Water quality modeling to determine minimum instream flow for fish survival in tidal rivers

The Hsintien Stream is one of the major branches of the Danshuei River system, which runs through the metropolitan capital city of Taipei, Taiwan and receives a large amount of wastewater. The dissolved oxygen concentration is generally low in the tidal portion of the Hsintien Stream. Hypoxia/anoxia occurs often, particularly during the low-flow period when the Feitsui Reservoir, Chingtan Dam and Chihtan Dam impound the freshwater for municipal water supply. Fish kills happen from time to time. This paper describes the application of a numerical hydrodynamic and water quality model to the Danshuei River system, with special attention to the tidal portion of the Hsintien Stream. The model is recalibrated with the prototype conditions of the year 2000. The hydrodynamic portion of the model is recalibrated with measured surface elevation and velocity at various stations in the river system. The water quality portion of the model is recalibrated with respect to the field data provided by Taiwan EPA. The input data of point and nonpoint sources are also estimated. The model simulates the concentrations of various forms of nutrients, CBOD and dissolved oxygen. A series of sensitivity runs was conducted to investigate the effects of point source loadings and river flow on the DO level in the river. It is demonstrated that the augmentation of river flow has as much effect on raising DO level as the reduction of point source loadings. The completion of the Taipei sewer project is expected to reduce the point source loadings by at least 75%. Under these reduced loadings, if the daily instream flow is maintained above the monthly Q75 flow throughout the year, the minimum DO concentration in the river would not fall below 1mg/L, which is the suffocation level for most fish species in the Hsintien Stream. (Q75 is the flow which is equaled or exceeded 75% of the days in the month.) The Feitsui Reservoir, Chingtan Dam and Chihtan Dam may impound water during the high flow periods and release freshwater to maintain the flow at the Q75 value in the Hsintien Stream during the drought periods.     

WATER COLUMN LIGHT ATTENUATION IN DANSHUEI RIVER ESTUARY,TAIWAN1

ABSTRACT: The penetration of sunlight into the water column plays a critical role in the aquatic ecosystem. This study investigates light attenuation through the water column of the Danshuei River estuary and explores the models for quantifying it. The measurement of photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) indicates that the conventional exponential attenuation of light with depth is a very good model. A light attenuation coefficient may be derived from the PAR measurements at each location. The simpler measurements of Secchi depth (SD) provide an approximate estimate of the attenuation coefficients through an inverse linear relationship. The results also reveal that the amount and kinds of materials, which are either dissolved or suspended in the water, control light attenuation through the water column. However, the linear regression with such a model results in very poor correlation, and a relatively large constant term for the Danshuei River estuary. The regression with salinity yields a good correlation, indicating that the fraction of sea water might be a good parameter for estimating light attenuation coefficient for practical application in the Danshuei River estuary.     

The endocrine and reproductive function of the female Yucheng adolescents prenatally exposed to PCBs/PCDFs

BACKGROUND: Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and related compounds such as polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs) and polychlorinated dibenzo-dioxins (PCDDs) alter sexual maturation and endocrine function in animals. In 1978-1979, a mass poisoning occurred in central Taiwan from cooking oil contaminated by heat-degraded PCBs and oxidated compounds PCDFs. We tested the hypothesis that in utero exposed to PCBs/PCDFs alter sexual maturation, endocrine, and reproductive function in the human pubescent females. METHODS: In 1997-1999, girls aged 13-19 years, born to mothers exposed to PCBs/PCDFs, was invited to participate in the study. Menstruation characteristic was recorded daily for 84 days and serum levels of estradiol, LH, FSH, and testosterone were measured on the 3rd day of menstruation. RESULTS: A total of 17 exposed girls and controls participated, the exposed girls reported shorter mean duration of bleeding per cycle than 16 unexposed (5.5 vs 6.5 days, P=0.0055). There was a higher rate of irregular menstrual cycle in the exposed girls (40% vs 0%, P=0.018). Serum levels of estradiol (P=0.016) and FSH (P=0.061) were higher in exposed girls as compared to controls. CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that prenatal exposure to PCBs/PCDFs resulted in abnormal menstruation and higher estradiol and FSH levels in follicular phase of menstrual cycle in adolescent girls.     

The formation and control of disinfection by-products using chlorine dioxide

In this study, chlorine dioxide (ClO2) was used as an alternative disinfectant with vanillic acid, p-hydroxybenzoic acid, and humic acid as the organic precursors in a natural aquatic environment. The primary disinfection by-products (DBPs) formed were trihalomethanes (THMs) and haloacetic acids (HAAs). Under neutral conditions (pH = 7) for vanillic acid, more total haloacetic acids (THAAs) than total trihalomethanes (TTHMs) were found, with a substantial increase during the later stages of the reaction. In the case of p-hydroxybenzoic acid, the amount of THAAs produced was minimal. Raising the concentration of ClO2 was not favorable for the control of THAAs in low concentrations of vanillic acid. ClO2 could reduce the total amount of TTHMs and THAAs for higher concentration of vanillic acid. It was found that the humic acid treatment dosage was not significant. Under alkaline conditions (pH = 9), the control of TTHMs and THAAs for the treatment of vanillic acid was better and more economical, however, an appreciable amount of inorganic by-products were observed. Under the same alkaline condition, the control of THAA for the treatment of p-hydroxybenzoic acid was not beneficial and for the treatment of humic acid was not significant.     

The influence of the log-conductivity autocovariance structure on macrodispersion coefficients

Macrodispersion coefficients are derived for heterogeneous porous media under ergodic and nonergodic conditions. Influences of the log-conductivity autocovariance function on macrodispersion are investigated through six commonly used isotropic log-conductivity autocorrelation models. They are the exponential, Gaussian, spherical, linear, Whittle and Mizell A-type models. Analytical expressions for ergodic macrodispersion coefficients for each of these models are presented. The results for nonergodic macrodispersion coefficients are calculated numerically. The results show that the various autocovariance functions, which display slight differences in the preasympototic region, have little effect on the ultimate macrodispersion coefficient. The effect of nonergodicity is more significant than the log-conductivity autocovariance function for the aquifers exhibiting unimodal log-conductivity distribution.     

Ultrasonographic scanning of placental thickness and the prenatal diagnosis of homozygous alpha-thalassaemia 1 in the second trimester

In order to evaluate the association between placental thickness (PT) and fetal homozygous alpha-thalassaemia 1 before the appearance of classic ultrasound findings of haemoglobin (Hb) Bart's hydrops fetalis, a total of 473 pregnancies were collected. The control group included 422 normal pregnancies with a gestational age from 14 to 23 weeks and the study group included 51 affected fetuses in the same gestational period. Fetal biparietal diameter (BPD) and PT were measured by high-resolution ultrasound. PT was evaluated against BPD. In the control group, the PT generally increased in parallel with the advancement of gestational age. All PT measurements in the study group were above the mean PT of their respective gestational week in the control group. Forty-six (90 per cent) of the pregnancies in the study group had PT larger than the mean plus two standard deviations of the control group. This study suggests that ultrasound measurement of PT may be a useful aid in the prenatal diagnosis of Hb Bart's hydrops fetalis before its classic findings become apparent in the late second trimester or third trimester.     

Fe (III) supported on resin as effective catalyst for the heterogeneous oxidation of phenol in aqueous solution

FeIII supported on resin as an effective catalyst for oxidation was prepared and applied for the degradation of aqueous phenol. Phenol was selected as a model pollutant and the catalytic oxidation was carried out in a batch reactor using hydrogen peroxide as the oxidant. The influent factors on oxidation, such as catalyst dosage, H2O2 concentration, pH, and phenol concentration were examined by considering both phenol conversion and chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal. The FeIII-resin catalyst possesses a high oxidation activity for phenol degradation in aqueous solution. The experimental results of this study show that almost 100% phenol conversion and over 80% COD removal can be achieved with the FeIII-resin catalyst catalytic oxidation system. A series of prepared resin were investigated for improving the oxidation efficiency. It was found that the reaction temperature and initial pH in solution significantly affected both of phenol conversion and COD removal efficiency. The activity of the catalyst significantly decreased at high pH, which was similar to the Fenton-like reaction mechanism. Results in this study indicate that the FeIII-resin catalytic oxidation process is an efficient method for the treatment of phenolic wastewater.     

Congener profiles of PCBs and PCDD/Fs in Yucheng victims fifteen years after exposure to toxic rice-bran oils and their implications for epidemiologic studies

In 1978-1979, a mass poisoning occurred in central Taiwan from rice-bran oil contaminated by heat-degraded PCBs was later called the Yucheng (oil disease in Chinese). Only a few studies have so far investigated the levels of specific polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) or polychlorinated dibenzodioxin/furan (PCDD/F) congeners in the Yucheng victims. This study aimed to investigate the serum residual levels of thirty-three PCBs and seventeen 2,3,7,8-substituted PCDD/F congeners in the Yucheng victims 15 years after the exposure. Forty-one blood samples were collected from individual Yucheng victims in 1994-1995. The mean levels of total 33 PCBs and 17 PCDD/Fs were 2468 ng/g lipid (13.3 ng/g sample) and 6550 pg/g lipid (30.9 pg/g sample) respectively. The higher levels were found in PCBs #99, #138, #153, #156, #170, #179, and #180 among 33 PCB congeners, while 2,3,4,7,8-PeCDF, 1,2,3,4,7,8-HxCDF, and OCDD had the higher concentrations among 17 PCDD/F congeners. The total TEQ was contributed in decreasing order by 10 PCDFs (44%), three non-ortho-PCBs (24%), six mono-ortho-PCBs (20%), and seven PCDDs (12%). The mean total PCB levels and TEQ value of the 17 PCDD/Fs in the Yucheng victims 15 years after the toxic exposure were still 9 and 46 times higher than those in the general population in Taiwan. Principle component analysis (PCA) indicated that seven PCB congeners, PCBs #99, #138, #153, #156, #170, #179, and #180, accounted for 73% of the total variances in PCBs. On the other hand, six PCDD/F congeners, 2,3,4,7,8-PeCDF, 1,2,3,4,7,8-HxCDF, 1,2,3,6,7,8-HxCDF, 1,2,3,6,7,8-HxCDD, 1,2,3,4,6,7,8-HpCDF, and OCDD, accounted for 97% of the total variances in PCDD/Fs. In addition, PCA revealed that at least three characteristic patterns of congener profiles for PCBs were observed among the Yucheng victims. Similar trend was also observed for PCDD/Fs. These patterns may reflect distinctive exposure scenarios and/or different metabolizing capabilities among the Yucheng victims. We suggest that these patterns, in contrast to total PCB and PCDD/F levels, may be valuable for the future epidemiologic studies when linking exposure with specific health effect.     

The effect of residual chemical oxygen demand on anoxic and aerobic phosphate uptake and release with various intracellular polymer levels.

This study investigated the anoxic and aerobic phosphate uptake and release reactions and the fraction of denitrifying phosphate-accumulating organisms (DPAOs) under various initial chemical oxygen demand (COD) and residual COD conditions. The results showed that DPAOs and non-DPAOs could release phosphate when high soluble COD was present. Consequently, the phosphate-uptake potential was dynamic and increased when the initial COD increased, the initial polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) increased, and the residual COD decreased. Furthermore, the electron acceptor (oxygen of nitrate) has more significant influence on the phosphate uptake/release characteristics, while the residual COD concentrations have little influence on that. The fraction of DPAOs to phosphate-accumulating organisms was 42% when the initial PHA storage was enough by both DPAOs and non-DPAOs. This was closely related to the relative phosphate uptake (47%) in the anoxic zone of the process.