Environmental and human health risk assessment of organic micro-pollutants occurring in a Spanish marine fish farm

In this work the risk posed to seawater organisms, predators and humans is assessed, as a consequence of exposure to 12 organic micro-pollutants, namely metronidazole, trimethoprim, erythromycin, simazine, flumequine, carbaryl, atrazine, diuron, terbutryn, irgarol, diphenyl sulphone (DPS) and 2-thiocyanomethylthiobenzothiazole (TCMTB). The risk assessment study is based on a 1-year monitoring study at a Spanish marine fish farm, involving passive sampling techniques. The results showed that the risk threshold for irgarol concerning seawater organisms is exceeded. On the other hand, the risk to predators and especially humans through consumption of fish is very low, due to the low bioconcentration potential of the substances assessed.     

The Effect of Channelization on Floodplain Sediment Deposition and Subsidence Along the Pocomoke River,Maryland1

Kroes, Daniel E. and Cliff R. Hupp, 2010. The Effect of Channelization on Floodplain Sediment Deposition and Subsidence Along the Pocomoke River, Maryland. Journal of the American Water Resources Association (JAWRA) 46(4): 686-699. DOI: 10.1111/j.1752-1688.2010.00440.x Abstract: The nontidal Pocomoke River was intensively ditched and channelized by the mid-1900s. In response to channelization; channel incision, head-cut erosion, and spoil bank perforation have occurred in this previously nonalluvial system. Six sites were selected for study of floodplain sediment dynamics in relation to channel condition. Short- and long-term sediment deposition/subsidence rates and composition were determined. Short-term rates (four years) ranged from 0.6 to 3.6 mm/year. Long-term rates (15-100+ years) ranged from −11.9 to 1.7 mm/year. ¹³⁷Cs rates (43 years) indicate rates of 0.24 to 7.4 mm/year depending on channel condition. Channelization has limited contact between streamflow and the floodplain, resulting in little or no sediment retention in channelized reaches. Along unchannelized reaches, extended contact and depth of river water on the floodplain resulted in high deposition rates. Drainage of floodplains exposed organic sediments to oxygen resulting in subsidence and releasing stored carbon. Channelization increased sediment deposition in downstream reaches relative to the presettlement system. The sediment storage function of this river has been dramatically altered by channelization. Results indicate that perforation of spoil banks along channelized reaches may help to alleviate some of these issues.     

Size Distribution of Inorganic Species and Their Inhaled Dose in a Detergent Industrial Workplace

Aerosol particles in the workplace of a detergent industry were sampled during July 2005 by a Berner low-pressure impactor. The samples were analyzed by atomic absorption spectrometry and ion chromatography in order to determine the size distribution of metallic elements and water-soluble inorganic ions. The size distributions of some characteristic metallic elements (Cu, Fe, Al) were unimodal with their maximum found in coarse particles. Among the water-soluble aerosol components , , Cl⁻, and Ca⁺⁺ were the major contributors to total particle mass. The lung deposition resulting from the partially hygroscopic aerosol is estimated. The calculated lung deposition reveals the impact of separate chemical aerosol compounds on the levels of the inhaled dose. The differences observed between the total and regional deposition of the different compounds appear mainly due to their different size distributions. An erratum to this article can be found at     

Fine‐Sediment Loadings to Lake Tahoe1

Abstract: Over the past 35 years, a trend of decreasing water clarity has been documented in Lake Tahoe, attributable in part to the delivery of fine‐grained sediments emanating from upland and channel sources. The overall objective of the research reported here was to determine the amount of fine sediment delivered to Lake Tahoe from each of the 63 contributing watersheds. The research described in this report used combinations of field‐based observations of channel and bank stability with measured and simulated data on fine‐sediment loadings to estimate fine‐sediment loadings from unmonitored basins throughout the Lake Tahoe Basin. Loadings were expressed in the conventional format of mass per unit time but also in the number of particles finer than 20 μm, the latter for future use in a lake‐clarity model. The greatest contributors of fine sediment happened to be those with measured data, not requiring extrapolation. In descending order, they are as follows: Upper Truckee River [1,010 tonnes per year (T/year)], Blackwood Creek (846 T/year), Trout Creek (462 T/year), and Ward Creek (412 T/year). Summing estimated values from the contributing watersheds provided an average, annual estimate of fine‐sediment (<0.063 mm) loadings to the lake of 5,206 T/year. A total of 7.79E + 19 particles in the 5‐20 μm fraction were calculated to enter Lake Tahoe in an average year with the Upper Truckee River accounting for almost 25% of the total. Contributions from Blackwood, Ward, Trout, and Third creeks account for another 23% of these very fine particles. Thus, these five streams making up about 40% of the basin area, account for almost 50% of all fine‐sediment loadings to the lake. Contribution of fine sediment from streambank erosion were estimated by developing empirical relations between measured or simulated bank‐erosion rates with a field‐based measure of the extent of bank instability along given streams. An average, annual fine‐sediment loading from streambank erosion of 1,305 T/year was calculated. This represents about 25% of the average, annual fine‐sediment load delivered to the lake from all sources. The two largest contributors, the Upper Truckee River (639 T/year) and Blackwood Creek (431 T/year), account for slightly more than 80% of all fines emanating from streambanks, representing about 20% of the fine sediment delivered to Lake Tahoe from all sources. Extrapolations of fine‐sediment loadings to the unmonitored watersheds are based on documented empirical relations, yet contain a significant amount of uncertainty. Except for those values derived directly from measured data, reported results should be considered as estimates.     

Preparations of TiO2 film coated on foam nickel substrate by sol-gel processes and its photocatalytic activity for degradation of acetaldehyde

Anatase TiO2 films were successfully prepared on foam nickel substrates by sol-gel technique using tetrabutyl titanate as precursor. The characteristics of the TiO2 films were investigated by XPS, XRD, FE-SEM, TEM and UV-Vis absorption spectra. The photocatalytic activities of TiO2 films were investigated by photocatalytic degradation reactions of gaseous acetaldehyde, an indoor pollutant, under ultraviolet light irradiation. It was found that Ni^2＋ doping into TiO2 films due to the foam nickel substrates resulted in the extension of absorption edges of TiO2 films from UV region to visible light region. The pre-heating for foam nickel substrates resulted in the formation of NiO layer, which prevented effectively the injection of photogenerated electrons from TiO2 films to metal nickel. The TiO2 films displayed high photocatalytic activity for the degradation of acetaldehyde, and were enhanced by calcining the substrates and coating TiO2 films repeatedly. The high activity was mainly attributed to the improvement of the characteristics of substrate surface and the increase of active sites on photocatalyst.     

Determination of haloacetic acids concentrations in hospital effluent after chlorination by ion chromatography

The ion chromatography combined solid phase extraction (SPE) method was developed for the analysis of low concentration haloacetic acids(HAAs),a calss of disinfection by-products formed as a result of chlorination of hospital wastewater. The monitored HAAs included monochloroacetic acid, monobromoacetic acid, dichloroacetic acid, dibromoacetic acid and trichloroacetic acid. The method employed a sodium hydroxide eluent at a flow rate of 0.8 ml/min, electrolytically generated gradients, and suppressed conductivity detection. To analyze the HAAs in real hospital wastewater samples, C18 pretreatment cartridge was utilized to reduce samples' turbidity. Preconcentration with SPE and matrix elimination with treatment cartridges were investigated and were found to be able to obtain acceptable detection limits. Linearity, repeatability and detection limits of the above method were evaluated. The detection limits of monobromoacetic acid and dibromoacetic acid were 2.61 μg/L and 1.30 μg/L respectively, and the other three are ranging from 0.48 to 0.82 μg/L under 25-fold preconcentration. When the above optimization procedure was applied to three hospital wastewater samples with different treatment processes in Tianjin, it was found that the dichloroacetic acid is the major compound, and the growth ratios of the HAAs after disinfection by sodium hypochlorite were 91.28%, 63.61% and 79.50%, respectively.     

北京大气颗粒物污染的区域性本质

颗粒物是北京的首要大气污染物,2006年PM10年均浓度超标60%以上.本研究基于颗粒物质量浓度在线监测和逐日TSP的采样分析,结合地面天气形势,论述了北京大气颗粒物污染的区域性特征.首先,北京大气颗粒物污染过程的形成由以冷锋过境为明显标志的周期性的天气系统决定,天气系统的活动尺度决定了颗粒物污染的区域性.其次,从PM2.5/PM10和Pb/Al比值的变化判别出颗粒物污染过程中随着颗粒物浓度的升高,细颗粒物呈现富集趋势;细颗粒物的富集由粗颗粒物的去除和超细颗粒物的生成(核化过程)、以及二次颗粒物的生成所致;污染过程中颗粒物的老化以及化学组成(Pb/Al)的大幅度变化共同表明了北京大气颗粒物来源的区域性本质.     

北京地区空气中PM10的元素组分及其变化

2000年6—7月,12月和2001年4—5月在北京北郊分别采集了代表夏季、冬季和春季的大气颗粒物样品,经分析后获得了不同季节、不同大气污染情况下气溶胶中Ca,S,Al,Fe,K,Zn等30种元素质量浓度。对不同污染情况下PM₁₀中元素组分的变化分析表明,PM₁₀中的元素总质量浓度呈现出明显的季节变化,即春季最高,冬季次之,夏季最低,Ca,Fe,K,Al,S是PM₁₀中的5种主要元素。随着空气污染的加重,PM₁₀中的元素总质量浓度明显增加,在春季这一增加达到7倍之多。在重污染情况下,无论在近地面,还是在边界层,PM₁₀中的主要元素排序夏季以地壳元素为首,而冬春季均以污染元素为首。一般情况下,PM₁₀中的元素总质量浓度在近地层中随高度升高而降低,降低幅度约为20%。分析结果还表明,随着空气污染的加重,PM₁₀中的污染元素,尤其是As,Cr,Co,Cu,Ni,PPb,Se,Zn等低浓度污染元素的浓度明显增加。      

铸造行业挥发性有机物排放成分谱及影响

采用气袋-吸附管采样方法对京津冀地区9家铸造企业重点工序有组织和无组织排放气体进行采集,运用气相色谱-质谱联用技术（GC-MS）测定了56种VOCs组分,首次建立了铸造行业基于生产工序的VOCs源成分谱,并且结合臭氧生成潜势分析了VOCs对臭氧生成的贡献.结果表明,铸造行业VOCs特征组分主要为芳烃、卤代烃和含氧VOCs,平均占比分别为：50.9%、20.8%和12.6%.总体而言,甲苯、苯、间/对-二甲苯等芳烃,二氯甲烷、三氯乙烯等卤代烃,丙酮、乙酸乙酯、环戊酮等含氧VOCs和部分高碳烷烃是铸造行业的特征物种.铸造企业不同生产工序的VOCs特征物种与所使用溶剂、表面处理剂的成分相关.喷漆工序是铸造行业中排放浓度最高的环节,其次为造型、硅溶胶和浇注工序.不同生产工序排放VOCs的OFP在0.29~96.09 mg·m^-3之间.喷漆工序是铸造行业OFP最高的环节,其次是造型、熔炼和浇注工序;芳烃和含氧VOCs是各生产工序OFP贡献较高的组分.1,3,5-三甲苯、1,2,4-三甲苯、甲苯和间/对-二甲苯等芳烃是铸造行业OFP贡献较高的物种,总贡献比例超过60%.建议重点对喷漆工序排放VOCs采取有效治理措施;对造型、熔炼和浇注等工序排放VOCs应采取有效收集和治理措施.     

北京上空气溶胶浓度垂直廓线特征

利用2008—2010年北京地区3.5 km高空内飞机探测的气溶胶(粒径范围为0.10～3.00 μm)数据,分析了该地区气溶胶的时空分布特征. 结果表明:①气溶胶浓度(以数浓度计,下同)均随高度增加而减小,在1.5 km以上高空的气溶胶浓度垂直梯度变化明显低于1.5 km以下的垂直梯度变化. 4—11月气溶胶浓度季节变化表现为夏季最高、秋季次之、春季最低. ②气溶胶浓度廓线逐时(09:00—19:00)变化较清晰地反映出其受大气边界层演变的影响. 在0～1.5 km高空,白天气溶胶浓度高值出现在09:00—11:00,低值出现在13:00—14:00;而在1.5～3.5 km高空的气溶胶浓度时段分布与其相反. ③人为活动是影响气溶胶浓度区域水平分布的重要因子. ④将气溶胶浓度廓线垂直分布分为a、b、c 3类. 类型a的近地面气溶胶浓度(0～4 000 cm-3)低,垂直方向上变化很小;类型b的近地面气溶胶浓度(4 000～9 000 cm-3)较高,垂直递减明显;类型c的近地面气溶胶浓度特别高,量级达到104 cm-3,并在大气边界层顶(约1.5 km)附近迅速递减. 北京地区气溶胶浓度廓线以类型b居多.