Environmental damage: distinguishing human from geophysical causes

Abstract

During the past two decades it has become increasingly common to attribute “naturala” disasters and other damaging environmental events to proximate or underlying causes that are socially produced. Through an examination of three cases, two of them historical, this paper demonstrates that underlying causes within the geophysical domain are also important. Few types of environmental damage or disaster stem from unalloyed human causes or geophysical ones; complex intermixtures are the rule.     

Hydraulic management of a soil moisture controlled SDI wastewater dispersal system in an Alabama Black Belt soil

Rural areas represent approximately 95% of the 14000 km(2) Alabama Black Belt, an area of widespread Vertisols dominated by clayey, smectitic, shrink-swell soils. These soils are unsuitable for conventional onsite wastewater treatment systems (OWTS) which are nevertheless widely used in this region. In order to provide an alternative wastewater dosing system, an experimental field moisture controlled subsurface drip irrigation (SDI) system was designed and installed as a field trial. The experimental system that integrates a seasonal cropping system was evaluated for two years on a 500-m(2) Houston clay site in west central Alabama from August 2006 to June 2008. The SDI system was designed to start hydraulic dosing only when field moisture was below field capacity. Hydraulic dosing rates fluctuated as expected with higher dosing rates during warm seasons with near zero or zero dosing rates during cold seasons. Lower hydraulic dosing in winter creates the need for at least a two-month waste storage structure which is an insurmountable challenge for rural homeowners. An estimated 30% of dosed water percolated below 45-cm depth during the first summer which included a 30-year historic drought. This massive volume of percolation was presumably the result of preferential flow stimulated by dry weather clay soil cracking. Although water percolation is necessary for OWTS, this massive water percolation loss indicated that this experimental system is not able to effective control soil moisture within its monitoring zone as designed. Overall findings of this study indicated that soil moisture controlled SDI wastewater dosing is not suitable as a standalone system in these Vertisols. However, the experimental soil moisture control system functioned as designed, demonstrating that soil moisture controlled SDI wastewater dosing may find application as a supplement to other wastewater disposal methods that can function during cold seasons.     

Robustness and vulnerability of community irrigation systems: The case of the Taos valley acequias

Traditional economic and policy analysis theory has emphasized the implementation of private or public property rights regimes in order to sustainably manage natural resources. More recent work has challenged this approach by examining the strengths and weakness of common property governance of such resources. This paper contributes to this literature by analyzing the acequia irrigation communities in northern New Mexico. Through statistical analysis, we find that the acequias’ ability to maintain collective-action as estimated by a critical performance function, crop production, is aided by water sharing agreements and access to groundwater, and that it is hampered by property rights fragmentation and urbanization.     

我区城市污水处理程度探讨

建立城市污水处理厂处理污水,是城市发展的必然趋势,而处理级别及处理后水的去向及用途是关系到环境保护和资源得到充分利用的关键,针对我区干旱缺水,灌溉农业特征及天然水域的特点,就污水处理级别排水的用途提出一些看法。     

The effects of sediment-laden waters on irrigated lands along the lower Yellow River in China

Expansion of irrigation in the Yellow River (Huang He in Chinese) Basin of China is a major accomplishment of the post-revolutionary period in China. Irrigation reliance on the Yellow River was anticipated to not only supply greater reliability of water for crops, but also to improve the productivity of aeolian, saline and alkali soils because of the high sediment loads in the river. Irrigation expansion also was a significant factor in affecting human modification of the landscape ecosystem in the lower reaches of the Yellow River. Based on field investigation and sampling of the amount and distribution of used suspended sediment load in irrigated areas, this paper analyzes the impact of the suspended sediment on soil texture, fertility and salinity and the consequences to the landscape ecosystem. Results indicate that soil quality has indeed been improved through irrigation and related deposition of sediment, but some local problems created by long periods of irrigation should not be ignored in the future.     

惠州农业土壤、灌溉水和农产品中有机氯农药的残留

用气相色谱法(GC-ECD)对惠州市51个农业土壤样品、12个灌溉水样品和21个农产品样品中的HCHs和DDTs残留量进行了测定.HCHs平均含量分别为土壤1.66μg/kg、灌溉水5.86ng/L、农产品24.74μg/kg;DDTs平均含量分别为土壤4.98μg/kg、灌溉水2.06ng/L、农产品41.72μg/kg,土壤中有机氯农药通过多种方式进入到水体及农产品中.从HCHs和DDTs异构体组成可以看出,环境中绝大多数农药残留是由于历史上使用造成的,个别地区可能还有新的污染输入.同其它地区相比,惠州农业土壤和灌溉水中的有机氯农药残留水平较低,但农产品尤其是蔬菜中DDTs富集程度较高.     

An evaluation of selenium concentrations in water, sediment, invertebrates, and fish from the Solomon River Basin

The Solomon River Basin is located in north-central Kansas in an area underlain by marine geologic shales. Selenium is an indigenous constituent of these shales and is readily leached into the surrounding groundwater. Portions of the Basin are irrigated primarily through the pumping of selenium-contaminated groundwater from wells onto fields in agricultural production. Water, sediment, macroinvertebrates, and fish were collected from various sites in the Basin in 1998 and analyzed for selenium. Selenium concentrations were analyzed spatially and temporally and compared to reported selenium toxic effect thresholds for specific ecosystem components: water, sediments, food-chain organisms, and wholebody fish. A selenium aquatic hazard assessment for the Basin was determined based on protocol established by Lemly. Throughout the Basin, water, macroinvertebrate, and whole fish samples exceeded levels suspected of causing reproductive impairment in fish. Population structures of several fish species implied that successful reproduction was occurring; however, the influence of immigration of fish from low-selenium habitats could not be discounted. Site-specific fish reproduction studies are needed to determine the true impact of selenium on fishery resources in the Basin. The U.S. Government’s right to retain a non-exclusive, royalty free license in and to any copyright is acknowledged.     

Olive oil mill wastewater for soil nitrogen and carbon conservation

In this work the application of two levels of N fertilizer (NH₄NO₃) dissolved in water or olive oil mill wastewater (OOMW) diluted 10 or 20 times in water, has been studied in relation to the properties of two soils (Loam and Silt-Clay-Loam). Also, the effect of irrigation water bubbled with CO₂ (Dissolved Inorganic Carbon, DIC) was studied. Nitrate N, ammonium N, total N, organic C (OC), and CaCO₃ contents were determined in the soil as well as pH, electrical conductivity (EC), oxidation–reduction potential (ORP), and absorbance at 250 and 360 nm.     

钼矿区污灌菜地土壤重金属污染的生态风险预警评价

通过对钼矿区地下水进行重金属含量分析,发现地下水已受重金属污染。该受污染地下水为矿区菜地唯一灌溉用水。本文研究钼矿区污灌菜地土壤的重金属污染现状及生态风险。选取矿区、尾矿区、选矿区周边菜地的土壤样本60个,用HNO3-HF-HClO4处理后,采用等离子体发射光谱仪（ICP-AKS）测定土壤样品中Pb、As、Hg、Cr、Cd、Zn、Cu、Ni的全量,采用生态风险指数进行生态风险预警评价。结果表明：矿区、尾矿区、选矿区周边受污染菜地尾矿区农田土壤的生态风险指数（IER）分别为59．42、80．60、154．83,其预警类型均为重警;污染程度为矿区菜地〈尾矿区菜地〈选矿区菜地。     

Is small hydropower beautiful? Social impacts of river fragmentation in China’s Red River Basin

Small hydropower (SHP) is promoted as a pro-poor renewable energy source that does not have the negative social impacts of large dams. This article challenges these claims, using data from a household survey in China’s upper Red River Basin. We find that SHP can fragment river systems in ways that reduce irrigation water availability, provoke changes to agricultural practices, and negatively impact river health. These social impacts of river fragmentation mainly occur in villages situated between a plant’s intake and outflow. The frequency of plant water diversions due to continued generation in the dry season significantly predicts all social impacts; installed capacity of the plant and the quality of the village’s irrigation infrastructure predict some impacts. Villages with strong local governance can negotiate with the plant to temporarily halt generation when irrigation water is needed, lessening social impacts. Our findings reveal that SHP plants are not as benign as they are made out to be; they must be built and managed according to community needs.