New indicator approaches for effective urban air quality management

Measurements of urban air quality at monitoring stations in developed countries have frequently involved the criteria gaseous pollutants, particulates, hazardous air pollutants, perceived air quality and relevant meteorological conditions. Large numbers of indicators have therefore been established to quantify emissions, concentrations and environmental and human health impacts of each of these groups of substances. To simplify the data for management, several indicators have been grouped together to form urban air quality indices but the weightings of individual variables is contentious. In industrialising and developing countries, data may be limited and traditional air pollutant indicators cannot often be constructed. The emphasis therefore has to be placed on the development of policy-relevant indicators, such as Response Indicators that reflect different policy principles for regulating air pollutant emissions. Indices that quantify the air quality management capabilities and capacities at the city level provide further useful decision-relevant tools. Four sets of indices, namely, 1. air quality measurement capacity, 2. data assessment and availability, 3. emissions estimates, and 4. management enabling capabilities, and a composite index to evaluate air quality management capability, were constructed and applied to 80 cities. The indices revealed that management capability varied widely between the cities. In some of the cities, existing national knowledge on urban air quality could have been more effectively used for management. It was concluded that for effective urban air quality management, a greater emphasis should be given, not just to monitoring and data capture programmes, but to the development of indicators and indices that empower decision-makers to initiate management response strategies. Over-reliance on restricted, predetermined sets of traditional air quality indicators should be avoided.     

Diffusion pollution from livestock and poultry rearing in the Yangtze Delta,China

BACKGROUND: The Yangtze Delta is one of the most developed regions in China and includes Shanghai, eight cities in Jiangsu province and eight cities in Zhejiang province. Meat consumption in this region has increased with economic growth, and most of the consumed meat is produced locally. The water quality of surface waters has deteriorated in recent years. An example was the huge blue-green algae bloom in Tai Lake in late May 2007, which affected millions of people's daily drinking water. However, animal husbandry is considered to be one of the main pollution sources. METHODS: Pollutants (NH3-N, total phosphorus (TP), and total nitrogen (TN)) excreted by livestock and poultry, and the resultant COD (chemical oxygen demand) and BOD (biochemical oxygen demand), were estimated using two different methods based on different data sets. RESULTS: The number of livestock and poultry has remained stable in the Yangtze Delta over the four years from 1999 to 2002, with the average number of pigs, cattle, sheep and poultry being 21.1 M, 0.4 M, 7.7 M and 597.6 M, respectively. Pollutants in livestock and poultry excreta estimated by Method I were: 0.12 Mt NH3-N, 0.11 Mt TP and 0.29 Mt TN, resulting in COD and BOD of 1.34 Mt and 1.30 Mt, respectively, while the estimations based on Method II were: 0.18 Mt NH3-N, 0.15 Mt TP and 0.40 Mt TN, resulting in COD and BOD of 1.95 Mt and 1.80 Mt, respectively. DISCUSSION: Pollutants excreted annually by livestock and poultry in the Yangtze Delta are estimated to be: 0.17 Mt NH3-N, 0.16 Mt TP and 0.42 Mt TN, giving rise to a COD of 1.86 Mt and a BOD of 1.72 Mt. Approximately 25% of this pollution was estimated to enter water bodies, which means that the annual pollutant load is 43,700 t NH3-N, 39,400 tTP, 104,600t TN with a COD of 465,000 tand a BOD of 430,100 t. Pollutants from animal husbandry were similar in magnitude to those from industrial wastewater. Pigs produced the most pollution, followed by poultry, cattle and sheep. The pollution load from animal husbandry in the Yangtze Delta is about twice the average level of the whole of China. CONCLUSIONS: Domestic wastewater was the main pollution source in the Yangtze Delta, followed by pollution from raising livestock and poultry and from industrial wastewater. The pollution load in Shanghai and Jiaxing were the greatest, followed by 7 cities of Jiangsu province (except Suzhou) and other cities of Zhejiang province and Suzhou. Pigs and poultry produced about 90% of the total pollutants from animal husbandry. RECOMMENDATIONS AND PERSPECTIVES: The local governments, especially in Shanghai and Jiaxing, should focus their attention on the pollution produced by livestock and poulrry. Controlling pollution from pigs and poultry will have the greatest impact in this region. Control of pollution will be facilitated by the development of large-scale livestock and poultry farming units and a shift away from small scale husbandry.     

The contribution of ship emissions to air pollution in the North Sea regions

As a consequence of the global distribution of manufacturing sites and the increasing international division of labour, ship traffic is steadily increasing and is becoming more and more important as an origin of air pollution.This study investigates the impact of ship emissions in coastal areas of the North Sea under conditions of the year 2000 by means of a regional chemistry transport model which runs on a sufficiently high resolution to study air pollution in coastal regions. It was found that northern Germany and Denmark in summer suffer from more than 50% higher sulphate, nitrate and ammonium aerosol concentrations due to contributions from ships. The implementation of a sulphur emission control area (SECA) in the North Sea, as it was implemented at the end of 2007, directly results in reduced sulphur dioxide and sulphate aerosol concentrations while nitrate aerosol concentrations are slightly increased.     

丹江口水库水质空间异质性多指标监测综合分析技术及效果

为深入分析丹江口水库水质时空差异性,探索影响水质的重要因子,提供更具综合性的水质分析方法,基于5个不同观察点,监测水质理化指标和浮游细菌(真菌)群落多样性指标,并采用判别分析法、配对T检验法、直接相关和典型相关分析法进行分析。结果表明：丹江口库区5个观察点的水质在2016年和2017年分别属于良好状态和优秀或良好状态,但是判别分析法显示水质理化指标在5个观察点上整体存在显著差异;浮游细菌(真菌)群落多样性指标在5个观察点上整体存在显著差异; 5个观察点水质理化性质在2 a的2个时期上均无显著性差异,即水质营养状态无显著变化,但两者之间存在显著相关性;对丹江口库区的水质理化指标群与浮游细菌(或真菌)群落多样性指标群按照2个不同时期分别进行典型相关分析,发现水质理化指标的变化趋势与浮游细菌群落多样性指标变化趋势一致;依据所有水质理化指标和浮游真菌(或细菌)群落多样性指标进行综合判别分析,可对不同观察点进一步精细分类;通过典型相关分析发现浮游真菌(或细菌)群落多样性指标可以间接指示或反映水质变化的特点;环境因子（水质理化指标）中重要指标包括X₃(COD)、X₅(NH₃-N)、 X₇(Chl-a)和X₈(SD);浮游细菌群落多样性重要指标包括Y₁(序列条带)、Y₂(OTU数)、Y₃(Ace指数)和Y₄(Chao1指数);浮游真菌群落多样性重要指标包括Y₁(序列条带)、Y₂(OTU数)和Y₃(Ace指数) 。本研究采用的多指标综合分析技术较单指标逐一分析更能全面客观地反映水质变化全貌,可为完善和丰富水质环境监测数据综合分析技术手段提供一定的参考。本研究结果可为相关管理部门监测和改善南水北调中线水源区水质并制定政策提供基础数据和参考依据。     

江苏海岸湿地水质污染特征与海陆一体化调控

2000年江苏海岸湿地人海河流河口淡水监测断面有30％的水质处于劣Ⅴ类,满足Ⅲ类水质的仅占10％;近岸海域海水监测断面有50％的水质处于Ⅳ标准。人类扰动的频率与强度的日益加大是水质污染的主要原因,而河流携带大量污染物是水质污染的主要途径。江苏海岸湿地水质污染防治的关键在于流域海陆水环境系统的一体化调控,侧重点是调控技术路线和水质污染控制层次的设计。环境管理控制区划的方案是：横向上由陆向海划分为上游流域、近岸陆域、海岸湿地和离岸海域4个环境控制带;纵向上自北向南以水系汇流特征、行政区划特征、海域特点划分为Ⅳ类环境功能区及若干亚区。     

Neural network forecasting of air pollutants hourly concentrations using optimised temporal averages of meteorological variables and pollutant concentrations

The new method for the forecasting hourly concentrations of air pollutants is presented in the paper. The method was developed for a site in urban residential area in city of Zagreb, Croatia, for four air pollutants (NO₂, O₃, CO and PM₁₀). Meteorological variables and concentrations of the respective pollutant were taken as predictors. A novel approach, based on families of univariate regression models, was employed in selecting the averaging intervals for input variables. For each variable and each averaging period between 1 and 97 h, a separate model was built. By inspecting values of the coefficient of correlation between measured and modelled concentrations, optimal averaging periods for each variable were selected. A new dataset for building the forecasting model was then calculated as temporal moving averages (running means) of former variables. A multi-layer perceptron type of neural networks is used as the forecasting model. Index of agreement, calculated for the entire dataset including the data for model building, ranged from 0.91 to 0.97 for the respective pollutants. As suggested by the analysis of the relative importance of the input variables, different agreements for different pollutants are likely due to different sources and production mechanisms of investigated pollutants. A comparison of the new method with more traditional method, which takes hourly averages of the forecast hour as input variables, showed similar or better performance. The model was developed for the purpose of public-health-oriented air quality forecasting, aiming to use a numerical weather forecast model for the prediction of the part of input data yet unknown at the forecasting time. It is to expect that longer term averages used as inputs in the proposed method will contribute to smaller input errors and the greater accuracy of the model.     

火电灰渣场自然恢复下灰渣养分及重金属含量研究

对自然恢复下4类不同年代样地的灰渣养分含量及重金属含量进行研究,通过对比分析发现,有机质、全氮、全钾、全磷含量随着自然恢复时间的增加呈现递增的趋势,全磷含量在各恢复阶段与对照样地之间并不存在显著差异(P0.05)。pH随着恢复时间的增加呈现递减的趋势。对灰渣综合质量指数进行研究发现,自然恢复长期、中期、短期与自然恢复初期对比均有显著提高(P0.05),且随着自然恢复时间的增加灰渣综合质量指数逐渐提高。对灰渣场锌、铅、铜3种重金属研究后发现,在自然恢复下随着时间的增加,灰渣中重金属含量均呈现递减的趋势。     

关于区域环境质量综合评价公式

本文对几种区域环境质量综合评价公式进行了比较,提出一个区域环境质量综合评价模型——标识法.在评价区域内筛选十个以内评价因子,每个因子划分为六个级别,用上下标识法进行评分,即可得知各个因素的污染情况,确定整治目标.     

Mercury levels and trends (1993-2009) in bream (Abramis brama L.) and zebra mussels (Dreissena polymorpha) from German surface waters

Mercury concentrations have been analysed in bream (Abramis brama L.) and zebra mussels (Dreissena polymorpha) collected at 17 freshwater sites in Germany from 1993-2009 and 1994-2009, respectively, within the German Environmental Specimen programme. Mercury concentrations in bream ranged from 21 to 881 ng g⁻¹ wet weight with lowest concentrations found at the reference site Lake Belau and highest in fish from the river Elbe and its tributaries. Statistical analysis revealed site-specific differences and significant decreasing temporal trends in mercury concentrations at most of the sampling sites. The decrease in mercury levels in bream was most pronounced in fish from the river Elbe and its tributary Mulde, while in fish from the river Saale mercury levels increased. Temporal trends seem to level off in recent years. Mercury concentrations in zebra mussels were much lower than those in bream according to their lower trophic position and varied by one order of magnitude from 4.1 to 42 ng g⁻¹ wet weight (33-336 ng g⁻¹ dry weight). For zebra mussels, trend analyses were performed for seven sampling sites at the rivers Saar and Elbe of which three showed significant downward trends. There was a significant correlation of the geometric mean concentrations in bream and zebra mussel over the entire study period at each sampling site (Pearson’s correlation coefficient = 0.892, p = 0.00002). A comparison of the concentrations in bream with the environmental quality standard (EQS) of 20 ng g⁻¹ wet weight set for mercury in biota by the EU showed that not a single result was in compliance with this limit value, not even those from the reference site. Current mercury levels in bream from German rivers exceed the EQS by a factor 4.5-20. Thus, piscivorous top predators are still at risk of secondary poisoning by mercury exposure via the food chain. It was suggested focusing monitoring of mercury in forage fish (trophic level 3 or 4) for compliance checking with the EQS for biota and considering the age dependency of mercury concentrations in fish in the monitoring strategy.     

长江三角洲地区耕地质量变化的初步研究——以锡山市为例

长江三角洲地区耕地质量变化的监测是区土地可持续利用研究的重点领域。锡山市位于太湖平原北部,其耕地质量变化过程反映了长江三角洲腹地经济发展水平较高地区的耕地现状和发展趋势。本研究以锡山市为典型区,依据第二次土壤普查资料,多年土壤监测数据和有关耕地系统状态的统计数据,结合研究区耕地状况的调查分析,提出了支持压力－状态－响应模型的耕地质量评价指标体系,并据此指标体系分析了该区耕地质量变化趋势。结果表明,该区耕地系统的发展总体上是可控的、有序的、但是耕地系统产出能力的稳定性呈下降趋势,系统高水平投入的维持面临较大的压力。鉴于人口增加和耕地持续减少的态势在很长一段时间内难以逆转,耕地占补的质量差异因素,是该区能否实现耕地总量动态平衡的关键所在。