生命周期评价在过程工业用水网络设计中的应用

介绍了考虑环境因素的过程工业用水网络设计研究进展,分析了典型的过程工业水系统的特点,肯定了在整个水系统生命周期内考察用水网络设计方案环境效益的重要性,给出了生命周期评价方法在用水网络设计中应用的技术框架。     

二氧化锰对As(Ⅲ)的氧化及其对针铁矿去除水体中As(Ⅲ)的影响

研究了合成钠水锰矿(δ-MnO2)对As(Ⅲ)的氧化作用并与商品MnO2的结果进行了比较,结果表明,δ-MnO2不仅对As(Ⅲ)有很强的氧化能力,而且对溶液中的砷也具有一定的吸附能力,而商品MnO2对As(Ⅲ)的氧化能力很弱.当有δ-MnO2存在时,针铁矿对As(Ⅲ)的去除效率提高,δ-MnO2的促进作用随体系pH的增加而增加,约在pH为6.0达最大,随后又逐渐减小,说明近中性条件下,δ-MnO2的促进作用最强.     

流动注射氯化亚锡还原光度法测定水中总磷

建立了流动注射氯化亚锡还原光度法测定水中总磷的方法.改进了氯化亚锡的配制方法,优化了试验条件,方法检出限为0.02 mg/L,精密度与准确度均符合要求.应用该方法测定天然水样,分析速度加快,结果令人满意.     

双层管用于发光细菌检测水样毒性时的色度修正

阐述了应用发光细菌检测有色水样毒性时,水样色度会引起附加发光抑制的原因,提出应用同心双层检测玻管,可以对有色水样色度引起的附加发光抑制加以修正.通过比较单层管和双层管测定标准曲线间的差异、设置阴性对照和阳性对照评价该方法的可靠性,以及用该方法检测有色水样活性黑KN-B溶液的急性毒性实验,结果表明,用同心双层检测玻管可以有效修正由水样色度引起的附加发光抑制.     

Troubles on the way: An analysis of the challenges faced by multi-stakeholder platforms

Multi‐stakeholder platforms (MSPs) have been widely promoted as a promising means of resolving conflicts over natural resources, first in developed countries and, more recently, as a global good practice. However, many MSPs have been implemented in an unfavourable context — primarily of social inequities — and have not met initial high expectations. The article analyzes the challenges MSPs face in an unfavourable context, and identifies five main issues:

• ? Power relationships;
• ? Platform composition;
• ? Stakeholder representation and capacity to participate meaningfully in the debates;
• ? Decision‐making power and mechanisms; and finally
• ? Cost of setting up an MSP.

The analysis is mainly based on two case studies of MSPs set up under inauspicious conditions. The first focuses on water user associations in South Africa, the second on a negotiation platform set up to resolve conflicts over a water and sanitation project in Bolivia. It is argued that MSPs should be seen less as an ideal communication process, and more as a negotiation process — always imperfect — but where positive outcomes may nevertheless outweigh negative ones, if and when the above‐mentioned issues are adequately taken into account.     

Identifying hydrologically sensitive areas: bridging the gap between science and application

Researchers have noted that current water quality protection strategies, like nutrient management plans, lack a sound hydrological underpinning for pollutant transport processes. This is especially true for areas like the northeastern U.S. where copious research has shown that variable source area hydrology largely governs runoff generation. The goal of this study was to develop a scientifically justified method to identify the locations that generate overland flow. Furthermore, this methodology must be computationally simple enough that it can be utilized or incorporated into nutrient management plans and other established water quality tools. We specifically tested the reliability of the 'distance from a stream,'D(s), and the 'topographic index,'lambda, to predict areas with a high propensity for generating overland flow, i.e. hydrologically sensitive areas (HSA). HSAs were defined by their probability of generating runoff, P(sat), based on 30 year simulations using a physically based hydrological model. Using GIS, each location's P(sat) was correlated with D(s) and lambda. We used three Delaware Co., NY watersheds in the New York City watershed system with areas varying in size from 1.6 to 37 km2 and with forested and agricultural land uses. The topographic index gave stronger, more regionally consistent correlations with P(sat) than did D(s). Equations correlating lambda and P(sat) for each month are presented and can be used to estimate hydrological sensitivity in the region surrounding our study watersheds, i.e. in Delaware Co. This work is currently being incorporated into an Internet Mapping System to facilitate user-friendly, on-line identification of HSAs.     

A numerical study of soil cover performance

In the investigation of soil cover design options for final decommissioning of reactive mine waste, it is often necessary to analyze or predict the anticipated cover performance as a function of the cost of implementation, which is governed by the type, number and thickness of the layers in the cover system. An example of such investigation is presented in this study where one-dimensional evaporation from hypothetical moisture-retaining cover systems is simulated to assess the influence of several cover properties and hydrogeologic parameters on performance. The commercially available transient flow model, SoilCover, was used to compute suction and water content profiles for different cover design scenarios. The predicted water content profile and porosity of layers were then used to estimate the oxygen diffusion coefficients of the various layers. The oxygen diffusion coefficients were used to estimate oxygen flux through the cover systems. The oxygen flux was, in turn, related to the maximum acid flux. The studied cover and hydrogeologic parameters included soil type, thickness of barriers, and water table elevation. Two types of infiltration and oxygen barrier and two types of capillary layer with different thicknesses were studied. The water table was either kept constant at the base of the waste (tailings) or dropped by 0.5, 1, 2, and 3m over 120 days. The results showed that the relationship between water table depression and the thickness of capillary layers, on one hand, and desaturation of the infiltration and oxygen barrier, on the other, is not linear. Relationships between oxygen flux and barrier thickness and between cost increase and performance improvement of the studied cover systems are presented. Finally, a method that outlines steps for site-specific and economically feasible design of multi-layer cover systems is introduced.     

Toward Integrated Environmental Management for Challenges in Water Environmental Protection of Lake Taihu Basin in China

Lake Taihu is the third largest freshwater lake in China. It serves many social, economic, and ecological purposes in the drainage basin. Unfortunately, the water has been heavily polluted due to rapid industrialization and urbanization during the last two decades. Notwithstanding great efforts made so far to improve the water quality, the environmental situation is still far from being optimistic. The basin and the lake are facing a range of severe environmental challenges: rapid socio-economic development continues to place great pressures on the environment, current pollution control projects have many problems from the viewpoint of effectiveness and efficiency of their implementations, and the non-point sources of pollution such as agricultural fields, for which control is more difficult than for industrial point sources, have become the main contributors to serious eutrophication of the lake. Considering the characteristics of the environmental challenges and problems confronting the basin and the lake, we focus on integrated environmental management (IEM) as a promising and effective approach to overcome these predicaments. Current practices and problems of environmental management in the basin are examined, and potential future developments are discussed. Three aspects of the IEM are emphasized: institutional cooperation, public participation, and internalization of environmental externalities. We think these are the most critical for not only the basin but also for the whole of China to achieve a sustainable society.     

Fish Assemblage Responses to Water Withdrawals and Water Supply Reservoirs in Piedmont Streams

Understanding effects of flow alteration on stream biota is essential to developing ecologically sustainable water supply strategies. We evaluated effects of altering flows via surface water withdrawals and instream reservoirs on stream fish assemblages, and compared effects with other hypothesized drivers of species richness and assemblage composition. We sampled fishes during three years in 28 streams used for municipal water supply in the Piedmont region of Georgia, U.S.A. Study sites had permitted average withdrawal rates that ranged from < 0.05 to > 13 times the stream’s seven-day, ten-year recurrence low flow (7Q10), and were located directly downstream either from a water supply reservoir or from a withdrawal taken from an unimpounded stream. Ordination analysis of catch data showed a shift in assemblage composition at reservoir sites corresponding to dominance by habitat generalist species. Richness of fluvial specialists averaged about 3 fewer species downstream from reservoirs, and also declined as permitted withdrawal rate increased above about 0.5 to one 7Q10-equivalent of water. Reservoir presence and withdrawal rate, along with drainage area, accounted for 70% of the among-site variance in fluvial specialist richness and were better predictor variables than percent of the catchment in urban land use or average streambed sediment size. Increasing withdrawal rate also increased the odds that a site’s Index of Biotic Integrity score fell below a regulatory threshold indicating biological impairment. Estimates of reservoir and withdrawal effects on stream biota could be used in predictive landscape models to support adaptive water supply planning intended to meet societal needs while conserving biological resources.     

秦岭生态补偿理论研究与实践进展

生态补偿是通过经济手段促进生态保护与受益地区利益共享的制度设计,是促进我国生态文明建设的重要举措。秦岭是我国重点生态功能区,国家重要的生态安全屏障。生态补偿作为协调秦岭地区生态环境保护和社会经济发展的制度安排,有助于推动该区生态环境的保护与可持续利用,对实现秦岭地区社会经济可持续发展、促进人与自然和谐共生具有重要意义。本文系统梳理了秦岭生态补偿相关理论研究与实践,主要包括秦岭在区域调水、森林生态效益、生物多样性保护、矿产资源开发等方面的生态补偿研究,以及秦岭生态补偿相关政策法规制定、南水北调、退耕还林（草）以及生态移民搬迁等具体生态保护工程补偿实践,并从补偿对象、补偿标准、公众参与、补偿方式几个角度探讨了秦岭生态补偿存在的问题,提出了秦岭生态补偿研究的建议与对策。