An Evaluation of Selenium Concentrations in Water, Sediment, Invertebrates, and Fish from the Republican River Basin: 1997–1999

The Republican River Basin of Colorado,Nebraska, and Kansas lies in a valley which contains PierreShale as part of its geological substrata. Selenium is anindigenous constituent in the shale and is readily leached intosurrounding groundwater. The Basin is heavily irrigated throughthe pumping of groundwater, some of which is selenium-contaminated, onto fields in agricultural production. Water,sediment, benthic invertebrates, and/or fish were collected from46 sites in the Basin and were analyzed for selenium to determinethe potential for food-chain bioaccumulation, dietary toxicity,and reproductive effects of selenium in biota. Resultingselenium concentrations were compared to published guidelines orbiological effects thresholds. Water from 38% of the sites (n = 18) contained selenium concentrations exceeding 5 g L^-1, which is reported to be a high hazard for selenium accumulation into the planktonic food chain. An additional 12 sites (26% of the sites) contained selenium in water between 3–5 g L^-1, constituting a moderate hazard. Selenium concentrations in sedimentindicated little to no hazard for selenium accumulation fromsediments into the benthic food chain. Ninety-five percent ofbenthic invertebrates collected exhibited selenium concentrationsexceeding 3 g g^-1, a level reported as potentially lethal to fish and birds that consume them. Seventy-five percent of fish collected in 1997, 90% in 1998, and 64% in 1999 exceeded 4 g g^-1selenium, indicating a high potential for toxicity andreproductive effects. However, examination of weight profilesof various species of collected individual fish suggestedsuccessful recruitment in spite of selenium concentrations thatexceeded published biological effects thresholds for health andreproductive success. This finding suggested that universalapplication of published guidelines for selenium may beinappropriate or at least may need refinement for systems similarto the Republican River Basin. Additional research is needed todetermine the true impact of selenium on fish and wildliferesources in the Basin.     

建立锡山市跨行政区水域边界监控点的必要性和可行性

分析了建立锡山市跨行政区水域边界监控点的必要和可行性，并阐述了建立锡山市排污总量控制体系的重要性，以便提高整个区域的水环境质量。     

环境污染纠纷调处与环境行政处罚之区别浅析——兼与章锦华同志商榷

指出了环境污染纠纷调处与环境行政处罚的性质，程序，结果等均不相同，在理论上不能将两者混一谈，实践中应区别对待。     

Assessment of the Heavy Metal Pollution Effects on the Soil Respiration in the Baix Llobregat (Catalonia, NE Spain)

A main goal of investigations is to determine could a soilrespiration be an indicator of the soil pollution. In this case a measured levelof the soil oxygen consumption depends of its pollution. It alsomeans that the pollution reduces biological processes in edaphon.Investigated soil samples were taken from polluted andnon-polluted places in the Baix Llobregat near Barcelona (Catalonia, NE Spain). Soil samples were taken from the top ofsoil (0–5 cm) without a litter. Soil analysis were done, determining percentage shares of coarsefragments, coarse sand, fine sand, coarse silt, fine silt, clay,CaCO₃, organic matter as well as water pH and conductivityCE (1:5 [mS cm^-1]). Also were determined (in mg kg^-1)quantities of heavy metals, as Fe, Al, Mn, Zn, Cr, Ni, V, Cu, Cd, Pb.The soil respiration was investigated in temperatures15 and 30 °C and with controlled humidity.The respiration in 30 °C is number of times greater thenin 15 °C both for polluted and non-polluted soils.Particularly high coefficients of correlation between the soilrespiration and soil pollution in polluted soils were obtainedfor Pb: r = 0.75 in 15 °C and r = 0.98 in30 °C; for Ba: 0.90 and 0.57; for V: 0.99 and 0.81. In non-polluted soils highest correlation coefficients are for Pb: r = 0.70 in 15 °C; Fe: 0.60 and 0.72; Al: 0.68 and0.64; Mn: 0.51 and 0.66; Ba: 0.63 and 0.61; Cr: 0.94 and0.70; Ni: 0.64 and 0.65; Cu: 0.69 and 0.48; as well as V: 0.62in 15 °C; and Cd: 0.69 in 15 °C.This way the soil respiration could be a good indicator of the soil pollution.     

Flue gas treatability studies: a tool for techno-economic control of industrial air pollution

Air pollution problems in developing countries have gained larger fraction in the last decade especially due to non functioning and non implementation of effective air pollutioncontrol devices in industries. In industrial wastewater management, adequate treatability studies are conducted to arrive at a techno-economic treatment option. However no suchstudies were done for reducing air pollution or emission fromindustries until now in India. Little information was availableabout such studies in other countries. This article provides information about a novel technique known asflue gas treatability studies and to undertake such studies, a pilot scale system is installed in Air Pollution Control Divisionof M/s National Environmental Engineering research Institute, NEERI, Nagpur-20, India. This study is a tool for techno-economicselection of air pollution control systems specially for small/medium scale industrial emissions.     

Biological complexity confounds the separation of point- and non-point sources of human impact on the natural world

Identifying process from pattern is one of the most vexing tasks inenvironmental monitoring. Given information on the distribution of speciesin a pre-defined area, together with comprehensive data on how environmentalconditions in that area have altered through time, is it possible toidentify the factors controlling the species‘ layout? Here, the practicalsignificance of this quandary is demonstrated using a series ofenvironmentally-degraded coastal lagoons in New South Wales. The TuggerahLakes (33°17′S,151°30′E) have over the last 50 yearsexperienced significant changes in species‘ distributions. Seagrasses,macroalgae, phytoplankton, molluscs, prawns and the jellyfish Catostylus mosaicus have altered in spatial pattern. Two human activitieshave been blamed for these perturbations: (1) agricultural clearance ofnative vegetation from the catchment, with associated input of top-soil andnutrients; (2) the commissioning of a coal-fired power station in 1967, withmassive uptake and recirculation of lake water for cooling purposes. In thispaper, spatial changes in macrophyte distributions over the last 50 yearsare reviewed in an attempt to identify the true source(s) of perturbation.The model adopted assumes that the power station is a point source of impactwhile nutrient inputs from the catchment are a diffuse source of impact;changes in species distributions can hypothetically be related back to thesesources according to whether they are localised or widespread. However,after a comprehensive analysis of available macrophyte data derived frominterviews, aerial photography and line transect methodologyies theconclusion is reached that changes in biogeographical pattern around theTuggerah Lakes cannot be attributed to specific anthropogenic pressures atanything beyond the coarsest of levels. This is considered to be the normfor most coastal management situations where natural background variation(’noise‘) and the complexity of linkages between physical, chemical andbiological components confounds the identification of causal relationships.The practical implications of this conclusion are discussed in the contextof litigation and remedial management design. Emphasis is placed on theneed to adopt an adaptive approach to estuarine management, incorporatingexplicit recognition of the limitations of available data, and to developnew techniques for identifying cause-effect relationships.     

中国生物入侵现状及对策

生物入侵是当今世界三大难题之一,中国也是世界上遭受生物入侵危害最大的国家之一.入侵中国的生物主要是以陆生植物为主,源地以美洲为主.在地域分布上南方和东部地区比较严重.主要侵入途径是以人类活动影响为主,自然扩散比重比较小.生物入侵对我国造成的危害十分巨大,解决生物入侵的主要对策是加强立法,全民重视.     

Removal of high concentrated ammonia nitrogen from landfill leachate by landfilled waste layer

The landfill of municipal solid waste(MSW) could be regarded as denitrification reactor and involved in ammonia nitrogen biological removal process. In this research, the process was applied to municipal solid waste collected in Shanghai, China, which was characterized by high food waste content. The NH4^ removal efficiency in the system of SBR nitrifying reactor followed by fresh and matured landfilled waste layer in series was studied. In the nitrifying reactor, above 90% of NH4^ in leachate was oxidized to NO2^- and NO3^- . Then high concentrated NO2^- and NO3^- were removed in the way of denitrification process in fresh landfilled waste layer. At the same time, degradation of fresh landfilled waste was accelerated. Up to the day 120, 136.5 gC/(kg dry waste) and 17.9 gN/(kg dry waste) were converted from waste layer. It accounted for 50.15 % and 86.89 % of the total carbon and nitrogen content of preliminary fresh waste, which was 4.42 times and 5.17 times higher than that of reference column respectively. After filtering through matured landfilled waste, BOD5 concentration in leachate dropped to below 100 mg/L, which would not affect following nitrification adversely. Because the matured landfilled waste acted as a well methanogenic reactor, 23% of carbon produced accumulatively from fresh landfilled waste degradation was converted into CH4.     

电晕法处理易挥发性有机物(VOCs)的实验研究

叙述了电晕法处理易挥发性有机物（ＶＯＣｓ）的实验研究。从实验中得出ＶＯＣｓ去除率与电场强度和空管速度的关系。对比了有填料与无填料时线 管式反应器处理ＶＯＣｓ的效果     

水蚀风蚀交错带小流域生态环境综合治理模式研究

水蚀风蚀交错带是黄土高原侵蚀最严重的地区和黄河下游河床粗泥沙的主要来源区，其生态环境脆弱、治理难度大，加之晋陕蒙能源基地的大规模开发，也带来了新的环境问题。鉴于治黄和煤田开发及生态环境整治的紧迫需要，以水蚀风蚀交错带六道沟小流域为试区，分析研究了该区水蚀风蚀时空分布规律及脆弱生态环境特征，提出以防治水蚀和风蚀为中心，以提高生态经济效益和持续发展为目标，以基本农田优化结构和高效利用及植被建设为重点，建立具有防蚀固沙兼高效生态经济功能的大农业复合生态系统综合治理模式，取得了良好的社会与经济效益。