An Aquifer Classification System and Geographical Information System-Based Analysis Tool for Watershed Managers in the Western U.S.1

Payne, Scott M. and William W. Woessner, 2010. An Aquifer Classification System and Geographical Information System-Based Analysis Tool for Watershed Managers in the Western U.S. Journal of the American Water Resources Association (JAWRA) 46(5):1003-1023. DOI: 10.1111/j.1752-1688.2010.00472.x Abstract: Aquifers and groundwater systems can be classified using a variety of independent methods to characterize geologic and hydraulic properties, the degree of connection with surface water, and geochemical conditions. In light of a growing global demand for water, an approach for classifying groundwater systems at the watershed scale is needed. A comprehensive classification system is proposed that combines recognized methods and new approaches. The purpose of classification is to provide groundwater professionals, policy makers, and watershed managers with a widely applicable and repeatable system that reduces sometimes cumbersome complex databases and analyzes to straightforward terminology and graphical representations. The proposed classification system uses basin geology, aquifer productivity, water quality, and the degree of groundwater/surface water connection as classification criteria. The approach is based on literature values, reference databases, and fundamental hydrologic and hydrogeologic principles. The proposed classification system treats dataset completeness as a variable and includes a tiered assessment protocol that depends on the quality and quantity of data. In addition, it assembles and catalogs groundwater information using a consistent set of nomenclature. It is designed to analyze and display results using Geographical Information System mapping tools.     

工业企业环保工作规范化建设的实践和思考

依据管理学范畴的规范化理论,简明介绍了工业企业环保工作规范化的概念及特征,重点阐述了工业企业环保工作规范化建设的内容、要求及实施的过程,力图建立新型的工业企业环保管理工作的模式。     

SWOT Analysis and Challenges of Nile Basin Initiative：An Integrated Water Resource Management Perspective

River Nile is one of the longest transboundery rivers and it is shared and used by Burundi,Democratic Republic of Congo,Egypt,Ethiopia,Eritrea,Kenya,Rwanda,Sudan,Tanzania and Uganda.As of today,the Nile is a crucial resource for the economic development of the Nile Basin countries and a vital source of livelihood for 160 million inhabitants as well as 300 million people living in the 10 riparian countries.The Nile Basin Initiative(NBI) is one of the international cooperative river basin management program and regional partnership where all the Nile Basin countries except Eritrea unite to pursue long-term sustainable development,improved land use practices and management.This review therefore focused on the challenges not faced on NBI in terms of integrated use of the river and conducted analysis of strengths,weaknesses,opportunities and threats(SWOT) based on secondary data.The result of the review revealed that for decades,the Nile Basin people have been facing many complex environmental,social,economic and political challenges that have made it difficult for the proper management and sustainability of Nile water.The initiative provides training to develop skills in government ministries,non-governmental organizations and local communities in each country.It is also working to raise awareness of critical environmental issues by strengthening networks of environmental education practitioners;developing curriculum in the education sector.The challenges of NBI include the involvement and funding of World Bank,lack of sufficient staff,procedural and policies conflicts,lack of coordination and linkage with other regional institutions and lack of recognition as river basin organization.Considering the complex nature of the project,it is recommended that the NBI should come up with a strong multi-disciplinary monitoring and evaluation team to follow up all implemented projects.The NBI should carry out participatory land use planning in communities along the river basin.Moreover,livelihood analysis should be carried out especially in communities along the Nile to come up with poverty eradication projects which are socially acceptable,applicable,economically viable and affordable.     

多瑙河流域国际合作实践与启示

多瑙河是世界上流经国家最多的国际河流,其国际合作的成功实践对世界其他国际河流的合作具有积极的示范和借鉴作用。通过分析和总结多瑙河国际合作历程和合作特点（包括多种合作机制并存互补;引入风险管理、公众参与和流域综合管理等先进理念促进全面合作;利用GIS及数据管理等现代技术手段实现信息资源共享;利用协商和司法手段和平解决国际争端等）,结合我国国际河流的特点和国际水法及国际河流合作的发展趋势,提出了对我国的启示：应加强国际河流相关方面的研究与合作（特别是航运与水电开发等）;应充分重视国际河流生态环境保护,生态环境保护和防洪越来越强调全流域的合作与协调;应坚持国际河流的开发利用与保护并举,走平衡发展之路;应根据各国际河流特点及地区条件,选择合适的管理合作模式.     

Solving Problems in Social–Ecological Systems: Definition, Practice and Barriers of Transdisciplinary Research

Translating policies about sustainable development as a social process and sustainability outcomes into the real world of social–ecological systems involves several challenges. Hence, research policies advocate improved innovative problem-solving capacity. One approach is transdisciplinary research that integrates research disciplines, as well as researchers and practitioners. Drawing upon 14 experiences of problem-solving, we used group modeling to map perceived barriers and bridges for researchers’ and practitioners’ joint knowledge production and learning towards transdisciplinary research. The analysis indicated that the transdisciplinary research process is influenced by (1) the amount of traditional disciplinary formal and informal control, (2) adaptation of project applications to fill the transdisciplinary research agenda, (3) stakeholder participation, and (4) functional team building/development based on self-reflection and experienced leadership. Focusing on implementation of green infrastructure policy as a common denominator for the delivery of ecosystem services and human well-being, we discuss how to diagnose social–ecological systems, and use knowledge production and collaborative learning as treatments.     

Beyond selectivity: Are behavioral avoidance and hormesis likely causes of pyrethroid-induced outbreaks of the southern red mite Oligonychus ilicis?

Secondary pest outbreak is a counterintuitive ecological backlash of pesticide use in agriculture that takes place with the increase in abundance of a non-targeted pest species after pesticide application against a targeted pest species. Although the phenomenon was well recognized, its alternative causes are seldom considered. Outbreaks of the southern red mite Oligonychus ilicis are frequently reported in Brazilian coffee farms after the application of pyrethroid insecticides against the coffee leaf miner Leucoptera coffeella. Selectivity favoring the red mite against its main predatory mites is generally assumed as the outbreak cause, but this theory has never been tested. Here, we assessed the toxicity (and thus the selectivity) of deltamethrin against both mite species: the southern red mite and its phytoseid predator Amblyseius herbicolus. Additionally, behavioral avoidance and deltamethrin-induced hormesis were also tested as potential causes of red mite outbreak using free-choice behavioral walking bioassays with the predatory mite and life-table experiments with both mite species, respectively. Lethal toxicity bioassays indicated that the predatory mite was slightly more susceptible than its prey (1.5×), but in more robust demographic bioassays, the predator was three times more tolerant to deltamethrin than its prey, indicating that predator susceptibility to deltamethrin is not a cause of the reported outbreaks. The predator did not exhibit behavioral avoidance to deltamethrin; however insecticide-induced hormesis in the red mite led to its high population increase under low doses, which was not observed for the predatory mite. Therefore, deltamethrin-induced hormesis is a likely cause of the reported red mite outbreaks.     

Setting the most robust effluent level under severe uncertainty: Application of information-gap decision theory to chemical management

Decisions in ecological risk management for chemical substances must be made based on incomplete information due to uncertainties. To protect the ecosystems from the adverse effect of chemicals, a precautionary approach is often taken. The precautionary approach, which is based on conservative assumptions about the risks of chemical substances, can be applied selecting management models and data. This approach can lead to an adequate margin of safety for ecosystems by reducing exposure to harmful substances, either by reducing the use of target chemicals or putting in place strict water quality criteria. However, the reduction of chemical use or effluent concentrations typically entails a financial burden. The cost effectiveness of the precautionary approach may be small. Hence, we need to develop a formulaic methodology in chemical risk management that can sufficiently protect ecosystems in a cost-effective way, even when we do not have sufficient information for chemical management. Information-gap decision theory can provide the formulaic methodology. Information-gap decision theory determines which action is the most robust to uncertainty by guaranteeing an acceptable outcome under the largest degree of uncertainty without requiring information about the extent of parameter uncertainty at the outset. In this paper, we illustrate the application of information-gap decision theory to derive a framework for setting effluent limits of pollutants for point sources under uncertainty. Our application incorporates a cost for reduction in pollutant emission and a cost to wildlife species affected by the pollutant. Our framework enables us to settle upon actions to deal with severe uncertainty in ecological risk management of chemicals.     

基于数据库的污染场地流程管理初步设计

污染场地是工业化发展的产物,中国的污染场地修复与管理尚处于起始阶段,如何实现国家层面对污染场地的有效监管是一个重要课题。在国家污染场地信息管理数据库框架基础上,提出了以流程管理(BPM)架构技术和业务流程引擎技术为基础构建支持跨平台和跨系统的数据采集、处理和分析的BPM运行平台,设定了污染场地管理的主要机构和相应主要角色,还设计了污染场地资料入库和分类评估的管理流程,以期为中国污染场地的计算机化和网络化监管平台建设提供参考和借鉴。     

利用沉水植物生长期收割进行富营养化水体生态管理的实地研究

在以再生水为补水水源的圆明园玉玲珑水域进行沉水植物收割实验,自2011年4—12月间每隔半个月监测一次水质。结果表明,通过在生长期收割沉水植物,玉玲珑水体TP、SRP、TN、NH4+-N、NO3--N和COD的平均浓度可维持在0.1、0.04、0.86、0.1、0.32和18 mg/L左右,水质保持在Ⅲ类至Ⅳ类地表水之间;与之对照的不收割沉水植物的玉玲珑进水口水域,9月沉水植物开始死亡腐烂,TP、SRP、TN、NH4+-N最高分别可达0.5、0.1、2.4和0.60 mg/L;作为对照的另一以挺水植物为主的水域,水质普遍劣于有大量沉水植物生长的水域,TP、SRP、TN、NH4+-N最高分别可达1.2、0.60、6.1和0.61mg/L。圆明园的实地实验表明,沉水植物有很强的净化水质作用,通过生长期收割,能够进一步强化其水质净化作用,可以作为一项对富营养化水体进行生态管理的有效措施进行推广。     

Development of a hybrid microbial fuel cell (MFC) and fuel cell (FC) system for improved cathodic efficiency and sustainability: the M2FC reactor

In an effort to improve the efficiency and sustainability of microbial fuel cell (MFC) technology, a novel MFC reactor, the M2FC, was constructed by combining a ferric-based MFC with a ferrous-based fuel cell (FC). In this M2FC reactor, ferric ion, the catholyte in the MFC component, is regenerated by the FC system with the generation of additional electricity. When the MFC component was operated separately, the electricity generation was maintained for only 98 h due to the depletion of ferric ion in the catholyte. In combination with the fuel cell, however, the production of power was sustained because ferric ion was continually replenished from ferrous ion in the FC component. Moreover, the regeneration process of ferric ion by the FC produced additional energy. The M2FC reactor yielded a power density of up to 2 W m⁻² (or time-averaged value of approximately 650 mW m⁻²), density up to 20 times (or approximately six times based on time-averaged value) higher than the corresponding MFC system.