A Question of Boundaries: The Importance of “Revenuesheds” for Watershed Protection1

Patterson, Lauren A., Jeffrey Hughes, Glenn Barnes, and Stacey I. Berahzer, 2012. A Question of Boundaries: The Importance of “Revenuesheds” for Watershed Protection. Journal of the American Water Resources Association (JAWRA) 48(4): 838‐848. DOI: 10.1111/j.1752‐1688.2012.00655.x Abstract: Watersheds transcend jurisdictional boundaries; raising important questions of who should pay for watershed protection, and how can watershed governance be funded? The responsibility and cost for watershed protection has progressively devolved to local governments, resulting in additional negative externalities and financing challenges. Watershed governance structures have formed at the scale of the watershed, but they often lack the financing mechanisms needed to achieve policy goals. Financing mechanisms via local governments provide a reliable source of revenue and the flexibility to address watershed specific issues. We develop a “revenueshed” approach to access the initial challenges local governments face when seeking to finance trans‐jurisdictional watershed governance. The revenueshed approach engages local governments into discussion and implementation of financial strategies for collaborative watershed governance. Legislation places water quality regulations primarily on local governments inside the watershed. The revenueshed approach extends the financial and stewardship discussion to include local governments outside the watershed that benefit from the watershed. We applied the revenueshed approach to the Mills River and Upper Neuse watersheds in North Carolina. Mills River had a partnership governance seeking revenue for specific projects, whereas the Upper Neuse sought long‐term financial stability to meet new water quality legislation.     

System Dynamics to Sustainable Water Resources Management in the Eastern Snake Plain Aquifer Under Water Supply Uncertainty1

Abstract: Water supply uncertainty continues to threaten the reliability of regional water resources in the western United States. Climate variability and water dispute potentials induce water managers to develop proactive adaptive management strategies to mitigate future hydroclimate impacts. The Eastern Snake Plain Aquifer in the state of Idaho is also facing these challenges in the sense that population growth and economic development strongly depend on reliable water resources from underground storage. Drought and subsequent water conflict often drive scientific research and political agendas because water resources availability and aquifer management for a sustainable rural economy are of great interest. In this study, a system dynamics approach is applied to address dynamically complex problems with management of the aquifer and associated surface‐water and groundwater interactions. Recharge and discharge dynamics within the aquifer system are coded in an environmental modeling framework to identify long‐term behavior of aquifer responses to uncertain future hydrological variability. The research shows that the system dynamics approach is a promising modeling tool to develop sustainable water resources planning and management in a collaborative decision‐making framework and also to provide useful insights and alternative opportunities for operational management, policy support, and participatory strategic planning to mitigate future hydroclimate impacts in human dimensions.     

Concentrations of organochlorine pesticides and 2,4,6-trichloroanisole in cork bark

Organochlorine pesticides are persistent lipophilic organic pollutants and tend to accumulate in growing plants. During growth, cork is in contact with the open air for long periods (9-12 years). Owing to the previous widespread use of organochlorine pesticides and their high persistence in the environment, there is a risk that residues of such pesticides may be present in cork.In this study, the concentrations of 14 organochlorine pesticides—all of which are indicators of environmental pollution—were analyzed in cork bark samples from three regions in Spain and one in Portugal. In addition, the concentrations of 2,4,6-trichlorophenol (TCP) and 2,4,6-trichloroanisole (TCA) were also analyzed.Our results show only very low concentrations of lindane, γ-HCH (<2.6 ng g⁻¹) and its byproducts α-HCH (<3.5 ng g⁻¹) and β-HCH (<0.6 ng g⁻¹).Among the DDT and its metabolites, only two were found: p,p′-DDT was found in a cork sample from Extremadura (0.1 ng g⁻¹) and p,p′-DDE was present at a maximum concentration of 2.9 ng g⁻¹ in a cork sample from Castile-La Mancha. However, all concentrations were well below the legal limit established by Regulation (EC) No. 396/2005 (10 ng g⁻¹ in foodstuffs). We can conclude, therefore, that the cork samples we studied complied with food safety standards.     

Lindane removal by pure and mixed cultures of immobilized actinobacteria

Stereoselective dissipation of epoxiconazole had been studied in grape and soil during plant growing under field conditions in this paper. A sensitive and rapid chiral method was developed and validated for the determination of epoxiconazole stereoisomers in grape and soil based on liquid chromatography coupled with triple quadrupole mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). Phenomenex Lux Cellulose-1 column was used for enantioseparation with a mixture of acetonitrile/water (90/10, v/v) as mobile phase at flow rate of 0.3 mL min⁻¹. Fortified recoveries in grape and soil samples ranged from 76.0% to 91.9% and relative standard deviations were less than 11.4% with fortified levels of 0.025-1.0 mg kg⁻¹. The limits of detection and quantification were 0.005 mg kg⁻¹ and 0.025 mg kg⁻¹, respectively, with linear calibration curves extending up to 5.0 mg kg⁻¹. The field experimental results showed that dissipations of epoxiconazole stereoisomers in grape followed first-order kinetics (R² > 0.92) and stereoselectivity occurred in 2 h after spraying. The (−)-stereoisomer with half-life of 9.3 d degraded faster than (+)-stereoisomer with that of 13.2 d, and resulted in relative enrichment of (+)-stereoisomer. However, the stereoisomeric dissipations in soil were triphasic (“increase-decrease-steady”) with lower dissipation rates, and also occurred with preferential degradation of (−)-stereoisomer under field condition. The results for stereoselective dissipations can be applied for food and environmental assessments of chiral pesticides.     

The structure of the fire fighting foam surfactant Forafac®1157 and its biological and photolytic transformation products

For several decades, perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) has widely been used as a fluorinated surfactant in aqueous film forming foams used as hydrocarbon fuel fire extinguishers. Due to concerns regarding its environmental persistence and toxicological effects, PFOS has recently been replaced by novel fluorinated surfactants such as Forafac®1157, developed by the DuPont company. The major component of Forafac®1157 is a 6:2 fluorotelomer sulfonamide alkylbetaine (6:2 FTAB), and a link between the trade name and the exact chemical structure is presented here to the scientific community for the first time. In the present work, the structure of the 6:2 FTAB was elucidated by ¹H, ¹³C and ¹⁹F nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy and high-resolution mass spectrometry. Moreover, its major metabolites from blue mussel (Mytilus edulis) and turbot (Scophthalmus maximus) and its photolytic transformation products were identified. Contrary to what has earlier been observed for PFOS, the 6:2 FTAB was extensively metabolized by blue mussel and turbot exposed to Forafac®1157. The major metabolite was a deacetylated betaine species, from which mono- and di-demethylated metabolites also were formed. Another abundant metabolite was the 6:2 fluorotelomer sulfonamide. In another experiment, Forafac®1157 was subjected to UV-light induced photolysis. The experimental conditions aimed to simulate Arctic conditions and the deacetylated species was again the primary transformation product of 6:2 FTAB. A 6:2 fluorotelomer sulfonamide was also formed along with a non-identified transformation product. The environmental presence of most of the metabolites and transformation products was qualitatively demonstrated by analysis of soil samples taken in close proximity to an airport fire training facility.     

QSPR prediction of chromatographic retention times of pesticides: Partition and fractal indices

The high‐performance liquid‐chromatographic retentions of red‐wine pesticide residues are modeled by structure–property relationships. The effect of different types of features is analyzed: geometric, lipophilic, etc. The properties are fractal dimensions, partition coefficient, etc., in linear and nonlinear correlation models. Biological plastic evolution is an evolutionary perspective conjugating the effect of acquired characters and relations that emerge among the principles of evolutionary indeterminacy, morphological determination and natural selection. It is applied to design the co‐ordination index that is used to characterize pesticide retentions. The parameters used to calculate the co‐ordination index are the molar formation enthalpy, molecular weight and surface area. The morphological and co‐ordination indices barely improve the correlations. The fractal dimension averaged for non?buried atoms, partition coefficient, etc. distinguishes the pesticide molecular structures. The structural and constituent classification is based on nonplanarity, and the number of cycles, and O, S, N and Cl atoms. Different behavior depends on the number of cycles.     

An improved method to study the impact of pesticide sprays on small song birds

Abstract

Four test groups of small songbirds (Zebra Finch, Poephila guttata) were sprayed in a chamber with varying concentrations of fenitrothion. Exposure levels were assessed by monitoring air concentrations, deposits of the active ingredient (AI) on glass plates and droplets/cm² on Kromekote® cards. All indices of exposure were linearly correlated and the mean AI deposit on glass plates for the four groups tested were equivalent to 38, 51, 139 and 255 g/ha or 14%, 18%, 50% and 91% of the highest permissible emitted rate for broadscale forest spraying in Canada. Significant depression in body weights and brain acetylcholinesterase levels were noted only for the highest exposure group. Fenitrothion residues in blood were detectable only at the highest exposure level, and in liver at the two higher levels. Carcass and feather residues were much higher than those in blood and liver, and were detectable at all exposure levels but the residues did not increase linearly with exposure. For one of the spray groups, we were able to compute an equivalent acute oral dose based on matching acetylcholinesterase inhibition.     

Persistence and biodegradation of carbaryl in soils

Abstract

The persistence of the methylcarbamate pesticide carbaryl was studied in four soils under flooded conditions. A substantial portion of the pesticide was recovered from all soils even after 15 days of its application, with the recovery ranging from 37% in an alluvial soil to 73% in an acid sulfate soil. The degradation of carbaryl was more rapid under flooded conditions than under nonflooded conditions. A bacterium, Pseudomonas cepacia, isolated from a flooded soil amended with a related methylcarbamate pesticide carbofuran, degraded carbaryl in a mineral medium supplemented with yeast extract.     

Field application of evaluated methodology for determining 1,2‐dibromoethane,EDB, in ambient air

Abstract

EDB (ethylene dibromide) is of regulatory interest because it has cancer inducing properties and is a causative agent of aspermia. Previously evaluated methodology was used to determine the extent of exposure of workers to EDB in citrus fumigation stations and a warehouse used as a holding site before shipment. The purpose of this effort was to carry out environmental sampling, and to determine the exposure level of workers and related administrative personnel at two citrus fumigation centers and at a warehouse     

Induction of hepatic drug metabolizing enzymes in mammals by pesticides: A review

Abstract

The induction of drug metabolizing enzymes in mammals is summarized including both enzymes of the cytochrome P‐450‐dependent microsomal mixed function oxidase system and glutathione S‐transferases. Particular emphasis is placed on the role of pesticides as inducers, the early work being summarized while investigations carried out at North Carolina State University are considered in greater detail. Finally, the possible significance of induction is considered.