Response of PM2.5-bound elemental species to emission variations and associated health risk assessment during the COVID-19 pandemic in a coastal megacity

The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is disrupting the world from many aspects. In this study, the impact of emission variations on PM_2.5-bound elemental species and health risks associated to inhalation exposure has been analyzed based on real-time measurements at a remote coastal site in Shanghai during the pandemic. Most trace elemental species decreased significantly and displayed almost no diel peaks during the lockdown. After the lockdown, they rebounded rapidly, of which V and Ni even exceeded the levels before the lockdown, suggesting the recovery of both inland and shipping activities. Five sources were identified based on receptor modeling. Coal combustion accounted for more than 70% of the measured elemental concentrations before and during the lockdown. Shipping emissions, fugitive/mineral dust, and waste incineration all showed elevated contributions after the lockdown. The total non-carcinogenic risk (HQ) for the target elements exceeded the risk threshold for both children and adults with chloride as the predominant species contributing to HQ. Whereas, the total carcinogenic risk (TR) for adults was above the acceptable level and much higher than that for children. Waste incineration was the largest contributor to HQ, while manufacture processing and coal combustion were the main sources of TR. Lockdown control measures were beneficial for lowering the carcinogenic risk while unexpectedly increased the non-carcinogenic risk. From the perspective of health effects, priorities of control measures should be given to waste incineration, manufacture processing, and coal combustion. A balanced way should be reached between both lowering the levels of air pollutants and their health risks.     

Sustainable development principles for the disposal of mining and mineral processing wastes

This paper examines the minerals industry's response to sustainable development in the area of waste disposal and argues that leadership and guidance are still needed to forge collective agreement on norms and standards of practise. To encourage further debate, the paper develops a set of sustainable development principles for the disposal of mining and mineral processing wastes, and discusses the implications for current and future practise. In practise, the principles can guide waste disposal decisions through the consideration of what risk and magnitude, in any given local context, a particular management solution poses to their application. The sustainability challenge in the management of tailings and waste rock is to dispose of material, such that it is inert or, if not, stable and contained, to minimise water and energy inputs and the surface footprint of wastes and to move toward finding alternate uses. Future trends in mining and processing may compound the challenges of waste management, as lower ore grades increase the ratio of waste produced for a given unit of resource, and emphasise the urgency and need for the industry to adopt new approaches. New technologies and innovations, such as thickened tailings, dry stacking and paste backfill, have greatly increased the waste disposal methods available to meet the future challenges to sustainable development.     

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the safety management in Italian Seveso industries

The paper discusses the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Italian chemical and process industries, where Directive 2012/18/EU Seveso III, for the control of Major Accident Hazard (MAH), is enforced. The Safety Management System (SMS) for the control of MAH, which has been mandatory for 20 years in Italian Seveso Establishments, has been highly stressed by the external pressure, related in some way to the COVID-19 pandemic. Fairly, most companies, in particular in oil and gas sectors, have demonstrated an adequate capability to reconcile operation continuity and health requirements. This experience is providing the establishment operators and the regulators with valuable suggestions for the improvements of the SMS-MAH. Within this framework, an innovative organisational resilience model is proposed, aiming at the development of a higher capability to face future new crisis. The current SMS-MAH already includes some basic pillars to enhance resilience, which were valuable during the pandemic crisis, but a full and rationale development is still needed. Starting from the first pandemic phase experience, this paper presents a novel tool to assess the degree of “resilience” of a SMS-MAH. It is based on a questionnaire, featuring 25 questions grouped into eight items, according to the typical SMS-MAH structure. A two level AHP model has been developed in order to define the weights to be assigned to each point. The AHP panel included industrial practitioners, regulators, authorities and researchers. The results are based on the COVID-19 experience and consequently the developed model is tailored to face health emergencies, but the approach may be easily transferred to other external crises.     

Biological treatment of the dye Reactive Blue 19 by cattails and anaerobic bacterial consortia

This study demonstrates the bioremediation potential of anaerobic sludge and cattail (Typha angustifolia) for the treatment of the dye Reactive Blue 19 (RB19). The anaerobic sludge and cattails used in this study were not previously exposed to dyes or other xenobiotics. Different anaerobic sludge concentrations (30%, 50%, and 70%) were used along fixed dye concentrations at pH 8.0 and 25 °C. Subsequently, 50% sludge was selected to treat RB19 at various concentrations. The discoloration of non-hydrolyzed dye was between 70% and 85% using 50% biomass. For the hydrolyzed form of RB19, the range of decoloration was 70%–90%. Dye treatment efficiencies between 50% and 75% were observed for the two forms of the dye when treated with T. angustifolia. Overall, the anaerobic biomass at pH 8.0 showed better potential than cattails to treat RB19. The observation that non-enriched anaerobic sludge can decolorize RB19 is important because it opens up the prospects of developing anaerobic treatment systems, which can easily decolorize dyes in industrial wastewaters and also possesses potential advantages over systems using defined bacterial cultures.     

Conducting conservation social science surveys online

The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is affecting the environment and conservation research in fundamental ways. Many conservation social scientists are now administering survey questionnaires online, but they must do so while ensuring rigor in data collection. Further, they must address a suite of unique challenges, such as the increasing use of mobile devices by participants and avoiding bots or other survey fraud. We reviewed recent literature on online survey methods to examine the state of the field related to online data collection and dissemination. We illustrate the review with examples of key methodological decisions made during a recent national study of people who feed wild birds, in which survey respondents were recruited through an online panel and a sample generated via a project participant list. Conducting surveys online affords new opportunities for participant recruitment, design, and pilot testing. For instance, online survey panels can provide quick access to large and diverse samples of people. Based on the literature review and our own experiences, we suggest that to ensure high-quality online surveys one should account for potential sampling and nonresponse error, design survey instruments for use on multiple devices, test the instrument, and use multiple protocols to identify data quality problems. We also suggest that research funders, journal editors, and policy makers can all play a role in ensuring high-quality survey data are used to inform effective conservation programs and policies.     

厦门湾空气质量对新冠疫情管控的响应

通过对厦门湾城市群在COVID-19封锁前后6周内（2020-01-11~2020-02-21）的空气污染物浓度变化进行分析,以确定影响本区域空气质量的主要人为污染源.在春节假期与封锁叠加期间,SO₂、NO₂、CO、PM₁₀和PM_2.5浓度相比于节前1周的下降幅度分别为6%~22%、53%~70%、34%~48%、47%~64%和53%~60%,而O₃浓度变化没有一致的规律性;与2018~2019年历史同期相比,PM_2.5、PM₁₀、CO和NO₂的下降幅度更大,但SO₂的下降幅度相当;在复工复产后,NO₂的反弹幅度最大（38%~138%）,远高于SO₂（2%~42%）,显示交通源相对于固定源更易受到疫情管控的影响;春节后风速增大和降水增多也为SO₂、NO₂和PM的下降提供了正向影响.利用反距离插值权重法,得到管控前后厦门湾城市群不同污染物的空间分布变化特征,显示NO₂浓度高值区的变化与交通源高度相关,CO和SO₂空间分布特征保持稳定,复工后PM_2.5和PM₁₀在人口与路网密集区变化不明显,而在工地相对集中区域有明显上升,O₃空间分布的低值区与NO₂的高值区具有较好的空间匹配性,显示NO₂对O₃滴定作用明显,可为进一步O₃污染减排措施的制定提供参考.     

新冠肺炎疫情下的环境应急管理研究

新型冠状病毒肺炎疫情(以下简称"新冠肺炎疫情")是一次具有较大环境风险的复合性危机事件,评估总结应对疫情的环境应急管理政策实践进展,识别我国在面对重大疫情时环境应急管理存在的短板具有重要意义。本文通过对新冠肺炎疫情产生的环境影响以及应急措施的进展分析,总结了重大疫情下环境应急管理的经验与不足,建议要健全针对重大疫情的环境应急响应机制,加强环境应急基础能力建设,加快完善支撑保障体系。     

基于WRF-Chem和EMI指数的新冠肺炎疫情期间沈阳市大气污染物浓度变化原因分析

利用2015—2020年沈阳市空气质量监测数据、地面气象观测资料、环境气象评估指数（EMI）产品、NCEP再分析资料及WRF-Chem数值模式,分析新冠肺炎疫情防控期间沈阳市主要大气污染物和气象要素的变化情况,研究空气质量对污染物减排和气象要素变化的响应.结果表明：疫情防控导致沈阳市PM_2.5、PM₁₀和NO₂质量浓度下降,但O₃质量浓度小幅增加;PM_2.5和NO₂对人为减排的响应更敏感;防控期内沈阳市气象条件有利于污染物的清除,气象条件使PM_2.5质量浓度下降16.37%,防控减排措施导致PM_2.5质量浓度下降22.96%;在疫情防控的背景下,不利的气象条件和污染物排放的突然增加共同造成重污染天气发生,其中不利气象条件的贡献大于排放增加的贡献;减排措施对防控期间重污染天气过程污染物峰值浓度有明显的削弱作用.     

2020年2月南宁市一次大气PM2.5污染成因分析

2020年1月31—2月2日新冠肺炎疫情期间,广西发生的一次区域性大气PM_2.5污染引发社会关注.以南宁市为例,利用在线气体组分及气溶胶监测系统（MARGA）、颗粒物激光雷达,结合地面气态污染物和气象数据卫星火点和后向轨迹等分析本次PM_2.5污染成因.依据空气质量分指数,将观测过程划分为优、良和污染3个时段.结果表明,污染时段与生物质焚烧相关的K⁺、Cl^-明显升高,K⁺、Cl^-平均浓度分别为优时段的3.6和17.0倍.3个时段8种水溶性离子总浓度占PM_2.5均在30%左右,3种二次水溶性离子浓度之和占8种离子总浓度的比例为83.33%~89.18%,二次无机组分占比高,与秸秆焚烧促进二次转化有关.二次水溶性离子浓度变化趋势与占比不一致,除了与秸秆燃烧排放特征有关,还与不同二次无机离子形成的机制及主要影响因素不同有关.秸秆焚烧火点集中分布在良时段的南宁市及周边城市,良时段秸秆露天焚烧直接排放大量颗粒物、气态污染物等,在污染时段边界层高度明显下降,湿度增加、静风等不利气象条件下积累,是造成疫情期间南宁市大气PM_2.5污染的主因.污染时段南宁市无明显的颗粒物垂直传输过程,近地面主要受到广东、广西北部湾偏南气流影响,区域污染传输小.     

COVID-19疫情期间成都市地面臭氧污染特征及气象成因分析

受COVID-19疫情影响,我国各地采取了一系列封锁管控措施,由此导致大气污染物排放强度降低.本文以成都市为例,分析了2020年上半年的气象条件和大气污染浓度特征,并重点对臭氧浓度变化及同期对比结果进行了细致分析.结果表明：①与2019年同期相比,除O₃外的5种污染物（NO₂、CO、SO₂、PM₁₀、PM_2.5）浓度均降低,降幅分别为13.60%、8.96%、6.30%、4.56%、1.80%,而O₃浓度却异常升高,升幅最大值分别出现在2月（35.1%）和5月（36.1%）.②2020年上半年,O₃浓度高值出现时间较2015—2019年提前,气象条件较有利于臭氧的生成.100 hPa和500 hPa位势高度为正距平,气温、日照时数较往年升高,相对湿度和降水量下降,以静小风为主.③2020年4月25日—5月6日臭氧污染持续时间长,主要是由于复工复产导致臭氧前体物排放增加,以及稳定的天气形势,使成都长时间处于高温（>30℃）、低湿（40%~60%）、静小风（1.3 m·s^-1）等不利扩散的气象条件下.气团后向轨迹和污染潜在源区表明研究区受到来自成都偏东一带及川南地区高污染气团短距离输送的影响.