A MANGANESE OXIDATION MODEL FOR RIVERS1

ABSTRACT: The presence of manganese in natural waters (>0.05 mg/L) degrades water-supply quality. A model was devised to predict the variation of manganese concentrations in river water released from an impoundment with the distance downstream. The model is one-dimensional and was calibrated using dissolved oxygen, biochemical oxygen demand, pH, manganese, and hydraulic data collected in the Duck River, Tennessee. The results indicated that the model can predict manganese levels under various conditions. The model was then applied to the Chattahoochee River, Georgia. Discrepancies between observed and predicted may be due to inadequate pH data, precipitation of sediment particles, unsteady flow conditions in the Chattahoochee River, inaccurate rate expressions for the low pH conditions, or their combinations.     

Evaluating the impacts of global environmental assessments

There are currently no widely accepted procedures for comparing the performance of global environmental assessments (GEAs) and this may be a barrier to improving their methodology. To encourage greater self-reflection within the GEA community, it is proposed to introduce consistent evaluation approaches. Two elements from current evaluation practice are reviewed here that could be particularly useful for evaluating GEAs. The first are logic models which provide a transparent visual mapping of how activities in a GEA are intended to have impacts on policies. The second are performance metrics. It is proposed that GEAs adopt two kinds of metrics: (i) A common generic set for use in all GEAs to provide a basis for comparing the performance of GEAs, and (ii) a specific set of measureable metrics for each particular GEA derived from/linked to the generic set. Although many issues arise in applying these and other elements from evaluation theory and practice to GEAs, the potential benefits are greater comparability of GEA performance and new knowledge about how to improve them. This Short Communication is part of a Special Issue on solution-oriented GEAs.     

差异性区域网格化环境管理初探

差异性区域网格化环境管理是在环境状况存在明显分异区域进行环境管理的有效的方式。依托网格化管理在资源整合和信息共事方面的优势．探讨在环境状况差异明显区域构建网格化管理体系的目标、步骤与管理思路。以上海市宝山区的实践为例．根据区内环境现状差异明显的特征。将全区划分为150个网格．从中选取环境矛盾较为突出的网格．开展区域环境综合整治与环境建设．逐年逐块提升区域网格环境状况．实现区域环境网格等级的提升．初步达成区域生态、生产、生活的协调。实践表明．差异性区域网格化管理是建设环境友好型社会的一种有效的环境管理手段。     

我国的环境现状,类型与变化

本文结合区域的社会经济发展状况，通过采用一定的数学模型，分析了我国区域环境现状、类型及其变化，得出了一些有参考价值的结论。     

How democratic innovations realise democratic goods. Two case studies of area committees in the Netherlands

Participatory planning is becoming increasingly integral to governance. Numerous planning innovations are developed which aim to increase democratic legitimacy and improve decision making. This paper critically reflects on a typical Dutch innovation: the area committee. Based on two individual case studies, we investigate whether area committees realise democratic legitimacy in existing planning practices. Analytically, we focus on four democratic goods: inclusiveness, popular control, considered judgement and transparency. Based on the interdependencies between area committees and government structures we discuss the potential and dilemmas for the area committee to contribute to the democratic legitimacy of environmental policy and rural development.     

Calibrating a Basin‐Scale Groundwater Model to Remotely Sensed Estimates of Groundwater Evapotranspiration

Remotely sensed vegetation indices correspond to canopy vigor and cover and have been successfully used to estimate groundwater evapotranspiration (ET_g) over large spatial and temporal scales. However, these data do not provide information on depth to groundwater (dtgw) necessary for groundwater models (GWM) to calculate ET_g. An iterative approach is provided that calibrates GWM to ET_g derived from Landsat estimates of the Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI). The approach is applied to different vegetation groups in Mason Valley, Nevada over an 11‐year time span. An uncertainty analysis is done to estimate the resulting mean and 90% confidence intervals in ET_g to dtgw relationships to quantify errors associated with plant physiologic complexity, species variability, and parameter smoothing to the 100 m GWM‐grid, temporal variability in soil moisture and nonuniqueness in the solution. Additionally, a first‐order second moment analysis shows ET_g to dtgw relationships are almost exclusively sensitive to estimated land surface, or maximum, ET_g despite relatively large uncertainty in extinction depths and hydraulic conductivity. The EVI method of estimating ET_g appears to bias ET_g during years with exceptionally wet spring/summer conditions. Excluding these years improves model performance significantly but highlights the need to develop a methodology that accounts not only on quantity but timing of annual precipitation on phreatophyte greenness.     

The evolution of mass balance models of persistent organic pollutant fate in the environment

Current approaches to modelling the fate of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in the environment have evolved in response to four dominant characteristics of these substances; namely: (1) the presence of POPs in virtually all environmental phases and the ease with which they move from one to the other requires multi-compartmental modelling. Describing transport across phase boundaries becomes as, or even more, important as quantifying transport within the phases; (2) POPs may persist in the environment for many decades. For chemicals that 'have time', concepts such as equilibrium partitioning and steady-state become more important than for short-lived substances whose fate is more controlled by the rates of transformation; (3) measuring POPs is difficult and expensive and observed concentrations of POPs are not available in high spatial or temporal resolution. Consequently, high resolution tends not to be a high priority in POP models; and (4) detrimental effects of POPs often manifest themselves in top predators, which has led to a focus on modelling biotic uptake and transfer within food chains. The task of building a POPs model is viewed as combining the four 'building blocks' of partitioning, transport, transformation and source data with the help of the law of the conservation of mass. Process models, evaluative models, models of real local, regional and global fate, as well as biological uptake models are presented and references to numerous examples are provided. An attempt is made to forecast future directions in the field of POPs modelling. It is expected that modelling techniques that do not rely on quantitative emission estimates as well as approaches that take into account spatial, temporal and climatic variability as well as parameter uncertainty will increase in importance. Finally, the relationship between modelling POPs and models of other pollutant issues is addressed, as are potential interactions between POPs and pollutant issues such as eutrophication, acidification and global climate change.     

Conceptual Models as Hypotheses in Monitoring Urban Landscapes

Many problems and challenges of ecosystem management currently are driven by the rapid pace and spatial extent of landscape change. Parks and reserves within areas of high human population density are especially challenged to meet the recreational needs of local populations and to preserve valued environmental resources. The complex problem of managing multiple objectives and multiple resources requires an enormous quantity of information, and conceptual models have been proposed as tools for organizing and interpreting this information. Academics generally prefer a bottom-up approach to model construction that emphasizes ecologic theory and process, whereas managers often use a top-down approach that takes advantage of existing information to address more pragmatic objectives. The authors propose a formal process for developing, applying, and testing conceptual models to be used in landscape monitoring that reconciles these seemingly opposing perspectives. The four-step process embraces the role of hypothesis testing in the development of models and evaluation of their utility. An example application of the process to a network of national parks in and around Washington, DC illustrates the ability of the approach to systematically identify monitoring data that would both advance ecologic theory and inform management decisions.     

长三角区域一体化高质量发展：问题与出路

长三角一体化高质量发展对于中国经济行稳致远有着不言而喻的重要意义。为了科学全面认识新时代长三角一体化高质量发展中存在的问题,厘清未来的发展出路,邀请来自不同领域的相关专家就长三角一体化高质量发展中的区域协调、产业协同、交通组织、城镇体系演变、跨区合作、要素配置、流域统筹、一体化路径、绿色低碳发展等研究前沿进行访谈。访谈结果表明：长三角作为我国经济发展最活跃、开放程度最高、创新能力最强的区域,其发展中仍然存在内部发展不平衡、区间交通割裂、行政壁垒尚存、流域生态协作不健全、产业协同发展不足、绿色经济体系较弱等突出问题。长三角在中国乃至世界发展格局中的战略地位,需要综合各学科各专业的理论知识,从不同视角持续关注长三角一体化高质量发展的重大科学命题。紧扣“一体化”和“高质量”,长三角一体化首先要创新机制缩小区域内部发展差异,强化综合交通一体化的基础支撑,更要突破行政边界的制约;其次要创新机制体制来保障生产要素的有效流动与配置,通过价值链、产业链、创新链的融合发展来夯实一体化;再次要促进土地要素向长三角集中使用,提高长三角地区土地承载能力,为长三角区域一体化高质量发展提供充足的土地要素保证;然后要优化人口就业空间结构,加强城际间环境污染联防联治,强化大江大河等重大流域的省际统筹与合作,共同提升长三角的生态系统服务功能,推动绿色一体化发展;最后更要贯彻五大新发展理念,通过科研突破与市场机制来实现低碳发展,在创新驱动引领下打造流空间世界级枢纽,以实现长三角区域一体化高质量发展的新局面。以上观点为长三角区域一体化高质量发展提供科学可行的理论和决策支持。     

我国沿海地区水污染区域治理探讨

本文分析了我国当前水污染区域治理的难度，沿海地区水污染的主要问题，探讨了污染区域治理的基本原则，提出了水污染治理的重点区域和水污染区域治理的主要途径，并以浑河流域沈阳地区２０００年水污染物总量控制为例，概述总量控制方法和目标