The use of best management practices to respond to externalities from developing shale gas resources

The public is concerned that activities accompanying hydraulic fracturing in the development of shale gas resources are unnecessarily adversely affecting them and the environment and is petitioning elected representatives to take actions to reduce risks. The health risks associated with fracturing chemicals and air pollutants are relatively unknown and constitute the impetus for public concern. An evaluation of state legal and regulatory provisions regarding best management practices discloses that states are not adopting timely regulations to protect people and the environment from activities accompanying hydraulic fracturing. Simultaneously, regulatory policy concerning negative externalities suggests that governments underinvest in the protection of human health and environmental quality. Governments have choices in protecting people from dangers that accompany shale gas development. Due to the risks of injuries and unpaid damages from shale gas development, governmental policies need to evolve to accord people greater health protection.     

Improvements in Fluvial Stability Associated with Two‐Stage Ditch Construction in Mower County,Minnesota

Water quality and stream habitat in agricultural watersheds are under greater scrutiny as hydrologic pathways are altered to increase crop production. Agricultural drainage ditches function to remove water quickly from farmed landscapes. Conventional ditch designs lack the form and function of natural stream systems and tend to be unstable and provide inadequate habitat. In October of 2009, 1.89 km of a conventional drainage ditch in Mower County, Minnesota, was converted to an alternative system with a two‐stage channel to investigate the improvements in water quality, stability, and habitat. Longitudinal surveys show a 12‐fold increase in the pool‐riffle formation. Cross‐sectional surveys show an average increase in bankfull width of approximately 10% and may be associated to an increased frequency in large storm events. The average increase in bankfull depth was estimated as 18% but is largely influenced by pool formation. Rosgen Stability Analyses show the channel to be highly stable and the banks at a low risk of erosion. The average bankfull recurrence interval was estimated to be approximately 0.30 years. Overall, the two‐stage ditch design demonstrates an increase in fluvial stability, creating a more consistent sediment budget, and increasing the frequency of important instream habitat features, making this best management practice a viable option for addressing issues of erosion, sediment imbalance, and poor habitat in agricultural drainage systems.     

Modeling Watershed‐Scale Impacts of Stormwater Management with Traditional versus Low Impact Development Design

Stormwater runoff and associated pollutants from urban areas in the greater Chesapeake Bay Watershed (CBW) impair local streams and downstream ecosystems, despite urbanized land comprising only 7% of the CBW area. More recently, stormwater best management practices (BMPs) have been implemented in a low impact development (LID) manner to treat stormwater runoff closer to its source. This approach included the development of a novel BMP model to compare traditional and LID design, pioneering the use of comprehensively digitized storm sewer infrastructure and BMP design connectivity with spatial patterns in a geographic information system at the watershed scale. The goal was to compare total watershed pollutant removal efficiency in two study watersheds with differing spatial patterns of BMP design (traditional and LID), by quantifying the improved water quality benefit of LID BMP design. An estimate of uncertainty was included in the modeling framework by using ranges for BMP pollutant removal efficiencies that were based on the literature. Our model, using Monte Carlo analysis, predicted that the LID watershed removed approximately 78 kg more nitrogen, 3 kg more phosphorus, and 1,592 kg more sediment per square kilometer as compared with the traditional watershed on an annual basis. Our research provides planners a valuable model to prioritize watersheds for BMP design based on model results or in optimizing BMP selection.     

An Open Source GIS‐Based Decision Support System for Watershed Evaluation of Best Management Practices

Economic costs, water quantity/quality benefits, and cost effectiveness of agricultural best management practices (BMPs) at a watershed scale are increasingly examined using integrated economic‐hydrologic models. However, these models are typically complex and not user‐friendly for examining the effects of various BMP scenarios. In this study, an open source geographic information system (GIS)‐based decision support system (DSS), named the watershed evaluation of BMPs (WEBs), was developed for creating BMP scenarios and simulating economic costs and water quantity/quality benefits at farm field, subbasin, and watershed scales. This DSS or WEBs interface integrated a farm economic model, the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT), and an optimization model within Whitebox Geospatial Analysis Tools (GAT), an open source GIS software. The DSS was applied to the 14.3‐km² Gully Creek watershed, a coastal watershed in southern Ontario, Canada that drains directly into Lake Huron. BMPs that were evaluated included conservation tillage, nutrient management, cover crop, and water and sediment control basins. In addition to assessing economic costs, water quantity/quality benefits, and cost effectiveness of BMPs, the DSS can be also used to examine prioritized BMP types/locations and corresponding economic and water quantity/quality tradeoffs in the study watershed based on environmental targets or budget constraints. Further developments of the DSS including interface transfer to other watersheds are also discussed. Editor's note : This paper is part of the featured series on SWAT Applications for Emerging Hydrologic and Water Quality Challenges. See the February 2017 issue for the introduction and background to the series.     

基于数据库的农业非点源污染最佳管理措施效率评估工具构建

针对流域非点源污染的关键源区,配置最佳管理措施（BMPs,Best Management Practices）是非点源污染控制的有效途径.然而,受限于研究成本和不同地区自然地理条件的差异性,通过实地监测对BMPs削减效率进行评估的研究案例还不多见.多数相关研究仅关注单一类型BMPs的效率评估,使得研究成果仅仅适用于某些特定区域.对BMPs的潜在效益进行评估,可通过收集不同区域内BMPs的削减效率信息来实现.本文采用基于文献的BMPs效率评估方法,通过整理国内154篇关于BMPs研究的文献信息,建立适用于农业流域非点源污染控制的BMPs数据库.在此基础上,采用VBA（Visual Basic for Applications）和SQL（Structured Query Language）程序语言构建BMPs削减效率评估工具箱.该工具箱适用于非点源污染控制措施削减效率的评估,能够根据不同研究区特征,给出目标BMPs的污染负荷削减量,从而为BMPs的优选提供定量依据.以密云水库上游蛇鱼川小流域为案例研究区,根据该流域的非点源污染特征,对拟采用的BMPs进行评估,结果表明：草型植物篱、25 m河岸缓冲带、河岸带畜禽活动护栏以及集中放牧等措施控制效率最高.     

常规矿井水混凝最优GT值研究

以聚合氯化铝(PAC)为混凝剂,通过静水沉淀实验,以澄清水层的残余浊度为指标,对原水浊度小于等于400度的常规矿井水的混凝最优GT值进行了研究。认为原水浊度400度,水温17～19℃PAC投加量20mg/L时最优GT值为4.2×10~4,原水浊度100时最优GT值为2.3×10~4,可供生产设计参考。     

微生物絮凝剂净化废水实验研究

文章主要研究从实验室得到的三种微生物絮凝剂A91、A92、A2净化各种废水的效果及净化条件.在实验过程中应用单因素测定与正交实验方法相结合,确定了微生物絮凝剂的最佳投加量、最佳絮凝pH值、最佳助凝剂及助凝剂的最佳量.净化的废水有高岭土悬浊液,土壤悬浊液,涂料废水碳素墨水地表废水及生活污水(主要研究了前三种废水).从实验结果来看,实验研究证实了所研制出的微生物絮凝剂主要是对高岭土悬浊液、土壤悬浊液和涂料废水有很好的净化效果,最高絮凝率达98.0%.且絮凝的pH值一般都在7.0～8.0 范围,絮凝剂的投加量为1.0 ml～2.0 ml(水样为100 ml),在絮凝剂作用上,Ca2 比Fe2 、Mg2 、Al3 等其他离子效果好,而且CaO的效果明显优于CaCl2.微生物絮凝剂应用于废水处理有很好的前景.     

国家重点环保实用技术地区差异分析

本研究通过统计分析 1992— 1999年国家重点环保实用技术数据 ,得到了重点环保实用技术、大气污染防治及水污染防治重点环保实用技术分布的地区差异规律 ,探讨了其分布不均衡性问题 ,并给出了相应的对策建议     

A comparison of process performance during the anaerobic mono- and co-digestion of slaughterhouse waste through different operational modes

The use of consecutive feeding was applied to investigate the response of the microbial biomass to a second addition of substrates in terms of biodegradation using batch tests as a promising alternative to predict the behavior of the process. Anaerobic digestion (AD) of the slaughterhouse waste (SB) and its co-digestion with manure (M), various crops (VC), and municipal solid waste were evaluated. The results were then correlated to previous findings obtained by the authors for similar mixtures in batch and semi-continuous operation modes. AD of the SB failed showing total inhibition after a second feeding. Co-digestion of the SB + M showed a significant improvement for all of the response variables investigated after the second feeding, while co-digestion of the SB + VC resulted in a decline in all of these response variables. Similar patterns were previously detected, during both the batch and the semi-continuous modes.     

Using Insurance to Enhance Nitrogen Fertilizer Application to Reduce Nitrogen Losses to the Environment

The advantage of using insurance to help a farmer adopt a best nitrogen management plan (BNMP) that reduces the impact of agricultural production on the environment is analytically and empirically demonstrated. Using an expected value analysis, it is shown that an insurance program can be structured soas to reduce a farmer's cost of bearing the adoption risk associated with changing production practices and, thus, to improve the farmer's certainty equivalent net return thereby promoting the adoption of a BNMP. Using the adoption of growing-season only N fertilizer application in Iowa as a case study, it is illustrated how insurance may be used to promote the adoption of this practice to reduce N fertilizeruse. It is shown that it is possible for a farmer and an insurance company both to have an incentive to develop an insurance adoption program that will benefit both the farmer and the insurance company, increasing net social welfare and improving environmental quality in Iowa.