Managing agricultural phosphorus for water quality: Lessons from the USA and China

The accelerated eutrophication of freshwaters and to a lesser extent some coastal waters is primarily driven by phosphorus （P） inputs. While efforts to identify and limit point source inputs of P to surface waters have seen some success, nonpoint sources remain difficult to identify, target, and remediate. As further improvements in wastewater treatment technologies becomes increasingly costly, attention has focused more on nonpoint source reduction, particularly the role of agriculture. This attention was heightened over the last 10 to 20 years by a number of highly visible cases of nutrient-related water quality degradation; including the Lake Taihu, Baltic Sea, Chesapeake Bay, and Gulf of Mexico. Thus, there has been a shift to targeted management of critical sources of P loss. In both the U.S. and China, there has been an intensification of agricultural production systems in certain areas concentrate large amounts of nutrients in excess of local crop and forage needs, which has increased the potential for P loss from these areas. To address this, innovative technologies are emerging that recycle water P back to land as fertilizer. For example, in the watershed of Lake Taihu, China one of the largest surface fresh waters for drinking water supply in China, local governments have encouraged innovation and various technical trials to harvest harmful algal blooms and use them for bio-gas, agricultural fertilizers, and biofuel production. In any country, however, the economics of remediation will remain a key limitation to substantial changes in agricultural production.     

沈阳辉山水库水质污染现状分析及评价

根据《地表水环境质量评价办法》中规定的方法,对沈阳辉山水库进行了水质和富营养化状态评价,并对污染源和水质污染特性进行了分析。结果显示:水库水质类别为劣Ⅴ类,水质状况为重度污染。富营养化综合营养状态指数为34.44,辉山水库水质为中营养化水平,水库没有藻类水华的产生。水库主要污染指标为总磷、总氮和悬浮物,分别超出国家地表水Ⅲ类标准的14.2倍、5.85倍和2.72倍。整个库区水质变化不均匀,水质变化受库区沿岸污染物排放影响较大,辉山明渠上游和某工厂暗渠排污口输入是水库主要污染源,库区周围动迁后的荒地和蚯蚓养殖,是辉山水库地面径流和农业污染污染源。     

固城湖水环境污染状况与来源分析

对2001~2011年固城湖水环境污染状况评价与时空变化特征分析的基础上,探讨了固城湖的特征污染物及污染来源。结果表明,固城湖水质污染的主要超标因子为TN和TP;总体水质呈现先恶化再改善的趋势,污染由拦河网水域向小湖区水域扩散;固城湖湖体水质基本上劣于水环境功能区划要求;固城湖特征污染物为COD+M n、NH4-N、TN、TP、BOD 5;富营养化程度不断加重,之后又有所改善;氮磷污染的主要来源是水产养殖污染。     

三峡水库蓄水前后长江干流主要污染物浓度变化趋势分析研究

利用三峡库区长江干流1998年-2010年水质监测数据,以1998年-2003年代表蓄水前,2004年-2010年代表蓄水后,对比分析蓄水前后主要污染物浓度变化情况,用Spearman秩相关系数法判断其变化趋势的显著性。分析可知,蓄水后氨氮、化学需氧量、总磷指标的平均浓度要低于蓄水前,氨氮、化学需氧量浓度变化幅度大于蓄水前,总磷浓度变化幅度小于蓄水前;Spearman秩相关系数计算结果表明,三峡水库常年回水区内的断面,污染物浓度多数呈下降趋势,但只有晒网坝和培石断面的氨氮指标浓度下降趋势具有显著意义。     

挥发性有机污染物(VOCs)治理进展及发展前沿思考

本文介绍了近年国内外在治理可挥发性有机化合物的研究进展,并对吸附与催化技术,低温等离子体-光催化技术等几种先进的处理技术最新发展作了较全面的综述,并对发展前景进行展望。     

甘南县空气变化趋势分析

运用近五年的大气监测数据分析了甘南县大气污染特征,指出了影响甘南县空气质量的主要污染物及变化趋势。     

Confronting limitations: new solutions required for urban water management in Kunming City

Despite continuous investment and various efforts to control pollution, urban water environments are worsening in large parts of the developing world. In order to reveal potential constraints and limitations of current practices of urban water management and to stimulate proactive intervention, we conducted a material flow analysis of the urban water system in Kunming City. The results demonstrate that the current efficiency of wastewater treatment is only around 25% and the emission of total phosphorous from the city into its receiving water, Dianchi Lake, is more than 25 times higher than its estimated tolerance. With regard to the crisis of water quantity and quality, the goal of a sustainable urban water environment cannot be attained with the current problem-solving approach in the region due to the technical limitations of the conventional urban drainage and treatment systems. A set of strategies is therefore proposed. The urban drainage system in Zurich is used as a reference for a potential best-available technology for conventional urban water management (BAT) scenario in terms of its low combined frequency of sewer overflow.     

MEAD: an interdisciplinary study of the marine effects of atmospheric deposition in the Kattegat

This paper summarises the results of the EU funded MEAD project, an interdisciplinary study of the effects of atmospheric nitrogen deposition on the Kattegat Sea between Denmark and Sweden. The study considers emissions of reactive nitrogen gases, their transport, transformations, deposition and effects on algal growth together with management options to reduce these effects. We conclude that atmospheric deposition is an important source of fixed nitrogen to the region particularly in summer, when nitrogen is the limiting nutrient for phytoplankton growth, and contributes to the overall eutrophication pressures in this region. However, we also conclude that it is unlikely that atmospheric deposition can, on its own, induce algal blooms in this region. A reduction of atmospheric nitrogen loads to this region will require strategies to reduce emissions of ammonia from local agriculture and Europe wide reductions in nitrous oxide emissions.     

ESTIMATION OF COASTAL WATER CONTAMINATION LONG-TERM TREND USING SEASONAL LINEAR MODELS1

ABSTRACT: Bivalves are used as bioindicators to assess trends of the chemical quality of coastal and marine environments due to their ability to concentrate chemicals. These shellfish are subject to seasonal physiological changes influencing the chemical concentration. Using quarterly data, we model concentration via linear regression with a biologically based seasonal component. This was applied to cadmium concentration measured in the blue mussel (Mytilus edulis) at three sites in the Seine estuary (Normandy, France). In this case we have a high concentration season from January to June and a “low concentration” season from July to December. This season definition was checked a posteriori, using box-and-whisker plots and a statistical test of comparison of pair-wise adjusted least-squares mean differences, and it appears to be very reasonable. We averaged data by season and across sites. Our final model (R²= 0.846 with N= 27 observations) includes highly significant terms: a season effect, which accounts for 45% of the total variability, a linear and a quadratic time term. Outliers were identified by high Studentized residual values and attributed to bias in the temporal sampling schemes. The methodology developed will further be used with other shellfish and/or other trace elements and organic chemicals.     

NORMALIZED AGRICULTURAL PRICES AND WATER RESOURCES PLANNING1

ABSTRACT: Short-term fluctuations in agricultural markets necesitate adjustments in market prices for use in water resources planning. Two procudures for this price normalizing are described and evaluated. The linear treand and weighted average normalizing procedures perform reasonably well, except in cases of dramatic price oscillations.