RIO GRANDE VALLEY,COLORADO, NEW MEXICO,AND TEXAS1

ABSTRACT: The Rio Grande Valley National Water-Quality Assessment study unit encompasses about 45,700 square miles in Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas upstream from the gaging station Rio Grande at El Paso, Texas, and includes surface-water closed basins east of the Continental Divide in New Mexico, and the San Luis Closed Basin in Colorado. The mean annual precipitation ranges from less than 6 to more than 50 inches; potential evapo-transpiration ranges from less than 35 to more than 80 inches per year. Land use is mainly rangeland, forest land, and cropland. Total irrigated acreage in 1990 was about 914,000 acres and water use was about 3,410,000 acre-feet. Two structural settings are found in the study unit: alluvial basins and bedrock basins. The alluvial basins can have through-flowing surface water or be closed basins. The discussion of streamflow and water quality for the surface-water system is based on four river reaches for the 750 miles of the main stem. The quality of the ground water is affected by both natural process and human activities and by nonpoint and point sources. Nonpoint sources for surface water include agriculture, hydromodification, and mining operations; point sources are mainly discharge from wastewater treatment plants. Nonpoint sources for ground water include agriculture and septic tanks and cesspools; point sources include leaking underground storage tanks, unlined or manure-lined holding ponds used for disposal of dairy wastes, landfills, and mining operations.     

The Country,the City,and the Corporation: Rio Tinto Kennecott and the Materiality of Corporate Rhetoric

Contributing to extant discourses about corporate environmental advocacy, this paper argues that corporations can embed discursive rhetorical strategies in material places and spaces. This argument contributes to environmental communication by bridging divisions between discursive and materialist approaches to corporate rhetoric. Corporate materiality is realized in the study of Rio Tinto Kennecott (RTK) at places of corporate community where RTK enunciates a dominant environmental discourse about the necessity of the Bingham Canyon Mine through strategies such as the technological shell game, the hypocrite's trap, and corporate heterotopia, which are made manifest materially alongside cultural values such as epistemic trust, technological progress, community, and home. Using participatory critical rhetoric as a methodology, I analyse RTK's material rhetoric at the Natural History Museum of Utah, the Rio Tinto Soccer Stadium, and the Daybreak suburban community. This case study reveals that corporations are assemblages that assert many different, and sometimes competing, arguments that can deflect environmental criticism, materially.     

Reducing Streamflow Forecast Uncertainty: Application and Qualitative Assessment of the Upper Klamath River Basin,Oregon1

Abstract: The accuracy of streamflow forecasts depends on the uncertainty associated with future weather and the accuracy of the hydrologic model that is used to produce the forecasts. We present a method for streamflow forecasting where hydrologic model parameters are selected based on the climate state. Parameter sets for a hydrologic model are conditioned on an atmospheric pressure index defined using mean November through February (NDJF) 700‐hectoPascal geopotential heights over northwestern North America [Pressure Index from Geopotential heights (PIG)]. The hydrologic model is applied in the Sprague River basin (SRB), a snowmelt‐dominated basin located in the Upper Klamath basin in Oregon. In the SRB, the majority of streamflow occurs during March through May (MAM). Water years (WYs) 1980‐2004 were divided into three groups based on their respective PIG values (high, medium, and low PIG). Low (high) PIG years tend to have higher (lower) than average MAM streamflow. Four parameter sets were calibrated for the SRB, each using a different set of WYs. The initial set used WYs 1995‐2004 and the remaining three used WYs defined as high‐, medium‐, and low‐PIG years. Two sets of March, April, and May streamflow volume forecasts were made using Ensemble Streamflow Prediction (ESP). The first set of ESP simulations used the initial parameter set. Because the PIG is defined using NDJF pressure heights, forecasts starting in March can be made using the PIG parameter set that corresponds with the year being forecasted. The second set of ESP simulations used the parameter set associated with the given PIG year. Comparison of the ESP sets indicates that more accuracy and less variability in volume forecasts may be possible when the ESP is conditioned using the PIG. This is especially true during the high‐PIG years (low‐flow years).     

Biodiversity, food consumption and ecological niche dimension: a study case of the riverine populations from the Rio Negro, Amazonia, Brazil

In this study we perform an ecological analysis of the resources use in the diet of the ribeirinho populations of the Barcelos municipality, Rio Negro, Amazonas, Brazil. Data on food composition, seasonality, and origin took place during three field trips between 1999 and 2000. Data were gathered based on structured interviews and observations from a total of 320 meals of 114 randomly selected families and 164 fishing trips. The staple food of the studied populations is based on fish and manioc, although the food niche amplitude can vary according to the factors such as the access to imported food items, resources seasonality, and socio-economic conditions. The migration to urban centers along with the changes in subsistence activities (reduction of small-scale agriculture and specialization in commercial fishing) may result in changes in the food habits of ribeirinho populations from Rio Negro.

Lead contamination of the Seine River, France: geochemical implications of a historical perspective

Four sediment cores collected in the Seine River basin and dated between 1916 and 2003 were analyzed for lead concentrations and isotopic composition. In all four cores, the measured Pb concentration (up to 460 mg kg⁻¹) lies significantly above the natural background (27-40 mg kg⁻¹), although a significant decrease (down to 75 mg kg⁻¹) was observed during the second half of the 20th century which can be explained by the reduction of lead emissions. The ²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁷Pb ratio measured in these samples indicates that the main source of Pb used in the Paris conurbation is characterized by a “Rio Tinto” signature (defined as ²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁷Pb = 1.1634 ± 0.0001). A high contribution, up to 25%, from the leaded gasoline (characterized by ²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁷Pb = 1.08 ± 0.02) is revealed in the Seine River downstream Paris, indicating that lead from the leaded gasoline is preferentially released to the river.The dominating Pb signature in the Paris conurbation that is currently sampled through incinerators fumes (²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁷Pb = 1.1550 ± 0.0005) and waste water treatment plant (²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁷Pb = 1.154 ± 0.002), represents a mixture of highly recycled lead from the Rio Tinto mine and lead from leaded gasoline (imprinted by the low ²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁷Pb of the Broken Hill mine). This signature is called “urban” rather than “industrial”, because it is clearly distinct from the Pb that is found in areas contaminated by heavy industry, i.e. the heavy industries located on the Oise River which used lead from European ores characterized by high ²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁷Pb ratios (∼1.18-1.19) and possibly a minor amount of North American lead (²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁷Pb ratios > 1.20). The “urban” signature is also found in a rural area upstream of Paris in the 1970’s. At the Seine River mouth in 2003, Pb with an urban signature represents 70% of the total Pb sediment content, with the 30% remaining corresponding to natural Pb.     

岷江上游山区聚落生态位地理特征与驱动因子间关系研究

山区聚落生态位反映聚落在山地垂直方向上所处的空间位置及人类生活所能利用的资源空间,是当地居民长期适应山地自然环境的结果。基于岷江上游各民族山区聚落生态位和气象、社会、地形驱动因子的空间分布,借助冗余分析,构建山区聚落生态位地理特征与驱动因子间的多水平贝叶斯模型,定量刻画聚落生态位的民族属性对山区聚落生态位地理特征与驱动因子间关系的影响。结果表明:(1)影响研究区域内1 667个与各民族聚落生态位地理特征的驱动因子有显著差异,海拔和坡度对前者影响较大,海拔、坡度、干季和湿季湿度、距河流距离对后者影响较大,且海拔对两者的影响程度都最大,海拔和坡度地形驱动因子与干、湿季湿度和距河流距离间的相关性较弱。(2)干、湿季湿度气象驱动因子对藏-羌聚落生态位地理特征影响较大,距河流距离和距县城距离社会驱动因子、海拔和坡度地形驱动因子对藏族聚落生态位地理特征影响较大,这与藏族聚落生态位的分布面积和个数有关。(3)民族类型对聚落生态位地理特征指标与气象因子干季湿度间关系的影响最大,对聚落生态位地理特征指标与地形因子坡度间关系的影响最小。岷江上游山区聚落生态位地理特征与驱动因子间关系的研究,为量化山区聚落生态位与山地环境的关系提供了有效的数据支撑。     

长江上游水土流失主要成因与防治对策

长江上游水土流失面积广 ,侵蚀强度大 ,是其生态环境退化的重要标志。水土流失加剧是人类不合理活动 ,主要有陡坡种植、森林砍伐、草场退化、工程破坏等所使然。当前严重的水土流失状况是自然因素与人为因素综合作用的结果。防治长江上游水土流失关键是通过改变人类不合理的生产方式和开发方式 ,引导人类活动向与自然协调、与水土保持相一致的方向发展 ,并对退化生态系统进行恢复与重建。     

白头鹤在升金湖上湖越冬期环境容纳量的研究

1996～ 1998年 ,在北纬 30°15′～ 30°30′ ,东经 115°5 5′～ 117°15′之间的中国安徽升金湖 ,我们对来此越冬的白头鹤 (Grusmanacha)进行了越冬期环境容纳量研究 ,结果表明 :白头鹤在升金湖上湖越冬期的主要食物苦草及蚌类的储藏量 ,经初步测算两者共有 5 9.2t ,折算能量分别为 1.5 11×10 8kJ与 1.6 95× 10 8kJ ,折算总能量为 3.170× 10 8kJ按每只白头鹤在升金湖越冬期为 145d ,越冬期日粮为 6 95 g ,折算消耗能量72 2 1.7kJ计算 ,上湖可容纳白头鹤种群数量的理论值是 30 2只。同时 ,环境因子的变化 ,如降水量、湿度及人为活动是影响白头鹤在升金湖越冬种群数量发生变动的主要原因。控制人为活动 ,保护适合的水位是稳定白头鹤越冬种群的主要措施     

岷江上游干旱河谷地区生态环境需水量探讨

探讨了生态环境需水量的概念,将人类需水量纳入了生态环境需水量,进而初步探讨了岷江上游干旱河谷地区的生态环境需水量。分别估算了岷江上游干旱河谷地区河道内生态环境需水量、植被需水量及人类(生活和生产)需水量,得出当地生态环境需水总量为34.81×108m3,并提出在岷江上游干旱河谷地区应根据现在和将来有效供水量和生态环境年需水量综合考虑,确定适当的经济社会发展结构和规模,以维系和提高生态环境质量。     

Evaluation of CFSR climate data for hydrologic prediction in data‐scarce watersheds: an application in the Blue Nile River Basin

Data scarcity has been a huge problem in modeling the water resources of the Upper Blue Nile basin, Ethiopia. Satellite data and different statistical methods have been used to improve the quality of conventional meteorological data. This study assesses the applicability of the National Centers for Environmental Prediction's Climate Forecast System Reanalysis (CFSR) climate data in modeling the hydrology of the region. The Soil and Water Assessment Tool was set up to compare the performance of CFSR weather with that of conventional weather in simulating observed streamflow at four river gauging stations in the Lake Tana basin — the upper part of the Upper Blue Nile basin. The conventional weather simulation performed satisfactorily (e.g., NSE ≥ 0.5) for three gauging stations, while the CFSR weather simulation performed satisfactorily for two. The simulations with CFSR and conventional weather yielded minor differences in the water balance components in all but one watershed, where the CFSR weather simulation gave much higher average annual rainfall, resulting in higher water balance components. Both weather simulations gave similar annual crop yields in the four administrative zones. Overall the simulation with the conventional weather performed better than the CFSR weather. However, in data‐scarce regions such as remote parts of the Upper Blue Nile basin, CFSR weather could be a valuable option for hydrological predictions where conventional gauges are not available.