Ambio’s legacy on monitoring,impact, and management of acid rain: This article belongs to Ambio’s 50th Anniversary Collection. Theme: Acidification

Early studies published in Ambio showed large-scale acidification of lakes in southern Sweden and Norway from acid rain. These studies were important for delimiting various scientific issues and thus for eventually contributing to legislation, which reduced emissions of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides and helped to mitigate this major environmental problem. Long-term studies and monitoring in Sweden and Norway and at Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest in New Hampshire helped guide this legislation in Europe and in the USA.     

Planning nature-based solutions: Principles,steps, and insights

Nature-based solutions (NBS) find increasing attention as actions to address societal challenges through harnessing ecological processes, yet knowledge gaps exist regarding approaches to landscape planning with NBS. This paper aims to provide suggestions of how planning NBS can be conceptualized and applied in practice. We develop a framework for planning NBS by merging insights from literature and a case study in the Lahn river landscape, Germany. Our framework relates to three key criteria that define NBS, and consists of six steps of planning: Co-define setting, Understand challenges, Create visions and scenarios, Assess potential impacts, Develop solution strategies, and Realize and monitor. Its implementation is guided by five principles, namely Place-specificity, Evidence base, Integration, Equity, and Transdisciplinarity. Drawing on the empirical insights from the case study, we suggest suitable methods and a checklist of supportive procedures for applying the framework in practice. Taken together, our framework can facilitate planning NBS and provides further steps towards mainstreaming.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1007/s13280-020-01365-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

Long-term changes in microbial water quality indicators in a hydro-power plant reservoir: The role of natural factors and socio-economic changes

Long-term changes, from 1984 to 2010, in the indicators of microbial pollution (total viable count, coliforms, Escherichia coli, enterococci, and Clostridium perfringens) are analysed in the Riga Hydropower Plant Reservoir, an essential source of drinking water for Riga, the capital of Latvia. Counts in microbial indicators fluctuated seasonally and were related to physicochemical parameters (nitrogen compounds, turbidity, temperature, and pH). The changes in microbial pollution were brought about by two major socio-economic developments. Firstly, Latvia’s independence from the USSR in 1991 which facilitated a distinct reduction in most microorganism counts due to a sharp decline in industrial and agricultural production. This resulted in a significant drop in point and nonpoint pollution in the river basin. A further development was Latvia joining the European Union in 2004. The corresponding focus on water management, including wastewater treatment, was a major priority of environmental investment and lead to improvements in microbial water quality.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1007/s13280-020-01470-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

汽车制造项目环境影响评价技术要点分析

本文在实际开展汽车制造项目环境影响评价的基础上,对汽车制造项目生产工艺及产污环节进行梳理,重点对废气、废水、固废、噪声源强核算过程和方法进行解析,对污染防治措施论证内容进行探讨,同时从清洁生产水平分析、政策相符性分析等方面的技术要点进行总结整理,梳理了目前汽车制造项目环评文件编制的要点核心,指出汽车整车制造项目环境影响评价中应关注的重点问题,主要在于挥发性有机废气源强和含氮、磷及重金属废水源强核算、物料平衡等,为下阶段汽车制造项目建设和环境管理提供参考。     

采用颜色空间表征ANAMMOX启动与冲击过程

厌氧氨氧化(ANAMMOX)是一种高效、节能的脱氮技术,但是其启动过程和稳定状态的表征目前仍缺乏一个简单易行的方法.针对这一问题,在水质分析的基础上,采用颜色空间重点监测ANAMMOX启动过程中污泥的颜色变化,并借助高通量测序技术对微生物菌群的种类和数量等进行分析.结果表明:(1)根据水质特征,整个启动过程可分为活性迟滞期、活性增强期、负荷提高期、稳定运行期.与此同时,HSV、CIELAB颜色空间的指标,整体上呈现先降低后升高的趋势,然后保持稳定.污泥颜色的变化与水质的变化以及分子生物学特征中优势菌群的变迁一致,因此,三者之间具有相关性,进而表明,采用颜色空间可对ANAMMOX启动过程进行准确表征;(2)当遇到高负荷引起的冲击时,H、S、a~*、b~*、C_(ab)~*等指标与总无机氮(TIN)容积去除速率均呈现降低的趋势,而H_(ab)出现了突升,但均能准确反映出系统的冲击特性.提出了基于颜色空间表征ANAMMOX启动各阶段的方法并建立了一套冲击过程指标体系,为颜色空间在ANAMMOX系统中的应用提供了理论基础.     

低碳经济背景下我国产业结构升级对策研究

为了实现我国经济的平稳发展,改变以"高消耗、高增长、高污染"的传统经济增长方式,解决资源的过度消耗和温室气体的过量排放等问题,文章从我国产业及内部结构、产业的碳排放量和产业节能率三个方面进行了分析,提出了在低碳经济背景下实现我国产业结构升级的对策。     

小城镇产业集群主要污染源筛查与影响分析

以郫县安德镇川菜产业园为研究对象,采用等标污染负荷法对污染影响进行了标准化评价。结果发现:川菜产业园主要的工业污染行业为豆制品加工行业,排污量为2 919.94 t/a,占总排污量的96.46%,等标污染负荷为9.83,占总污染负荷的92.83%,其中有6家企业为主要控制对象。对比分析发现,环境污染受企业规模、末端处理方式、废水排放量等多方面因素共同影响。所有污染因子中,BOD对环境的实质污染影响较大。该研究成果将为优化小城镇产业集群的规划、管理和污染物总量控制提供有价值的参考。     

建筑材料隐含环境影响评估

我国建筑业快速发展,建筑开发使用大量的建筑材料给资源和环境带来严重负荷.以上海市为案例,运用生命周期评价方法,基于北京工业大学和Ecoinvent数据库中的建筑材料生产数据,采用ReCiPe法对上海市建筑物的材料隐含环境影响进行评估,并对未来的环境影响潜值进行预测.结果表明:在上海市居住建筑和非居住建筑所产生的各类环境影响中人类毒性、金属损耗最为突出,约占总环境影响的45%和20%;环境影响主要来源于钢筋和木材的生产,对各类环境影响贡献度分别约为47%、17%;高层居住建筑和非居住建筑中的工厂建筑物化环境影响在各自类型中所占比例最高.按现有趋势发展,2020年上海市居住建筑开发规模和环境影响潜值均将达到2014年的1.52倍,非居住建筑则可达到2014年的1.14倍.针对上海市建筑材料环境影响分析结果,为有效减轻上海市建筑物的环境影响,需重点关注钢筋、铝材、木材以及混凝土的生产,识别生产过程中污染物转移环节进而改进工序;在设计阶段考虑选择环境影响负荷低的绿色建材,如混凝土砌块、高性能混凝土等,从而降低环境影响;同时,应重点关注隐含环境负荷高的高层居住和工厂建筑类建筑,通过降低建材使用量等方案降低环境影响.      

Mesoporous carbon nanomaterials induced pulmonary surfactant inhibition, cytotoxicity, inflammation and lung fibrosis

Environmental exposure and health risk upon engineered nanomaterials are increasingly concerned. The family of mesoporous carbon nanomaterials(MCNs) is a rising star in nanotechnology for multidisciplinary research with versatile applications in electronics,energy and gas storage, and biomedicine. Meanwhile, there is mounting concern on their environmental health risks due to the growing production and usage of MCNs. The lung is the primary site for particle invasion under environmental exposure to nanomaterials. Here, we studied the comprehensive toxicological profile of MCNs in the lung under the scenario of moderate environmental exposure. It was found that at a low concentration of 10 μg/mL MCNs induced biophysical inhibition of natural pulmonary surfactant. Moreover, MCNs at similar concentrations reduced viability of J774 A.1 macrophages and lung epithelial A549 cells.Incubating with nature pulmonary surfactant effectively reduced the cytotoxicity of MCNs.Regarding the pro-inflammatory responses, MCNs activated macrophages in vitro, and stimulated lung inflammation in mice after inhalation exposure, associated with lung fibrosis.Moreover, we found that the size of MCNs played a significant role in regulating cytotoxicity and pro-inflammatory potential of this nanomaterial. In general, larger MCNs induced more pronounced cytotoxic and pro-inflammatory effects than their smaller counterparts. Our results provided valuable information on the toxicological profile and environmental health risks of MCNs, and suggested that fine-tuning the size of MCNs could be a practical precautionary design strategy to increase safety and biocompatibility of this nanomaterial.     

基于环境质量管理的城市综合环境绩效评估研究

文章以26个省会城市2004~2013年的样本数据,从环境健康、生态保护、资源与能源利用、环境治理等4个方面开展研究,构建了包括4项二级指标、12项三级指标和26项四级指标在内的城市综合环境绩效指标体系。研究发现,大部分城市的综合环境绩效历年差异明显,东、中、西部的环境绩效有明显的差异。因此,文章认为应该进一步优化环境绩效指标体系,充分体现区域差异特点,通过实施城市综合环境绩效考核来提高城市环境质量管理水平。