This article reviews the application of environmental impact assessment (EIA) procedures and practices to three watershed
modification projects situaled in western Canada. These ventures were justified for accelerating regional economic development,
and cover the period during which public concerns for protecting the environment rapidly made their way into the national
political agenda. An historical account and analysis of the situation, therefore, seems desirable in order to understand the
development of EIA processes, practices, and methodologies since the start of construction of the first project in 1961. This
study concludes that there has been good progress in predicting and evaluating environmental and related social impacts of
watershed modification proposals. However, a number of obstacles need to be overcome before EIA can firmly establish itself
as an effective planning tool. These difficulties include jurisdictional confusions and conflicts, division of authority and
responsibility in designing and implementing appropriate mitigative and monitoring measures, lack of tested EIA methodologies,
and limited availability of qualified human resources. A number of conclusions and suggestions are offered so that future
watershed modification proposals may be planned and implemented in a more environmentally sustainable fashion. These include:
(1) EIA processes must be completed before irrevocable decisions are made. (2) Any major intrusion into a watershed is likely
to impact on some major components of the ecosystem(s). (3) Mitigation costs must form part of the benefit-cost analysis of
any project proposal. (4) Interjurisdictional cooperation is imperative where watersheds cross political boundaries. (5) The
EIA process is a public process, hence public concerns must be dealt with fairly. (6) The role of science in the EIA process
must be at arms length from project proponents and regulators, and allowed to function in the interest of the protection of
the environment and public health and safety.
The views expressed here are the authors’ own and do not necessarily reflect those of FEARO and/or other government agencies
and officials involved in the review of these projects. 相似文献
The combination of concentrated solar power–chemical looping air separation (CSP-CLAS) with an oxy-fuel combustion process for carbon dioxide (CO2) capture is a novel system to generate electricity from solar power and biomass while being able to store solar power efficiently. In this study, the computer program Advanced System for Process Engineering Plus (ASPEN Plus) was used to develop models to assess the process performance of such a process with manganese (Mn)-based oxygen carriers on alumina (Al2O3) support for a location in the region of Seville in Spain, using real solar beam irradiance and electricity demand data. It was shown that the utilisation of olive tree prunings (Olea europaea) as the fuel—an agricultural residue produced locally—results in negative CO2 emissions (a net removal of CO2 from the atmosphere). Furthermore, it was found that the process with an annual average electricity output of 18 MW would utilise 2.43% of Andalusia’s olive tree prunings, thereby capturing 260.5 k-tonnes of CO2, annually. Drawbacks of the system are its relatively high complexity, a significant energy penalty in the CLAS process associated with the steam requirements for the loop-seal fluidisation, and the gas storage requirements. Nevertheless, the utilisation of agricultural residues is highly promising, and given the large quantities produced globally (~?4 billion tonnes/year), it is suggested that other novel processes tailored to these fuels should be investigated, under consideration of a future price on CO2 emissions, integration potential with a likely electricity grid system, and based on the local conditions and real data.
Water quality indices (WQIs) have been developed to assess the suitability of water for a variety of uses. These indices reflect the status of water quality in lakes, streams, rivers, and reservoirs. The concept of WQIs is based on a comparison of the concentration of contaminants with the respective environmental standards. The number, frequency, and magnitude by which the environmental standards for specific variables are not met in a given time period are reflected in WQIs. Further, the water quality trend analysis predicts the behavior of the water quality parameters and overall water quality in the time domain. In this paper, the concept of WQI was applied to three selected watersheds of Atlantic region: the Mersey River, the Point Wolfe River, and the Dunk River sites. To have robust study, two different water quality indices are used: Canadian Water Quality Index (CWQI), and British Columbia Water Quality Index (BWQI). The complete study was conducted in two steps. The first step was to organize and process the data into a format compatible with WQI analysis. After processing the input data, the WQI was calculated. The second step outlined in the paper discusses detailed trend analysis using linear and quadratic models for all the three sites. As per the 25 years trend analysis, overall water quality for agriculture use observed an improving trend at all the three sites studied. Water quality for raw water used for drinking (prior to treatment) and aquatic uses has shown improving trend at Point Wolfe River. It is further observed that pH, SO4, and NO3 concentrations are improving at Dunk River, Mersey River, and Point Wolfe River sites. To ascertain the reliability and significance of the trend analysis, a detailed error analysis and parametric significance tests were also conducted It was observed that for most of the sites and water uses quadratic trend models were a better fit than the linear models. 相似文献
We report data from a yearlong (2006–2007) study of black carbon concentrations ([BC]) measured at 5-min intervals with an Aethalometer in Karachi, Pakistan. Daily mean [BC] varied from about 1 to 15 μg m?3. However, short-term spikes exceeding 40 μg m?3 were common, occurring primarily during the morning and evening rush-hour periods. The [BC] values were highest during November through February, ~10 μg m?3, and lowest during June through September, ~2 μg m?3. Diurnal, seasonal, and day-of-the-week trends are discussed. It is demonstrated that these trends are strongly affected by meteorological patterns. A simple expression is applied to the concentration profiles to separate the effects of meteorological conditions and elucidate the underlying emissions patterns. Daily emissions varied from 14,000 to 22,000 kg of BC per day. When integrated over the year emissions for Karachi Proper were estimated at 6.7 kilometric tons per year and emissions for greater Karachi were 17.5 kilometric tons per year. Folding in the populations of each area yields BC emissions of 0.74 and 1.1 kg per person per year, respectively. Applying the model to previously collected data at Lahore, Pakistan yields emissions during November–January that are around a factor of two higher than those in Karachi, but because the BC measurements in Lahore covered only three months, no estimates of annual emissions were attempted. Given the large populations of these cities the local health impact from PM alone is expected to be severe but because of the high [BC] emissions the impact on the global climate may be equally significant. 相似文献
In order to explore the beneficial utilization of heavy oil fly ash (HOFA) generated in the power plants, the present study is intended to optimize the chromium(VI) [Cr(VI)] adsorption on activated carbon produced from HOFA. The raw HOFA obtained from a power plant was washed by nitric/hydrochloric acid and activated at 800 °C with a holding time of 60 min to produce fly ash activated carbon (FAC). Phosphoric acid was used as a chemical agent to improve the surface characteristics of the HOFA during the activation process. Batch adsorption experiments were employed to evaluate the effects of different parameters such as initial Cr(VI) concentration, pH, and FAC dose on the removal of Cr(VI) from aqueous solution. A total of 17 adsorption experimental runs were carried out employing the detailed conditions followed the response surface methodology based on the Box–Behnken design. The results indicate that developed FAC has the potential for removing Cr(VI) from wastewater. Under the test conditions, a maximum of 91.51 % Cr(VI) removal efficiency was achieved. 相似文献
Unplanned and unsustainable development (particularly rapid industrialisation) has placed great pressure in every dimension of the environment (air, water, soil, health, etc.). The resulting disturbance in the natural ecological balance is a serious concern. Sustainable development is the need of the hour; it can only be achieved through effective environmental management. Environmental management will become indispensable in the future as regulatory restrictions tighten and public expectations of environmental performance increase. The day is not far away when a customer will prefer to buy products produced by an environmentally committed organisation. In short, the environmental commitment of an organisation will become a market strategy.
Environmental management is a set of actions based on a structured methodology to ensure that an organisation is committed to the environment and that the production process has minimal/no adverse affect on it. This article emphasises environmental management in the real engineering sense of the term, and discusses how to develop an effective environmental management system through life cycle assessment. It further demonstrates through a real life case study how an industry has achieved landmark success in managing its environment, production, as well as winning the good faith of society. 相似文献
Chemical coagulation with ferric chloride, alum, and an organic polymer were used to control the fouling potential of mixed liquors for submerged membrane bioreactor (MBR) processes in treating municipal wastewater. Their filterability was evaluated using a submerged hollow fiber ultrafiltration apparatus operated in constant permeate flux mode. The collected transmembrane pressures over filtration time were used to calculate the membrane fouling rates. The results showed that coagulation pretreatment can reduce fouling rates when MBRs were operated above the critical flux. Even though coagulation with the organic polymer formed larger mixed liquor suspended solids particles and had shorter time-to-filtration than those with ferric chloride and alum, the filterability for membrane filtration were similar, indicating that the membrane fouling in MBR systems was mainly controlled by the concentration of smaller colloidal particles. 相似文献
In this study concentrations of selected metals viz., Ca, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, K, Mg, Na, Ni, Pb and Zn in surface soils of
Sialkot city known worldwide for tanneries and pharmaceutical industries were measured to assess the status of urban soil
pollution and to identify sources of contamination. Hierarchical cluster analysis (HACA) indicated concentrations of Mg and
Ca related to parent rock material, Cd, Co, and Pb with traffic related activities, Cr, Cu, Ni and Zn either associated with
automobiles activities or industrial pollution and Fe, K and Na related with anthropogenic activities or lithogenous materials.
Correlation analyses and principal component analysis based on factor analysis confirmed the results of HACA. Spatial distribution
maps exhibited relatively higher concentrations of Cd, Co, Cu, Ni, Pb, Cr and Zn along traffic routes in the city and streams.
The results highlighted concentration of Cd, Ni, Cr, Zn, and Pb measured in urban soil exceeded the permissible limit of surface
soils and advocated an imperative need for detailed baseline investigations of spatial distribution of heavy metals and other
contaminants for the formulation of geochemical database that should be made available to stakeholder involved in monitoring,
assessment and conservation of soil contamination for future planning and management of the Sialkot city. 相似文献