Environmental performance indicators: Balancing compliance with business economics

Many companies are examining ways to integrate environmental performance into the management and operation of their core businesses. Basic principles from the application of TQM in manufacturing will help bring environmental management into the mainstream of business operations. Likely results include improved and sustained compliance and improved long-term financial performance. The author addresses a critical first step, which is developing a common language and system for measuring environmental performance and setting goals for continuous improvement.     

Cognitive stereotypes in responses to diagrammatic analogues of driving tasks

Cognitive stereotypes, or anticipatory response dispositions, toward driving tasks are identified in analyses of responses to diagrammatic analogues of intersection and overtaking decision problems. It is argued that such a questionnaire can be designed to permit a preliminary determination of relationships between these dispositions and contextual factors such as traffic control environment, en route traffic, road marking, security of the road ahead, and number of vehicles to be overtaken. Suggested applications of the procedure include anticipating the ability of individuals or groups to adapt to changes in the traffic control environment and measuring the effects of remedial training activities.     

Prioritizing ecological and human welfare risks from environmental stresses

The ecological systems of Earth are subjected to a wide array of environmental stresses resulting from human activities. The development of appropriate environmental protection and management policies and the appropriate allocation of resources across environmental stresses require a systematic evaluation of relative risks. The data and methodologies for comprehensive ecological risk assessment do not exist, yet we do have considerable understanding of econological stress-response relationships. A methodology is presented to utilize present knowledge for assignment of relative risks to ecological systems and human welfare from anthropogenic stresses. The resultant priorities, developed for the US Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) relative risk reduction project, highlight global climate change, habitat alteration, stratospheric ozone depletion, and species depletion as the highest environmental risks, significantly diverging from the present emphasis by EPA and the public on toxic chemical issues. Enhanced attention to ecological issues by EPA and development of ecological risk assessment methodologies that value ecological and economic issues equitably are key recommendations.     

US army land condition-trend analysis (LCTA) program

The US Army Land Condition-Trend Analysis (LCTA) program is a standardized method of data collection, analysis, and reporting designed to meet multiple goals and objectives. The method utilizes vascular plant inventories, permanent field plot data, and wildlife inventories. Vascular plant inventories are used for environmental documentation, training of personnel, species identification during LCTA implementation, and as a survey for state and federal endangered or threatened species. The permanent field plot data documents the vegetational, edaphic, topographic, and disturbance characteristics of the installation. Inventory plots are allocated in a stratified random fashion across the installation utilizing a geographic information system that integrates satellite imagery and soil survey information. Ground cover, canopy cover, woody plant density, slope length, slope gradient, soil information, and disturbance data are collected at each plot. Plot data are used to: (1) describe plant communities, (2) characterize wildlife and threatened and endangered species habitat, (3) document amount and kind of military and nonmilitary disturbance, (4) determine the impact of military training on vegetation and soil resources, (5) estimate soil erosion potential, (6) classify land as to the kind and amount of use it can support, (7) determine allowable use estimates for tracked vehicle training, (8) document concealment resources, (9) identify lands that require restoration and evaluate the effectiveness of restorative techniques, and (10) evaluate potential acquisition property. Wildlife inventories survey small and midsize mammals, birds, bats, amphibians, and reptiles. Data from these surveys can be used for environmental documentation, to identify state and federal endangered and threatened species, and to evaluate the impact of military activities on wildlife populations. Short- and long-term monitoring of permanent field plots is used to evaluate and adjust land management decisions.     

The use of constructed wetlands in the treatment of acid mine drainage

US government regulations require that all effluents from industrial operations, including mining, meet certain water quality standards. Constructed wetlands have proven to be useful in helping to attain those standards. Application of this biotechnology to mine water drainage can reduce water treatment costs and improve water quality in streams and rivers adversely affected by acidic mine water drainage from abandoned mines. Over 400 constructed wetland water treatment systems have been built on mined lands largely as a result of research by the US Bureau of Mines. Wetlands are passive biological treatment systems that are relatively inexpensive to construct and require minimal maintenance. Chemical treatment costs are reduced sufficiently to repay the cost of construction in less than a year. The mine waste water is typically treated in a series of excavated ponds that resemble small marsh areas. The ponds are engineered to facilitate bacterial oxidation of iron. Ideally, the water then flows through a composted organic substrate supporting a population of sulphate-reducing bacteria which raises the pH. Constructed wetlands in the USA are described - their history, functions, construction methodologies, applicabilities, limitations and costs.     

ESTIMATING CENTRAL TENDENCY FROM UNCENSORED TRACE LEVEL MEASUREMENTS1

ABSTRACT: The statistical analysis of data which have trace level measurements has traditionally been a two-step process in which data are first censored using criteria based on measurement precision, and then analyzed with statistical methods for censored data. The process might be more informative if data were left uncensored. In this paper, information loss attributable to censoring and measurement noise are assessed by comparing the sample mean and median of uncensored measurements with a log regression mean and median based on censored data. Measurements are derived from lognormal parent distributions which have random variability characteristic of trace level measurement. The relative performance of estimators used with error-free samples and with samples having measurement noise can be explained by differences between the probability distributions of parents and measurements. Measurement introduces bias and dispersion and transforms lognormal parent distributions toward greater symmetry. Estimates using uncensored data are less biased and more accurate than the log regression mean and median when censoring exceeds about 50 percent, and are not much worse at any fraction censored. For data with many (80 percent) results below the limit of detection, bias may be quite severe.     

EFFECTS OF LOMA PRIETA EARTHQUAKE ON SURFACE WATERS IN WADDELL VALLEY1

ABSTRACT: Waddell Creek is a perennial stream near Santa Cruz, California, which discharges into the Pacific Ocean about 38 km from the epicenter of the Loma Prieta earthquake (October 17, 1989, M 7.1). The earthquake caused no significant changes or damage to structures or surface features in the area, but was followed by an order of magnitude transient increase in discharge of Waddell Creek and nearby springs. The transients approximate a step rise followed by an exponential recession with time constants of from 37 to 59 days. The flow recession pattern of Waddell Creek was obscured by heavy rains after about 50 days; however, the springs maintained an exponential recession with minimal rain interference for periods of several time constants, then abruptly ceased flowing. A comparison of the pre-quake and post-quake chemical signature of one of the springs shows only minor changes in water chemistry indicating a common source for pre- and post-quake waters. Increased permeability of the subsurface ground material appears to be the most probable cause of the hydrologic changes. Post-seismic reduction of permeability has not been observed or inferred.