America’s Rivers and the American Experiment1

Doyle, Martin W., 2012. America’s Rivers and the American Experiment. Journal of the American Water Resources Association (JAWRA) 48(4): 820‐837. DOI: 10.1111/j.1752‐1688.2012.00652.x Abstract:  America’s rivers are managed, over long periods of time, based on the most basic ideologies of the United States (U.S.) government. An essential notion of the U.S. government, and thus a necessity of river management, is governing as experiment. This leads to three necessary characteristics of river management: (1) adapting management practices based on experience and thus creating management and agency structures that are highly malleable and that can change directions, (2) overlapping of management roles and responsibilities between agencies which includes intentional redundancy and interagency competition, and (3) federalism — the devolution of responsibilities between national, state, and other unit governments (e.g., municipalities, counties). While these characteristics are often criticized as inefficient, in fact they have provided a surprisingly effective system for river management that has responded to the needs of society at different times and in different places. A key question for river and water resource managers is whether this particular system, so initially unappealing, is best able to meet the future needs of the U.S.     

A Simple Framework for Incorporating Seasonal Streamflow Forecasts into Existing Water Resource Management Practices1

Gong, Gavin, Lucien Wang, Laura Condon, Alastair Shearman, and Upmanu Lall, 2010. A Simple Framework for Incorporating Seasonal Streamflow Forecasts Into Existing Water Resource Management Practices. Journal of the American Water Resources Association (JAWRA) 46(3):574-585. DOI: 10.1111/j.1752-1688.2010.00435.x Abstract: Climate-based streamflow forecasting, coupled with an adaptive reservoir operation policy, can potentially improve decisions by water suppliers and watershed stakeholders. However, water suppliers are often wary of straying too far from their current management practices, and prefer forecasts that can be incorporated into existing system modeling tools. This paper presents a simple framework for utilizing streamflow forecasts that works within an existing management structure. Climate predictors are used to develop seasonal inflow forecasts. These are used to specify operating rules that connect to the probability of future (end of season) reservoir states, rather than to the current storage, as is done now. By considering both current storage and anticipated inflow, the likelihood of meeting management goals can be improved. The upper Delaware River Basin in the northeastern United States is used to demonstrate the basic idea. Physically plausible climate-based forecasts of March-April reservoir inflow are developed. Existing simulation tools and rule curves for the system are used to convert the inflow forecasts to reservoir level forecasts. Operating policies are revised during the forecast period to release less water during forecasts of low reservoir level. Hindcast simulations demonstrate reductions of 1.6% in the number of drought emergency days, which is a key performance measure. Forecasts with different levels of skill are examined to explore their utility.     

Application of Sample Selection Model in Estimating Response Functions for Nitrate Percolation

The Seymour aquifer region of Texas has been identified as containing elevated levels of nitrate in ground water. Various state and federal agencies are currently studying policy options for the region by gathering more site-specific information. However, because of lack of sufficient information, cause and effect relationships between water quality and agricultural practices have not been well established for the region. Some recently available biophysical simulation models have impressive capabilities in generating large amounts of data on environmental pollution resulting from agricultural production practices. In this study, the data generated by a biophysical simulation model were used to estimate the nitrate percolation response functions for the Seymour aquifer region. Interestingly, nitrate percolation values obtained from simulation models often comprise acensoredsample because the non-zero percolation values are only observed under certain climatic events and input levels. It has been shown in the econometric literature that the use of Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) on censored sample data produces biased and inconsistent parameter estimates. Thus, a sample selection model was used in this study to estimate the response functions for nitrate percolation. The study provides some insight into the relationship between nitrate percolation and agricultural production practices. In particular, the study demonstrates the potential of selected design standards in minimizing agricultural nonpoint-source (NPS) pollution for the study area.     

低碳城市和创新型城市双试点效果评估——基于绿色经济转型视角

全面系统评估环境规制政策协同效应对绿色经济效率的影响,对于推动生态文明建设具有重要的意义。文章基于2006—2020年281个地级市的样本数据,运用多期双重差分模型评估双试点政策对绿色经济效率的影响。研究发现：(1)相比于非试点城市,双试点政策的实施使试点城市的绿色经济效率提升约8.29%,此结论在经过平行趋势等稳健性检验后依旧成立;(2)双试点政策比单试点政策更能显著提高绿色经济效率,政策间存在协同效应;(3)双试点政策通过创新型和改进型绿色技术创新、降低能源消费强度促进绿色经济效率,同时会增加能源消费规模进而抑制绿色经济效率;(4)双试点政策对周围100～900 km以内区域的绿色经济效率产生显著的正向空间溢出效应。本文丰富了环境政策协同对绿色经济效率的影响研究,为政策的有效实施、推动减污降碳协同增效提供科学支持。     

美国污染场地清理的风险评估简介及政策制定

本文主要介绍美国加州污染场地清理的风险评估的概念,方法,计算和风险管理.从而引进挥发性污染物室内入侵风险评估方法来制定污染场地清理标准.讨论如何运用数学模型计算土壤清理浓度和挥发性污染物室内入侵风险评估.在风险评估基础上,加州环保署水质管理局颁布了地下储油罐低风险结案政策.政策中的污染场地清理定量标准是由人体健康风险评估方法计算得出.最后,用一个具体的美国加州洛杉矶案例介绍风险评估方法是怎样运用在污染场地清理修复中,以回答污染场地修复的关键问题"多干净算干净".     

沙漠化地区退耕还林政策的生态经济效应分析——以民勤县为例

退耕还林是沙漠化地区生态环境治理的主要内容。论文以沙漠化严重的民勤县为例,采用环境社会学的研究方法,对民勤县农户的退耕还林意愿和退耕还林政策的生态经济效应在农户中的响应进行了典型调查和抽样调查,并搜集了相关数据。统计分析表明:退耕还林涉及到农户土地利用方式的变化,农户的退耕意愿主要取决于退耕后经济利益的得失;农户虽然在近期承受退耕地收益减少的负担,但长期可以得到退耕还林的保肥效果和减少风沙灾害损失的生态经济效果。退耕还林具有典型的外部经济性,政府应该为退耕还林的成本全部买单,同时,在调整退耕地结构、优化退耕模式的过程中还要协调好退耕还林与农户增收的关系。     

Reducing emissions from in-use vehicles: an evaluation of the Phoenix inspection and maintenance program using test results and independent emissions measurements

Various federal regulations require states to evaluate the effectiveness of their vehicle inspection and maintenance (I/M) programs in reducing in-use emissions. One method to evaluate program effectiveness is to compare initial and final program test results of individual vehicles. Unscheduled emissions measurements, from remote sensing measurement or roadside pullover testing, can also be used to provide an independent assessment of program effectiveness. We compared emissions reductions from the Arizona IM240 program measured by program data and a large set of remote sensing measurements. Remote sensing measurements indicate smaller emission reductions from the program than those calculated directly from program test results. We discuss some possible causes of the differences obtained from the two sets of measurements.     

Minimal models and agroecological policy at the regional scale: An application to salinity problems in southeastern Australia

A minimal dynamical systems model that couples agricultural activity, native vegetation, and hydrological processes is developed to explore policy options regarding regional-scale soil and water salinization in southeastern Australia. The analysis suggests that although considerable revegetation is required to restore catchment water balance, the current value of water in uses other than agriculture is too low for revegetation to be economically viable. In contrast, groundwater pumping generates significant short-term gains by preventing soil salinization but is not a viable long-term solution. Thus, effective salinity management policy must include mechanisms to increase the value of water in uses other than irrigated agriculture to achieve sufficient long-term revegetation. These results are robust over a wide range of parameter values and thus provide a basis for policy action in the face of uncertainty about groundwater flow characteristics.     

Using data mining technology to explore causes of inaccurate reliability data and suggestions for maintenance management

Reliability data reflects equipment safety and provides a reference for setting inspection period, thereby serving as crucial information for the implementation of equipment integrity management policies. The calculation foundation of reliability data is maintenance records of adequate data quality. However, maintenance records of doubtful quality are common. Despite excluding poor quality recodes and using only the remaining maintenance recodes to calculate the reliability data, the calculated results generally lack a sufficient degree of confidence. This study applied data mining technology, including quality metrics, the association rule, and clustering, to explore the cause of low-quality maintenance data. The results revealed that the low data quality of maintenance records was due to ineffective maintenance policies, the low integrity of key system columns, nonadherence to the policy, and misunderstanding of column definitions. The proposed method successfully identified the causes of low-quality maintenance records. By incorporating the method into the function module of a CMMS, operators can equip the system with self-diagnosis, self-supervision, and continuous optimization functions.     

Sensor design for saltwater ingress detection in high reliable all-electric deep sea actuators

Subsea oil and gas production relies on Xmas Trees which are mounted on boreholes. Xmas Trees are an arrangement of different valve types and sizes actuated by hydraulic, electro-mechanic or all-electric actuators. All these actuators sharing problems with saltwater ingress and the re-sulting increased wear. This paper investigates potential effects which can be measured after saltwater ingress. Extensive testing is executed and the investigated effects are used for novel sensor designs. These designs are evaluated regarding certain requirements and a resulting sen-sor design is proposed for industrialization. The resulting sensor can then be used to collect new important data to support optimal maintenance in the subsea industry.