated groundwater resource management in Indus Basin using satellite gravimetry and physical modeling tools

Reliable and frequent information on groundwater behavior and dynamics is very important for effective groundwater resource management at appropriate spatial scales. This information is rarely available in developing countries and thus poses a challenge for groundwater managers. The in situ data and groundwater modeling tools are limited in their ability to cover large domains. Remote sensing technology can now be used to continuously collect information on hydrological cycle in a cost-effective way. This study evaluates the effectiveness of a remote sensing integrated physical modeling approach for groundwater management in Indus Basin. The Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment Satellite (GRACE)-based gravity anomalies from 2003 to 2010 were processed to generate monthly groundwater storage changes using the Variable Infiltration Capacity (VIC) hydrologic model. The groundwater storage is the key parameter of interest for groundwater resource management. The spatial and temporal patterns in groundwater storage (GWS) are useful for devising the appropriate groundwater management strategies. GRACE-estimated GWS information with large-scale coverage is valuable for basin-scale monitoring and decision making. This frequently available information is found useful for the identification of groundwater recharge areas, groundwater storage depletion, and pinpointing of the areas where groundwater sustainability is at risk. The GWS anomalies were found to favorably agree with groundwater model simulations from Visual MODFLOW and in situ data. Mostly, a moderate to severe GWS depletion is observed causing a vulnerable situation to the sustainability of this groundwater resource. For the sustainable groundwater management, the region needs to implement groundwater policies and adopt water conservation techniques.     

Long-term spatiotemporal patterns of CH4 and N2O emissions from livestock and poultry production in Turkey

This study quantified spatiotemporal patterns of CH₄ and N₂O emissions from livestock and poultry production in Turkey between 1961 and 2007. CH_4(enteric) (from enteric fermentation), CH_4(manure) (from manure management), and N₂O_(AWM) (from animal waste management) emissions in Turkey were estimated at 1,164, 216, and 55 Gg in 1961 and decreased to 844, 187, and 39 Gg in 2007, contributing a share of roughly 2% to the global livestock-related CH₄ emissions and %1.5 to the global N₂O_(AWM) emissions, respectively. Total CO₂-eq emissions were estimated at 50.7 Tg in 1961 and declined from a maximum value of 60.7 Tg in 1982 to a minimum value of 34.5 Tg in 2003, with a mean emission rate of 48 Tg year^???1 due to a significant reduction in the number of ruminant livestock. The highest mean share of emissions belonged to West Black Sea (14% and 16%) for CH_4(enteric) and CH_4(manure) and to North East Anatolia (12% and %13) for N₂O_(AWM) and total CO₂-eq emissions, respectively. The highest emission density was 1.7 Mg km^???2 year^???1 for CH_4(enteric), 0.3 Mg km^???2 year^???1 for CH_4(manure), and 0.07 Mg km^???2 year^???1 for the total CO₂-eq emissions in the West and North East Anatolia regions and 0.09 Mg km^???2 year^???1 for N₂O_(AWM) in the East Marmara region. Temporal and spatial variations in CH_4(enteric), CH_4(manure), and N₂O_(AWM) emissions in Turkey were estimated using regression models and ordinary kriging at a 500-m resolution, respectively.     

Attenuation of Gaseous Pollutants by Greenbelts

The article draws attention towards the importance ofgreenbelts in attenuating gaseous pollutants andpresents the meteorological, physico-chemical,biological, and horticultural dimensions associatedwith effective greenbelt design.We have presented the gist of a system ofmethodologies, developed by us, for greenbelt design. A case study demonstrating the applicability of thesystem has been presented.     

Analysis of multi-temporal landsat satellite images for monitoring land surface temperature of municipal solid waste disposal sites

This studypresents a remote sensing application of using time series Landsat satellite images for monitoring the Trail Road and Nepean municipal solid waste (MSW) disposal sites in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Currently, the Trail Road landfill is in operation; however, during the 1960s and 1980s, the city relied heavily on the Nepean landfill. More than 400 Landsat satellite images were acquired from the US Geological Survey (USGS) data archive between 1984 and 2011. Atmospheric correction was conducted on the Landsat images in order to derive the landfill sites’ land surface temperature (LST). The findings unveil that the average LST of the landfill was always higher than the immediate surrounding vegetation and air temperature by 4 to 10 °C and 5 to 11.5 °C, respectively. During the summer, higher differences of LST between the landfill and its immediate surrounding vegetation were apparent, while minima were mostly found in fall. Furthermore, there was no significant temperature difference between the Nepean landfill (closed) and the Trail Road landfill (active) from 1984 to 2007. Nevertheless, the LST of the Trail Road landfill was much higher than the Nepean by 15 to 20 °C after 2007. This is mainly due to the construction and dumping activities (which were found to be active within the past few years) associated with the expansion of the Trail Road landfill. The study demonstrates that the use of the Landsat data archive can provide additional and viable information for the aid of MSW disposal site monitoring.     

Mapping air quality zones for coastal urban centers

This study presents a new method that incorporates modern air dispersion models allowing local terrain and land–sea breeze effects to be considered along with political and natural boundaries for more accurate mapping of air quality zones (AQZs) for coastal urban centers. This method uses local coastal wind patterns and key urban air pollution sources in each zone to more accurately calculate air pollutant concentration statistics. The new approach distributes virtual air pollution sources within each small grid cell of an area of interest and analyzes a puff dispersion model for a full year’s worth of 1-hr prognostic weather data. The difference of wind patterns in coastal and inland areas creates significantly different skewness (S) and kurtosis (K) statistics for the annually averaged pollutant concentrations at ground level receptor points for each grid cell. Plotting the S-K data highlights grouping of sources predominantly impacted by coastal winds versus inland winds. The application of the new method is demonstrated through a case study for the nation of Kuwait by developing new AQZs to support local air management programs. The zone boundaries established by the S-K method were validated by comparing MM5 and WRF prognostic meteorological weather data used in the air dispersion modeling, a support vector machine classifier was trained to compare results with the graphical classification method, and final zones were compared with data collected from Earth observation satellites to confirm locations of high-exposure-risk areas. The resulting AQZs are more accurate and support efficient management strategies for air quality compliance targets effected by local coastal microclimates.

Implications: A novel method to determine air quality zones in coastal urban areas is introduced using skewness (S) and kurtosis (K) statistics calculated from grid concentrations results of air dispersion models. The method identifies land–sea breeze effects that can be used to manage local air quality in areas of similar microclimates.     

Perspectives of using fungi as bioresource for bioremediation of pesticides in the environment: a critical review

Pesticides are used for controlling the development of various pests in agricultural crops worldwide. Despite their agricultural benefits, pesticides are often considered a serious threat to the environment because of their persistent nature and the anomalies they create. Hence removal of such pesticides from the environment is a topic of interest for the researchers nowadays. During the recent years, use of biological resources to degrade or remove pesticides has emerged as a powerful tool for their in situ degradation and remediation. Fungi are among such bioresources that have been widely characterized and applied for biodegradation and bioremediation of pesticides. This review article presents the perspectives of using fungi for biodegradation and bioremediation of pesticides in liquid and soil media. This review clearly indicates that fungal isolates are an effective bioresource to degrade different pesticides including lindane, methamidophos, endosulfan, chlorpyrifos, atrazine, cypermethrin, dieldrin, methyl parathion, heptachlor, etc. However, rate of fungal degradation of pesticides depends on soil moisture content, nutrient availability, pH, temperature, oxygen level, etc. Fungal strains were found to harbor different processes including hydroxylation, demethylation, dechlorination, dioxygenation, esterification, dehydrochlorination, oxidation, etc during the biodegradation of different pesticides having varying functional groups. Moreover, the biodegradation of different pesticides was found to be mediated by involvement of different enzymes including laccase, hydrolase, peroxidase, esterase, dehydrogenase, manganese peroxidase, lignin peroxidase, etc. The recent advances in understanding the fungal biodegradation of pesticides focusing on the processes, pathways, genes/enzymes and factors affecting the biodegradation have also been presented in this review article.     

PCDD/PCDF, dl-PCB and PBDE serum levels of Slovak general population

Blood serum specimens from 81 non-occupationally exposed adults residing in four areas close to municipal and waste incinerators as well as metallurgical industry plant and 44 adult subjects coming from control area of Slovakia were analysed for polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs), polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs), dioxin-like polychlorinated biphenyls (dl-PCBs) and polybrominated diphenylethers (PBDEs). The concentration of total WHO(98)TEQ PCDD/F/dl-PCBs in whole group of donors from areas where known sources causing dioxin contamination are present was significantly higher than in control group of donors (p<0.001). Correlation between the age of donors and PCDD/F and dl-PCB levels was confirmed (Spearman's r(PCDD/Fs)=0.543, r(dl-PCBs)=0.521, p<0.001). Furthermore, this study presents first results concerning the PBDE congeners in human serum of Slovak general population. The total concentration (congeners 28, 47, 99, 100, 153, 154, 183) in control group was approximately 1.5-times higher in comparison to that of residents coming from areas with supposed environmental pollution. The most abundant congeners in all samples were BDE-47 and BDE-153 with median values of 0.24 ng g(-1) lipid and 0.23ngg(-1) lipid, respectively. The positive association between PBDE values and age of donors was not found.     

Combating environmental irresponsibility of transnational corporations in Africa: an empirical analysis

Environmental irresponsibility is one of the most prominent issues confronting host communities of transnational corporations (TNCs) engaged in the production of economic goods and, sometimes, services. Drawing mainly on stakeholder theory, combined with legitimacy theory, this article addresses how host communities in Africa combat the challenge of environmental irresponsibility of TNCs. To illustrate the dimensions and dynamics of the challenge, this paper examines the experience of despoliation of Ogoniland by the oil giant Shell in Nigeria. The analysis draws attention to the significance of the role of individuals and civil society groups in securing accountability of one of the most formidable fronts of economic globalisation. The analysis is particularly relevant to the experience of environmental irresponsibility in the context of weak governance structures.     

Human bones obtained from routine joint replacement surgery as a tool for studies of plutonium, americium and ⁹⁰Sr body-burden in general public

The paper presents a new sampling method for studying in-body radioactive contamination by bone-seeking radionuclides such as ⁹⁰Sr, ^239+240Pu, ²³⁸Pu, ²⁴¹Am and selected gamma-emitters, in human bones. The presented results were obtained for samples retrieved from routine surgeries, namely knee or hip joints replacements with implants, performed on individuals from Southern Poland. This allowed to collect representative sets of general public samples. The applied analytical radiochemical procedure for bone matrix is described in details. Due to low concentrations of ²³⁸Pu the ratio of Pu isotopes which might be used for Pu source identification is obtained only as upper limits other then global fallout (for example Chernobyl) origin of Pu. Calculated concentrations of radioisotopes are comparable to the existing data from post-mortem studies on human bones retrieved from autopsy or exhumations. Human bones removed during knee or hip joint surgery provide a simple and ethical way for obtaining samples for plutonium, americium and ⁹⁰Sr in-body contamination studies in general public.     

Electricity generation from landfill gas in Turkey

Landfill gas (LFG)-to-energy plants in Turkey were investigated, and the LFG-to-energy plant of a metropolitan municipal landfill was monitored for 3 years. Installed capacities and actual gas engine working hours were determined. An equation was developed to estimate the power capacity for LFG-to-energy plants for a given amount of landfilled waste. Monitoring the actual gas generation rates enabled determination of LFG generation factors for Turkish municipal waste. A significant relationship (R = 0.524, p < 0.01, two-tailed) was found between the amounts of landfilled waste and the ambient temperature, which can be attributed to food consumption and kitchen waste generation behaviors influenced by the ambient temperature. However, no significant correlation was found between the ambient temperature and the generated LFG. A temperature buffering capacity was inferred to exist within the landfill, which enables the anaerobic reactions to continue functioning even during cold seasons. The average LFG and energy generation rates were 45 m³ LFG/ton waste landfilled and 0.08 MWhr/ton waste landfilled, respectively. The mean specific LFG consumption for electricity generation was 529 ± 28 m³/MWhr.

Implications: The paper will be useful for local authorities who need to manage municipal waste by using landfills. The paper will also be useful for investors who want to evaluate the energy production potential of municipal wastes and the factors affecting the energy generation process mostly for economical purposes. Landfills can be regarded as energy sources and their potentials need to be investigated. The paper will also be useful for policymakers dealing with energy issues. The paper contains information on real practical data such as engine working hours, equation to estimate the necessary power for a given amount of landfilled waste, and son on.