NATIONAL WATER ASSESSMENT: NEEDED OR NOT?1

ABSTRACT A conceptual framework and the systematic collection of reliable information for application within the framework are the cornerstones of effective water planning. The ideal of strengthening these cornerstones was a driving force behind formation of the Water Resources Council and Council efforts, during its life, to develop the Principles and Standards and to complete two National Water Assessments. The Assessments contained voluminous data but never really became an integral component of the national water planning process. Before being disbanded in 1982, the Council solicited several appraisals of its assessment process. This paper reports one made by the university community in which experiences and opinions were obtained from 108 water research administrators and water policy experts.     

The eclipse of NEPA as Environmental Policy

Previous evaluations of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) have focused on the effectiveness of its procedural requirements in improving the quality of decision making with respect to environmental matters. Subsequent growth of other environmental regulation and the changing role of Environmental Impact Statements in the decision-making process should also be considered. The many federal and state environmental laws passed in the 1970s have, by defining the nature and acceptability of environmental impact and prohibiting unacceptable impacts, superseded the substantive role of NEPA in environmental protection. Although the EIS continues to serve as a focus for public debate regarding proposed government actions, such debates usually center around social or economic rather than environmental issues. NEPA has thus been superseded by other environmental laws, and its role in the decision-making process today has little relation to its earlier environmental significance.     

Opportunity costs of implementing forest plans

Intellectual concern with the National Forest Management Act of 1976 has followed a course emphasizing the planning aspects of the legislation associated with the development of forest plans. Once approved, however, forest plans must be implemented. Due to the complex nature of the ecological systems of interest, and the multiple and often conflicting desires of user clientele groups, the feasibility and costs of implementing forest plans require immediate investigation. For one timber sale on the Coconino National Forest in Arizona, forest plan constraints were applied and resulting resource outputs predicted using the terrestrial ecosystem analysis and modeling system (TEAMS), a computer-based decision support system developed at the School of Forestry, Northern Arizona University, With forest plan constraints for wildlife habitat, visual diversity, riparian area protection, and soil and slope harvesting restrictions, the maximum timber harvest obtainable was reduced 58% from the maximum obtainable without plan constraints.Former Graduate Student at Northern Arizona University.     

The rise and fall of the nature conservation movement in Japan in relation to some cultural values

The Japanese are traditionally regarded as nature-loving people, living in “harmony” with nature. However, this assumption is difficult to accept when observing the environmental problems in Japan. How can one explain the incongruities? Has the Japanese people's attitude toward nature changed as Japan has modernized? Is the concept of the nature-loving Japanese merely a myth? Is there another reason to explain this contradiction? This study shows political and economic origins of the paradox. The origin of the Japanese traditional idea of nature is fear and reverence of nature based on a primitive religion that developed in a rural subsistence living situation. Aesthetic and spiritual values of nature for cultural, educational, and intellectual entertainment were developed by the ruling class in the seventh century. Japan's first nature conservation movement, imported from the West, developed among the intellectual community and was advocated and promoted by the elite in the Meiji period (1868–1911). However, because deep commitment was lacking, the movement was abused by the military government before World War II. In the early 1970s the nature conservation movement seemed to be on the ascendancy, mainly because it was combined with the antipollution movement claiming the basic rights of survival. The Japanese nature conservation movement is still in the embryonic stage; in the future, the blending of some traditional resource management with the scientific philosophy of nature conservation may help promote the new wave of nature conservation in Japan.     

Siting America's geologic repository for high-level Nuclear Waste: Implications for environmental Policy

Siting a geologic repository for isolating highlevel nuclear waste up to 10,000 years is a controversial undertaking never before attempted in the United States. The Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 exempted repository siting from important requirements for environmental review under the National Environmental Policy Act. In December 1987, the Nuclear Waste Policy Amendments Act identified Yucca Mountain as the first site to be characterized for a high-level nuclear waste repository. In light of the unproven nature of the technology being evaluated, the scientific uncertainties associated with Yucca Mountain, and the lack of proven methods for risk evaluation, the environmental policies for repository siting represent a significant departure from more traditional, comprehensive, and interdisciplinary environmental review for siting nuclear projects. The policies warrant further study by those interested in how present as well as future decisions about complex technologies may be made.     

Elephants,people, parks and development: the case of the Luangwa Valley,Zambia

New ideas about conserving wildlife are emerging to compete with conventional national park policies. But methods of analyzing wildlife conservation problems in Africa are inadequate for the analysis of complex issues of policy. Much of the analysis of conservation policy attempts to be apolitical on issues charged with social conflict. Analyses are too often ahistorical when history can say a great deal about the origins of present-day ecological problems. Further-more, problems are commonly analyzed within narrow discilinary frameworks which predetermine the nature of conclusions and lead to professionally biased proposals. This case study of the Luangwa Valley, Zambia, is used to demonstrate a method which attempts to remedy these weaknesses,In the first part of the article we examine the role of the Luangwa National Parks in the context of the Zambian political economy, and identify social groups which compete for the resources of the national parks. Next we trace the historical origins of present-day ecological changes. These analyses lead toward a model of the Parks and some of their relationships with the national economy. We end with a proposal for communal use of wildlife which attempts to resolve some of the contradictions inherent in current policy.     

BACTERIAL LEVELS IN CISTERN WATER SYSTEMS OF NORTHERN KENTUCKY1

ABSTRACT: In rural Northern Kentucky, rainwater is commonly collected from rooftops and stored in cement block cisterns as the sole source of drinking water. Although every cistern system is unique in some aspect of design, use, or maintenance, a bacterial survey of 30 rural Northern Kentucky cistern systems suggests that coliforms and heterotrophic bacteria are common to all types of cistern storage systems. An average of 600 coliforms/ml and 3.6 ± 10⁵ heterotrophic bacteria/ml were detected in water samples from the bottoms of the cistern storage tanks. Bacterial levels in water delivered to household cold tap faucets were similar to the levels found in the storage tanks. When detected, fecal coliforms were recovered throughout the entire system including the household cold tap faucet. Current U.S. regulations for drinking water quality are discussed, with a suggestion that fecal coliform levels may be a more appropriate guideline for interpreting the water quality of individually maintained, nonchlorinated, nonpiped water supplies, such as cistern storage systems.     

链式风险评估方法研究及工程应用

为解释工程中各类风险事件间存在的关联机理,将风险事件间的关联关系提炼为链式结构,给出了工程链式风险评估的整套流程和方法。以内罗毕国家公园特大桥施工期生态、灾害、安全风险全过程风险评估为例,阐明了该方法的应用过程,并与独立风险评估方法进行了比较。研究结果表明:链式风险评估方法计算量较大,评估步骤较为繁杂,当风险事件数量较大时其可操作性较差;当对某几项风险极为关注时,对其进行小范围的链式风险分析可使评估结果更加真实全面。 工程链式风险评估方法具有可行性和适用性。     

重金属防控区域整治进展及“十三五”思路研究

文章总结性提出我国138个防控区域"十二五"期间实践的3种类型防控模式,对防控区域总体成效和经验进行了阐述,分析了当前防控区域深入推进过程中面临的主要问题,并从导向管理、目标管理、监控管理等方面,提出了"十三五"防控区域深入管理4个方面的建议。     

一株白腐菌产生的漆酶对RB亮蓝的脱色作用

W 1是一株能在液体条件下产漆酶的白腐菌 ,纯化的漆酶对RB亮蓝有很好的脱色作用 .漆酶的最适脱色温度为 4 5℃ ,最适脱色pH值为 6 .0 ,脱色pH范围在 4～ 7之间 .当溶液中漆酶活力为 2 .0× 10 3 U/L时 ,在最适脱色条件下、16h内 ,RB亮蓝 (30 0mg/L)的脱色率可以达到 90 % .经酶作用后 ,RB亮蓝在 4 30～ 70 0nm范围内的特征颜色吸收峰基本消失 .实验证明 ,在相同的条件下 ,漆酶粗酶对RB亮蓝有更好的脱色效果 .图 7表 1参 6