MEASURING THE SITE-SPECIFIC RECREATION BENEFITS RESULTING FROM IMPROVED WATER QUALITY: AN UPPER BOUND APPROACH1

The estimation of the value of recreation benefits resulting from improved water quality is required for many purposes. In particular, the Water Pollution Control Act of 1980 requires the consideration of the reasonableness of costs of reducing water pollution in relation to benefits to be derived from establishing effluent standards (Clean Water Act of 1977). Recreation is often the most important benefit resulting from water quality improvement. Current methods used to calculate recreation benefits are either not site-specific or are expensive and controversial. This paper presents a relatively simple, inexpensive, and less controversial method of calculating site-specific recreation benefits resulting from improved water quality. It does this by producing an upper bound estimate which often is adequate for the relevant decision. The upper bound estimates is based on two assumptions: 1) there are alternative equivalent substitute sites for the newly augmented water quality site, and 2) the new augmented recreation opportunities at the site will be used to their maximum supply capacity. Clearly, if an upper bound benefit estimate in a cost-benefit ratio does not produce a favorable ratio, no other benefit estimate will. In cases where this estimate produces an ambiguous result resort must be had to other more precise methods of estimation.     

关于建立城市声环境自动监测系统的设想

文章以随机过程“各态历径”理论说明了“定点测量法”与“网格测量法”的内在联系 ,提出了以城市建成区内各类不同环境功能区为基础进行城市声环境自动监测系统监测点位布设的技术规范设想。     

天津市空气质量时间变化规律及相关性分析

按时间段对天津市环境空气监测国控点2005年的SO2、NO2和PM10监测数据进行统计分析,SO2、NO2和PM10时间变化规律呈现典型的双峰双谷型,SO2、NO2污染呈现明显的季节性,而PM10污染相对稳定。对SO2、NO2和PM10在全年、采暖期和非采暖期的时间变化进行相关性分析,结果表明,除了非采暖期NO2和SO2相关性不显著外,其它均存在较强的相关性。     

环境空气质量自动监测系统管理

针对目前我国监测站环境空气自动监测的发展和管理现状,建立健全城市环境空气自动监测的管理制度和相应的技术档案十分必要。     

生态系统调节水量的价值评估——兴山实例

根据植被类型、坡度和土壤类型，分析了兴山县集水区内不同植被地块调节水量的能力。并且根据水能学的原理，分析了枯水期和洪峰期葛洲坝水电站的发电量与水流量的关系，建立了水流发电模拟模型。在上述分析的基础上，评估了兴山县境内生态系统调节香溪河等河流的水量，改善长江全年来水的均匀度，提高葛洲坝水电站发电效率的经济价值。     

试论执行力文化的构建与政府行政效率的提高

首先论述了执行力文化的提出及内涵,随后说明了导致政府行政效率低下的3个原因,由此引出了在政府中倡导构建执行力文化是提高政府效率的有效手段,最后以秦皇岛市为例,说明了在政府中如何构建执行力文化的几个方面内容.     

政府部门建立ISO14000环境管理体系探讨

本文从城市的可持续发展战略高度出发，论述了政府部门建立ISO14001环境管理体系的必要性和可行性，并从9个方面阐述了建立环境管理体系的重要意义。     

BRINGING DOWN OUR DAMS: TRENDS IN AMERICAN DAM REMOVAL RATIONALES1

ABSTRACT: Over 76,000 dams have been constructed on American rivers to provide services such as flood protection, water storage, hydroelectric power, and navigation. Although most dams continue to provide sufficient benefits to retain the structure, dam removal is becoming increasingly common. This study involved the construction of a dam removal database to analyze spatial and temporal trends in dam removal. The data included information on 417 cases of dismantled American dams, 153 with known rationales for removal. Database analysis indicated that the leading purposes for dismantling structures are safety concerns and interest in environmental restoration. There is substantial geographic variability in dam removal rationales, with California leading in razing dams for environmental purposes, and Wisconsin leading in economic and safety rationales. States with substantial removals tend to have programs that support and fund dam razing. Although removals for safety reasons have been increasing steadily in the past three decades, environmental removals made a rather dramatic and sudden entry into the dam removal arena in the 1990s. Analysis of spatial and temporal trends in dam razing are of particular significance given the likely increase in dam removals in the 21st Century.     

THE STRUCTURE AND PRACTICE OF WATER QUALITY TRADING MARKETS1

ABSTRACT: The use of transferable discharge permits in water pollution, what we will call water quality trading (WQT), is rapidly growing in the U.S. This paper reviews the current status of WQT nationally and discusses the structures of the markets that have been formed. Four main structures are observed in such markets: exchanges, bilateral negotiations, clearinghouses, and sole source offsets. The goals of a WQT program are environmental quality and cost effectiveness. In designing a WQT market, policy makers are constrained by legal restrictions and the physical characteristics of the pollution problem. The choices that must be made include how trading will be authorized, monitored and enforced. How these questions are answered will help determine both the extent to which these goals are achieved, and the market structures that can arise. After discussing the characteristics of different market structures, we evaluate how this framework applies in the case of California's Grassland Drainage Area Tradable Loads Program.     

浅析政府对环境民事诉讼不适当干预

随着我国经济发展，环境污染纠纷在不断增加。由于环境行政法律规范的缺陷和环境行政执法的不力，很多纠纷未能得到及时有效的解决，于是污染受害者不得不求助于环境民事诉讼程序。然而，政府部门对这些诉讼活动的不适当干预引起了一系列严重后果：降低了法律、政府和司法部门的权威性，加剧了环境质量的恶化，严重威胁了公众的生命健康和财产安全，不利于我国法制建设和可持续发展战略目标的实现。文章着重探讨了种种危害后果，并在此基础上分析了政府干预的动机和法院软弱的成因，最后提出了初步的建议。