MANAGING TAIWAN'S RESERVOIR WATERSHEDS BY THE ZONING APPROACH1

ABSTRACT: For many years, a commonly used strategy for source water protection in Taiwan has been setting up arbitrary, fixed‐width buffer zones near sensitive waters, such as water‐supply reservoirs, and prohibiting any development in their watersheds. However, such regulations are now often viewed as infringing by the government on landowners' property rights, a situation that has led to citizen protests. This paper describes a proposed strategy that is water‐quality based and uses a quantitative zoning approach. A reservoir's watershed is divided into several zones beginning from the normal water line to the divide. Different levels of best management practices (BMPs) are required for controlling runoff pollution in different zones. The layout of the management zones is based on a number of factors such as reservoir classification, water quality conditions, and physical characteristics of the watershed. The goal of promoting such an approach is to try to balance the needs of watershed development and water quality protection. A case study using the Tapu Reservoir Watershed in Northern Taiwan as an example for illustrating the proposed zoning approach is presented.     

Developing sustainable practices to adapt to the impacts of climate change: a case study of agricultural systems in eastern England (UK)

The weight of scientific evidence suggests that human activities are noticeably influencing the world's climate. However, the effects of global climate change will be unevenly spread, due to local variations in vulnerability and adaptive capacity. Using downscaled projections of future UK climates over the next 50 years, this paper investigates the impacts of, and possible responses to, climate change in one small area in eastern England, selected as a test-bed for sustainable agriculture. It shows that local agricultural systems are vulnerable to changes in the climate. At present, however, these considerations have a limited effect on agricultural operations, which are mainly driven by short-term events and 'non-climate' policies, such as agricultural price support. The capacity of agricultural systems to adapt successfully to climate change will be determined by the ability of producers to integrate climate change into their planning strategies with a view to ultimately ensuring sustainable agricultural practices in the long term. Electronic Publication     

Process Safety Management (PSM) for managing contractors in process plant

Accidents involving contractors continue to occur with regular frequency. By using the standard set within the PSM 29 CFR 1910.119(h) regulations, it has been identified that certain aspects of the way contractors do work are not up to the stipulated regulatory requirements especially regarding matters like not providing mandatory personal protective equipment (PPE) to the workers, not discussing hazards related to handling procedures with the workforce and improper control of non-routine activities during changes in shifts. The PSM 29 CFR 1910.119(h) regulations promulgated in 1992 provides standards that covered processes to obtain and evaluate data regarding contractors' health and safety programs as well as the contractors' performance evaluation. Many of the accidents involving contractors are direct result of poor training of contractors and/or poor control of the contracted work. Even though most organizations have their own contractor management systems, there are issues in meeting the requirements of PSM. The PSM standard only state “what to do” not “how to do it”. This is known as self-regulatory policy which depends on the industries understanding to interpret the standard that also contribute to this problem. This paper presents a structured and easy technique to plan and implement a practical and comprehensive contractors' management system in process industries that will comply with OSHA CFR 1910.119. A model has been developed based on this technique and its application has been tested in a pilot plant for compliance to PSM regulation. The model is beneficial to the process industries as any deficiencies in the PSM contractors' management program will be highlighted by the model which will then easily correct the identified deficiency so as to minimize and prevent catastrophic accidents.     

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.     

不同耕作方式下土壤水分状况对土壤呼吸的初期影响

以2001年在东北典型黑土上进行的保护性耕作长期定位试验下免耕、垄作及常规耕作土壤进行了室内培养实验,按照田间持水量(water-holding capacity,WHC)的30%、60%、90%、120%、150%、180%、210%、240%、270%设定了9个水分梯度,并分别对其二氧化碳(CO_2)排放量进行了22 d的短期观测,以研究不同耕作方式下土壤水分状况对土壤呼吸的初期影响.结果表明:1干土条件下在加水培养初期,3种耕作方式均产生了明显的激发效应,并且土壤呼吸速率与土壤含水量间存在正相关关系.2除干旱(30%WHC)及淹水(240%WHC、270%WHC)条件下,3种耕作方式CO_2排放通量分别为免耕垄作常规耕作.3对不同耕作方式下土壤水分状况及CO_2排放通量进行了方程拟合,在30%~270%WHC条件下,免耕的CO_2排放通量与水分状况拟合为二次回归方程,而垄作与常规耕作则是线性回归方程.在30%~210%WHC条件下,免耕与垄作下土壤CO_2排放通量与水分状况均可拟合为较好的对数方程,可决系数R~2分别为0.966、0.956.     

基于产品水足迹核算的印染企业生产节水潜力分析:案例研究

针对目前我国工业企业节水潜力分析准确程度不足的现状,以纺织印染企业为对象,根据水足迹评价方法建立了印染企业产品水足迹精确测算方法,从产品层面说明回用水和雨水收集对于水足迹的削减作用.结果表明,应用水回用及雨水收集利用后,单位产品新鲜水用量降低了11.3%,单位产品总工业用水量降低了10.4%.本研究将水平衡分析、水足迹评价与印染企业自身特点相结合,为企业内产品生产层面的节水分析提供了依据,并为企业的精细化节水路线设计提供了支持.     

长期施肥措施下稻田土壤有机质稳定性研究

采用傅立叶变换红外光谱(FTIR)对典型稻田生态系统长期定位试验的土壤有机质(SOM)结构进行分析,探讨不同施肥处理下表层与深层土壤有机质的分布差异及其稳定性机制.结果表明,长期不同施肥措施下稻田表层土壤有机碳(SOC)含量以有机-无机肥配施处理最高,其中高量有机肥(HOM)、低量有机肥(LOM)和秸秆还田(STW)处理较对照(CK)处理分别增加了18.5%、12.9%和18.4%.土壤有机质的化学结构也存在一定的差异性,与CK相比,施肥处理均增加了土壤中化学抗性化合物(脂族性、芳香族)、碳水化合物以及有机硅化合物的官能团吸收强度,其中HOM、LOM和STW处理最为明显.以烷烃类化合物为例,HOM、LOM和STW处理下其吸收强度为0.30、0.25和0.29,较CK分别增加了87%、56%和81%.表层土壤有机质各官能团的吸收峰强度皆高于深层土壤,同样以HOM、LOM和STW处理的差异最显著.本研究结果揭示了长期有机-无机肥配施下对亚热带稻田土壤有机质较丰富的化学抗性官能团结构的影响,贡献于其较高的有机质含量,这也从一方面揭示了稻田土壤有机质积累的化学稳定机制.     

Reconceptualizing water management in Khorezm,Uzbekistan

The Khorezm region is located in the northwest of Uzbekistan, approximately 350 km from the current shore of the Aral Sea. It comprises a large‐scale irrigation system that conveys water from the river Amu Darya to agricultural land cropped mainly with cotton, wheat, and rice. Khorezm's water resources are vulnerable as they depend on upstream developments and are indispensable to rural livelihoods and state budgets. Since water scarcity is expected to increase in the future, sustainable water management is a necessity. Hence, the objectives of the paper are to: (1) conceptualize the distinctive features of water management in Khorezm; (2) provide an integrated analysis of water management by establishing linkages between society, technical infrastructure, and the bio‐physical environment; and (3) make policy and technology recommendations for improved water management. To conceptualize water management in Khorezm, the paper distinguishes three types of practices: formal practices, strategic practices, and discursive practices. Based on these, it presents an analysis of water management on the state water management level, the water user association level, and the farmer and field level. For each level, recommendations are given. The paper concludes that elements of integrated water resources management (IWRM) such as transparency, accountability, participation, and technical efficiency are relevant to improve water management in Khorezm, as elsewhere. In addition, it underlines the need to create legal space for agency and innovation. Technical tools such as models are increasingly important for facilitating transparency and enabling agents to access and make use of information across the management hierarchy.     

Changes in peak flow with decreased forestry practices: analysis using watershed runoff data

The prevalence of forestry practices such as thinning and pruning have gradually decreased since the 1980s. Researchers have noted an increased flood risk with decreased forestry practices for coniferous plantations in Japan on the basis of infiltration and overland flow measurements at a plot scale (typically several square meters). However, no studies have examined changes in peak flow with decreased forestry practices at a watershed scale (typically several tens or hundreds of square kilometers) even though flood disasters generally occur at this scale in Japan. We examined changes in frequency distributions of daily precipitation (P) and runoff (Q) during the period 1979-2007 at the Terauchi watershed, where forestry practices are known to have decreased. For this purpose, we divided P and Q data into 14 and 15 classes according to the magnitude, respectively, and examined changes in the frequency for each class during the period. We observed no significant increasing trend for any P or Q class. Even when taking into account the effect of interannual variations in precipitation on the frequency for each Q class, there was no significant increasing trend in the frequencies except for two Q classes with moderate Q values. These results suggest that the increase in flood risk due to decreased forestry practices might be less than expected.     

MODELING PREVENTION ALTERNATWES FOR NONPOINT SOURCE POLLUTION AT A WELLFIELD IN FLORIDA1

ABSTRACT: Agricultural and urban activities in the West Wellfield Interim Protection Area (WWIPA), located in West Dade County in South Florida, have the potential to impact both the environmentally sensitive Everglades and the Biscayne Aquifer. The Hydrological Simulation Program-FORTRAN (HSPF) is used to simulate surface runoff, ground water recharge, and transport of sediments, nutrients, and pesticides in the WWIPA, as a basis to quantify impacts and evaluate alternatives. Presented are four model test runs that consider current conditions, the effect of future urbanization of the agricultural land, as well as two preventive actions to minimize pollution levels. Preventive actions include application of minimum required rates of fertilizers and replacement of fertilizers by sewage sludge. Model results show that under current practices, sediments, nutrients, and pesticides are present in surface runoff and nutrients enter the ground water, and that both urbanization and preventive actions result in pollutant reductions.