TRACE ELEMENTS IN NORTHERN GREAT PLAINS STRIP MINE AND LIVESTOCK IMPOUNDMENT WATER1

ABSTRACT: The water from 32 strip mine water impoundments and nine livestock watering ponds in North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming were analyzed for trace elements. Because of the high concentrations of trace elements in coal and bentonite clay, the possibility exists for these elements to dissolve or be suspended in the water. Strip mine ponds were not significantly higher in trace element concentrations compared to livestock ponds. All but one of the 41 ponds sampled contained elemental concentrations that would be detrimental for livestock use or aquatic life use. Cadmium and lead were the elements most frequently in excess of water quality crieria. Lead was found in the study ponds about 35 times the median concentration of North American rivers. Manganese concentrations were found to exceed iron in many ponds, which is unusual in natural waters. The potential for detrimental concentrations of trace elements in pond water must be evaluated when designing land use management plans for ponds intended to be used by livestock or aquatic life.     

DUAL PURPOSE DETENTION BASINS IN STORM WATER MANAGEMENT1

Storm water management contributes to flood hazard mitigation; but new approaches now being developed consider also the reduction in particulate pollution and stream erosion. Such approaches involve retardation of storm runoff, or detention programs of some kind, and detention basins are usually required if large storms are to be controlled. The usual concept is that future storms occurring after development should have no more adverse effect than similar storms would have had before development; but a number of different criteria are being used. If control of storms of different sizes is required, only a small amount of additional capacity is required to obtain retention of particulate pollution in the same basin. In at least three different parts of the country, such dual purpose detention basins are being required of developers. In such programs the developers bear the cost, the governmental contributions are not involved.     

A PLANNING METHOD FOR EVALUATING DOWNSTREAM EFFECTS OF DETENTION BASINS1

While storm water detention basins are widely used for controlling increases in peak discharges that result from urbanization, recent research has indicated that under certain circumstances detention storage can actually cause increases in peak discharge rates. Because of the potential for detrimental downstream effects, storm water management policies often require downstream effects to be evaluated. Such evaluation requires the design engineer to collect additional topographic and land use data and make costly hydrologic analyses. Thus, a method, which is easy to apply and which would indicate whether or not a detailed hydrologic analysis of downstream impacts is necessary, should decrease the average cost of storm water management designs. A planning method that does not require either a large data base or a computer is presented. The time co-ordinates of runoff hydrographs are estimated using the time-of-concentration and the SCS runoff curve number; the discharge coordinates are estimated using a simple peak discharge equation. While the planning method does not require a detailed design of the detention basin, it does provide a reasonably accurate procedure for evaluating whether or not the installation of a detention basin will cause adverse downstream flooding.     

初冬时期闽江河口区养殖塘排水后的CH4和N2O通量日变化特征

排水活动是河口区养殖塘鱼、虾捕获后的重要管理方式之一.为探讨排水活动对河口区养殖塘温室气体通量的影响,采用静态(悬浮)箱-气相色谱法对初冬时期闽江河口区的未排干和排干养殖塘温室气体(CH_4和N_2O)通量日变化特征进行原位观测.结果表明,(1)未排干与排干养殖塘CH_4通量范围分别介于0.04~0.10 mg·(m~2·h)~(-1)和14.04~33.72 mg·(m~2·h)~(-1),均值分别为(0.07±0.01)mg·(m~2·h)~(-1)和(24.74±2.33)mg·(m~2·h)~(-1),均表现为大气库中CH_4释放源,呈现夜高昼低的特征;(2)未排干养殖塘N_2O通量范围和均值分别介于-0.027~0.011 mg·(m~2·h)~(-1)和(0.002±0.004)mg·(m~2·h)~(-1),整体上呈现昼低夜高的特征,而排干养殖塘N_2O通量范围和均值分别介于0.59~1.76 mg·(m~2·h)~(-1)和(1.07±0.15)mg·(m~2·h)~(-1),整体上呈现昼高夜低的特征.以上研究结果初步揭示,排干初期的河口区养殖塘排水活动不仅显著增加温室气体(CH_4和N_2O)排放强度,也可以显著改变养殖塘温室气体通量的日动态特征.     

上海中心城区合流制排水系统调蓄池环境效应研究

于2006~2008年同步监测了上海中心城区成都路合流制排水系统20余次的降雨、径流和径流水质过程,研究了国内首座投入使用的城市大型排水系统调蓄池的环境效应.结果表明,调蓄池有效提高了排水系统排水能力,系统截流倍数可从3.87倍提高到6.90~9.92倍.对暴雨溢流和旱流试车溢流的年际平均削减量分别为9.10×104m3和8.37×104m3,削减率分别达9.00%和100%.对暴雨溢流COD、BOD5、SS、NH4+-N和TP的年际平均削减率分别为13.76%、19.69%、15.29%、18.24%和15.10%,相应削减量分别为41.21、12.37、50.10、2.12和0.29 t.a-1.调蓄池可100%削减旱流试车溢流污染,相应污染物的削减量分别为20.75、4.87、14.90、4.49和0.30 t.a-1.分析显示调蓄池设计标准、运行模式和降雨条件是影响调蓄池环境效应发挥的重要因素.     

One year in the life of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Bufo punctatus</Emphasis>: annual patterns of body temperature in a free-ranging desert anuran

The Mojave Desert is characterized by hot dry summers and cold winters. The red-spotted toad (Bufo (Anaxyrus) punctatus) is the predominant anuran species; yet little is known of their thermal histories and strategies to avoid temperature extremes. We measured body temperature (T(b)) in free-ranging adult toads across all four seasons of a year using implanted data loggers. There is marked individual variation in the temperatures experienced by these toads. As expected, toads generally escape extreme seasonal and diel temperature fluctuations. However, our data demonstrate a much wider estimated T(b) range than was previously assumed. Though often for short periods, red-spotted toads do experience T(b) as low as 3.1 degrees C and as high as 39.1 degrees C. All animals showed periods of prolonged thermal stability in cooler months and wider diel oscillations in warmer months. Red-spotted toad thermal history is likely a function of site choice; the exploitation of different refuges results in diverse thermal experiences. These data represent the most complete record of thermal experiences for a desert anuran and reveal greater extremes in body temperature than previously suggested.