40 CFR 35.143 - Allotment.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... ASSISTANCE Environmental Program Grants Air Pollution Control (section 105) § 35.143 Allotment. (a) The Administrator allots air pollution control funds under section 105 of the Clean Air Act based on a number of factors, including: (1) Population; (2) The extent of actual or potential air pollution problems; and (3...

Your World, My World.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC.

Americans of all ages are concerned with the effects of pollution on the environment. This booklet is designed to explain to students the environmental problems related with pollution and its control. The role of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in pollution control is defined and its goals explained. Topics of discussion include clean…

Overview of transboundary pollution issues along the Mexico-US border

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Medina, E.J.

1996-12-31

This paper presents an overview of pollution issues affecting the Mexico-US border region, and briefly traces the development of the international legal framework which covers Mexico-US border relations on environmental issues. Examples from different border areas are used to illustrate surface water, groundwater, air pollution, and hazardous waste problems associated with the rapid growth and industrialization of areas along the border. Some of the specific issues presented include the Tijuana-San Diego sewage problem, the New River toxic discharges, Nogales Wash groundwater pollution, air pollution in Cd. Juarez-El Paso, and the Alco-Pacifico lead contamination case in Tijuana, B.C. Additional research tomore » characterize the extent of border area pollution and resultant ecological impacts is fundamental in the development of binational policies to deal with these problems. Another priority need is the application of risk assessment models, which will help policy makers on both sides of the border to coordinate efforts and allocate resources to solve this crisis. Immediate attention should be directed toward acquiring information necessary to evaluate the impacts of border-area pollution on natural ecosystems.« less

Promoting Good Prenatal Health: Air Pollution and Pregnancy (January 2010)

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

simple steps for pregnant women and new mothers/parents to avoid common environmental exposures which can cause health problems and adverse birth outcomes; including tobacco smoke, carbon monoxide, particle pollution, ozone,

No Nation Alone

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chase, Stuart

1976-01-01

Summarized are 13 major problems facing every country in the world today. Problems include: disarmament, population explosion, pollution, energy, conservation of natural resources, transportation, communications, and health. (SL)

Air pollution from aircraft

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Heywood, J. B.; Fay, J. A.; Chigier, N. A.

1979-01-01

A series of fundamental problems related to jet engine air pollution and combustion were examined. These include soot formation and oxidation, nitric oxide and carbon monoxide emissions mechanisms, pollutant dispension, flow and combustion characteristics of the NASA swirl can combustor, fuel atomization and fuel-air mixing processes, fuel spray drop velocity and size measurement, ignition and blowout. A summary of this work, and a bibliography of 41 theses and publications which describe this work, with abstracts, is included.

MODELS FOR SUBMARINE OUTFALL - VALIDATION AND PREDICTION UNCERTAINTIES

EPA Science Inventory

This address reports on some efforts to verify and validate dilution models, including those found in Visual Plumes. This is done in the context of problem experience: a range of problems, including different pollutants such as bacteria; scales, including near-field and far-field...

Water Pollution Control Industry

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Environmental Science and Technology, 1974

1974-01-01

A special report on the state of the water pollution control industry reveals that due to forthcoming federal requirements, sales and the backlogs should increase; problems may ensue because of shortages of materials and inflation. Included are reports from various individual companies. (MLB)

Global pediatric environmental health.

PubMed

Guidotti, Tee L; Gitterman, Benjamin A

2007-04-01

Children are uniquely vulnerable to environmental health problems. Developed countries report as the most common problems ambient (outdoor) air pollution and lead. Developing countries have a wider range of common problems, including childhood injuries, indoor air pollution, infectious disease, and poor sanitation with unsafe water. Globally, the agencies of the United Nations act to protect children and perform essential reporting and standards-setting functions. Conditions vary greatly among countries and are not always better in developing countries. Protecting the health of children requires strengthening the public health and medical systems in every country, rather than a single global agenda.

The quality of rivers: From pristine stage to global pollution

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Meybeck, Michel; Helmer, Richard

1989-12-01

River water quality is highly variable by nature due to environmental conditions such as basin lithology, vegetation and climate. In small watersheds spatial variations extend over orders of magnitude for most major elements and nutrients, while this variability is an order of magnitude lower for major basins. A standard river water for use as reference is therefore not applicable. As a consequence natural waters can possibly be unfit for various human uses, even including drinking. The Water Quality (WQ) concept has greatly evolved since the beginning of the century in accordance with expanding water uses and analytical developments. Even in well developed countries the dissolved heavy metal measurements in rivers are not very reliable while dissolved organic micro-pollutants are even rarely analysed routinely. Major WQ problems have been identified according to river basin size, including organic pollution, salinity, total suspended solids, heavy metals, eutrophication, nitrate, organic micro-pollutants, acidification. They generally occurred in this order over a period of about 100 years in the industrialized countries. Historical records of WQ are rare but can be established indirectly through studies of lake sediments. When proper control action is taken at an early stage, numerous examples of WQ recovery have been found in rivers for most of the common pollution problems. Future WQ problems will mostly derive from mine tailings and toxic waste disposal in both developed and developing countries, industrial accidents and organic micropollutants which emerge faster than our analytical capacities. The newly industrializing countries will face all the above-mentioned problems within a very short time period without having the means to cope with them one at a time. River studies point out the global alteration of the biogeochemical cycles of many major elements and nutrients (S, Na, K, N, P). For heavy metals such as lead, present estimates of global river loads emphasize the role of interim storage on land, thus delaying downstream pollution problems.

Sensitivity Analysis for some Water Pollution Problem

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Le Dimet, François-Xavier; Tran Thu, Ha; Hussaini, Yousuff

2014-05-01

Sensitivity Analysis for Some Water Pollution Problems Francois-Xavier Le Dimet1 & Tran Thu Ha2 & M. Yousuff Hussaini3 1Université de Grenoble, France, 2Vietnamese Academy of Sciences, 3 Florida State University Sensitivity analysis employs some response function and the variable with respect to which its sensitivity is evaluated. If the state of the system is retrieved through a variational data assimilation process, then the observation appears only in the Optimality System (OS). In many cases, observations have errors and it is important to estimate their impact. Therefore, sensitivity analysis has to be carried out on the OS, and in that sense sensitivity analysis is a second order property. The OS can be considered as a generalized model because it contains all the available information. This presentation proposes a method to carry out sensitivity analysis in general. The method is demonstrated with an application to water pollution problem. The model involves shallow waters equations and an equation for the pollutant concentration. These equations are discretized using a finite volume method. The response function depends on the pollutant source, and its sensitivity with respect to the source term of the pollutant is studied. Specifically, we consider: • Identification of unknown parameters, and • Identification of sources of pollution and sensitivity with respect to the sources. We also use a Singular Evolutive Interpolated Kalman Filter to study this problem. The presentation includes a comparison of the results from these two methods. .

Scientific and Technological Progress: Problems for the West.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

de Rose, Francois

1978-01-01

Discusses the impact of science and technology on major social problems confronting the Western world. Topics include pollution and ecology, military impact, computer science, and the benefits of science and technology. (Author/MA)

Environmental concerns and diet in Singapore.

PubMed

Burger, Joanna; Fleischer, Jennifer; Jeitner, Chris; Gochfeld, Michael

2003-08-08

Many factors affect how people perceive the world and their environment, and how such perceptions affect lifestyle decisions, yet the relationship between personal perceptions about environmental hazards and diet is rarely examined. In this study, environmental concerns on a local and global scale were examined, along with dietary patterns, to determine if there were associations and age-related differences. The hypothesis that concerns about water pollution might be reflected in choices about seafood consumption was examined. Many aspects of dietary choices varied significantly by age, including (1) younger people ate more "fast food" than others, (2) subjects aged 22-32 yr ate more meals in restaurants than older or younger people, (3) older individuals drank more tea than younger subjects, while younger people drank more soda than older people, and (4) there were few significant differences in total fish and shellfish meals, although young people ate more meals of other types of meat. Individuals who rated their health the best reported significantly fewer seafood meals than others. People who listed pollution as the major environmental problem did not consume seafood less often than others. While pollution was listed as the most important environmental problem globally, people distinguished between air and water pollution only for Singapore. Although Singapore, with its rapidly expanding economy, has reason to be concerned about both water and air pollution, only 14% of those listing pollution as the main Singapore environmental problem mentioned "water pollution." Singapore has been able to take measures to reduce water pollution from internal sources. Respondents considered air pollution a greater problem, perhaps reflecting recent haze disasters from deliberately set forest fires in Indonesia, which are beyond the direct control of Singapore or Singaporeans.

Space Life Support Technology Applications to Terrestrial Environmental Problems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Schwartzkopf, Steven H.; Sleeper, Howard L.

1993-01-01

Many of the problems now facing the human race on Earth are, in fact, life support issues. Decline of air Quality as a result of industrial and automotive emissions, pollution of ground water by organic pesticides or solvents, and the disposal of solid wastes are all examples of environmental problems that we must solve to sustain human life. The technologies currently under development to solve the problems of supporting human life for advanced space missions are extraordinarily synergistic with these environmental problems. The development of these technologies (including both physicochemical and bioregenerative types) is increasingly focused on closing the life support loop by removing and recycling contaminants and wastes to produce the materials necessary to sustain human life. By so doing, this technology development effort also focuses automatically on reducing resupply logistics requirements and increasing crew safety through increased self-sufficiency. This paper describes several technologies that have been developed to support human life in space and illustrates the applicability of the technologies to environmental problems including environmental remediation and pollution prevention.

Pollution reduction technologies being applied to small coal-fired boiler systems in Poland

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Markussen, J.M.; Gyorke, D.F.

1997-12-31

To help in alleviating air pollution problems in Poland, various US environmental technologies are being installed in the city of Krakow to reduce emissions from short-stack coal- and coke-fired boilers. Introduction of low-cost, effective US pollution abatement and energy efficiency technologies is being completed through the US-Polish Krakow Clean Fossil Fuels and Energy Efficiency Program. Seven US firms are currently participating in the program; five projects are well under way and two are in the design phase. The technologies being applied in Krakow include modern district heating equipment and controls, coal preparation techniques, micronized coal combustion, automatic combustion controls, andmore » high-efficiency particulate control equipment. These technologies will be discussed along with pollutant reduction results obtained to date. Applications of these technologies are providing some efficient and economical answers to Krakow`s severe air pollution problems. Certainly, these technologies could be equally effective in many industrial cities throughout the world with similar air pollution concerns.« less

Effect of environmental air pollution on cardiovascular diseases.

PubMed

Meo, S A; Suraya, F

2015-12-01

Environmental air pollution has become a leading health concern especially in the developing countries with more urbanization, industrialization and rapidly growing population. Prolonged exposure to air pollution is a risk factor for cardiovascular diseases. The present study aimed to investigate the effects of environmental air pollution on progression of cardiovascular problems. In this study, we identified 6880 published articles through a systematic database including ISI-Web of Science, PubMed and EMBASE. The allied literature was searched by using the key words such as environmental pollution, air pollution, particulate matter pollutants PM 2.5 μm-PM 10 μm. Literature in which environmental air pollution and cardiac diseases were discussed was included. Descriptive information was retrieved from the selected literature. Finally, we included 67 publications and remaining studies were excluded. Environmental pollution can cause high blood pressure, arrhythmias, enhanced coagulation, thrombosis, acute arterial vasoconstriction, atherosclerosis, ischemic heart diseases, myocardial infarction and even heart failure. Environmental air pollution is associated with increased risk of cardiovascular diseases. Environmental pollution exerts its detrimental effects on the heart by developing pulmonary inflammation, systemic inflammation, oxidative stress, endothelial dysfunction and prothrombotic changes. Environmental protection officials must take high priority steps to minimize the air pollution to decrease the prevalence of cardiovascular diseases.

Consequences of human modification of the global nitrogen cycle.

PubMed

Erisman, Jan Willem; Galloway, James N; Seitzinger, Sybil; Bleeker, Albert; Dise, Nancy B; Petrescu, A M Roxana; Leach, Allison M; de Vries, Wim

2013-07-05

The demand for more food is increasing fertilizer and land use, and the demand for more energy is increasing fossil fuel combustion, leading to enhanced losses of reactive nitrogen (Nr) to the environment. Many thresholds for human and ecosystem health have been exceeded owing to Nr pollution, including those for drinking water (nitrates), air quality (smog, particulate matter, ground-level ozone), freshwater eutrophication, biodiversity loss, stratospheric ozone depletion, climate change and coastal ecosystems (dead zones). Each of these environmental effects can be magnified by the 'nitrogen cascade': a single atom of Nr can trigger a cascade of negative environmental impacts in sequence. Here, we provide an overview of the impact of Nr on the environment and human health, including an assessment of the magnitude of different environmental problems, and the relative importance of Nr as a contributor to each problem. In some cases, Nr loss to the environment is the key driver of effects (e.g. terrestrial and coastal eutrophication, nitrous oxide emissions), whereas in some other situations nitrogen represents a key contributor exacerbating a wider problem (e.g. freshwater pollution, biodiversity loss). In this way, the central role of nitrogen can remain hidden, even though it actually underpins many trans-boundary pollution problems.

Parent's Guide to School Indoor Air Quality. Revised

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Healthy Schools Network, Inc., 2012

2012-01-01

Air pollution is air pollution, indoors or out. Good indoor air quality (IAQ) contributes to a favorable learning environment for students, protects health, and supports the productivity of school personnel. In schools in poor repair, leaky roofs and crumbling walls have caused additional indoor air quality problems, including contamination with…

50 Simple Things You Can Do To Save The Earth.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Earthworks Group, Berkeley, CA.

This book presents a collection of ways for individuals and groups to combat specific environmental problems. It is divided into four sections. The first section provides a brief overview of environmental issues including the greenhouse effect, air pollution, ozone depletion, acid rain, extinction, groundwater pollution, solid waste, and energy…

STORM AND COMBINED SEWER OVERFLOW: AN OVERVIEW OF EPA'S RESEARCH PROGRAM (EPA/600/8-89/054)

EPA Science Inventory

This report represents an overview of the EPA's Storm & Combined Sewer Pollution Control Research Program performed over a 20-year period beginning with the mid-1960s. It covers program involvements in the development of a diverse technology including pollution-problem assessment...

Technology applications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1972-01-01

A review was made of recent and current efforts to apply aerospace derived solutions to nonaerospace problems. Specific problems discussed include transportation, environmental pollution and abatement, housing and urban construction, firefighter equipment, and mine safety. Medical diseases and equipment are also discussed.

Non-Thermal Removal of Gaseous Pollutants

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Srivastava, S.; McGowan, J. William; Chiu, K. C. Ray

1995-01-01

The removal of fluorine based exhaust gases such as CFC's, PFC's, NF3, and SF6 used for plasma etching of and deposition on semi-conductors is a subject of increasing interest because of safety, air pollution, and global warming issues. Conventional treatment methods for removing exhaust gas pollutants are wet scrubbing, carbon and resin adsorption, catalytic oxidation, and thermal incineration. However, there are drawbacks associated with each of these methods which include difficulties in implementation, problems with the disposal of solid and liquid pollutant waste, large water and fuel consumption, and additional pollutants such as NOx emissions which are generated in thermal incineration processes.

Perspective for Future Research Direction About Health Impact of Ambient Air Pollution in China.

PubMed

Dong, Guang-Hui

2017-01-01

Air pollution has become one of the major risks to human health because of the progressive increase in the use of vehicles powered by fossil fuels. Although lots of works on the health impact of ambient air pollution have been done in China, the following recommendations for future research were identified in this chapter: (1) the synergistic effect of indoor air pollution with climate change; (2) develop new technologies to improve accurate assessment of air pollution exposure; (3) well-designed cohort study of sensitive populations including children, older people, and people with chronic health problems; (4) multi-omics technologies in the underlying mechanisms study; and (5) benefits evaluation of improvement of air quality. In conclusion, China is becoming a suitable study site, providing an ideal opportunity to evaluate the effects of environmental pollution, including air pollution, on human health, which might serve as an example for developing countries where health impacts of air pollution are as serious as in China.

[Preliminary determination of organic pollutants in agricultural fertilizers].

PubMed

Mo, Ce-hui; Li, Yun-hui; Cai, Quan-ying; Zeng, Qiao-yun; Wang, Bo-guang; Li, Hai-qin

2005-05-01

Organic pollutants such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in agricultural fertilizers are new problem deserved more study. Eight kinds of organic pollutants including 43 compounds classified as US EPA priority pollutants in twenty one agricultural fertilizers which were universally used in China were determined by Gas chromatography-mass spectrum (GC-MS). Three kinds of organic pollutants including more than 5 compounds were detected in most fertilizers, composing mainly of phthalic acid esters (PAEs), nitrobenzenes (NBs) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). There were 26 compounds detected in at least one fertilizer, five of them especially PAEs detected in most fertilizer and even in all fertilizers. Benzo(a)pyrene, a strongly carcinogenic compound was detected in two fertilizers. Higher concentrations of compounds were determined in those fertilizers such as multifunction compound fertilizers and coated fertilizers.

Light Pollution: A Primer for Astronomers to Engage in Teaching and Outreach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Caton, Daniel Bruce

2018-01-01

Most astronomers are familiar with the basic problem of light pollution but may not have explored how to teach their students about the problem or to inform officials in their community in order to help mitigate the problem. Indeed, many professional and amateur astronomers leave their light-polluted community to observe the sky from dark research observatories and rural star parties,, and then return to take no action to alleviate and reduce the light pollution in their own community. This is not a sustainable approach, and eventually this will lead to fewer sites to do their observations.In this presentation we give the basics of the problem and provide information on effective solutions. A link will be provided to download a sample PowerPoint, with Notes providing guidance to edit it to include images of both good and bad lighting in their own community. This can be shown to students as part of introductory astronomy and observational techniques courses, so the students might be able to help their with the problem in their own communities. Indeed this may satisfy curriculum requirements as a component of sustainable development. It may also be presented to local planning and permitting officials to develop at least a simple outdoor lighting ordinance.

Biodiversity, air quality and human health

Treesearch

David J. Nowak; Sarah Jovan; Christina Branquinho; Sofia Augusto; Manuel C. Ribeiro; Conor E. Kretsch

2015-01-01

Air pollution is a significant problem in cities across the world. It affects human health and well-being, ecosystem health, crops, climate, visibility and human-made materials. Health effects related to air pollution include its impact on the pulmonary, cardiac, vascular and neurological systems (Section 2). Trees affect air quality through a number of means (Section...

PLANNING OF HEALTH EFFECTS RESEARCH ON HAZARDOUS AIR POLLUTANTS AND APPLICATION TO RISK ASSESSMENT PROBLEMS

EPA Science Inventory

The Clean Air Act Amendment of 1990 designated a set of compounds as hazardous air pollutants or "air toxics" which may be released into the air from a variety of sources including stationary, mobile and indoor air sources. Determination of the risks to human health from exposur...

[Development and current status of atmospheric pollution].

PubMed

Elichegaray, C; Bouallala, S; Maitre, A; Ba, M

2009-02-01

Air quality is a public health issue and this article includes a reminder of the related causes and issues and a description of the monitoring of ambient air quality in France. It also provides a review of major developments in recent years of the pollutants measured. Emissions of major air pollutants have declined significantly since the 1970s, and this is reflected in an overall improvement in the quality of ambient air. Nevertheless, various forms of air pollution remain a concern (in the case of photochemical pollution) and health data show that air pollution is still a cause of morbidity and mortality. The fight against air pollution must remain a priority and requires multi-pollutant and multi-effect approaches. The National Health and Environment Program adopted during the Grenelle environment stakeholder consultation processes includes targets for reducing human exposure to air pollution, especially particulate matter, as well as measures to improve indoor air quality. In a context dominated by the struggle against the emission of greenhouse gases, problems of air quality should not be underestimated and policies relating to climate protection must be taken into account.

Mathematics and Demography.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schwartz, Richard

1992-01-01

Suggests that teachers use mathematics problems related to the "1992 World Population Data Sheet" to teach students about such population-related issues as hunger, resource scarcity, poverty, and pollution. Offers sample problems involving percents, ratios, basic calculations, sequences, variability, graphs, averages, and correlation. Includes a…

An improved risk-explicit interval linear programming model for pollution load allocation for watershed management.

PubMed

Xia, Bisheng; Qian, Xin; Yao, Hong

2017-11-01

Although the risk-explicit interval linear programming (REILP) model has solved the problem of having interval solutions, it has an equity problem, which can lead to unbalanced allocation between different decision variables. Therefore, an improved REILP model is proposed. This model adds an equity objective function and three constraint conditions to overcome this equity problem. In this case, pollution reduction is in proportion to pollutant load, which supports balanced development between different regional economies. The model is used to solve the problem of pollution load allocation in a small transboundary watershed. Compared with the REILP original model result, our model achieves equity between the upstream and downstream pollutant loads; it also overcomes the problem of greatest pollution reduction, where sources are nearest to the control section. The model provides a better solution to the problem of pollution load allocation than previous versions.

Water pollution in Pakistan and its impact on public health--a review.

PubMed

Azizullah, Azizullah; Khattak, Muhammad Nasir Khan; Richter, Peter; Häder, Donat-Peter

2011-02-01

Water pollution is one of the major threats to public health in Pakistan. Drinking water quality is poorly managed and monitored. Pakistan ranks at number 80 among 122 nations regarding drinking water quality. Drinking water sources, both surface and groundwater are contaminated with coliforms, toxic metals and pesticides throughout the country. Various drinking water quality parameters set by WHO are frequently violated. Human activities like improper disposal of municipal and industrial effluents and indiscriminate applications of agrochemicals in agriculture are the main factors contributing to the deterioration of water quality. Microbial and chemical pollutants are the main factors responsible exclusively or in combination for various public health problems. This review discusses a detailed layout of drinking water quality in Pakistan with special emphasis on major pollutants, sources of pollution and the consequent health problems. The data presented in this review are extracted from various studies published in national and international journals. Also reports released by the government and non-governmental organizations are included. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Physicians' attitude toward their ethical responsibility regarding air pollution: a qualitative research.

PubMed

Saeeditehrani, Saeedeh; Parsapour, Alireza; Nedjat, Saharnaz; Kadivar, Maliheh; Larijani, Bagher

2017-01-01

Air pollution is among the environmental problems that adversely affect people's health. There is a close relationship between medicine and environment, and as a consequence, there are ethical considerations surrounding the problem of air pollution. The present research aimed to determine physicians' attitude toward their ethical responsibility regarding air pollution, and their role in reducing it. This was a qualitative research using content analysis, conducted in Tehran University of Medical Sciences. The focus group included 21 physicians with specialties and subspecialties in pediatrics, infectious diseases, pulmonology, gynecology, and midwifery selected through predetermined sampling along with 13 personal in-depth interviews. A number of questions were asked regarding physicians' ethical responsibility to decrease environmental crises, particularly air pollution. As a result, 4 themes and 20 subthemes were extracted by assessing the focus group and interviews. These four general themes included the role of a physician as 1) an ordinary person, 2) a special citizen and a role model, 3) a professional person with special personal and social commitments, and 4) an administrator of the healthcare system. In the present research, physicians acquired a special attitude toward air pollution. The research population mentioned physicians' impact as role models for the society, as well as their educational, supervisory, informative, promotional, and administrative roles among their most important obligations regarding air pollution. It is recommended to conduct further studies on physicians' knowledge, attitude and practice regarding their responsibility toward environmental issues in order to investigate this important matter further.

Atmospheric pollution problems and control proposals associated with solid waste management in China: a review.

PubMed

Tian, Hezhong; Gao, Jiajia; Hao, Jiming; Lu, Long; Zhu, Chuanyong; Qiu, Peipei

2013-05-15

Along with population growth, rapid urbanization and industrialization process, the volume of municipal solid waste (MSW) generation in China has been increasing sharply in the past 30 years and the total amount of MSW yields will continue to increase. Nowadays, due to global warming warrants particular attention throughout the world, a series of air pollutants (including greenhouse gases, odorous gases, PCDD/Fs, heavy metals, PM, etc.) discharged from waste disposal and treatment processes have become one of the new significant emerging air pollution sources, which arousing great concerns about their adverse effects on surrounding ambient air quality and public health. At present, the overall safely disposed ratio of the collected MSW in China is reported at approximately 78% in 2010, and there are mainly three types of MSW disposal methods practiced in China, including landfill, composting and incineration. The characteristics of air pollutants and greenhouse gases discharge vary substantially among different MSW disposal methods. By presenting a thorough review of MSW generation in China and providing a summarization of the current status of MSW disposal methods practices, this review article makes an integrated overview analysis of existing air pollution problems associated with MSW collection, separation, and disposal processes. Furthermore, some comprehensive control proposals to prevent air pollution for improving MSW management of China in the future are put forward. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Consequences of human modification of the global nitrogen cycle

PubMed Central

Erisman, Jan Willem; Galloway, James N.; Seitzinger, Sybil; Bleeker, Albert; Dise, Nancy B.; Petrescu, A. M. Roxana; Leach, Allison M.; de Vries, Wim

2013-01-01

The demand for more food is increasing fertilizer and land use, and the demand for more energy is increasing fossil fuel combustion, leading to enhanced losses of reactive nitrogen (Nr) to the environment. Many thresholds for human and ecosystem health have been exceeded owing to Nr pollution, including those for drinking water (nitrates), air quality (smog, particulate matter, ground-level ozone), freshwater eutrophication, biodiversity loss, stratospheric ozone depletion, climate change and coastal ecosystems (dead zones). Each of these environmental effects can be magnified by the ‘nitrogen cascade’: a single atom of Nr can trigger a cascade of negative environmental impacts in sequence. Here, we provide an overview of the impact of Nr on the environment and human health, including an assessment of the magnitude of different environmental problems, and the relative importance of Nr as a contributor to each problem. In some cases, Nr loss to the environment is the key driver of effects (e.g. terrestrial and coastal eutrophication, nitrous oxide emissions), whereas in some other situations nitrogen represents a key contributor exacerbating a wider problem (e.g. freshwater pollution, biodiversity loss). In this way, the central role of nitrogen can remain hidden, even though it actually underpins many trans-boundary pollution problems. PMID:23713116

Century-scale perspective on water quality in selected river basins of the conterminous United States

USGS Publications Warehouse

Stets, Edward G.; Kelly, Valerie J.; Broussard, Whitney P.; Smith, Thor E.; Crawford, Charles G.

2012-01-01

Nutrient pollution in the form of excess nitrogen and phosphorus inputs is a well-known cause of water-quality degradation that has affected water bodies across the Nation throughout the 20th century. The recognition of excess nutrients as pollution developed later than the recognition of other water-quality problems, such as waterborne illness, industrial pollution, and organic wastes. Nevertheless, long-term analysis of nutrient pollution is fundamental to our understanding of the current magnitude of the problem, as well the origins and the effects. This report describes the century-scale changes in water quality across a range streams in order to place current water-quality concerns in historical context and presents this history on a national scale as well as for selected river reaches. The primary focus is on nutrient pollution, but the development and societal responses to other water-quality problems also are considered. Land use and agriculture in the selected river reaches also are analyzed to consider how these factors may relate to nutrient pollution. Finally, the availability of relevant nutrient and inorganic carbon data are presented for the selected river reaches. Sources of these data included Federal agencies, State-level reports, municipal public works facilities, public health surveys, and sanitary surveys. The availability of these data extends back more than a century for most of the selected river reaches and suggests that there is a tremendous opportunity to document the development of nutrient pollution in these river reaches.

So What's a Toxic Waste Site? Kids for Saving Earth News. Action Program #16.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kids for Saving Earth Worldwide, Minneapolis, MN.

This document provides ideas for activities on toxic waste sites. A toxic tour around the home accompanied by an adult is recommended to discover items that are dangerous for humans and the earth. Activities on understanding forests, pollution problems, recycling, and prevention of pollution for a healthy planet is included. (YDS)

Applications of aerospace technology in the environmental sciences

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1972-01-01

Detailed information is reported on the operations and accomplishments of the RTI Technology Application Team for the period October 11, 1971 to March 10, 1972. Mathematical models for prediction of pollutant formation during combustion are discussed along with generic areas of air pollution problems, which NASA technology offers a high potential for solving. Recommendations for future work are included.

Parents' Guide to School Indoor Air Quality.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Healthy Schools Network, Inc., Albany, NY.

This parents' guide presents articles on school indoor air pollution, children's health and the symptoms of indoor air pollution, and how schools can improve their air quality. Also included are tips on what to do if the school ignores air quality problems, and some examples of what school districts should be doing to improve their air quality.…

Clean the Air and Breathe Easier.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Guevin, John

1997-01-01

Failure to prevent indoor air quality problems or act promptly can result in increased chances for long- or short-term health problems for staff and students, reduced productivity, faster plant deterioration, and strained school-community relations. Basic pollution control measures include source management, local exhausts, ventilation, exposure…

The Application of Science and Technology to Public Programs.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Feller, Irwin

Conference papers, recommendations, and discussion are compiled, focusing on the complex of problems associated with rapidly expanding urbanization and consequent rural dislocation. Topics exploring the problems included: air and water pollution; program planning and management; solid waste disposal; transportation; housing; crime control; health…

Microbial degradation of petroleum hydrocarbons.

PubMed

Varjani, Sunita J

2017-01-01

Petroleum hydrocarbon pollutants are recalcitrant compounds and are classified as priority pollutants. Cleaning up of these pollutants from environment is a real world problem. Bioremediation has become a major method employed in restoration of petroleum hydrocarbon polluted environments that makes use of natural microbial biodegradation activity. Petroleum hydrocarbons utilizing microorganisms are ubiquitously distributed in environment. They naturally biodegrade pollutants and thereby remove them from the environment. Removal of petroleum hydrocarbon pollutants from environment by applying oleophilic microorganisms (individual isolate/consortium of microorganisms) is ecofriendly and economic. Microbial biodegradation of petroleum hydrocarbon pollutants employs the enzyme catalytic activities of microorganisms to enhance the rate of pollutants degradation. This article provides an overview about bioremediation for petroleum hydrocarbon pollutants. It also includes explanation about hydrocarbon metabolism in microorganisms with a special focus on new insights obtained during past couple of years. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

APTI Course 427, Combustion Evaluation. Student Workbook.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Beard, J. Taylor; And Others

Presented are exercises intended to supplement course work in air pollution control, specifically as they relate to combustion. Chapters offered in this workbook include: (1) Combustion Calculations, (2) Combustion System Design Problems, (3) Emission Calculations I, (4) Emission Calculations II, (5) Afterburner Design Problems, and (6) Cumbustion…

Zebrafish as a Vertebrate Model System to Evaluate Effects of Environmental Toxicants on Cardiac Development and Function.

PubMed

Sarmah, Swapnalee; Marrs, James A

2016-12-16

Environmental pollution is a serious problem of the modern world that possesses a major threat to public health. Exposure to environmental pollutants during embryonic development is particularly risky. Although many pollutants have been verified as potential toxicants, there are new chemicals in the environment that need assessment. Heart development is an extremely sensitive process, which can be affected by environmentally toxic molecule exposure during embryonic development. Congenital heart defects are the most common life-threatening global health problems, and the etiology is mostly unknown. The zebrafish has emerged as an invaluable model to examine substance toxicity on vertebrate development, particularly on cardiac development. The zebrafish offers numerous advantages for toxicology research not found in other model systems. Many laboratories have used the zebrafish to study the effects of widespread chemicals in the environment on heart development, including pesticides, nanoparticles, and various organic pollutants. Here, we review the uses of the zebrafish in examining effects of exposure to external molecules during embryonic development in causing cardiac defects, including chemicals ubiquitous in the environment and illicit drugs. Known or potential mechanisms of toxicity and how zebrafish research can be used to provide mechanistic understanding of cardiac defects are discussed.

Air pollution problem in the Mexico City metropolitan zone: Photochemical pollution

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Alvarez, H.B.; Alvarez, P.S.; Echeverria, R.S.

1997-12-31

Mexico City Metropolitan Zone (MCMZ) represents an example of a megacity where the air pollution problem has reached an important evolution in a very short time, causing a risk in the health of a population of more than 20 million inhabitants. The atmospheric pollution problem in the MCMZ, began several decades ago, but it increased drastically in the middle of the 80`s. It is important to recognize that in the 60`s, 70`s and the first half of the 80`s the main pollutants were sulfur dioxide and total suspended particles. However since the second half of the 80`s until now, ozonemore » is the most important air pollutant besides of the suspended particles (PM{sub 10}) and other toxic pollutants (1--8). The purpose of this paper is to discuss the evolution of the ozone atmospheric pollution problem in the MCMZ, as well as to analyze the results of several implemented air pollution control strategies.« less

Reform in Mathematics Education: "What Do We Teach for and Against?"

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Petric, Marius

2011-01-01

This study examines the implementation of a problem-based math curriculum that uses problem situations related to global warming and pollution to involve students in modeling polynomial, exponential, and logarithmic functions. Each instructional module includes activities that engage students in investigating current social justice and…

Environmental Health Problems.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Environmental Health Service (DHEW/PHS), Rockville, MD.

Aimed at a society which is forced to make decisions relative to their total environment, this pamphlet discusses a few of the problems associated with restoring and maintaining an environmental relationship conducive to the health and well-being of man. The topics covered include: air pollution, noise, solid waste, the urban environment, drinking…

Tackling a Local Problem.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cook, Martin

1995-01-01

Students studying water as a class project were concerned by levels of pollution at a nearby river and the local beach. They identified three environmental problems for research including sewage discharge, beach litter, and quality of swimming water. Research consisted of field trips which allowed for opportunities to improve skills in collecting…

Office of Research and Development Program Guide, Fiscal Year 1976.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC. Office of Research and Development.

The United States Environmental Protection Agency was created by Presidential order in December of 1970. This order brought together 15 programs scattered among several Federal Government agencies to mount a coordinated attack on environmental problems. These problems include air and water pollution, solid waste management, pesticides, radiation,…

Proceedings of the second US-USSR symposium: air pollution effects on vegetation including forest ecosystems

Treesearch

Reginald D. Noble; Juri L Martin; Keith F., eds. Jensen; Keith F. Jensen

1989-01-01

To commemorate the 10th year of cooperation between the US-USSR in the field of environmental protection, a symposium was organized, the major objectives of which were to acquaint US-USSR scientists with project accomplishments; to promote understanding of the nature of environmental problems that relate to air pollution effect on vegetation on a more global scale; to...

[Progress of research on the microbial fuel cells in the application of environment pollution treatment--a review].

PubMed

Yang, Yonggang; Sun, Guoping; Xu, Meiying

2010-07-01

Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) are bio-electrochemical reactors that have the capacity to convert chemical energy of biodegradable organic chemicals to electrical energy, and developed rapidly in the past few years. With an increasing concern for energy crisis and environment pollution, MFCs has became a promising technology in the researches of environment pollution treatments and biology electricity. In this paper, we offered a comprehensive review of the recent research progress of MFCs in environment pollution treatment, includes denitrification, desufurization, organic pollutants degradation, heavy metal reduction and landfill leachate treatment. Also, we pointed out the challenges and problems which were bottle necks for a wide application of MFCs and the potential future development.

Earth Trek...Explore Your Environment.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schneider, Gerald

This publication introduces children to water, air, and noise pollution, solid waste disposal, and pesticide use problems. Several pollution problems are explained and the importance of solving them is stressed. Some concepts such as recycling, closed systems, and environments that are related to pollution problems are also introduced. Each…

[Analysis of heavy-metal-mediated disease and development of a novel remediation system based on fieldwork and experimental research].

PubMed

Yajima, Ichiro; Zou, Cunchao; Li, Xiang; Nakano, Chizuru; Omata, Yasuhiro; Kumasaka, Mayuko Y

2015-01-01

Heavy-metal pollution occurs in various environments, including water, air and soil, and has serious effects on human health. Since heavy-metal pollution in drinking water causes various diseases including skin cancer, it has become a global problem worldwide. However, there is limited information on the mechanism of development of heavy-metal-mediated disease. We performed both fieldwork and experimental studies to elucidate the levels of heavy-metal pollution and mechanisms of development of heavy-metal-related disease and to develop a novel remediation system. Our fieldwork in Bangladesh, Vietnam and Malaysia demonstrated that drinking well water in these countries was polluted with high concentrations of several heavy metals including arsenic, barium, iron and manganese. Our experimental studies based on the data from our fieldwork demonstrated that these heavy metals caused skin cancer and hearing loss. Further experimental studies resulted in the development of a novel remediation system with which toxic heavy metals were absorbed from polluted drinking water. Implementation of both fieldwork and experimental studies is important for prediction, prevention and therapy of heavy-metal-mediated diseases.

77 FR 9239 - California State Motor Vehicle and Nonroad Engine Pollution Control Standards; Truck Idling...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-02-16

... Pollution Control Standards; Truck Idling Requirements; Notice of Decision AGENCY: Environmental Protection... to meet its serious air pollution problems. Likewise, EPA has consistently recognized that California... and high concentrations of automobiles, create serious pollution problems.'' \\37\\ Furthermore, no...

A Focus on Problems of National Interest in the College General Chemistry Laboratory: The Effects of the Problem-Oriented Method Compared with Those of the Traditional Approach.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Neman, Robert Lynn

This study was designed to assess the effects of the problem-oriented method compared to those of the traditional approach in general chemistry at the college level. The problem-oriented course included topics such as air and water pollution, drug addiction and analysis, tetraethyl-lead additives, insecticides in the environment, and recycling of…

A non-linear optimization programming model for air quality planning including co-benefits for GHG emissions.

PubMed

Turrini, Enrico; Carnevale, Claudio; Finzi, Giovanna; Volta, Marialuisa

2018-04-15

This paper introduces the MAQ (Multi-dimensional Air Quality) model aimed at defining cost-effective air quality plans at different scales (urban to national) and assessing the co-benefits for GHG emissions. The model implements and solves a non-linear multi-objective, multi-pollutant decision problem where the decision variables are the application levels of emission abatement measures allowing the reduction of energy consumption, end-of pipe technologies and fuel switch options. The objectives of the decision problem are the minimization of tropospheric secondary pollution exposure and of internal costs. The model assesses CO 2 equivalent emissions in order to support decision makers in the selection of win-win policies. The methodology is tested on Lombardy region, a heavily polluted area in northern Italy. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Remote Sensing of Environmental Pollution

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

North, G. W.

1971-01-01

Environmental pollution is a problem of international scope and concern. It can be subdivided into problems relating to water, air, or land pollution. Many of the problems in these three categories lend themselves to study and possible solution by remote sensing. Through the use of remote sensing systems and techniques, it is possible to detect and monitor, and in some cases, identify, measure, and study the effects of various environmental pollutants. As a guide for making decisions regarding the use of remote sensors for pollution studies, a special five-dimensional sensor/applications matrix has been designed. The matrix defines an environmental goal, ranks the various remote sensing objectives in terms of their ability to assist in solving environmental problems, lists the environmental problems, ranks the sensors that can be used for collecting data on each problem, and finally ranks the sensor platform options that are currently available.

Environmental Perception and Citizen Response: a Denver, Colorado Air Pollution Case Study.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Naomi, Leaura M.

Denver, a high altitude city, suffers from air pollution. Automobile emissions, as well as wood and coal burning contribute to Denver's air pollution. In order to reduce its air pollution, Denver hosted a no-drive campaign, The Better Air Campaign. This study examined how Denver -area citizens perceived their air pollution, responded to their air pollution, and responded to their no-drive campaign. First, I conducted personal interviews of twenty Denver air pollution decision-makers to ascertain their perceptions and definitions of Denver's air pollution problem. Second, I created a theoretical model of environmental perception and behavioral response to air pollution. Third, I conducted a telephone survey of 500 Denver-area residents to examine the usefulness of the model. By segmenting a sample of 500 Denver-area residents via a modified values and lifestyles (VALS) technique included in a telephone survey, the perceptions and behaviors of residents fell into a clear pattern. This values and lifestyles pattern coincided with a conventional innovation-adoption pattern, including innovators, the bandwagon, and laggards. Thus, the research determined the population's perceptions and behavioral responses to their air pollution. The research also pointed a direction for Denver's air pollution decision-makers to follow in order to reduce use of the gasoline-powered automobile. And, for those interested in encouraging public acceptance of ecological sustainability, it suggested application of the VALS technique for reaching the public.

Geology and water resources of Winnebago County, Wisconsin

USGS Publications Warehouse

Olcott, Perry C.

1966-01-01

Sources or water in Winnebago County include surface water from the Fox and Wolf Rivers and their associated lakes, and ground water from sandstone, dolomite, and sand and gravel deposits. Surface water is hard and generally requires treatment, but is then suitable for municipal and most industrial uses. Pollution is only a local problem in the lakes and rivers, but algae are present in most of the lakes. Ground water in Winnebago County is hard to very hard, and dissolved iron is a problem in a large area of the county. A saline-water zone borders the eastern edge of the county and underlies the areas of concentrated pumpage at Neenah-Menasha and Oshkosh. A thick, southeastward-dipping sandstone aquifer, yielding as much as 1,000 gallons per minute to municipal and industrial wells, underlies Winnebago County. A dolomite aquifer in the eastern and southern part of the county yields as much as 50 gallons per minute to wells. Sand and gravel layers and lenses in preglacial bedrock channels, in northwestern Winnebago County and in the upper Fox River valley, yield as much as 50 gallons per minute to wells. Present water problems in the county include algae and local pollution in the Lake Winnebago Pool, iron in water from the sandstone aquifer, and saline ground Water in the eastern part of the county. Potential problems include rapid decline of water levels because of interference between closely spaced wells, migration of saline ground water toward areas of pumping, surface-water pollution from inadequate sewage and industrial-waste process plants, and ground-water pollution in dolomite formations. Development of the water resources of the county should follow a comprehensive plan which takes into consideration all aspects of water use. Dispersal of wells, especially extending toward the west from the heavily pumped Neenah-Menasha and Oshkosh areas, is recommended to reduce water-level declines and to avoid saline water. Supplemental use of ground water is recmmended for municipal expansion of water facilities and to reduce the algae treatment problem of water from the Lake Winnebago Pool.

Developing a Clinical Approach to Air Pollution and Cardiovascular Health.

PubMed

Hadley, Michael B; Baumgartner, Jill; Vedanthan, Rajesh

2018-02-13

Nearly 3 billion people are exposed to household air pollution emitted from inefficient cooking and heating stoves, and almost the entire global population is exposed to detectable levels of outdoor air pollution from traffic, industry, and other sources. Over 3 million people die annually of ischemic heart disease or stroke attributed to air pollution, more than from traditional cardiac risk factors such as obesity, diabetes mellitus, or smoking. Clinicians have a role to play in reducing the burden of pollution-attributable cardiovascular disease. However, there currently exists no clear clinical approach to this problem. Here, we provide a blueprint for an evidence-based clinical approach to assessing and mitigating cardiovascular risk from exposure to air pollution. We begin with a discussion of the global burden of pollution-attributable cardiovascular disease, including a review of the mechanisms by which particulate matter air pollution leads to cardiovascular outcomes. Next, we offer a simple patient-screening tool using known risk factors for pollution exposure. We then discuss approaches to quantifying air pollution exposures and cardiovascular risk, including the development of risk maps for clinical catchment areas. We review a collection of interventions for household and outdoor air pollution, which clinicians can tailor to patients and populations at risk. Finally, we identify future research needed to quantify pollution exposures and validate clinical interventions. Overall, we demonstrate that clinicians can be empowered to mitigate the global burden of cardiovascular disease attributable to air pollution. © 2018 American Heart Association, Inc.

Application of Pesticide Phytoremediation in Irrigated Rice Fields System Using Eceng Gondok (Eichhornia crassipes) Plants

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Febriani, Ika Kartika; Hadiyanto

2018-02-01

The problem of environmental pollution especially urban water pollution becomes major issue in Indonesia. The cause of water pollution is not only from industrial factory waste disposal but also other causes which become pollution factor. One cause of water pollution is the existence of agricultural activities with the use of the amount of pesticides that exceed the threshold. As regulated in Government Regulation No. 82/2001 on Water Quality Management and Water Pollution Control, it is necessary to manage water quality and control water pollution wisely by taking into account the interests of current and future generations as well as the ecological balance. To overcome the problem of water pollution due to agricultural activities, it is necessary to conduct research on phytoremediation technique by utilizing eceng gondok plant. It is excepted that using this phytoremediation technique can reduce the problem of water pollution due to the use of pesticides on agricultural activities.

Control of Groundwater Pollution from Animal Feeding Operations: A Farm-Level Dynamic Model for Policy Analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, J.; Baerenklau, K.

2012-12-01

Consolidation in livestock production generates higher farm incomes due to economies of scale, but it also brings waste disposal problems. Over-application of animal waste on adjacent land produces adverse environmental and health effects, including groundwater nitrate pollution. The situation is particularly noticeable in California. In respond to this increasingly severe problem, EPA published a type of command-and-control regulation for concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) in 2003. The key component of the regulation is its nutrient management plans (NMPs), which intend to limit the land application rates of animal waste. Although previous studies provide a full perspective on potential economic impacts for CAFOs to meet nutrient standards, their models are static and fail to reflect changes in management practices other than spreading manure on additional land and changing cropping patterns. We develop a dynamic environmental-economic modeling framework for representative CAFOs. The framework incorporates four models (i.e., animal model, crop model, hydrologic model, and economic model) that include various components such as herd management, manure handling system, crop rotation, water sources, irrigation system, waste disposal options, and pollutant emissions. We also include the dynamics of soil characteristics in the rootzone as well as the spatial heterogeneity of the irrigation system. The operator maximizes discounted total farm profit over multiple periods subject to environmental regulations. Decision rules from the dynamic optimization problem demonstrate best management practices for CAFOs to improve their economic and environmental performance. Results from policy simulations suggest that direct quantity restrictions of emission or incentive-based emission policies are much more cost-effective than the standard approach of limiting the amount of animal waste that may be applied to fields (as shown in the figure below); reason being, policies targeting intermediate pollution and final pollution create incentives for the operator to examine the effects of other management practices to reduce pollution in addition to controlling the polluting inputs. Incentive-based mechanisms are slightly more cost-effective than quantity controls when seasonal emissions fluctuate. Our approach demonstrates the importance of taking into account the spatial & temporal dynamics in the rootzone and the integrated effects of water, nitrogen, and salinity on crop yield and nitrate emissions. It also highlights the significant role the environment can play in pollution control and the potential benefits from designing policies that acknowledge this role.oss of Total Net Farm Income Under Alternative Policies

Zebrafish as a Vertebrate Model System to Evaluate Effects of Environmental Toxicants on Cardiac Development and Function

PubMed Central

Sarmah, Swapnalee; Marrs, James A.

2016-01-01

Environmental pollution is a serious problem of the modern world that possesses a major threat to public health. Exposure to environmental pollutants during embryonic development is particularly risky. Although many pollutants have been verified as potential toxicants, there are new chemicals in the environment that need assessment. Heart development is an extremely sensitive process, which can be affected by environmentally toxic molecule exposure during embryonic development. Congenital heart defects are the most common life-threatening global health problems, and the etiology is mostly unknown. The zebrafish has emerged as an invaluable model to examine substance toxicity on vertebrate development, particularly on cardiac development. The zebrafish offers numerous advantages for toxicology research not found in other model systems. Many laboratories have used the zebrafish to study the effects of widespread chemicals in the environment on heart development, including pesticides, nanoparticles, and various organic pollutants. Here, we review the uses of the zebrafish in examining effects of exposure to external molecules during embryonic development in causing cardiac defects, including chemicals ubiquitous in the environment and illicit drugs. Known or potential mechanisms of toxicity and how zebrafish research can be used to provide mechanistic understanding of cardiac defects are discussed. PMID:27999267

Applicability of market-based instruments for safeguarding water quality in coastal waterways: Case study for Darwin Harbour, Australia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Greiner, Romy

2014-02-01

Water pollution of coastal waterways is a complex problem due to the cocktail of pollutants and multiplicity of polluters involved and pollution characteristics. Pollution control therefore requires a combination of policy instruments. This paper examines the applicability of market-based instruments to achieve effective and efficient water quality management in Darwin Harbour, Northern Territory, Australia. Potential applicability of instruments is examined in the context of biophysical and economic pollution characteristics, and experience with instruments elsewhere. The paper concludes that there is potential for inclusion of market-based instruments as part of an instrument mix to safeguard water quality in Darwin Harbour. It recommends, in particular, expanding the existing licencing system to include quantitative pollution limits for all significant point polluters; comprehensive and independent pollution monitoring across Darwin Harbour; public disclosure of water quality and emissions data; positive incentives for landholders in the Darwin Harbour catchment to improve land management practices; a stormwater offset program for greenfield urban developments; adoption of performance bonds for developments and operations which pose a substantial risk to water quality, including port expansion and dredging; and detailed consideration of a bubble licensing scheme for nutrient pollution. The paper offers an analytical framework for policy makers and resource managers tasked with water quality management in coastal waterways elsewhere in Australia and globally, and helps to scan for MBIs suitable in any given environmental management situation.

The Changing Atmosphere.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Graedel, Thomas E.; Crutzen, Paul J.

1989-01-01

Discusses air pollution occurring due to human activity. Describes which human activities generate which emissions, including acid rain, smog, ozone depletion, and change of trace gases. Suggests global effort to solve the earth's environmental problems. (YP)

Water pollution and the public trust doctrine

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Johnson, R.W.

The prior appropriation system has served well in the Western US for 125 years, providing a legal regime that permits and encourages enormous economic growth of agriculture, industry and municipalities. This system, however, both in its inception and current application, fails to address or protect public interests in fisheries, recreation, environmental quality, and clean water. As a result, serious nonpoint water pollution problems are occurring throughout the West. Such pollution can be regulated either by the courts or the legislatures under the public trust doctrine, which antedates the prior appropriation system, and which protects fisheries and water quality. No onemore » - including irrigators, industries or cities with appropriative rights - has a vested, constitutionally protected property right to degrade the quality of public waters. Some states are adopting police power regulations to control nonpoint pollution. Others are approaching the problem through the prior appropriation system itself, taking the position that beneficial use means use that does not harm the public through pollution. The public trust doctrine is not a panacea that will instantly solve all the conflicts that now surround the prior appropriation system. It should be considered, however, as a basis for setting standards as best practicable technology or best management practice.« less

Health effects from indoor air pollution: case studies.

PubMed

White, L E; Clarkson, J R; Chang, S N

1987-01-01

In recent years there has been a growing awareness of the health effects associated with the presence of contaminants in indoor air. Numerous agents can accumulate in public buildings, homes and automobiles as a result of ongoing activities that normally occur in these closed spaces. Ventilation is a major factor in the control of indoor air pollutants since proper movement of air can prevent or minimize the build up of compounds in buildings. The recent emphasis on energy conservation has lead to measures which economize on energy for heating and air conditioning, but which also trap pollutants within a building. Three cases of indoor air pollution were investigated. A typical investigation of indoor air pollutant problems includes the following: interviews with building occupants; history of the building with regard to maintenance, pesticide treatment, etc.; a survey of the building and ventilation; and when warranted, sampling and analysis of air. Each case presented is unique in that atypical situations caused agents to accumulate in a building or section of a building. The indoor air problems in these cases were solved by identifying and removing the source of the offending agent and/or improving the ventilation in the building.

Acid Earth--The Global Threat of Acid Pollution.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McCormick, John

Acid pollution is a major international problem, but the debate it has elicited has often clouded the distinction between myth and facts. This publication attempts to concerning the acid pollution situation. This publication attempts to identify available facts. It is the first global review of the problem of acid pollution and the first to…

Diagnosing forest vegetation for air pollution injury

Treesearch

Keith F. Jensen

1989-01-01

The purpose of this Note is to help you become more technically informed about air pollution when serious problems need to be diagnosed by pollution specialists. (Except for ozone, most of the information discussed does not attempt to describe possible air pollution damage caused by long distance transport. This complex problem is currently under intense study.)

Principles and problems of environmental pollution of groundwater resources with case examples from developing countries.

PubMed Central

Egboka, B C; Nwankwor, G I; Orajaka, I P; Ejiofor, A O

1989-01-01

The principles and problems of environmental pollution and contamination are outlined. Emphasis is given to case examples from developing countries of Africa, Asia, and Latin America with a comparative analysis to developed countries. The problems of pollution/contamination are widespread in developed countries but are gradually spreading from the urban to rural areas in the developing countries. Great efforts in research and control programs to check pollution-loading into the environment have been made in the industrialized countries, but only negligible actions have been taken in developing countries. Pollutants emanate from both point and distributed sources and have adversely affected both surface water and groundwaters. The influences of the geologic and hydrologic cycles that exacerbate the incidences of pollution/contamination have not been well understood by environmental planners and managers. Professionals in the different areas of pollution control projects, particularly in developing countries, lack the integrated multiobjective approaches and techniques in problem solving. Such countries as Nigeria, Kenya, Brazil, and India are now menaced by pollution hazards. Appropriate methods of control are hereby suggested. PMID:2695325

Environmental Law and the Export of Pollution.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Davis, John F.

1984-01-01

Environmental problems do not stop at state boundaries; they reach beyond local or national jurisdictions and require international control. Problems concerning air quality, water pollution, and indirect pollution are discussed. Environmental legislation can have a significant impact. (RM)

Remote sensing applications of wildland fire and air quality in China

Treesearch

John J. Qu; Xianjun Hao; Yongqiang Liu; Allen R. Riebau; Haoruo Yi; Xianlin Qin

2009-01-01

As one of the most populous and geographically largest countries, China faces many problems including industrial growth, economic sustainability, food security, climate change, and air pollution. Interwoven with these challenges,...

Adoption of waste minimization technology to benefit electroplaters

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ching, E.M.K.; Li, C.P.H.; Yu, C.M.K.

Because of increasingly stringent environmental legislation and enhanced environmental awareness, electroplaters in Hong Kong are paying more heed to protect the environment. To comply with the array of environmental controls, electroplaters can no longer rely solely on the end-of-pipe approach as a means for abating their pollution problems under the particular local industrial environment. The preferred approach is to adopt waste minimization measures that yield both economic and environmental benefits. This paper gives an overview of electroplating activities in Hong Kong, highlights their characteristics, and describes the pollution problems associated with conventional electroplating operations. The constraints of using pollution controlmore » measures to achieve regulatory compliance are also discussed. Examples and case studies are given on some low-cost waste minimization techniques readily available to electroplaters, including dragout minimization and water conservation techniques. Recommendations are given as to how electroplaters can adopt and exercise waste minimization techniques in their operations. 1 tab.« less

How multiagency partnerships can successfully address large-scale pollution problems: a Hawaii case study.

PubMed

Donohue, Mary J

2003-06-01

Oceanic circulation patterns deposit significant amounts of marine pollution, including derelict fishing gear from North Pacific Ocean fisheries, in the Hawaiian Archipelago [Mar. Pollut. Bull. 42(12) (2001) 1301]. Management responsibility for these islands and their associated natural resources is shared by several government authorities. Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and private industry also have interests in the archipelago. Since the marine debris problem in this region is too large for any single agency to manage, a multiagency marine debris working group (group) was established in 1998 to improve marine debris mitigation in Hawaii. To date, 16 federal, state, and local agencies, working with industry and NGOs, have removed 195 tons of derelict fishing gear from the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. This review details the evolution of the partnership, notes its challenges and rewards, and advocates its continued use as an effective resource management tool.

USDA Forest Service national protocols for sampling air pollution-sensitive waters

Treesearch

T. J. Sullivan

2012-01-01

The first step in designing a surface water sampling program is identifying one or more problems or questions that require information on water quality. Common water quality problems include nutrient enrichment (from a variety of causes), effects of atmospheric deposition (acidification, eutrophication, toxicity), and effects of major disturbances such as fire or pest...

Conservation, Preservation and Restoration in Nigerian Libraries.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ojo-Igbinoba, M. E.

1991-01-01

Addresses problems involved with the conservation, preservation, and restoration of library materials in Nigeria. Topics discussed include insect pests; light, heat, and humidity; atmospheric pollution and dust; natural disasters including fire and floods; theft and vandalism; acidity of paper; binding and mending; and trained personnel. (15…

Interactions Between Asian Air Pollution and Monsoon System: South Asia (ROSES-2014 ACMAP)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pan, Xiaohua; Chin, Mian; Tao, Zhining; Kim, Dongchul; Bian, Huisheng; Kucsera, Tom

2018-01-01

Asia's rapid economic growth over the past several decades has brought a remarkable increase in air pollution levels in that region. High concentrations of aerosols (also known as particulate matter or PM) from pollution sources pose major health hazards to half of the world population in Asia including South Asia. How do pollution and dust aerosols regulate the monsoon circulation and rainfall via scattering and absorbing solar radiation, changing the atmospheric heating rates, and modifying the cloud properties? We conducted a series of regional model experiments with NASA-Unified Weather Research and Forecast (NUWRF) regional model with coupled aerosol-chemistry-radiation-microphysics processes over South Asia for winter, pre-monsoon, and monsoon seasons to address this question. This study investigates the worsening air quality problem in South Asia by focusing on the interactions between pollution and South Asian monsoon, not merely focusing on the increase of pollutant emissions.

Relationship between air pollution and pre-eclampsia in pregnant women: a case-control study.

PubMed

Nahidi, F; Gholami, R; Rashidi, Y; Majd, H Alavi

2014-01-09

Pre-eclampsia is the main cause of maternal and fetal death and disability worldwide. Its incidence in the Islamic Republic of Iran is 5%-12%. Air pollution has been reported to be one of the causative factors, and this case-control study determined its effect on pre-eclampsia in 195 pregnant women (65 with pre-eclampsia and 130 without) admitted to hospitals in Tehran. Women were divided into high and low exposure groups according to the mean density of exposure to pollutants during pregnancy. There was no statistically significant relationship between exposure to air pollutants including CO, particulate matter, SO2, NO2 and O3 and pre-eclampsia. The combined effect was also not significant. Air pollution is one of the problems of modern society and its avoidance is almost impossible for pregnant women. This study should reduce concern about pregnant women living in polluted cities.

Fractional kalman filter to estimate the concentration of air pollution

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vita Oktaviana, Yessy; Apriliani, Erna; Khusnul Arif, Didik

2018-04-01

Air pollution problem gives important effect in quality environment and quality of human’s life. Air pollution can be caused by nature sources or human activities. Pollutant for example Ozone, a harmful gas formed by NOx and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted from various sources. The air pollution problem can be modeled by TAPM-CTM (The Air Pollution Model with Chemical Transport Model). The model shows concentration of pollutant in the air. Therefore, it is important to estimate concentration of air pollutant. Estimation method can be used for forecast pollutant concentration in future and keep stability of air quality. In this research, an algorithm is developed, based on Fractional Kalman Filter to solve the model of air pollution’s problem. The model will be discretized first and then it will be estimated by the method. The result shows that estimation of Fractional Kalman Filter has better accuracy than estimation of Kalman Filter. The accuracy was tested by applying RMSE (Root Mean Square Error).

Light Pollution a tool for Astronomy Education

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Metaxa, M.; Niarchos, P.

2006-08-01

The problem of Light Pollution exists most everywhere, and is still growing rapidly. The maintenance of dark skies at a prime astronomical location but as well elsewhere depends very much on the awareness of the public, and particularly with key decision makers responsible for developments, including lighting engineers. It is necessary to continually promote awareness of light pollution and its effects. Thus the preservation of the astronomical environment is strongly connected and requires effective education. We will present the educational project that the newly formed Commission for the prevention of Light Pollution, of the Hellenic Astronomical Society will support based on innovating teaching of Astronomy. The framework of the project will be to collaborate through our National Pedagogical Institute with all possible school networks so to efficiently introduce the topic to schools and to relate it with our national curriculum. The help of Astronomers and Lighting Engineers through the respective Commission will facilitate and will provide the natural environment for this educational project. The duration will be two years, and through the project we expect the students-teachers to act as "reporters" for this serious problem.

Cytotoxicity and genotoxicity properties of particulate matter fraction 2.5 μm

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bełcik, Maciej K.; Trusz-Zdybek, Agnieszka; Zaczyńska, Ewa; Czarny, Anna; Piekarska, Katarzyna

2017-11-01

In the ambient is more than 2,000 chemical substances, some of them are absorbed on the surface of the particulate matter and may causes many health problems. Air pollution is responsible for more than 3.2 million premature deaths which classifies it as a second place environmental risk factor. Especially dangerous for health are polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and their nitro- and amino derivatives which shows mutagenic and carcinogenic properties. Air pollutions were also classified by International Agency for Research on Cancer to group which carcinogenic properties on human were proved by available knowledge. Air pollutions, including particulate matter are one of the biggest problem in Polish cities. World Health Organization in report published in May 2016 set many of Polish cities on the top of the list most polluted in European Union. The article presents results of mutagenicity, genotoxicity and cytotoxicity researches conducted on a particulate matter fraction 2.5 μm collected during all year long in Wroclaw agglomeration. The material were collected on filters using high-flow air aspirator and extracted using dichloromethane. Additionally it was fractionated into 2 parts containing: all pollutants and only polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. Dry residue of this fractions were dissolving in DMSO and tested using biological methods. Biological methods include mutagenicity properties which are investigated by Salmonella assay (Ames assay). Other biological method was comet assay and 4 parameter cytotoxicity test PAN-I assay. Results of the conducted experiments shows differences in mutagenic, genotoxic and cytotoxic properties between seasons of collection and between volume of dust pollutions fractions. The worst properties shows particles collected in autumn and winter season and this containing only polycyclic aromatics hydrocarbons. Results showed also some correlations in results obtained during different methods and properties.

Does air pollution pose a public health problem for New Zealand?

PubMed

Scoggins, Amanda

2004-02-01

Air pollution is increasingly documented as a threat to public health and a major focus of regulatory activity in developed and developing countries. Air quality indicators suggest New Zealand has clean air relative to many other countries. However, media releases such as 'Christchurch wood fires pump out deadly smog' and 'Vehicle pollution major killer' have sparked public health concern regarding exposure to ambient air pollution, especially in anticipation of increasing emissions and population growth. Recent evidence is presented on the effects of air quality on health, which has been aided by the application of urban airshed models and Geographic Information Systems (GIS). Future directions for research into the effects of air quality on health in New Zealand are discussed, including a national ambient air quality management project: HAPINZ--Health and Air Pollution in New Zealand.

Population and Pollution in the United States

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ridker, Ronald G.

1972-01-01

Analyzes a simple model relating environmental pollution to population and per capita income and concludes that no single cause is sufficient to explain.... environmental problems, and that there is little about the pollution problems.... of the next 50 years that is inevitable." (Author/AL)

A systematic review of air pollution as a risk factor for cardiovascular disease in South Asia: limited evidence from India and Pakistan.

PubMed

Yamamoto, S S; Phalkey, R; Malik, A A

2014-03-01

Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are major contributors to mortality and morbidity in South Asia. Chronic exposure to air pollution is an important risk factor for cardiovascular diseases, although the majority of studies to date have been conducted in developed countries. Both indoor and outdoor air pollution are growing problems in developing countries in South Asia yet the impact on rising rates of CVD in these regions has largely been ignored. We aimed to assess the evidence available regarding air pollution effects on CVD and CVD risk factors in lower income countries in South Asia. A literature search was conducted in PubMed and Web of Science. Our inclusion criteria included peer-reviewed, original, empirical articles published in English between the years 1990 and 2012, conducted in the World Bank South Asia region (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka). This resulted in 30 articles. Nine articles met our inclusion criteria and were assessed for this systematic review. Most of the studies were cross-sectional and examined measured particulate matter effects on CVD outcomes and indicators. We observed a bias as nearly all of the studies were from India. Hypertension and CVD deaths were positively associated with higher particulate matter levels. Biomarkers of oxidative stress such as increased levels of P-selection expressing platelets, depleted superoxide dismutase and reactive oxygen species generation as well as elevated levels of inflammatory-related C-reactive protein, interleukin-6 and interleukin-8 were also positively associated with biomass use or elevated particulate matter levels. An important outcome of this investigation was the evidence suggesting important air pollution effects regarding CVD risk in South Asia. However, too few studies have been conducted. There is as an urgent need for longer term investigations using robust measures of air pollution with different population groups that include a wider range of air pollutants and outcomes, including early indicators of CVD. These regions are facing burdens from increasing urbanization, air pollution and populations, generally weaker health infrastructure, aging populations and increased incidence of non-communicable diseases, included CVD. The extent to which the problem of air pollution and CVD will impact these countries will depend largely on the information available to inform policy and programs, which are still lacking, political will as well as social and economic development. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

Air pollution engineering

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Maduna, Karolina; Tomašić, Vesna

2017-11-01

Air pollution is an environmental and a social problem which leads to a multitude of adverse effects on human health and standard of human life, state of the ecosystems and global change of climate. Air pollutants are emitted from natural, but mostly from anthropogenic sources and may be transported over long distances. Some air pollutants are extremely stable in the atmosphere and may accumulate in the environment and in the food chain, affecting human beings, animals and natural biodiversity. Obviously, air pollution is a complex problem that poses multiple challenges in terms of management and abatements of the pollutants emission. Effective approach to the problems of air pollution requires a good understanding of the sources that cause it, knowledge of air quality status and future trends as well as its impact on humans and ecosystems. This chapter deals with the complexities of the air pollution and presents an overview of different technical processes and equipment for air pollution control, as well as basic principles of their work. The problems of air protection as well as protection of other ecosystems can be solved only by the coordinated endeavors of various scientific and engineering disciplines, such as chemistry, physics, biology, medicine, chemical engineering and social sciences. The most important engineering contribution is mostly focused on development, design and operation of equipment for the abatement of harmful emissions into environment.

Pollution source localization in an urban water supply network based on dynamic water demand.

PubMed

Yan, Xuesong; Zhu, Zhixin; Li, Tian

2017-10-27

Urban water supply networks are susceptible to intentional, accidental chemical, and biological pollution, which pose a threat to the health of consumers. In recent years, drinking-water pollution incidents have occurred frequently, seriously endangering social stability and security. The real-time monitoring for water quality can be effectively implemented by placing sensors in the water supply network. However, locating the source of pollution through the data detection obtained by water quality sensors is a challenging problem. The difficulty lies in the limited number of sensors, large number of water supply network nodes, and dynamic user demand for water, which leads the pollution source localization problem to an uncertainty, large-scale, and dynamic optimization problem. In this paper, we mainly study the dynamics of the pollution source localization problem. Previous studies of pollution source localization assume that hydraulic inputs (e.g., water demand of consumers) are known. However, because of the inherent variability of urban water demand, the problem is essentially a fluctuating dynamic problem of consumer's water demand. In this paper, the water demand is considered to be stochastic in nature and can be described using Gaussian model or autoregressive model. On this basis, an optimization algorithm is proposed based on these two dynamic water demand change models to locate the pollution source. The objective of the proposed algorithm is to find the locations and concentrations of pollution sources that meet the minimum between the analogue and detection values of the sensor. Simulation experiments were conducted using two different sizes of urban water supply network data, and the experimental results were compared with those of the standard genetic algorithm.

Environmental Compliance Assessment System (ECAS) - Japan Settlement

DTIC Science & Technology

1993-12-01

pollution control which take into account the specific natural and social conditions of the concerned area. Prefectural governments are responsible mainly...out possible environmental problems, as well as practices, conditions , and situations that could indicate potential problems. They are intended to...soot and smoke emitting facility, or a person installing a particu- late discharging facility, to report certain matters. These include the conditions

40 CFR 63.4567 - How do I establish the emission capture system and add-on control device operating limits during...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... Hazardous Air Pollutants for Surface Coating of Plastic Parts and Products Compliance Requirements for the... procedures. If problems are found during the catalyst activity test, you must replace the catalyst bed or... inspection of the catalytic oxidizer system, including the burner assembly and fuel supply lines for problems...

40 CFR 63.4567 - How do I establish the emission capture system and add-on control device operating limits during...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... Hazardous Air Pollutants for Surface Coating of Plastic Parts and Products Compliance Requirements for the... procedures. If problems are found during the catalyst activity test, you must replace the catalyst bed or... inspection of the catalytic oxidizer system, including the burner assembly and fuel supply lines for problems...

Buried aquifers in the Brooten-Belgrade and Lake Emily areas, west-central Minnesota--Factors related to developing water for irrigation

USGS Publications Warehouse

Wolf, R.J.

1976-01-01

Potential water problems include slow rate of recharge to buried aquifers, and head loss caused by screening of the surficial and buried aquifers in the same well, and by allowing well to flow unabated. Another potential problem is possible pollution of the buried aquifers through the boreholes of multiaquifer wells.

Groundwater Pollution and Vulnerability Assessment.

PubMed

Kurwadkar, Sudarshan

2017-10-01

Groundwater is a critical resource that serve as a source of drinking water to large human population and, provide long-term water for irrigation purposes. In recent years; however, this precious resource being increasingly threatened, due to natural and anthropogenic activities. A variety of contaminants of emerging concern such as pharmaceuticals and personal care products, perfluorinated compounds, endocrine disruptors, and biological agents detected in the groundwater sources of both developing and developed nations. In this review paper, various studies have been included that documented instances of groundwater pollution and vulnerability to emerging contaminants of concern, pesticides, heavy metals, and leaching potential of various organic and inorganic contaminants from poorly managed residual waste products (biosolids, landfills, latrines, and septic tanks etc.). Understanding vulnerability of groundwater to pollution is critical to maintain the integrity of groundwater. A section on managed artificial recharge studies is included to highlight the sustainable approaches to groundwater conservation, replenishment and sustainability. This review paper is the synthesis of studies published in last one year that either documented the pollution problems or evaluated the vulnerability of groundwater pollution.

MANAGEMENT OF COMBINED SEWER OVERFLOW: RESEARCH PROGRAM CAPSTONE

EPA Science Inventory

Combined-sewer overflow (CSO) is a mixture of urban storm drainage, municipal-industrial wastewater, and subterranean infiltration. Untreated discharges of CSOs have caused substantial pollution impacts on the quality of receiving-water bodies. Problem constituents include visi...

MANAGEMENT OF COMBINED SEWER OVERFLOW RESEARCH PROGRAM CAPSTONE

EPA Science Inventory

Combined-sewer overflow (CSO) is a mixture of urban storm drainage, municipal-industrial wastewater, and subterranean infiltration. Untreated discharges of CSOs have caused substantial pollution impacts on the quality of receiving-water bodies. Problem constituents include ...

Cooperation control strategies for China's cross-region pollution in a lake basin based on green reduction cost.

PubMed

Li, Changmin; Sun, Dong; Xie, Xiaoqiang; Xue, Jian

2016-05-01

The cross-region water pollution issue has always been the widespread concern around the world. It becomes especially critical for China due to the imbalance relates to environmental costs that have accompanied rapid growth of economy. Though the government makes great efforts to improve it, the potential for water pollution conflict is still great. We consider the problem of determining combined control strategies for China's cross-region lake pollution based on the environmental green costs. The problem is first formulated as a generalized bilevel mathematical program where the upper level consists in each region that reduces environmental green costs including three parts: the reduction cost, pollution permit trade cost and cost of environment damage, while the lower level is represented by pollution permit equilibrium market. Finally, we take an empirical analysis in Taihu lake. The numerical study shows that the minimum costs of both total and regional are obviously superior to the current processing costs, which provides theoretical basis for the price of emission permits. Today, China's rapid gross domestic product (GDP) growth has come at a very high cost, as real estate prices have skyrocketed, the wealth gap has widened, and environmental pollution has worsened. China's central government is urged to correct the GDP-oriented performance evaluation system that is used to judge administrative region leaders. The cross-region water pollution issue has become a troubling issue that urgently needs to be resolved in China. This paper will not only actively aid efforts to govern Lake Taihu and other cross-region valleys, but it will also provide a supplement for theoretical research on cross-region pollution issues.

Pollution effects on fisheries — potential management activities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sindermann, C. J.

1980-03-01

Management of ocean pollution must be based on the best available scientific information, with adequate consideration of economic, social, and political realities. Unfortunately, the best available scientific information about pollution effects on fisheries is often fragmentary, and often conjectural; therefore a primary concern of management should be a critical review and assessment of available factual information about effects of pollutants on fish and shellfish stocks. A major problem in any such review and assessment is the separation of pollutant effects from the effects of all the other environmental factors that influence survival and well-being of marine animals. Data from long-term monitoring of resource abundance, and from monitoring of all determinant environmental variables, will be required for analyses that lead to resolution of the problem. Information must also be acquired about fluxes of contaminants through resource-related ecosystems, and about contaminant effects on resource species as demonstrated in field and laboratory experiments. Other possible management activities include: (1) encouragement of continued efforts to document clearly the localized and general effects of pollution on living resources; (2) continued pressure to identify and use reliable biological indicators of environmental degradation (indicators of choice at present are: unusually high levels of genetic and other anomalies in the earliest life history stages; presence of pollution-associated disease signs, particularly fin erosion and ulcers, in fish; and biochemical/physiological changes); and (3) major efforts to reduce inputs of pollutants clearly demonstrated to be harmful to living resources, from point sources as well as ocean dumping. Such pollution management activities, based on continuous efforts in stock assessment, environmental assessment, and experimental studies, can help to insure that rational decisions will be made about uses and abuses of coastal/estuarine waters.

Air Quality in Megacities: Lessons Learned from Mexico City Field Measurements

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Molina, L. T.

2014-12-01

More than half of the world's population now lives in urban areas because of the opportunities for better jobs, access to city services, cultural and educational activities, and a desire for more stimulating human interaction. At the same time, many of these urban centers are expanding rapidly, giving rise to the phenomenon of megacities. In recent decades air pollution has become not only one of the most important environmental problems of megacities, but also presents serious consequences to human health and ecosystems and economic costs to society. Although the progress to date in combating air pollution problems in developed and some developing world megacities has been impressive, many challenges remain including the need to improve air quality while simultaneously mitigating climate change. This talk will present the results and the lessons learned from field measurements conducted in Mexico City Metropolitan Area - one of the world's largest megacities - over the past decade. While each city has its own unique circumstances, the need for an integrated assessment approach in addressing complex environmental problems is the same. There is no single strategy in solving air pollution problems in megacities; a mix of policy measures based on sound scientific findings will be necessary to improve air quality, protect public health, and mitigate climate change.

Air Pollution Control and Waste Management

EPA Science Inventory

This special issue addresses air pollution control and waste management, two environmental problems that are usually considered separately. Indeed, one of the challenges of environmental protection is that problems are addressed in 'media-specific' ways. In reality, these problem...

Impact of nutrition on pollutant toxicity: an update with new insights into epigenetic regulation

PubMed Central

Hoffman, Jessie B; Petriello, Michael C; Hennig, Bernhard

2017-01-01

Exposure to environmental pollutants is a global health problem and is associated with the development of many chronic diseases including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and metabolic syndrome. There is a growing body of evidence that nutrition can both positively and negatively modulate the toxic effects of pollutant exposure. Diets high in pro-inflammatory fats, such as linoleic acid, can exacerbate pollutant toxicity while diets rich in bioactive and anti-inflammatory food components, including omega-3 fatty acids and polyphenols, can attenuate toxicant-associated inflammation. Previously, researchers have elucidated direct mechanisms of nutritional modulation including alteration of NF-κB signaling, but recently increased focus has been given to the ways in which nutrition and pollutants affect epigenetics. Nutrition has been demonstrated to modulate epigenetic markers that have been linked either to increased disease risks or to protection against diseases. Overnutrition (i.e. obesity) and undernutrition (i.e. famine) have been observed to alter prenatal epigenetic tags that may increase the risk of offspring developing disease later in life. Conversely, bioactive food components, including curcumin, have been shown to alter epigenetic markers that suppress activation of NF-κB, thus reducing inflammatory responses. Exposure to pollutants also alters epigenetic markers and may contribute to inflammation and disease. It has been demonstrated that pollutants, via epigenetic modulations, can increase activation of NF-κB and upregulate miRNAs associated with inflammation, cardiac injury, and oxidative damage. Importantly, recent evidence suggests that nutritional components, including EGCG, can protect against pollutant-induced inflammation through epigenetic regulation of pro-inflammatory target genes of NF-κB. Further research is needed to better understand how nutrition can modulate pollutant toxicity through epigenetic regulation. Further research is needed to better understand how nutrition can modulate pollutant toxicity through epigenetic regulation. Therefore, the objective of this review is to elucidate the current evidence linking epigenetic changes to pollutant-induced diseases and how this regulation may be modulated by nutrients allowing for the development of future personalized lifestyle interventions. PMID:28076319

Visualization and Analysis of Light Pollution: a Case Study in Hong Kong

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wu, B.; Wong, H.

2012-07-01

The effects of light pollution problems in metropolitan areas are investigated in this study. Areas of Hong Kong are used as the source of three typical study cases. One case represents the regional scale, a second represents the district scale, and a third represents the street scale. Two light pollution parameters, Night Sky Brightness (NSB) and Street Light Level (SLL), are the focus of the analyses. Light pollution visualization approaches in relation to the different scales include various light pollution maps. They provide straightforward presentations of the light pollution situations in the study areas. The relationship between light pollution and several social-economic factors such as land use, household income, and types of outdoor lighting in the scale areas given, are examined. Results show that: (1) Land use may be one factor affecting light pollution in the regional scale; (2) A relatively strong correlation exists between light pollution and household income in the district scale; (3) The heaviest light pollution in the street scale is created by spotlights and also the different types of lighting from shops. The impact of the latter is in relation to the shop profile and size.

The contribution of socioeconomic factors to PM2.5 pollution in urban China.

PubMed

Jiang, Peng; Yang, Jun; Huang, Conghong; Liu, Huakui

2018-02-01

PM 2.5 pollution poses severe health risks to urban residents in low and middle-income countries. Existing studies have shown that the problem is affected by multiple socioeconomic factors. However, the relative contribution of these factors is not well understood, which sometimes leads to controversial controlling measures. In this study, we quantified the relative contribution of different socioeconomic factors, including the city size, industrial activities, and residents' activities, to PM 2.5 pollution in urban China between 2014 and 2015 by using structural equation model (SEM). Our results showed that industrial activities contributed more to PM 2.5 pollution than other factors. The city size and residents' activities also had significant impacts on PM 2.5 pollution. The combined influence of all socioeconomic factors could explain between 44% and 48% of variation in PM 2.5 pollution, which indicated the existence of influences from other factors such as weather conditions and outside sources of pollutants. Findings from our study can contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of the socioeconomic causes of PM 2.5 pollution. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Status of industrial fluoride pollution and its diverse adverse health effects in man and domestic animals in India.

PubMed

Choubisa, Shanti Lal; Choubisa, Darshana

2016-04-01

Hydrofluorosis in humans and domestic animals is a worldwide health problem and caused by a prolonged period of fluoride exposure through drinking of fluoride contaminated water. But in recent years, due to rapid industrialization in India, diverse serious health problems among industrial workers and residents and domestic animals living in the industrial areas due to fluoride pollution are on the rise. A number of coal-burning and industrial activities such as power-generating stations, welding operations and the manufacturing or production of steel, iron, aluminum, zinc, phosphorus, chemical fertilizers, bricks, glass, plastic, cement, and hydrofluoric acid are generally discharging fluoride in both gaseous and particulate/dust forms into surrounding environments which create a industrial fluoride pollution and are an important cause of occupational exposure to fluoride in several countries including India. An industrial emitted fluoride contaminates not only surrounding soil, air, and water but also vegetation, crops and many other biotic communities on which man and animals are generally dependants for food. Long- time of inhalation or ingestion of industrial fluoride also causes serious health problems in the forms of industrial and neighborhood fluorosis. In India, whatever research works conducted so far on the chronic industrial fluoride intoxication or poisoning (industrial and neighborhood fluorosis) in man and various species of domestic animals due to a prolonged period of industrial fluoride exposure or pollution (contamination) are critically reviewed in the present communication. Simultaneously, we are also focused the various bio-indicators and bio-markers for chronic industrial fluoride intoxication or pollution.

Where Do We Go from Here?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

MacLeish, William H.

1990-01-01

Explores environmental problem management alternatives cited as demonstrating the human potential for renewal and change. These alternatives include (1) management of wolf/rancher confrontations; (2) energy conservation; (3) agribusiness products and practices; (4) solar technology; and (5) air pollution control. (MCO)

Women's Ideas about the Health Effects of Household Air Pollution, Developed through Focus Group Discussions and Artwork in Southern Nepal.

PubMed

Devakumar, Delan; Qureshi, Zeshan; Mannell, Jenevieve; Baruwal, Manju; Sharma, Neha; Rehfuess, Eva; Saville, Naomi M; Manandhar, Dharma S; Osrin, David

2018-02-01

Household air pollution is a major cause of ill health, but few solutions have been effective to date. While many quantitative studies have been conducted, few have explored the lived experiences and perceptions of women who do the cooking, and as a result are those most exposed to household air pollution. In this study, we worked with groups of home cooks, and sought to use art as a means of engaging them in discussions of how household air pollution from cooking affects their lives. In the Terai district of southern Nepal, we held four focus groups that included 26 local women from urban and peri-urban areas, as well as six local artists. The women then met approximately weekly over four months, and produced images related to air pollution. Transcripts from the focus groups were reviewed independently by two authors, who initially categorised data deductively to pre-defined nodes, and subsequently inductively reviewed emergent themes. Women identified a number of health effects from air pollution. The main physical effects related to the eye and the respiratory system, and women and young children were seen as most vulnerable. The psychosocial effects of air pollution included reduced food intake by women and lethargy. Suggested solutions included modifications to the cooking process, changing the location of stoves, and increasing ventilation. The main barriers were financial. The lived experiences of women in southern Nepal around the problem of air pollution offers a more nuanced and context-specific understanding of the perceptions and challenges of addressing air pollution, which can be used to inform future interventions.

Women’s Ideas about the Health Effects of Household Air Pollution, Developed through Focus Group Discussions and Artwork in Southern Nepal

PubMed Central

Qureshi, Zeshan; Mannell, Jenevieve; Baruwal, Manju; Sharma, Neha; Rehfuess, Eva; Manandhar, Dharma S.; Osrin, David

2018-01-01

Household air pollution is a major cause of ill health, but few solutions have been effective to date. While many quantitative studies have been conducted, few have explored the lived experiences and perceptions of women who do the cooking, and as a result are those most exposed to household air pollution. In this study, we worked with groups of home cooks, and sought to use art as a means of engaging them in discussions of how household air pollution from cooking affects their lives. In the Terai district of southern Nepal, we held four focus groups that included 26 local women from urban and peri-urban areas, as well as six local artists. The women then met approximately weekly over four months, and produced images related to air pollution. Transcripts from the focus groups were reviewed independently by two authors, who initially categorised data deductively to pre-defined nodes, and subsequently inductively reviewed emergent themes. Women identified a number of health effects from air pollution. The main physical effects related to the eye and the respiratory system, and women and young children were seen as most vulnerable. The psychosocial effects of air pollution included reduced food intake by women and lethargy. Suggested solutions included modifications to the cooking process, changing the location of stoves, and increasing ventilation. The main barriers were financial. The lived experiences of women in southern Nepal around the problem of air pollution offers a more nuanced and context-specific understanding of the perceptions and challenges of addressing air pollution, which can be used to inform future interventions. PMID:29389909

Satellite passive remote sensing of off-shore pollutants, volume 2

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1979-01-01

Satellite detection and monitoring of off-shore dumped pollutants, other than oil, are discussed. Summaries of satellite sensor performance in three spectral bands (visible, infrared, and microwave) are presented. The bulk of the report gives all the calculations, trade-offs and limitations of the three sensor systems. It is asserted that the problem of pollution monitoring is not a sensor problem but a problem of mathematical modeling and data processing.

Understanding enabling capacities for managing the 'wicked problem' of nonpoint source water pollution in catchments: a conceptual framework.

PubMed

Patterson, James J; Smith, Carl; Bellamy, Jennifer

2013-10-15

Nonpoint source (NPS) water pollution in catchments is a 'wicked' problem that threatens water quality, water security, ecosystem health and biodiversity, and thus the provision of ecosystem services that support human livelihoods and wellbeing from local to global scales. However, it is a difficult problem to manage because water catchments are linked human and natural systems that are complex, dynamic, multi-actor, and multi-scalar in nature. This in turn raises questions about understanding and influencing change across multiple levels of planning, decision-making and action. A key challenge in practice is enabling implementation of local management action, which can be influenced by a range of factors across multiple levels. This paper reviews and synthesises important 'enabling' capacities that can influence implementation of local management action, and develops a conceptual framework for understanding and analysing these in practice. Important enabling capacities identified include: history and contingency; institutional arrangements; collaboration; engagement; vision and strategy; knowledge building and brokerage; resourcing; entrepreneurship and leadership; and reflection and adaptation. Furthermore, local action is embedded within multi-scalar contexts and therefore, is highly contextual. The findings highlight the need for: (1) a systemic and integrative perspective for understanding and influencing change for managing the wicked problem of NPS water pollution; and (2) 'enabling' social and institutional arenas that support emergent and adaptive management structures, processes and innovations for addressing NPS water pollution in practice. These findings also have wider relevance to other 'wicked' natural resource management issues facing similar implementation challenges. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Proceedings of the American Medical Association Congress on Environmental Health Problems (1st, Chicago, Illinois, May 1-2, 1964).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

American Medical Association, Chicago, IL.

Included are the proceedings of the first Congress on Environmental Health. Topics related to air pollution include the extent of human exposure, its relation to disease, evaluating effects clinically, community control and the physician's role. Topics related to pesticides include treatment of poisonings, occurrence of poisonings, safe usage, and…

For multidisciplinary research on the application of remote sensing to water resources problems. [including crop yield, watershed soils, and vegetation mapping in Wisconsin

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kiefer, R. W. (Principal Investigator)

1979-01-01

Research on the application of remote sensing to problems of water resources was concentrated on sediments and associated nonpoint source pollutants in lakes. Further transfer of the technology of remote sensing and the refinement of equipment and programs for thermal scanning and the digital analysis of images were also addressed.

Pollution Permanent Monitoring PANEL--2013 Annual Report

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Everett, Lorne G.

2014-07-01

The following sections are included: * POLLUTION PANEL ACTIVITIES 2013 * NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 2013 * MTBE NEW HAMPSHIRE LITIGATION--APRIL 12, 2013 * ALTERNATIVES FOR MANAGING THE NATION's COMPLEX CONTAMINATED GROUNDWATER SITES--NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES, 2013 * HUMAN HEALTH EFFECTS OF TRICHLOROETHYLENE: KEY FINDINGS AND SCIENTIFIC ISSUES. MARCH 1, 2013 REVIEWS * BAROMETRIC PRESSURE DRIVES SOIL-GAS CONCENTRATIONS * WATER RESOURCES--TERRORISM TARGETS * WITH A LITTLE INGENUITY THE PROBLEM IS NOT INSOLUBLE * HIGH RISE BUILDINGS * TERRORIST MATERIAL MAY DESTROY WATER TRANSMISSION INFRASTRUCTURE * WATER THREAT CONCLUSIONS * MULTINATIONAL REPOSITORIES

Exploring Pesticide Pollution

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rillo, Thomas J.

1974-01-01

Examines environmental problems associated with the use of pesticides, and suggests thirty learning activities designed to give elementary school children a better understanding of the problem of pesticide pollution. (JR)

Widespread waterborne pollution in central Swedish lakes and the Baltic Sea from pre-industrial mining and metallurgy.

PubMed

Bindler, Richard; Renberg, Ingemar; Rydberg, Johan; Andrén, Thomas

2009-07-01

Metal pollution is viewed as a modern problem that began in the 19th century and accelerated through the 20th century; however, in many parts of the globe this view is wrong. Here, we studied past waterborne metal pollution in lake sediments from the Bergslagen region in central Sweden, one of many historically important mining regions in Europe. With a focus on lead (including isotopes), we trace mining impacts from a local scale, through a 120-km-long river system draining into Mälaren--Sweden's third largest lake, and finally also the Baltic Sea. Comparison of sediment and peat records shows that pollution from Swedish mining was largely waterborne and that atmospheric deposition was dominated by long-range transport from other regions. Swedish ore lead is detectable from the 10th century, but the greatest impact occurred during the 16th-18th centuries with improvements occurring over recent centuries, i.e., historical pollution > modern industrial pollution.

Source selection problem of competitive power plants under government intervention: a game theory approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mahmoudi, Reza; Hafezalkotob, Ashkan; Makui, Ahmad

2014-06-01

Pollution and environmental protection in the present century are extremely significant global problems. Power plants as the largest pollution emitting industry have been the cause of a great deal of scientific researches. The fuel or source type used to generate electricity by the power plants plays an important role in the amount of pollution produced. Governments should take visible actions to promote green fuel. These actions are often called the governmental financial interventions that include legislations such as green subsidiaries and taxes. In this paper, by considering the government role in the competition of two power plants, we propose a game theoretical model that will help the government to determine the optimal taxes and subsidies. The numerical examples demonstrate how government could intervene in a competitive market of electricity to achieve the environmental objectives and how power plants maximize their utilities in each energy source. The results also reveal that the government's taxes and subsidiaries effectively influence the selected fuel types of power plants in the competitive market.

Applications of remote sensing to estuarine problems. [estuaries of Chesapeake Bay

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Munday, J. C., Jr.

1975-01-01

A variety of siting problems for the estuaries of the lower Chesapeake Bay have been solved with cost beneficial remote sensing techniques. Principal techniques used were repetitive 1:30,000 color photography of dye emitting buoys to map circulation patterns, and investigation of water color boundaries via color and color infrared imagery to scales of 1:120,000. Problems solved included sewage outfall siting, shoreline preservation and enhancement, oil pollution risk assessment, and protection of shellfish beds from dredge operations.

Your Environment and What You Can Do About It.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Saltonstall, Richard

This book is written for the action oriented citizen concerned about pollution problems involving our physical environment. The book explains what can be done concerning problems in air and water pollution, noise, chemical pollution of the land, urban sprawl, clogged highways, rural decay, waste disposal, and litter. The book also comments on what…

Water Pollution (Causes, Mechanisms, Solution).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Strandberg, Carl

Written for the general public, this book illustrates the causes, status, problem areas, and prediction and control of water pollution. Water pollution is one of the most pressing issues of our time and the author communicates the complexities of this problem to the reader in common language. The purpose of the introductory chapter is to show what…

The Ozone Problem | Ground-level Ozone | New England | US ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

2017-04-10

Many factors impact ground-level ozone development, including temperature, wind speed and direction, time of day, and driving patterns. Due to its dependence on weather conditions, ozone is typically a summertime pollutant and a chief component of summertime smog.

Libraries and the Environment.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

LaRue, James; And Others

1991-01-01

Three articles address issues that relate to libraries and the environment. Highlights include recycling projects; buying recycled paper products and other ecology-minded purchasing ideas; energy-efficient libraries; indoor pollution problems; a list of environmental information sources; designing library buildings; and activities that libraries…

Control of ammonia and urea emissions from urea manufacturing facilities of Petrochemical Industries Company (PIC), Kuwait.

PubMed

Khan, A R; Al-Awadi, L; Al-Rashidi, M S

2016-06-01

Petrochemical Industries Company (PIC) in Kuwait has mitigated the pollution problem of ammonia and urea dust by replacing the melting and prilling units of finished-product urea prills with an environmentally friendly granulation process. PIC has financed a research project conducted by the Coastal and Air Pollution Program's research staff at the Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research to assess the impact of pollution control strategies implemented to maintain a healthy productive environment in and around the manufacturing premises. The project was completed in three phases: the first phase included the pollution monitoring of the melting and prilling units in full operation, the second phase covered the complete shutdown period where production was halted completely and granulation units were installed, and the last phase encompassed the current modified status with granulation units in full operation. There was substantial decrease in ammonia emissions, about 72%, and a 52.7% decrease in urea emissions with the present upgrading of old melting and prilling units to a state-of-the-art technology "granulation process" for a final finished product. The other pollutants, sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen oxides (NOx), and volatile organic compounds (VOCs), have not shown any significant change, as the present modification has not affected the sources of these pollutants. Petrochemical Industries Company (PIC) in Kuwait has ammonia urea industries, and there were complaints about ammonia and urea dust pollution. PIC has resolved this problem by replacing "melting and prilling unit" of final product urea prills by more environmentally friendly "granulation unit." Environmental Pollution and Climate Program has been assigned the duty of assessing the outcome of this change and how that influenced ammonia and urea dust emissions from the urea manufacturing plant.

Participatory measurements of individual exposure to air pollution in urban areas

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Madelin, Malika; Duché, Sarah; Dupuis, Vincent

2016-04-01

Air pollution is a major environmental issue in urban areas. Chronic and high concentration exposure presents a health risk with cardiovascular and respiratory problems and longer term nervous, carcinogenic and endocrine problems. In addition to the estimations based on simulations of both background and regional pollution and of the pollution induced by the traffic, knowing exposure of each individual is a key issue. This exposure reflects the high variability of pollution at fine spatial and time scales, according to the proximity of emission sources and the urban morphology outside. The emergence of citizen science and the progress of miniaturized electronics, low-cost and accessible to (almost) everyone, offers new opportunities for the monitoring of air pollution, but also for the citizens' awareness of their individual exposure to air pollution. In this communication, we propose to present a participatory research project 'What is your air?' (project funded by the Île-de-France region), which aims at raising awareness on the theme of air quality, its monitoring with sensors assembled in a FabLab workshop and an online participatory mapping. Beyond the discussion on technical choices, the stages of manufacture or the sensor calibration procedures, we discuss the measurements made, in this case the fine particle concentration measurements, which are dated and georeferenced (communication via a mobile phone). They show high variability between the measurements (in part linked to the substrates, land use, traffic) and low daily contrasts. In addition to the analysis of the measurements and their comparison with the official data, we also discuss the choice of representation of information, including mapping, and therefore the message about pollution to communicate.

Transgenic Plants as Sensors of Environmental Pollution Genotoxicity

PubMed Central

Kovalchuk, Igor; Kovalchuk, Olga

2008-01-01

Rapid technological development is inevitably associated with many environmental problems which primarily include pollution of soil, water and air. In many cases, the presence of contamination is difficult to assess. It is even more difficult to evaluate its potential danger to the environment and humans. Despite the existence of several whole organism-based and cell-based models of sensing pollution and evaluation of toxicity and mutagenicity, there is no ideal system that allows one to make a quick and cheap assessment. In this respect, transgenic organisms that can be intentionally altered to be more sensitive to particular pollutants are especially promising. Transgenic plants represent an ideal system, since they can be grown at the site of pollution or potentially dangerous sites. Plants are ethically more acceptable and esthetically more appealing than animals as sensors of environmental pollution. In this review, we will discuss various transgenic plant-based models that have been successfully used for biomonitoring genotoxic pollutants. We will also discuss the benefits and potential drawbacks of these systems and describe some novel ideas for the future generation of efficient transgenic phytosensors. PMID:27879779

Biosorption: An Interplay between Marine Algae and Potentially Toxic Elements-A Review.

PubMed

Bilal, Muhammad; Rasheed, Tahir; Sosa-Hernández, Juan Eduardo; Raza, Ali; Nabeel, Faran; Iqbal, Hafiz M N

2018-02-19

In recent decades, environmental pollution has emerged as a core issue, around the globe, rendering it of fundamental concern to eco-toxicologists, environmental biologists, eco-chemists, pathologists, and researchers from other fields. The dissolution of polluting agents is a leading cause of environmental pollution of all key spheres including the hydrosphere, lithosphere, and biosphere, among others. The widespread occurrence of various pollutants including toxic heavy metals and other emerging hazardous contaminants is a serious concern. With increasing scientific knowledge, socioeconomic awareness, human health problems, and ecological apprehensions, people are more concerned about adverse health outcomes. Against this background, several removal methods have been proposed and implemented with the aim of addressing environmental pollution and sustainable and eco-friendly development. Among them, the biosorption of pollutants using naturally inspired sources, e.g., marine algae, has considerable advantages. In the past few years, marine algae have been extensively studied due to their natural origin, overall cost-effective ratio, and effectiveness against a broader pollutant range; thus, they are considered a potential alternative to the conventional methods used for environmental decontamination. Herein, an effort has been made to highlight the importance of marine algae as naturally inspired biosorbents and their role in biosorption. Biosorption mechanisms and factors affecting biosorption activities are also discussed in this review. The utilization of marine algae as a biosorbent for the removal of numerous potentially toxic elements has also been reviewed.

Biosorption: An Interplay between Marine Algae and Potentially Toxic Elements—A Review

PubMed Central

Bilal, Muhammad; Rasheed, Tahir; Raza, Ali; Nabeel, Faran

2018-01-01

In recent decades, environmental pollution has emerged as a core issue, around the globe, rendering it of fundamental concern to eco-toxicologists, environmental biologists, eco-chemists, pathologists, and researchers from other fields. The dissolution of polluting agents is a leading cause of environmental pollution of all key spheres including the hydrosphere, lithosphere, and biosphere, among others. The widespread occurrence of various pollutants including toxic heavy metals and other emerging hazardous contaminants is a serious concern. With increasing scientific knowledge, socioeconomic awareness, human health problems, and ecological apprehensions, people are more concerned about adverse health outcomes. Against this background, several removal methods have been proposed and implemented with the aim of addressing environmental pollution and sustainable and eco-friendly development. Among them, the biosorption of pollutants using naturally inspired sources, e.g., marine algae, has considerable advantages. In the past few years, marine algae have been extensively studied due to their natural origin, overall cost-effective ratio, and effectiveness against a broader pollutant range; thus, they are considered a potential alternative to the conventional methods used for environmental decontamination. Herein, an effort has been made to highlight the importance of marine algae as naturally inspired biosorbents and their role in biosorption. Biosorption mechanisms and factors affecting biosorption activities are also discussed in this review. The utilization of marine algae as a biosorbent for the removal of numerous potentially toxic elements has also been reviewed. PMID:29463058

Applications of aerospace technology in the public interest: Pollution measurement

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Heins, C. F.; Johnson, F. D.

1974-01-01

This study of selected NASA contributions to the improvement of pollution measurement examines the pervasiveness and complexity of the economic, political, and social issues in the environmental field; provides a perspective on the relationship between the conduct of aerospace R and D and specific improvements in on site air pollution monitoring equipment now in use; describes the basic relationship between the development of satellite-based monitoring systems and their influence on long-term progress in improving environmental quality; and comments on how both instrumentation and satellite remote sensing are contributing to an improved environment. Examples of specific gains that have been made in applying aerospace R and D to environmental problem-solving are included.

Bioremediation of petroleum-contaminated soil: A Review

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yuniati, M. D.

2018-02-01

Petroleum is the major source of energy for various industries and daily life. Releasing petroleum into the environment whether accidentally or due to human activities is a main cause of soil pollution. Soil contaminated with petroleum has a serious hazard to human health and causes environmental problems as well. Petroleum pollutants, mainly hydrocarbon, are classified as priority pollutants. The application of microorganisms or microbial processes to remove or degrade contaminants from soil is called bioremediation. This microbiological decontamination is claimed to be an efficient, economic and versatile alternative to physicochemical treatment. This article presents an overview about bioremediation of petroleum-contaminated soil. It also includes an explanation about the types of bioremediation technologies as well as the processes.

Attitude Change as a Result of a Short Course on Environmental Quality.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Milson, James L.

This study was conducted to determine what attitude changes take place in a group of secondary school teachers as a result of participation in a short course on the environmental problems of air pollution, water pollution, noise pollution, population problems and the use of natural resources. A secondary purpose was to determine if the teachers…

Biology and Water Pollution Control.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Warren, Charles E.

Within this text, the reader is attuned to the role biology can and should play in combating the alarming increase in water pollution. Both the urgency of the problem and the biological techniques that are being developed to cope with the water pollution crisis are scrutinized; what is and is not known about the problem is explained; past,…

Haze, public health and mitigation measures in China: A review of the current evidence for further policy response.

PubMed

Gao, Jinghong; Woodward, Alistair; Vardoulakis, Sotiris; Kovats, Sari; Wilkinson, Paul; Li, Liping; Xu, Lei; Li, Jing; Yang, Jun; Li, Jing; Cao, Lina; Liu, Xiaobo; Wu, Haixia; Liu, Qiyong

2017-02-01

With rapid economic development, China has been plagued by choking air pollution in recent years, and the frequent occurrence of haze episodes has caused widespread public concern. The purpose of this study is to describe the sources and formation of haze, summarize the mitigation measures in force, review the relationship between haze pollution and public health, and to discuss the challenges, potential research directions and policy options. Haze pollution has both natural and man-made causes, though it is anthropogenic sources that are the major contributors. Accumulation of air pollutants, secondary formation of aerosols, stagnant meteorological conditions, and trans-boundary transportation of pollutants are the principal causes driving the formation and evolution of haze. In China, haze includes gaseous pollutants and fine particles, of which PM 2.5 is the dominant component. Short and long-term exposure to haze pollution are associated with a range of negative health outcomes, including respiratory diseases, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, mental health problems, lung cancer and premature death. China has paid increasing attention to the improvement of air quality, and has introduced action plans and policies to tackle pollution, but many interventions have only temporary effects. There may be fierce resistance from industry groups and some government agencies, and often it is challenging to enforce relevant control measures and laws. We discuss the potential policy options for prevention, the need for wider public dialogue and the implications for scientific research. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The indoor air we breathe.

PubMed Central

Oliver, L C; Shackleton, B W

1998-01-01

Increasingly recognized as a potential public health problem since the outbreak of Legionnaire's disease in Philadelphia in 1976, polluted indoor air has been associated with health problems that include asthma, sick building syndrome, multiple chemical sensitivity, and hypersensitivity pneumonitis. Symptoms are often nonspecific and include headache, eye and throat irritation, chest tightness and shortness of breath, and fatigue. Air-borne contaminants include commonly used chemicals, vehicular exhaust, microbial organisms, fibrous glass particles, and dust. Identified causes include defective building design and construction, aging of buildings and their ventilation systems, poor climate control, inattention to building maintenance. A major contributory factor is the explosion in the use of chemicals in building construction and furnishing materials over the past four decades. Organizational issues and psychological variables often contribute to the problem and hinder its resolution. This article describes the health problems related to poor indoor air quality and offers solutions. Images p398-a p399-a PMID:9769764

Water Pollution and Leukemia: A Model for Interdisciplinary Research in the Classroom Experiences Incorporating Effective Pedagogical Approaches for Community College General Biology I Lab Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Xu, Na; Porter-Morgan, Holly; Doran, Nathan; Keller, Charles

2016-01-01

STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) education in the United States faces a host of problems including low recruitment and retention in STEM disciplines, under-representation of multiple segments of the US population, and a host of other issues. These problems are well recognized and a variety of solutions are being implemented…

Water Quality Pollution, Treatment and Control in Contemporary and Future Environmental Education.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zoller, Uri

1988-01-01

Deals with the issue of water education, including problems, what should be done, what can be done, and what to do. Presents two curricular units on water and two interdisciplinary, environmentally oriented courses for use in Israel. (YP)

An experimental study of the atmospheric boundary layer modified by a change in surface roughness and surface temperature

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Tieleman, H. W.; Derrington, D. B., Jr.

1977-01-01

Turbulent flow, resembling an on-shore flow from the ocean crossing the beach at an oblique angle, is investigated. Measurements of this flow have been taken at high sample rates and include measurements at various heights, high enough to describe the portion of the mean wind and temperature profiles and fluxes that are of interest for the solution of practical engineering problems. These problems could include air pollution (fumigation and plume trapping), operation of low flying aircraft, crop-spraying and crop-dusting operations.

Are megacities viable? A cautionary tale from Mexico City.

PubMed

Ezcurra, E; Mazari-hiriart, M

1996-01-01

This article describes the poor environmental and living conditions in Mexico City due to its huge size. Mexico City's size is a challenge to sustainability, and the outcome is unknown. Mexico City and the geographic basin surrounding it included about 18.5 million population in 1995. The basin and surrounding volcanic ranges include nine major environmental zones. Urban growth followed four stages. Different cultures applied different solutions to water supply problems. The basin shifted from self-sufficiency to reliance on 31% of supplies from external watersheds. The water table is declining and canals are polluted. Irrigated agriculture is disappearing. There is an average water deficit of over 800 million cubic meters per year. Mexico City is actually sinking due to groundwater exploitation. There is bacterial contamination of wells due to improper seals. About 75% of the population has access to wastewater treatment and sanitation, but sewage treatment plants operate at under 50% efficiency and treat only about 7% of the total wastewater. Atmospheric pollution from suspended particles has been a problem for decades. Ozone was the most significant air contaminant in 1994. Lead was the most harmful pollutant in 1986. Air pollutants may be the source of submucosal inflammations. Industrial areas are contaminated with suspended particles and sulfur dioxide. High traffic areas have high carbon monoxide levels. Atmospheric pollution has affected the quality of the rainwater. The city survives by importing food, energy, wood, water, building materials, and other products. The development model aims to improve quality of life. The city has been the center of political power since Aztec times, and its preeminent position forces government action. The author concludes that there are limits to urbanization, which the city is approaching rapidly.

Colombia's discharge fee program: incentives for polluters or regulators?

PubMed

Blackman, Allen

2009-01-01

Colombia's discharge fee system for water effluents is often held up as a model of a well-functioning, economic incentive pollution control program in a developing country. Yet few objective evaluations of the program have appeared. Based on a variety of primary and secondary data, this paper finds that in its first 5 years, the program was beset by a number of serious problems including limited implementation in many regions, widespread noncompliance by municipal sewerage authorities, and a confused relationship between discharge fees and emissions standards. Nevertheless, in some watersheds, pollution loads dropped significantly after the program was introduced. While proponents claim the incentives that discharge fees created for polluters to cut emissions in a cost-effective manner were responsible, this paper argues that the incentives they created for regulatory authorities to improve permitting, monitoring, and enforcement were at least as important.

Power Generation: The Next 30 Years

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Holcomb, Robert W.

1970-01-01

Discusses pollution problems associated with power production. Estimates power consumption in the 1980's and the availability of fossil and nuclear fuel resources. Emphasizes needed research on air pollution, nuclear pollution, and thermal pollution. (EB)

Air pollution effects on the guard cells of the injury resistant leaf of Laurus nobilis L

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Christodoulakis, N.S.

1993-09-01

The need for cleaner air has led to detailed investigations not only on the sources and types of air pollutants but also on the effect that these compounds have on various life forms. The plants are the first [open quotes]victims[close quotes] of the air pollutants. Extensive literature exists on the structural damages and functional problems that plants suffer after being exposed to air pollutants. Many investigators prefer to deal with damages, caused to various organs, in plants growing in non polluted environments, after being fumigated with certain air pollutants. Others investigate the problems in plants growing in polluted areas thusmore » being subject to long-term exposure to air pollutants. Generally it seems that primary producers suffer injuries, most of the time serious, that finally lead to the suppression of photosynthesis with all the undesirable consequences that this situation has for the ecosystem. Unfortunately Athens is not only the most polluted city in Greece but also an example to be avoided among the most polluted cities in the world. Serious problems occur in plants living in this environment. One exception is Laurus nobilis, introduced as an injury resistant species. These researchers studied the plant cells and the structure of their organelles, focusing on the guard cells of the leaves. They occur on the underside of leaves and they are directly affected by polluted air. Studies show that the air pollution injury resistance of Laurus is genetic. 25 refs., 21 figs« less

An Overview of the 3C-STAR project

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Y.

2009-04-01

Over the past three decades, city clusters have played a leading role in the economic growth of China, owing to their collective economic capacity and interdependency. However, pollution prevention lags behind the economic boom, led to a general decline in air quality in city clusters. As a result, industrial emissions and traffic exhausts together contribute to high levels of ozone (O3) and fine particulate matter (PM2.5) pollution problems ranging from urban to regional scale. Such high levels of both primary and secondary airborne pollutants lead to the development of a (perhaps typically Chinese) "air pollution complex" concept. Air pollution complex is particularly true and significant in Beijing-Tianjin area, Pearl River Delta (PRD) and Yangtze River Delta. The concurrent high concentrations of O3 and PM2.5 in PRD as well as in other China city clusters have led to rather unique pollution characteristics due to interactions between primary emissions and photochemical processes, between gaseous compounds and aerosol phase species, and between local and regional scale processes. The knowledge and experience needed to find solutions to the unique pollution complex in China are still lacking. Starting from 2007, we launch a major project "Synthesized Prevention Techniques for Air Pollution Complex and Integrated Demonstration in Key City-Cluster Region" (3C-STAR) to address those problems scientifically and technically. The purpose of the project is to build up the capacity of regional air pollution control and to establish regional coordination mechanism for joint implementation of pollution control. The project includes a number of key components technically: regional air quality monitoring network and super-sites, regional dynamic emission inventory of multi-pollutants, regional ensemble air quality forecasting model system, and regional management system supported by decision making platform. The 3C-STAR project selected PRD as a core area to have technical demonstration, and thus provide opportunities as well as challenges for PRD to improve its regional air quality. An integrated field measurement campaign 3C-STAR2008 was organized during October 15-November 19, 2008, including 3-D regional air quality monitoring network, two super-sites, and in-site meteorological and air quality forecasting. With the efforts of more than 100 scientists and students from 12 research institutes, the 3C-STAR2008 was conducted with great success. A great amount of data with rigorous QA/QC procedures has been obtained and data analysis is underway. In this talk, an overview of the 3C-STAR project will be presented, together with major findings from previous PRD campaigns (PRD2004 and PRD2006).

Confronting Decision Cliffs: Diagnostic Assessment of Multi-Objective Evolutionary Algorithms' Performance for Addressing Uncertain Environmental Thresholds

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ward, V. L.; Singh, R.; Reed, P. M.; Keller, K.

2014-12-01

As water resources problems typically involve several stakeholders with conflicting objectives, multi-objective evolutionary algorithms (MOEAs) are now key tools for understanding management tradeoffs. Given the growing complexity of water planning problems, it is important to establish if an algorithm can consistently perform well on a given class of problems. This knowledge allows the decision analyst to focus on eliciting and evaluating appropriate problem formulations. This study proposes a multi-objective adaptation of the classic environmental economics "Lake Problem" as a computationally simple but mathematically challenging MOEA benchmarking problem. The lake problem abstracts a fictional town on a lake which hopes to maximize its economic benefit without degrading the lake's water quality to a eutrophic (polluted) state through excessive phosphorus loading. The problem poses the challenge of maintaining economic activity while confronting the uncertainty of potentially crossing a nonlinear and potentially irreversible pollution threshold beyond which the lake is eutrophic. Objectives for optimization are maximizing economic benefit from lake pollution, maximizing water quality, maximizing the reliability of remaining below the environmental threshold, and minimizing the probability that the town will have to drastically change pollution policies in any given year. The multi-objective formulation incorporates uncertainty with a stochastic phosphorus inflow abstracting non-point source pollution. We performed comprehensive diagnostics using 6 algorithms: Borg, MOEAD, eMOEA, eNSGAII, GDE3, and NSGAII to ascertain their controllability, reliability, efficiency, and effectiveness. The lake problem abstracts elements of many current water resources and climate related management applications where there is the potential for crossing irreversible, nonlinear thresholds. We show that many modern MOEAs can fail on this test problem, indicating its suitability as a useful and nontrivial benchmarking problem.

SO2 ABATEMENT FOR STATIONARY SOURCES IN JAPAN

EPA Science Inventory

The report gives results of a study of Japanese government efforts to regulate SOx emissions: the efforts were prompted by serious air pollution problems in Japan during the 1960s. Several technologies are being developed including production of low sulfur gas from coal, fuel des...

WHEN ISOTOPES AREN'T ENOUGH: ADDITIONAL INFORMATION TO CONSTRAIN MIXING PROBLEMS

EPA Science Inventory

Stable isotopes are often used as chemical tracers to determine the relative contributions of sources to a mixture. Ecological examples include partitioning pollution sources to air or water bodies, trophic links in food webs, plant water use from different soil horizons, source...

Banana Gold: Problem or Solution?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Joseph, Garnet

1992-01-01

Since 1955, the British banana industry has dominated the lives of the Caribs and other peoples in Dominica. Banana growing supplants other economic activities, including local food production; toxic chemicals and fertilizers pollute the land; community is dwindling; suicide is common; and child labor diminishes school attendance. (SV)

COMBINING SOURCES IN STABLE ISOTOPE MIXING MODELS: ALTERNATIVE METHODS

EPA Science Inventory

Stable isotope mixing models are often used to quantify source contributions to a mixture. Examples include pollution source identification; trophic web studies; analysis of water sources for soils, plants, or water bodies; and many others. A common problem is having too many s...

The S02 Concern in Developed Nations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Environmental Science and Technology, 1976

1976-01-01

Delegates of a working group on air pollution problems of the Economic Commission for Europe discussed the status of advanced technologies for controlling man-made emissions of sulfur dioxide. Technologies discussed included: coal washing, oil desulfurization, flue gas desulfurization, scrubbing, residual oil desulfurization, fluidized bed…

International Conference on Problems Related to the Stratosphere

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Huntress, W., Jr.

1977-01-01

The conference focused on four main areas of investigation: laboratory studies and stratospheric chemistry and constituents, sources for and chemical budget of stratospheric halogen compounds, sources for and chemical budget of stratospheric nitrous oxide, and the dynamics of decision making on regulation of potential pollutants of the stratosphere. Abstracts of the scientific sessions of the conference as well as complete transcriptions of the panel discussions on sources for an atmospheric budget of holocarbons and nitrous oxide are included. The political, social and economic issues involving regulation of potential stratospheric pollutants were examined extensively.

Three dimensional thermal pollution models. Volume 1: Review of mathematical formulations. [waste heat discharge from power plants and effects on ecosystems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lee, S. S.; Sengupta, S.

1978-01-01

A mathematical model package for thermal pollution analyses and prediction is presented. These models, intended as user's manuals, are three dimensional and time dependent using the primitive equation approach. Although they have sufficient generality for application at sites with diverse topographical features; they also present specific instructions regarding data preparation for program execution and sample problems. The mathematical formulation of these models is presented including assumptions, approximations, governing equations, boundary and initial conditions, numerical method of solution, and same results.

The public health relevance of air pollution abatement.

PubMed

Künzli, N

2002-07-01

Assuming a causal relationship between current levels of air pollution and morbidity/mortality, it is crucial to estimate the public health relevance of the problem. The derivation of air pollution attributable cases faces inherent uncertainties and requires influential assumptions. Based on the results of the trinational impact assessment study of Austria, France, and Switzerland, where prudent estimates of the air pollution attributable cases (mortality, chronic bronchitis incidence, hospital admissions, acute bronchitis among children, restricted activity days, asthma attacks) have been made, influential uncertainties are quantified in this review. The public health impact of smoking, environmental tobacco smoke, and air pollution on the prevalence of chronic cough/phlegm are outlined. Despite all methodological caveats, impact assessment studies clearly suggest that public health largely benefits from better air quality. The studies are selective underestimates as they are strongly driven by mortality, but do not include full quantification of the impact on morbidity and their consequences on quality of life among the diseased and the caregivers. Air pollution abatement strategies are usually political in nature, targeting at polities, regulation and technology in mobile or stationary sources rather than at individuals. It is of note that key clean air strategies converge into abatement of climate change. In general, energy consumption is very closely related to both air pollution and greenhouse gases. The dominant causes of both problems are the excessive and inefficient combustion of fossil fuel. Thus, for many policy options, the benefit of air pollution abatement will go far beyond what prudent health-impact assessments may derive. From a climate change and air pollution perspective, improved energy efficiency and a strong and decisive departure from the "fossil fuel" combustion society is a science-based must. Health professionals must raise their voices in the political decision process to give strong support for clean air policies, both on a national and international level.

Organic contamination and remediation in the agricultural soils of China: A critical review.

PubMed

Sun, Jianteng; Pan, Lili; Tsang, Daniel C W; Zhan, Yu; Zhu, Lizhong; Li, Xiangdong

2018-02-15

Soil pollution is a global problem in both developed and developing countries. Countries with rapidly developing economies such as China are faced with significant soil pollution problems due to accelerated industrialization and urbanization over the last decades. This paper provides an overview of published scientific data on soil pollution across China with particular focus on organic contamination in agricultural soils. Based on the related peer-reviewed papers published since 2000 (n=203), we evaluated the priority organic contaminants across China, revealed their spatial and temporal distributions at the national scale, identified their possible sources and fates in soil, assessed their potential environmental risks, and presented the challenges in current remediation technologies regarding the combined organic pollution of agricultural soils. The primary pollutants in Northeast China were polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) due to intensive fossil fuel combustion. The concentrations of organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) and phthalic acid esters (PAEs) were higher in North and Central China owing to concentrated agricultural activities. The levels of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were higher in East and South China primarily because of past industrial operations and improper electronic waste processing. The co-existence of organic contaminants was severe in the Yangtze River Delta, Pearl River Delta, and Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region, which are the most populated and industrialized regions in China. Integrated biological-chemical remediation technologies, such as surfactant-enhanced bioremediation, have potential uses in the remediation of soil contaminated by multiple contaminants. This critical review highlighted several future research directions including combined pollution, interfacial interactions, food safety, bioavailability, ecological effects, and integrated remediation methods for combined organic pollution in soil. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The effects of transboundary air pollution following major events in China on air quality in the U.S.: Evidence from Chinese New Year and sandstorms.

PubMed

Ngo, N S; Zhong, N; Bao, X

2018-04-15

Transboundary air pollution is a global environmental and public health problem including in the U.S., where pollution emissions from China, the largest emitter of anthropogenic air pollution in the world, can travel across the Pacific Ocean and reach places like California and Oregon. We examine the effects of transboundary air pollution following major events in China, specifically sandstorms, a natural-occurring source of air pollution, and Chinese New Year, a major 7-day holiday, on background air quality in the U.S. We focus on high elevation sites on the west coast between 2000 and 2013. We use regression analysis and a natural experiment to exploit the variation in the timing of these events in China, which are plausibly uncorrelated to other factors that affect air quality in China and the U.S. We find that sandstorms are associated with statistically significant increases in background coarse and fine particulate matter (PM) in the U.S., representing between 16 and 39% of average weekly PM levels. We also find Chinese New Year is associated with modest reductions in background air quality in the U.S., representing between 0.4 and 2.5% of PM levels. Findings are robust to different models and falsification tests. These results suggest that regression analysis could be a powerful tool to complement other, more widely used techniques in the environmental sciences that study this problem. This also has important implications for policymakers, who could track major sandstorms in China and prepare for possible increased foreign pollution emissions in the U.S. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Problem of landfilling environments pollution by heavy metals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zilenina, V. G.; Ulanova, O. V.; Begunova, L. A.

2017-10-01

The article discusses the problems of snow and soil pollution by heavy metals. The results of physical and chemical special features of the deposit environment are given. Also, the results of snow mantle research in Irkutsk are described. The problem of manganese degradation from electrochemical cells disposed in the SMW areas is being discussed.

Transitioning from traditional: pollution, diet and the development of children.

PubMed

Schell, Lawrence M

2012-12-01

Indigenous people in virtually all parts of the world have transitioned from a traditional way of life to incorporate western culture to some degree. The forces driving these transitions are varied although there are some common features. Today, some traditional communities are exposed to pollution from nearby industries that have been located in undeveloped areas to take advantage of natural resources, inexpensive labor, lax regulations, or other features. Avoiding sources of pollution can safeguard health, but may have untoward consequences. When exposure to pollutants is through components of the traditional diet, people must alter their diet to avoid the pollutants, and in so doing, they transition away from traditional culture. Further, avoiding local, contaminated food involves eating commercial, mass produced foods that can contribute to obesity which is a growing problem worldwide. The choice between eating uncontaminated food from stores or maintaining traditional ways including a traditional diet, is a stressful one adding to the overwhelming stress of acculturation.

Air pollution effects on the leaf structure of laurus nobilis, an injury resistant species

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Christodoulakis, N.S.; Fasseas, C.

1990-02-01

Although the problems caused by the long-term exposure to air pollution are serious for the existence of plants, the support of plant life in heavily polluted areas is essential for the improvement of man's life in a hard-to-breath atmosphere. In Athens the problem of photochemical smog is so serious that life in the metropolitan area becomes dangerous. That is why the Laurus nobilis (laurel) plants growing on the partition isle of a continuously traffic-loaded and heavily polluted main street in Athens became the subject of investigation of the effects of long-term exposure to air pollution.

Industrial air pollution is a threat to NY's grape industry

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Jordan, T.D.

1977-01-01

Air pollution has become a serious problem for the grape industry in New York's Great Lakes region. Ozone is discussed in relation to crop damage. There are several by-products of coal-combustion and steel manufacture that may cause serious plant injury. They include: sulfur dioxide, hydrogen fluoride, nitrous oxide, and several of the heavy metals, such as arsenic, mercury, and lead. A leaf injury, called Brown Leaf, has been identified as oxidant stipple, which is caused by excessive ozone. It is evident that excessive soil moisture results in more oxidant stipple. In 1977, an expanded research effort has been undertaken tomore » determine the effects of other air pollutants, such as sulfur dioxide.« less

WHEN ISOTOPES AREN'T ENOUGH: USING ADDITIONAL INFORMATION TO CONSTRAIN MIXING PROBLEMS

EPA Science Inventory

Stable isotopes are often used as chemical tracers to determine the relative contributions of sources to a mixture. Ecological examples include partitioning pollution sources to air or water bodies, trophic links in food webs, plant water use from different soil horizons, source...

Environmental Awareness: Just a Pane of Glass Away.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kopchynski, Kevin

1982-01-01

Highlights several basic ecological principles and suggests corresponding classroom activities for grades five to eight that revolve around a freshwater aquarium. Basic ecological concepts, adaptations, characteristics of aquatic habitats, and pollution problems are outlined in separate tables. A short list of resource materials is included.…

LONGITUDINAL EFFECTS OF MULTIPLE POLLUTANTS ON CHILD GROWTH, BLOOD PRESSURE AND COGNITION

EPA Science Inventory

Cognitive deficits and child behavior problems not only impose costs and burdens on children and their families, but also on their school systems. The origins of adult diseases, including elevated blood pressure are in childhood, and environmental controls in childhood may sig...

Application of computational fluid mechanics to atmospheric pollution problems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hung, R. J.; Liaw, G. S.; Smith, R. E.

1986-01-01

One of the most noticeable effects of air pollution on the properties of the atmosphere is the reduction in visibility. This paper reports the results of investigations of the fluid dynamical and microphysical processes involved in the formation of advection fog on aerosols from combustion-related pollutants, as condensation nuclei. The effects of a polydisperse aerosol distribution, on the condensation/nucleation processes which cause the reduction in visibility are studied. This study demonstrates how computational fluid mechanics and heat transfer modeling can be applied to simulate the life cycle of the atmosphereic pollution problems.

Evaluation of ground-based particulate matter in association with measurements from space

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nakata, Makiko; Yoshida, Akihito; Sano, Itaru; Mukai, Sonoyo

2017-10-01

Air pollution is problem of deep concern to human health. In Japan, the air pollution levels experienced during the recent period of rapid economic growth have been reduced. However, fine particulate matter (PM2.5) has not yet reached the environmental standards at many monitoring stations. The Japanese environmental quality standard for PM2.5 that was ratified in 2009 lags about four decades behind other air pollutants, including sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide, photochemical oxidants, and suspended particulate matter. Recently, trans-national air pollutants have been observed to cause high concentrations of PM2.5 in Japan. To obtain wide distribution of PM2.5, the satellite based PM2.5 products are extremely useful. We investigate PM2.5 concentrations measured using ground samplers in Japan and the satellite based PM2.5 products, taking into consideration various geographical and weather conditions.

Sources of indoor air pollution and respiratory health in preschool children.

PubMed

Fuentes-Leonarte, Virginia; Ballester, Ferran; Tenías, José Maria

2009-01-01

We carried out bibliographic searches in PubMed and Embase.com for the period from 1996 to 2008 with the aim of reviewing the scientific literature on the relationship between various sources of indoor air pollution and the respiratory health of children under the age of five. Those studies that included adjusted correlation measurements for the most important confounding variables and which had an adequate population size were considered to be more relevant. The results concerning the relationship between gas energy sources and children's respiratory health were heterogeneous. Indoor air pollution from biomass combustion in the poorest countries was found to be an important risk factor for lower respiratory tract infections. Solvents involved in redecorating, DYI work, painting, and so forth, were found to be related to an increased risk for general respiratory problems. The distribution of papers depending on the pollution source showed a clear relationship with life-style and the level of development.

[Attaching importance to study on acute health risk assessment and adaptation of air pollution and climate change].

PubMed

Shi, X M

2017-03-10

Air pollution and climate change have become key environmental and public health problems around the world, which poses serious threat to human health. How to assess and mitigate the health risks and increase the adaptation of the public have become an urgent topic of research in this area. The six papers in this issue will provide important and rich information on design, analysis method, indicator selection and setting about acute health risk assessment and adaptation study of air pollution and climate change in China, reflecting the advanced conceptions of multi-center and area-specific study and multi-pollutant causing acute effect study. However, the number and type of the cities included in these studies were still limited. In future, researchers should further expand detailed multi-center and multi-area study coverage, conduct area specific predicting and early warning study and strengthen adaptation study.

Testing Method of Degrading Heavy Oil Pollution by Microorganisms

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wu, Qi; Zhao, Lin; Ma, Aijin

2018-01-01

With the development of human society, we are more and more relying on the petrochemical energy. The use of petrochemical energy not only brings us great convenience, but is also accompanied by a series of environmental pollution problems, especially oil pollution. Since it is impractical to restore all pollution problems, the proper use of some remedial measures, under the guidance of functional orientation, may be sufficient to minimize the risk of persistent and diffusing pollutants. In recent years, bioremediation technology has been gradually developed into a promising stage and has played a crucial role in the degradation of heavy oil pollution. Specially, microbes in the degradation of heavy oil have made a great contribution. This paper mainly summarizes the different kinds of microorganisms for degrading heavy oil and the detection method for degradation efficiency of heavy oil pollution.

Ammonia, phosphate, phenol, and copper(II) removal from aqueous solution by subsurface and surface flow constructed wetland.

PubMed

Mojiri, Amin; Ahmad, Zakiah; Tajuddin, Ramlah Mohd; Arshad, Mohd Fadzil; Gholami, Ali

2017-07-01

Water pollution is a global problem. During current study, ammonia, phosphate, phenol, and copper(II) were removed from aqueous solution by subsurface and surface flow constructed wetland. In current investigation, distilled water was polluted with four contaminants including ammonia, phosphate, copper (Cu), and phenol. Response surface methodology and central composite design were applied to optimize pollutant removal during treatment by subsurface flow constructed wetland (SSFCW). Contact time (12 to 80 h) and initial pollutant concentration (20 to 85 mg/L) were selected as independent factors; some upper and lower ranges were also monitored for accuracy. In SSFCW, water hyacinth transplanted in two substrate layers, namely zeolite and cockle shell. SSFCW removed 87.7, 81.4, 74.7, and 54.9% of ammonia, phosphate, Cu, and phenol, respectively, at optimum contact time (64.5 h) and initial pollutant concentration (69.2 mg/L). Aqueous solution was moved to a surface flow constructed wetland (SFCW) after treating via SSFCW at optimum conditions. In SFCW, Typha was transplanted to a fixed powdered substrate layer, including bentonite, zeolite, and cockle shell. SFCW could develop performance of this combined system and could improve elimination efficacy of the four contaminants to 99.99%. So this combined CW showed a good performance in removing pollutants. Graphical abstract Wetlands arrangement for treating aqueous solution in current study.

Civil and criminal liability for violation of environmental laws

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

McElveen, J.C.

1993-01-01

Over the past several years, increasing public attention has been focused on environmental pollution at facilities owned or operated by the United States Government, with particular emphasis on hazards that pollution may present to human health and the environment. In response to the concerns which are being raised, federal officials and private citizens have investigated a variety of options they have available to ensure environmental laws are being enforced and to compensate those injured by the pollution. More and more, those options have included litigation. Criminal prosecutions have been instituted against government employees, and civil suits have been filed againstmore » the government, against those who contributed to the perceived problem and against those who are endeavoring to clean up the sites. Questions have been raised about whether, and to what extent, the government should indemnify its contractors or contractors should indemnify the government. Pending legislative initiatives may address some of these problems, but potential civil and criminal liability will probably be the order of the day for the foreseeable future.« less

River water pollution condition in upper part of Brantas River and Bengawan Solo River

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Roosmini, D.; Septiono, M. A.; Putri, N. E.; Shabrina, H. M.; Salami, I. R. S.; Ariesyady, H. D.

2018-01-01

Wastewater and solid waste from both domestic and industry have been known to give burden on river water quality. Most of river water quality problem in Indonesia has start in the upper part of river due to anthropogenic activities, due to inappropriate land use management including the poor wastewater infrastructure. Base on Upper Citarum River Water pollution problem, it is interesting to study the other main river in Java Island. Bengawan Solo River and Brantas River were chosen as the sample in this study. Parameters assessed in this study are as follows: TSS, TDS, pH, DO, and hexavalent chromium. The status of river water quality are assess using STORET method. Based on (five) parameters, STORET value showed that in Brantas River, Pagerluyung monitoring point had the worst quality relatively compared to other monitoring point in Brantas River with exceeding copper, lead and tin compared to the stream standard in East Java Provincial Regulation No. 2 in 2008. Brantas River was categorized as lightly polluted river based on monitoring period 2011-2015 in 5 monitoring points, namely Pendem, Sengguruh, Kademangan, Meritjan and Kertosono.

Pollution Probe.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chant, Donald A.

This book is written as a statement of concern about pollution by members of Pollution Probe, a citizens' anti-pollution group in Canada. Its purpose is to create public awareness and pressure for the eventual solution to pollution problems. The need for effective government policies to control the population explosion, conserve natural resources,…

Removal of Organic Pollutants from Water Using Superwetting Materials.

PubMed

Li, Lingxiao; Zhang, Junping; Wang, Aiqin

2018-02-01

The frequent occurrence of water pollution accidents and the leakage of organic pollutants have caused severe environmental and ecological crisis. It is thus highly imperative to find efficient materials to solve the problem. Inspired by the lotus leaf, superwetting materials are receiving increasing attention in the field of removal of organic pollutants from water. Various superwetting materials have been successfully generated and integrated into devices for removal of organic pollutants from water. On the basis of our previous work in the field, we summarized in this account the progress of removal of (1) floating and underwater insoluble, (2) emulsified insoluble, and (3) both insoluble and soluble organic pollutants from water using superwetting materials including superhydrophobic & superoleophilic materials, superhydrophilic & underwater superoleophobic materials, and materials with controllable wettability. The superwetting materials are in the forms of 2D porous materials, 3D porous materials and particles, etc. Finally, the current state and future challenges in this field are discussed. We hope this account could shed light on the design of novel superwetting materials for efficient removal of organic pollutants from water. © 2018 The Chemical Society of Japan & Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

78 FR 16465 - Energy and Environment Trade Mission to Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-03-15

... experienced problems with the discharge of untreated sewage, particularly along the west coast. Malaysia's water pollution problem also extends to its rivers, of which 40 percent are polluted. The nation has 580... sources is still a problem. In the mid-1990s, Malaysia ranked among 50 nations with the world's highest...

Air Pollution Prevention and Control Policy in China.

PubMed

Huang, Cunrui; Wang, Qiong; Wang, Suhan; Ren, Meng; Ma, Rui; He, Yiling

2017-01-01

With rapid urbanization and development of transport infrastructure, air pollution caused by multiple-pollutant emissions and vehicle exhaust has been aggravated year by year in China. In order to improve air quality, the Chinese authorities have taken a series of actions to control air pollution emission load within a permissible range. However, although China has made positive progress on tackling air pollution, these actions have not kept up with its economy growth and fossil-fuel use. The traditional single-pollutant approach is far from enough in China now, and in the near future, air pollution control strategies should move in the direction of the multiple-pollutant approach. In addition, undesirable air quality is usually linked with the combination of high emissions and adverse weather conditions. However, few studies have been done on the influence of climate change on atmospheric chemistry in the global perspective. Available evidence suggested that climate change is likely to exacerbate certain kinds of air pollutants including ozone and smoke from wildfires. This has become a major public health problem because the interactions of global climate change, urban heat islands, and air pollution have adverse effects on human health. In this chapter, we first review the past and current circumstances of China's responses to air pollution. Then we discuss the control challenges and future options for a better air quality in China. Finally, we begin to unravel links between air pollution and climate change, providing new opportunities for integrated research and actions in China.

Novel sorbents for environmental remediation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Manariotis, Ioannis D.; Karapanagioti, Hrissi K.; Werner, David

2014-05-01

Nowadays, one of the major environmental problems is the pollution of aquatic systems and soil by persistent pollutants. Persistent pollutants have been found widespread in sediments, surface waters, and drinking water supplies. The removal of pollutants can be accomplished prior to their discharge to receiving bodies or by immobilizing them onto soil. Sorption is the most commonly applied process, and activated carbons have been widely used. Rapid progress in nanotechnology and a new focus on biomass-based instead of non-renewable starting materials have produced a wide range of novel engineered sorbents including biosorbents, biochars, carbon-based nanoparticles, bio-nano hybrid materials, and iron-impregnated activated carbons. Sorbent materials have been used in environmental remediation processes and especially in agricultural soil, sediments and contaminated soil, water treatment, and industrial wastewater treatment. Furthermore, sorbents may enhance the synergistic action of other processes, such as volatilization and biodegradation. Novel sorbents have been employed for the removal or immobilization of persistent pollutants such as and include heavy metals (As, Cr, Cu, Pb, Cd, and Hg), halogenated organic compounds, endocrine disrupting chemicals, metalloids and non-metallic elements, and other organic pollutants. The development and evaluation of novel sorbents requires a multidisciplinary approach encompassing environmental, nanotechnology, physical, analytical, and surface chemistry. The necessary evaluations encompass not only the efficiency of these materials to remove pollutants from surface waters and groundwater, industrial wastewater, polluted soils and sediments, etc., but also the potential side-effects of their environmental applications. The aim of this work is to present the results of the use of biochar and impregnated carbon sorbents for the removal of organic pollutants and metals. Furthermore, the new findings from the forthcoming session on Novel sorbents for environmental remediation, will also be evaluated and presented.

Teaching Applied Chemistry in a Pollution Control Context.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sell, Nancy J.

1982-01-01

Discusses rationale behind and content of a course (Industrial Pollution Control Techniques) combining knowledge from fields of industrial chemistry and chemical engineering and utilizing this knowledge in the context of understanding pollution problems and potential methods of pollution control. (Author/SK)

A MECHANISTIC MODEL OF RUNOFF-ASSOCIATED FECAL COLIFORM FATE AND TRANSPORT THROUGH A COASTAL LAGOON. (R828676C003)

EPA Science Inventory

Fecal coliform (FC) contamination in coastal waters is an ongoing public health problem worldwide. Coastal wetlands and lagoons are typically expected to protect coastal waters by attenuating watershed pollutants including FC bacteria. However, new evidence suggests that coast...

Thinking Globally, Acting Locally: Using the Local Environment to Explore Global Issues.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Simmons, Deborah

1994-01-01

Asserts that water pollution is a global problem and presents statistics indicating how much of the world's water is threatened. Presents three elementary school classroom activities on water quality and local water resources. Includes a figure describing the work of the Global Rivers Environmental Education Network. (CFR)

Factors Affecting Consumers' Green Commuting

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kai, Chen; Haokai, Liang

2016-01-01

As Chinese air pollution and other environmental problems were paid much attention by the public, appeals about reducing private car use and adopting public transport had come into being. In view of this context, the current study extended the theory of planned behavior by including environmental concerns to explore the effect of subjective…

Population Growth: Crisis and Challenge.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Beaton, John R., Ed.; Doberenz, Alexander R., Ed.

The proceedings of this first annual symposium on population growth considers the consequences of this growth, along with possible means of regulation. Topics of speeches include: Population Outlook in Asia (Irene Taeuber); Malnutrition is a Problem of Ecology (Paul Gyorgy); The Leisure Explosion (E. H. Storey); Effects of Pollution on Population…

77 FR 19537 - MARPOL Annex V Special Areas: Wider Caribbean Region

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-04-02

... through section 2101 of the Marine Plastic Pollution Research and Control Act (Pub. L. 100-220). MARPOL... in increased burdens to vessels or reception facilities. One commenter brought up the problem of dry... the following types: Plastics, including synthetic ropes, fishing nets, and plastic bags; Dunnage (i.e...

Warning: Your School May Be Hazardous to Your Health.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gursky, Daniel

1991-01-01

Many teachers unknowingly breathe air and drink water with low levels of harmful material. Exposure over the years may present significant health risks. This article examines the problems of indoor air pollution, pesticides, asbestos, lead in drinking water, and radon. Each section includes sources for further information. (SM)

Odor and odorous chemical emissions from animal buildings: part 1 - project overview, collection methods, and quality control

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Livestock facilities have historically generated public concerns due to their emissions of odorous air and various chemical pollutants. Odor emission factors and identification of principal odorous chemicals are needed to better understand the problem. Applications of odor emission factors include i...

Restoring water quality in the polluted Turag-Tongi-Balu river system, Dhaka: Modelling nutrient and total coliform intervention strategies.

PubMed

Whitehead, Paul; Bussi, Gianbattista; Hossain, Mohammed Abed; Dolk, Michaela; Das, Partho; Comber, Sean; Peters, Rebecca; Charles, Katrina J; Hope, Rob; Hossain, Md Sarwar

2018-08-01

River water quality in rapidly urbanising Asian cities threatens to damage the resource base on which human health, economic growth and poverty reduction all depend. Dhaka reflects the challenges and opportunities for balancing these dynamic and complex trade-offs which goals can be achieved through effective policy interventions. There is a serious problem of water pollution in central Dhaka, in the Turag-Tongi-Balu River system in Bangladesh with the river system being one of the most polluted in the world at the moment. A baseline survey of water chemistry and total coliforms has been undertaken and shows dissolved oxygen close to zero in the dry season, high organic loading together with extreme levels of Ammonium-N and total coliform in the water. Models have been applied to assess hydrochemical processes in the river and evaluate alternative strategies for policy and the management of the pollution issues. In particular models of flow, Nitrate-N, Ammonium-N and indicator bacteria (total coliforms) are applied to simulate water quality in the river system. Various scenarios are explored to clean up the river system, including flow augmentation and improved effluent treatment. The model results indicate that improved effluent treatment is likely to have a more significant impact on reducing Ammonium-N and total coliforms than flow augmentation, but a combined strategy would greatly reduce the pollution problems in the Turag-Tongi-Balu River System. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Influence of Diffused Sourcers of Water Pollution In The Basin of Volga River

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vasilchenco, O.

The intensive development of industry and agriculture, great growth of cities in the last decades result in an increase of the nature water consumption and deterioration. Different anthropogenic load change characteristics of water objects regime and de- pletion and qualitative degradation of water resources. Sources of pollution are divided on two classes: controlled and uncontrolled. The first includes industrial and domestic wastewater disposal. Their discharge and concentration of pollutants are quite stable. These sources of pollution are identified as "point". Surface run-off from of cities, industrial platforms, agricultural object, navigation, recreation are not controlled have dispersed nature and are identification as diffuse. Pollution from such sources is es- timates by computation. Quantitative assumption of pollution amounts reaches water objects is complicated and independent problem. The significant amount of full-scale observations and information processes of concerning dissolved and fluidized frag- ments movement are required. According to available guidelines the part of the pollu- tant entering water objects, is about 1-10For estimation of pollution mass and transport are mathematical modeling. Preliminary calculations of contaminants transport for different territories under an- thropogenic impact of river-Volga basin were made either for point sources of pol- lution or for non-point. Received data made it possible to analyze the correlation of contaminant volumes, coming from different sources pollution.

How energy policies affect public health.

PubMed Central

Romm, J J; Ervin, C A

1996-01-01

The connection between energy policy and increased levels of respiratory and cardiopulmonary disease has become clearer in the past few years. People living in cities with high levels of pollution have a higher risk of mortality than those living in less polluted cities. The pollutants most directly linked to increased morbidity and mortality include ozone, particulates, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, volatile organic compounds, and oxides of nitrogen. Energy-related emissions generate the vast majority of these polluting chemicals. Technologies to prevent pollution in the transportation, manufacturing, building, and utility sectors can significantly reduce these emissions while reducing the energy bills of consumers and businesses. In short, clean energy technologies represent a very cost-effective investment in public health. Some 72% of the Federal government's investment in the research, development, and demonstration of pollution prevention technologies is made by the Department of Energy, with the largest share provided by the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. This article will examine the connections between air pollution and health problems and will discuss what the Department of Energy is doing to prevent air pollution now and in the future. Images p390-a p391-a p392-a p393-a p394-a p395-a p396-a p397-a PMID:8837627

Air Pollution.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Barker, K.; And Others

Pollution of the general environment, which exposes an entire population group for an indeterminate period of time, certainly constitutes a problem in public health. Serious aid pollution episodes have resulted in increased mortality and a possible relationship between chronic exposure to a polluted atmosphere and certain diseases has been…

Prenatal exposure to outdoor air pollution and child behavioral problems at school age in Japan.

PubMed

Yorifuji, Takashi; Kashima, Saori; Diez, Midory Higa; Kado, Yoko; Sanada, Satoshi; Doi, Hiroyuki

2017-02-01

Recent studies suggest positive associations between prenatal exposure to ambient air pollution and neurodevelopment of children, but evidence on the adverse effects of exposure to air pollution on child neurobehavioral development remains limited. We thus examined associations between prenatal exposure to outdoor air pollution and child behavioral problems at school age, using data from a nationwide population-based longitudinal survey in Japan, where participants were recruited in 2001 and are continuously followed. Suspended particulate matter (SPM), nitrogen dioxide, and sulfur dioxide concentrations during the 9months before birth were obtained at municipality level and assigned to those participants born in the corresponding municipality. We analyzed data from singleton births with linked pollution data available (e.g., n=33,911 for SPM). We used responses to survey questions about behavioral problems at age 8years. We conducted multilevel logistic regression analysis, adjusting for individual and municipality-level variables. Air pollution exposure during gestation was positively associated with risk for behavioral problems related to attention and delinquent or aggressive behavior. In the fully adjusted models, odds ratios following a one-interquartile-range increase in SPM were 1.06 (95% confidence interval: 1.01, 1.11) for interrupting others, 1.09 (1.03, 1.15) for failure to pay attention when crossing a street, 1.06 (1.01, 1.11) for lying, and 1.07 (1.02, 1.13) for causing public disturbance. Prenatal exposure to outdoor air pollution was associated with behavioral problems related to attention and delinquent or aggressive behavior at age 8years in a nationally representative sample in Japan. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The effects of outdoor air pollution on the respiratory health of Canadian children: A systematic review of epidemiological studies.

PubMed

Rodriguez-Villamizar, Laura Andrea; Magico, Adam; Osornio-Vargas, Alvaro; Rowe, Brian H

2015-01-01

Outdoor air pollution is a global problem with serious effects on human health, and children are considered to be highly susceptible to the effects of air pollution. To conduct a comprehensive and updated systematic review of the literature reporting the effects of outdoor air pollution on the respiratory health of children in Canada. Searches of four electronic databases between January 2004 and November 2014 were conducted to identify epidemiological studies evaluating the effect of exposure to outdoor air pollutants on respiratory symptoms, lung function measurements and the use of health services due to respiratory conditions in Canadian children. The selection process and quality assessment, using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale, were conducted independently by two reviewers. Twenty-seven studies that were heterogeneous with regard to study design, population, respiratory outcome and air pollution exposure were identified. Overall, the included studies reported adverse effects of outdoor air pollution at concentrations that were below Canadian and United States standards. Heterogeneous effects of air pollutants were reported according to city, sex, socioeconomic status and seasonality. The present review also describes trends in research related to the effect of air pollution on Canadian children over the past 25 years. The present study reconfirms the adverse effects of outdoor air pollution on the respiratory health of children in Canada. It will help researchers, clinicians and environmental health authorities identify the available evidence of the adverse effect of outdoor air pollution, research gaps and the limitations for further research.

[Technogenic environmental pollution and the public health: analysis and prognosis].

PubMed

Savilov, E D; Anganova, E V; Ilina, S V; Stepanenko, L A

2016-01-01

Technogenic risk factors are very aggressive for a human health. Due to the progressive increase in environmental pollution the problem of the adverse impact of these factors on the health of both the human population as a whole, and individual groups every year is becoming increasingly important. At that the influence of anthropogenic pollution on the various manifestations of infectious pathology in the scientific literature is presented very modestly. In this paper there is presented a review of research devoted to the problem of the interrelationship of man-made pollution of the environment and public health.

The Principle and the Application of Self-cleaning Anti-pollution Coating in Power System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhao, Y. J.; Zhang, Z. B.; Liu, Y.; Wang, J. H.; Teng, J. L.; Wu, L. S.; Zhang, Y. L.

2017-11-01

The common problem existed in power system is analyzed in this paper. The main reason for the affection of the safe and stable operation to power equipment is flash-over caused by dirt and discharge. Using the self-cleaning anti-pollution coating in the power equipment surface is the key to solve the problem. In the work, the research progress and design principle about the self-cleaning anti-pollution coating was summarized. Furthermore, the preparation technology was also studied. Finally, the application prospect of hard self-cleaning anti-pollution coating in power system was forecast.

New Zealand environmental standards and energy policies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

vant, William N.; McGlinchy, Brian J.

1983-11-01

This paper describes the primary energy resources of New Zealand and their relative importance. It describes the principal legislation that provides environmental protection and public participation with which State and private agencies are bound to comply. The paper then discusses air pollution in further detail and cites three examples where there is cause for concern. By international standards, air pollution is not a serious problem in New Zealand and so the economic consequences have received little attention Two simple examples are cited. A map showing the main centers and the location of facilities referred to in the text is included

Winds of change: reducing transboundary air pollutants.

PubMed

Reuther, C G

2000-04-01

Sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, volatile organic compounds, persistent organic pollutants, particulate matter, and heavy metals---air pollutants once thought to be problems that could be solved locally, where the effects occur---are all currently being discussed in international forums. A spate of meetings and agreements in recent months has shown many international governments to be more willing than ever to try to limit the amount of their air pollution that drifts into other countries. Prompting this policy shift are increasing emissions in some parts of the world, better monitoring, and an improved understanding of air pollution transport and the effects of air pollution. In most regions of the world, however, no international agreements on air pollution exist at all, while in others, many overlapping local, multilateral, and global agreements address the problem simultaneously. According to the World Health Organization, air pollution causes nearly 3 million deaths per year, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates that ground-level ozone causes damage to U.S. crops totaling $1-2 billion each year.

Environmental pollution: An enormous and invisible burden on health systems in low- and middle-income counties.

PubMed

Landrigan, Philip J; Fuller, Richard

2014-01-01

Background. Environmental pollution has become the leading risk factor for death in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). The World Health Organization and others calculate that exposures to polluted air - indoor and outdoor, water and soil resulted in 8.4 million deaths in LMICs in 2012. By comparison, HIV/AIDS causes 1.5 million deaths per year, and malaria and tuberculosis Less than 1 million each. The diseases caused by pollution include the traditional scourges of pneumonia and diarrhea, but increasingly they also include chronic, non-communicable diseases (NCDs) such as such as heart disease, stroke and cancer. Method. We review the diseases caused by pollution and the multiple economic and human burdens that these diseases impose on health systems in countries with already limited resources. Results. We find that diseases caused by pollution increase health care costs, especially for high-cost NCDs. They impose an unnecessary load on health care delivery systems by increasing hospital staffing needs and thus diverting resources from essential prevention programmes such as childhood immunizations, infection control and maternal and child health. They undermine the development of poor countries by reducing the health, intelligence and economic productivity of entire generations. Pollution is highly preventable and pollution prevention is highly cost-effective. Yet despite their high economic and human costs and amenability to prevention, the diseases caused by pollution have not received the attention that they deserve in policy planning or in the international development agenda. Conclusion. Pollution is not inevitable. It is a problem that can be solved in our lifetime. Given the great impact of pollution on health and health care resources and the high cost-benefit ratio of pollution prevention, efforts to mitigate pollution should become a key strategic priority for international funders and for governments of LMICs. Recommendation. Assisting LMICs to prioritize disease prevention through the management of pollution is a highly cost-effective strategy for enhancing population health, reducing the burden on limited health resources and advancing national development.

Assessing the hydrogeochemical processes affecting groundwater pollution in arid areas using an integration of geochemical equilibrium and multivariate statistical techniques.

PubMed

El Alfy, Mohamed; Lashin, Aref; Abdalla, Fathy; Al-Bassam, Abdulaziz

2017-10-01

Rapid economic expansion poses serious problems for groundwater resources in arid areas, which typically have high rates of groundwater depletion. In this study, integration of hydrochemical investigations involving chemical and statistical analyses are conducted to assess the factors controlling hydrochemistry and potential pollution in an arid region. Fifty-four groundwater samples were collected from the Dhurma aquifer in Saudi Arabia, and twenty-one physicochemical variables were examined for each sample. Spatial patterns of salinity and nitrate were mapped using fitted variograms. The nitrate spatial distribution shows that nitrate pollution is a persistent problem affecting a wide area of the aquifer. The hydrochemical investigations and cluster analysis reveal four significant clusters of groundwater zones. Five main factors were extracted, which explain >77% of the total data variance. These factors indicated that the chemical characteristics of the groundwater were influenced by rock-water interactions and anthropogenic factors. The identified clusters and factors were validated with hydrochemical investigations. The geogenic factors include the dissolution of various minerals (calcite, aragonite, gypsum, anhydrite, halite and fluorite) and ion exchange processes. The anthropogenic factors include the impact of irrigation return flows and the application of potassium, nitrate, and phosphate fertilizers. Over time, these anthropogenic factors will most likely contribute to further declines in groundwater quality. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Improving Multi-Objective Management of Water Quality Tipping Points: Revisiting the Classical Shallow Lake Problem

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Quinn, J. D.; Reed, P. M.; Keller, K.

2015-12-01

Recent multi-objective extensions of the classical shallow lake problem are useful for exploring the conceptual and computational challenges that emerge when managing irreversible water quality tipping points. Building on this work, we explore a four objective version of the lake problem where a hypothetical town derives economic benefits from polluting a nearby lake, but at the risk of irreversibly tipping the lake into a permanently polluted state. The trophic state of the lake exhibits non-linear threshold dynamics; below some critical phosphorus (P) threshold it is healthy and oligotrophic, but above this threshold it is irreversibly eutrophic. The town must decide how much P to discharge each year, a decision complicated by uncertainty in the natural P inflow to the lake. The shallow lake problem provides a conceptually rich set of dynamics, low computational demands, and a high level of mathematical difficulty. These properties maximize its value for benchmarking the relative merits and limitations of emerging decision support frameworks, such as Direct Policy Search (DPS). Here, we explore the use of DPS as a formal means of developing robust environmental pollution control rules that effectively account for deeply uncertain system states and conflicting objectives. The DPS reformulation of the shallow lake problem shows promise in formalizing pollution control triggers and signposts, while dramatically reducing the computational complexity of the multi-objective pollution control problem. More broadly, the insights from the DPS variant of the shallow lake problem formulated in this study bridge emerging work related to socio-ecological systems management, tipping points, robust decision making, and robust control.

Comparison of Health Impact of Air Pollution Between China and Other Countries.

PubMed

Tian, Linwei; Sun, Shengzhi

2017-01-01

Air pollution is the world's largest single environmental risk according to the World Health Organization (WHO), which caused around seven million deaths in 2012. Extensive epidemiological studies have been carried out worldwide to examine the health impacts of ambient air pollution, consistently demonstrating significant health impacts of ambient air pollution. Air pollution problem in China is especially serious; it has become the fourth biggest threat to the health of the Chinese people. In this review, we summarized existing literature, compared health impact of air pollution between China and other countries, and found substantial heterogeneity in the risk estimates of air pollution. The effect heterogeneities may be due to the differences in the characteristics of populations (e.g., the proportion of the elder population and people with preexisting diseases), exposure profile (e.g., air pollution concentrations and composition), and regional climate. Although the magnitude of relative risk estimates of air pollution is generally similar with that in other parts of the world, air pollution is one of China's most serious environmental health problems given the huge number of people exposed to high concentration levels of air pollution in China.

The economic impact of remote sensing data as the source of nonpoint pollution monitoring and control

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Miller, W. L.

1974-01-01

Nonpoint pollution of streams with sediment as a result of runoff from alternative uses of land has become a socially unacceptable product of economic activity. This report describes a research approach to economically achieve correction of the nonpoint pollution problem. The research approach integrates the economic model with those data which may be obtainable from remotely sensed sources. The economic problem involves measurement of the direct benefits and costs associated with the changes in land management activities necessary to reduce the level of nonpoint pollution. Remotely sensed data from ERTS-1 may provide some of the information required for the economic model which indicates efficient solutions to the nonpoint pollution problem. Three classes of data (i.e., soil categories, vegetative cover, and water turbidity) have the potential to be measured by ERTS-1 systems. There is substantial research which indicates the ability of ERTS-1 to measure these classes of data under selected conditions.

Environmental site assessments and audits: Building inspection requirements

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lange, John H.; Kaiser, Genevieve; Thomulka, Kenneth W.

1994-01-01

Environmental site assessment criteria were originally developed by organizations that focused, almost exclusively, on surface, subsurface, and pollution source contamination. Many of the hazards associated with indoor environments and building structures were traditionally not considered when evaluating sources and entities of environmental pollution. Since a large number of building materials are potentially hazardous, careful evaluation is necessary. Until recently, little information on building inspection requirements of environmental problems has been published. Traditionally, asbestos has been the main component of concern. The ever-changing environmental standards have dramatically expanded the scope of building surveys. Indoor environmental concerns, for example, currently include formaldehyde, lead-based paint, polychlorinated biphenyls, radon, and indoor air pollution. Environmental regulations are being expanded and developed that specifically include building structures. These regulatory standards are being triggered by an increased awareness of health effects from indoor exposure, fires, spills, and other accidents that have resulted in injury, death, and financial loss. This article discusses various aspects of assessments for building structures.

Managing Nonpoint Source Pollution in Western Washington: Landowner Learning Methods and Motivations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ryan, Clare M.

2009-06-01

States, territories, and tribes identify nonpoint source pollution as responsible for more than half of the Nation’s existing and threatened water quality impairments, making it the principal remaining cause of water quality problems across the United States. Combinations of education, technical and financial assistance, and regulatory measures are used to inform landowners about nonpoint source pollution issues, and to stimulate the use of best management practices. A mail survey of non-commercial riparian landowners investigated how they learn about best management practices, the efficacy of different educational techniques, and what motivates them to implement land management activities. Landowners experience a variety of educational techniques, and rank those that include direct personal contact as more effective than brochures, advertisements, radio, internet, or television. The most important motivations for implementing best management practices were linked with elements of a personal stewardship ethic, accountability, personal commitment, and feasibility. Nonpoint source education and social marketing campaigns should include direct interpersonal contacts, and appeal to landowner motivations of caring, responsibility, and personal commitment.

Innovative Approaches to Environmental Health Instruction

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mock, Bruce H.

1974-01-01

The results of a NSF-supported student project to determine certain environmental problems in Indiana are reported. The project sought to relate the quality of the local environment to human life and concentrated on problems of air pollution, water pollution, solid waste disposal, and environmental attitudes. (LS)

APEX (Air Pollution Exercise) Volume 21: Legal References: Air Pollution Control Regulations.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, NC. Office of Manpower Development.

The Legal References: Air Pollution Control Regulations Manual is the last in a set of 21 manuals (AA 001 009-001 029) used in APEX (Air Pollution Exercise), a computerized college and professional level "real world" game simulation of a community with urban and rural problems, industrial activities, and air pollution difficulties. The manual…

Cleaner production: Minimizing hazardous waste in Indonesia

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bratasida, D.L.

In the second long-term development plan, industry plays a significant role in economic growth. In Indonesia, industries grow very fast; such fast growth can adversely effect the environment. Exploitation of assets can mean depletion of natural resources and energy, which, if incorrectly managed, can endanger human life and the environment. The inefficient use of natural resources will accelerate their exhaustion and generate pollution, resulting in environmental damage and threats to economic development and human well being. In recent years, changes in the approach used to control pollution have been necessary because of the increasing seriousness of the problems. Initial environmentalmore » management strategies were based on a carrying capacity approach; the natural assimilative capacity accommodated the pollution load that was applied. The environmental management strategies adopted later included technologies applied to the end of the discharge point (so-called {open_quotes}end-of-pipe{close_quotes} treatments). Until now, environmental management strategies focused on end-of-pipe approaches that control pollutants after they are generated. These approaches concentrate on waste treatment and disposal to control pollution and environmental degradation. However, as industry develops, waste volumes continue to increase, thereby creating further environmental problems. In addition, the wastes produced tend to have more complex characteristics and are potentially more difficult to treat for a reasonable cost. There are often technical and financial obstacles to regulatory compliance if waste treatment is relied on as the only means of achieving environmental objectives. Consequently, the reactive end-of-pipe treatment approach has been changed to a proactive cleaner production approach. This approach is based on the concept of sustainable development and is designed to prevent pollution as well as to protect natural resources and the quality of the environment.« less

Application of zinc isotope tracer technology in tracing soil heavy metal pollution

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Norbu, Namkha; Wang, Shuguang; Xu, Yan; Yang, Jianqiang; Liu, Qiang

2017-08-01

Recent years the soil heavy metal pollution has become increasingly serious, especially the zinc pollution. Due to the complexity of this problem, in order to prevent and treat the soil pollution, it's crucial to accurately and quickly find out the pollution sources and control them. With the development of stable isotope tracer technology, it's able to determine the composition of zinc isotope. Based on the theory of zinc isotope tracer technique, and by means of doing some latest domestic and overseas literature research about the zinc isotope multi-receiving cups of inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer (MC-ICP-MS) testing technology, this paper summarized the latest research results about the pollution tracer of zinc isotope, and according to the deficiencies and existing problems of previous research, made outlooks of zinc isotope fractionation mechanism, repository establishment and tracer multiple solutions.

The Sources of Air Pollution and Their Control.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

National Air Pollution Control Administration (DHEW), Arlington, VA.

The problems of air pollution and its control are discussed. Major consideration is given the sources of pollution - motor vehicles, industry, power plants, space heating, and refuse disposal. Annual emission levels of five principle pollutants - carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, hydrocarbons, and particulate matter - are listed…

Air Pollution in the World's Megacities.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Richman, Barbara T., Ed.

1994-01-01

Reports findings of the Global Environment Monitoring System study concerning air pollution in the world's megacities. Discusses sources of air pollution, air pollution impacts, air quality monitoring, air quality trends, and control strategies. Provides profiles of the problem in Beijing, Los Angeles, Mexico City, India, Cairo, Sao Paulo, and…

Environmental effects of increased coal utilization: ecological effects of gaseous emissions from coal combustion.

PubMed Central

Glass, N R

1979-01-01

This report is limited to an evaluation of the ecological and environmental effects of gaseous emissions and aerosols of various types which result from coal combustion. It deals with NOx, SOx, fine particulate, photochemical oxidant and acid precipitation as these pollutants affect natural and managed resources and ecosystems. Also, synergistic effects involving two or more pollutants are evaluated as well as ecosystem level effects of gaseous pollutants. There is a brief summary of the effects on materials and atmospheric visibility of increased coal combustion. The economic implications of ecological effects are identified to the extent they can be determined within acceptable limits. Aquatic and terrestrial effects are distinguished where the pollutants in question are clearly problems in both media. At present, acid precipitation is most abundant in the north central and northeastern states. Total SOx and NOx emissions are projected to remain high in these regions while increasing relatively more in the western than in the eastern regions of the country. A variety of ecological processes are affected and altered by air pollution. Such processes include community succession and retrogression, nutrient biogeochemical cycling, photosynthetic activity, primary and secondary productivity, species diversity and community stability. Estimates of the non health-related cost of air pollutants range from several hundred million dollars to $1.7 billion dollars per year. In general, these estimates include only those relatively easily measured considerations such as the known losses to cultivate crops from acute air pollution episodes or the cost of frequent repainting required as a result of air pollution. No substantial nationwide estimates of losses to forest productivity, natural ecosystem productivity which is tapped by domestic grazing animals and wildlife, and other significant dollar losses are available. PMID:44247

Light pollution in Valencia: public awareness

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Marco, E.; Morales-Rubio, A.

2015-05-01

Light pollution is caused by the direct and indirect light emission into the atmosphere from artificial night sources. The most decisive effect is the increasing of the luminance of the sky preventing stargazing. The fundamental actor for solving the problem is public awareness. Therefore, in accordance with authorities of the Valencian natural parks, municipalities and high schools, we have held a series of explanatory talks to the general public on the problem of light pollution, not only about the loss of the night and its impact on Astronomy, but also about the waste of energy and its impact on nocturnal wildlife and human health. Furthermore, in order to emphasize the need to preserve dark skies, popular astronomical observations have been also performed. An informative brochure on the problem of light pollution, with real cases involving natural parks, Valencia and its metropolitan area, has been published.

Assessment of pollution prevention and control technology for plating operations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chalmer, Paul D.; Sonntag, William A.; Cushnie, George C., Jr.

1995-01-01

The National Center for Manufacturing Sciences (NCMS) is sponsoring an on-going project to assess pollution prevention and control technology available to the plating industry and to make this information available to those who can benefit from it. Completed project activities include extensive surveys of the plating industry and vendors of technologies and an indepth literature review. The plating industry survey was performed in cooperation with the National Association of Metal Finishers. The contractor that conducted the surveys and prepared the project products was CAI Engineering. The initial products of the project were made available in April, 1994. These products include an extensive report that presents the results of the surveys and literature review and an electronic database. The project results are useful for all those associated with pollution prevention and control in the plating industry. The results show which treatment, recovery and bath maintenance technologies have been most successful for different plating processes and the costs for purchasing and operating these technologies. The project results also cover trends in chemical substitution, the identification of compliance-problem pollutants, sludge generation rates, off-site sludge recovery and disposal options, and many other pertinent topics.

Sound Pollution-Another Urban Problem

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Breysse, Peter A.

1970-01-01

Suggests that sound pollution constitutes a severe problem to the urban dweller. Excessive exposure of humans to noise produces both physical and psychological manifestations. Suggests that control of industrial, aircraft, and community noise must be recognized and accepted as a major factor in urban planning and development. Bibliography. (LC)

Environment and Culture in India.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Leuthold, David

India suffers from severe environmental problems with respect to deforestation, flooding, and pollution. These problems are associated with industrialization, lack of money to enforce anti-pollution practices, climatic and population pressures, and cultural factors. Half of India's forests have been cut in the last 40 years. Deforestation is the…

Economic analysis of a Japanese air pollution regulation : an optimal retirement problem under vehicle type regulation in the NOx-particulate matter law

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2008-06-01

This paper empirically examines the vehicle type regulation that was introduced under the : Automobile Nitrogen OxidesParticulate Matter Law to mitigate air pollution problems in Japanese metropolitan areas. The vehicle type regulation effectively...

HYDROCARBON AND CARBONYL OZONE PRECURSORS IN MEXICO CITY AMBIENT AIR

EPA Science Inventory

Urban air pollution is an environmental problem in many cities around the world that has serious immediate and long-term implications to the health of the population and to the physical environment. Mexico City, in particular, faces a severe air pollution problem. The city is...

Current problems in applied mathematics and mathematical modeling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Alekseev, A. S.

Papers are presented on mathematical modeling noting applications to such fields as geophysics, chemistry, atmospheric optics, and immunology. Attention is also given to models of ocean current fluxes, atmospheric and marine interactions, and atmospheric pollution. The articles include studies of catalytic reactors, models of global climate phenomena, and computer-assisted atmospheric models.

Schools Located Near Highways: Problems and Prospects. Final Report [and] Case Studies.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wells, Leslie J.; Shapiro, Richard; Felsburg, Robert W.

In this 1977 publication, findings and recommendations are presented from 22 case studies involving the impact on schools adjacent to highway systems in the states of California, New Mexico, Colorado, Texas, Missouri, Maryland, and Virginia. The impacts described include: noise; vehicular and pedestrian safety; air pollution; access; circulation…

Environmental Quality Management in the United States in the 1980s and Beyond: An Appraisal.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bower, Blair T.

1984-01-01

Presents an overview of: (1) the institutional context of the environmental pollution sector of environmental quality management (EQM); accomplishments and problems in some representative subsectors (including water quality, soil erosion, air quality, and hazardous wastes); and (3) future prospects. Also considers role of government and…

Junior High School Students’ Perception about Simple Environmental Problem as an Impact of Problem based Learning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tapilouw, M. C.; Firman, H.; Redjeki, S.; Chandra, D. T.

2017-09-01

Environmental problem is a real problem that occur in student’s daily life. Junior high school students’ perception about environmental problem is interesting to be investigated. The major aim of this study is to explore junior high school students’ perception about environmental problems around them and ways to solve the problem. The subject of this study is 69 Junior High School Students from two Junior High School in Bandung. This study use two open ended question. The core of first question is environmental problem around them (near school or house). The core of second question is the way to prevent or to solve the problem. These two question are as an impact of problem based learning in science learning. There are two major findings in this study. The first finding, based on most students’ perception, plastic waste cause an environmental problem. The second finding, environmental awareness can be a solution to prevent environmental pollution. The third finding, most student can classify environmental pollution into land, water and air pollution. We can conclude that Junior High School Students see the environmental problem as a phenomenon and teacher can explore environmental problem to guide the way of preventing and resolving environmental problem.

The influence of a central vacuum system on quality life in patients with house dust-associated allergic rhinitis.

PubMed

Naguwa, S M; Gershwin, M E

2001-01-01

Indoor pollution is one of the most common problems addressed by allergists and troublesome for their patients. Although a large variety of products are available for removing such pollutants, including house dust, there is a relative paucity of data on the effectiveness of such devices. In many cases, central vacuum systems are recommended, particularly in new homes. To specifically address the question of whether a central vacuum system produces an improvement in the well characterized domains of Juniper Rhinoconjunctivitis Quality of Life Questionnaire, we selected 25 individuals with a history of documented type I hypersensitivity to house dust. Each of these individuals used either a Beam Central Vacuum System or their own conventional vacuum for a period of 3 months. At the end of this period, the individual switched over to the opposite limb of the study for 3 additional months. Interestingly, in all seven domains of the evaluation, including activity, sleep, nonnasal symptoms, practical problems, nasal symptoms, eye symptoms and emotions, use of the central vacuum proved to be superior.

Meteorological conditions during a severe, prolonged regional heavy air pollution episode in eastern China from December 2016 to January 2017

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Deng, Xueliang; Cao, Weihua; Huo, Yanfeng; Yang, Guanying; Yu, Caixia; He, Dongyan; Deng, Weitao; Fu, Wei; Ding, Heming; Zhai, Jing; Cheng, Long; Zhao, Xuhui

2018-03-01

A severe, prolonged and harmful regional heavy air pollution episode occurred in eastern China from December 2016 to January 2017. In this paper, the pollutant characteristics and the meteorological formation mechanism of this pollution event, including climate anomalies, surface weather conditions, planetary boundary layer structure and large-scale circulation features, were analysed based on observational pollution data, surface meteorological data, sounding data and ERA-Interim reanalysis data. The results are as follows. (1) Five pollution stages were identified in eastern China. The two most severe episodes occurred from December 27, 2016 to January 4, 2017 and from January 8 to 12 2017. During these two pollution episodes, fine mode particles were major contributors, and hourly PM2.5 concentrations often exceeded 150 μg/m3, reaching a maximum of 333 μg/m3 at Fuyang station. Gaseous pollutants were transformed into secondary aerosols through heterogeneous reactions on the surface of PM2.5. (2) Compared with the same period over the years 2000-2016, 2017 presented meteorological field climate anomalies in conjunction with unfavourable surface conditions (weak winds, high relative humidity, fewer hours of sunshine, high cloud cover) and adverse atmospheric circulation (weak East Asian winter monsoon and an abnormal geopotential height of 500 hPa), which caused poorer visibility in 2017 than in the other analysed years. (3) During the development of heavy pollution event, unfavourable surface weather conditions, including poorer visibility, weaker pressure, higher relative humidity, lower wind speed with unfavourable wind direction and less precipitation suppressed the horizontal diffusion ability of air pollutants. Furthermore, the unfavourable structure of the atmospheric boundary layer was the key cause of the rapid PM2.5 increase. The deep, strong temperature inversion layer and weak vertical wind velocity could have suppressed vertical motion and enhanced the stability of the near-surface atmosphere, causing the air pollutants to accumulate at low levels and exacerbating the air pollution problem. Finally, a persistent stagnant weather system with a weak geopotential height field of 1000 hPa and warm air advection at 850 hPa was the main feature of atmospheric circulation associated with the heavy pollution.

Showdown Shapes Up Over Pollution Laws

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chemical and Engineering News, 1974

1974-01-01

Discusses technological, legislative, and administrative problems facing the implementation of the 1972 air and water pollution control acts. Indicates that a congressional reworking on the pollution laws appears to be in the offing which could lead to a softening of environmental deadlines and a change in spending for pollution controls. (CC)

Coastal Zone Act Reauthorization Amendments (CZARA) Section 6217

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

The Coastal Nonpoint Pollution Control Program (Section 6217) addresses nonpoint pollution problems in coastal waters.In its program, a state or territory describes how it will implement nonpoint source pollution controls, known as management measures.

Study of atmospheric dynamics and pollution in the coastal area of English Channel using clustering technique

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sokolov, Anton; Dmitriev, Egor; Delbarre, Hervé; Augustin, Patrick; Gengembre, Cyril; Fourmenten, Marc

2016-04-01

The problem of atmospheric contamination by principal air pollutants was considered in the industrialized coastal region of English Channel in Dunkirk influenced by north European metropolitan areas. MESO-NH nested models were used for the simulation of the local atmospheric dynamics and the online calculation of Lagrangian backward trajectories with 15-minute temporal resolution and the horizontal resolution down to 500 m. The one-month mesoscale numerical simulation was coupled with local pollution measurements of volatile organic components, particulate matter, ozone, sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides. Principal atmospheric pathways were determined by clustering technique applied to backward trajectories simulated. Six clusters were obtained which describe local atmospheric dynamics, four winds blowing through the English Channel, one coming from the south, and the biggest cluster with small wind speeds. This last cluster includes mostly sea breeze events. The analysis of meteorological data and pollution measurements allows relating the principal atmospheric pathways with local air contamination events. It was shown that contamination events are mostly connected with a channelling of pollution from local sources and low-turbulent states of the local atmosphere.

Animal and industrial waste anaerobic digestion: USA status report

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Lusk, P.D.

1996-01-01

Pollutants from unmanaged animal and bio-based industrial wastes can degrade the environment, and methane emitted from decomposing wastes may contribute to global climate change. One waste management system prevents pollution and converts a disposal problem into a new profit center. Case studies of operating systems indicate that the anaerobic digestion of animal and industrial wastes is a commercially available bioconversion technology with considerable potential for providing profitable coproducts, including a cost-effective renewable fuel. Growth and concentration of the livestock industry create opportunities to properly dispose of the large quantities of manures generated at dairy, swine, and poultry farms. Beyond themore » farm, extension of the anaerobic digestion process to recover methane has considerable potential for certain classified industries - with a waste stream characterization similar to livestock manures. More than 35 example industries have been identified, and include processors of chemicals, fiber, food, meat, milk, and pharmaceuticals. Some of these industries already recover methane for energy. This status report examines some current opportunities for recovering methane from the anaerobic digestion of animal and industrial wastes in the US. Case studies of operating digesters, including project and maintenance histories, and the operator`s {open_quotes}lessons learned,{close_quotes} are included as a reality check. Factors necessary for successful projects, as well as a list of reasons explaining why some anaerobic digestion projects fail, are provided. The role of management is key; not only must digesters be well engineered and built with high-quality components, they must also be sited at facilities willing to incorporate the uncertainties of a new technology. Anaerobic digestion can provide monetary benefits and mitigate possible pollution problems, thereby sustaining development while maintaining environmental quality.« less

Status of hormones and painkillers in wastewater effluents across several European states-considerations for the EU watch list concerning estradiols and diclofenac.

PubMed

Schröder, P; Helmreich, B; Škrbić, B; Carballa, M; Papa, M; Pastore, C; Emre, Z; Oehmen, A; Langenhoff, A; Molinos, M; Dvarioniene, J; Huber, C; Tsagarakis, K P; Martinez-Lopez, E; Pagano, S Meric; Vogelsang, C; Mascolo, G

2016-07-01

Present technologies for wastewater treatment do not sufficiently address the increasing pollution situation of receiving water bodies, especially with the growing use of personal care products and pharmaceuticals (PPCP) in the private household and health sector. The relevance of addressing this problem of organic pollutants was taken into account by the Directive 2013/39/EU that introduced (i) the quality evaluation of aquatic compartments, (ii) the polluter pays principle, (iii) the need for innovative and affordable wastewater treatment technologies, and (iv) the identification of pollution causes including a list of principal compounds to be monitored. In addition, a watch list of 10 other substances was recently defined by Decision 2015/495 on March 20, 2015. This list contains, among several recalcitrant chemicals, the painkiller diclofenac and the hormones 17β-estradiol and 17α-ethinylestradiol. Although some modern approaches for their removal exist, such as advanced oxidation processes (AOPs), retrofitting most wastewater treatment plants with AOPs will not be acceptable as consistent investment at reasonable operational cost. Additionally, by-product and transformation product formation has to be considered. The same is true for membrane-based technologies (nanofiltration, reversed osmosis) despite of the incredible progress that has been made during recent years, because these systems lead to higher operation costs (mainly due to higher energy consumption) so that the majority of communities will not easily accept them. Advanced technologies in wastewater treatment like membrane bioreactors (MBR) that integrate biological degradation of organic matter with membrane filtration have proven a more complete elimination of emerging pollutants in a rather cost- and labor-intensive technology. Still, most of the presently applied methods are incapable of removing critical compounds completely. In this opinion paper, the state of the art of European WWTPs is reflected, and capacities of single methods are described. Furthermore, the need for analytical standards, risk assessment, and economic planning is stressed. The survey results in the conclusion that combinations of different conventional and advanced technologies including biological and plant-based strategies seem to be most promising to solve the burning problem of polluting our environment with hazardous emerging xenobiotics.

Enhancement in secondary particulate matter production due to mountain trapping

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yao, Teng; Fung, J. C. H.; Ma, H.; Lau, A. K. H.; Chan, P. W.; Yu, J. Z.; Xue, J.

2014-10-01

As China's largest economic development zone, the Pearl River Delta (PRD) is subject to particulate matter (PM) and visibility deterioration problems. Due to high PM concentration, haze days impacting ambient visibility have occurred frequently in this region. Besides visibility impairment, PM pollution also causes a negative impact on public health. These negative impacts have heightened the need to improve our understanding of the PM pollution of the PRD region. One major cause of the PRD pollution problem is cold front passages in the winter; however, the mechanism of pollution formation stays unclear. In this study, the Comprehensive Air Quality Model (CAMx) is utilized to investigate the detailed PM production and transport mechanisms in the PRD. Simulated concentrations of PM2.5 species, which have a good correlation with observation, show that sulfate and nitrate are the dominant pollutants among different PM2.5 species. Before the cold front passage a large amount of gas-phase and particle-phase pollutants are transported to the mountainous regions in the north of the PRD, and become trapped by the terrain. Over the mountain regions, cloud driven by upwelling flow promotes aqueous-phase reactions including oxidations of PM precursors such as SO2 and NO2. By this process, production of secondary PM is enhanced. When the cold front continues to advance further south, PM is transported to the PRD cities, and suppressed into a thin layer near the ground by a low planetary boundary layer (PBL). Thus high PM concentration episodes take place in the PRD cities. After examining production and transportation pathways, this study presents that the complex terrain configuration would block pollutant dispersion, provide cloudy environment, and advance secondary PM production. Previous studies have pointed out that pollution emitted from outside this region largely influences the air quality in the PRD; however, this study shows that pollutants from the outside could be originated from the PRD and transported back resulting in significant increase of secondary PM concentration, and provides new insight into PM production and transport mechanism in the PRD.

An almost-parameter-free harmony search algorithm for groundwater pollution source identification.

PubMed

Jiang, Simin; Zhang, Yali; Wang, Pei; Zheng, Maohui

2013-01-01

The spatiotemporal characterization of unknown sources of groundwater pollution is frequently encountered in environmental problems. This study adopts a simulation-optimization approach that combines a contaminant transport simulation model with a heuristic harmony search algorithm to identify unknown pollution sources. In the proposed methodology, an almost-parameter-free harmony search algorithm is developed. The performance of this methodology is evaluated on an illustrative groundwater pollution source identification problem, and the identified results indicate that the proposed almost-parameter-free harmony search algorithm-based optimization model can give satisfactory estimations, even when the irregular geometry, erroneous monitoring data, and prior information shortage of potential locations are considered.

Environmental Pollution, Student's Book (Experiences/Experiments/Activities).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Weaver, Elbert C.

Described in this student's manual are numerous experiments to acquaint the learner with community environmental problems. Experiments are relatively simple and useful in the junior high school grades. Activities are provided which emphasize some of the materials involved in pollution problems, such as carbon dioxide, sulfur compounds, and others,…

Groundwater Pollution Source Identification using Linked ANN-Optimization Model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ayaz, Md; Srivastava, Rajesh; Jain, Ashu

2014-05-01

Groundwater is the principal source of drinking water in several parts of the world. Contamination of groundwater has become a serious health and environmental problem today. Human activities including industrial and agricultural activities are generally responsible for this contamination. Identification of groundwater pollution source is a major step in groundwater pollution remediation. Complete knowledge of pollution source in terms of its source characteristics is essential to adopt an effective remediation strategy. Groundwater pollution source is said to be identified completely when the source characteristics - location, strength and release period - are known. Identification of unknown groundwater pollution source is an ill-posed inverse problem. It becomes more difficult for real field conditions, when the lag time between the first reading at observation well and the time at which the source becomes active is not known. We developed a linked ANN-Optimization model for complete identification of an unknown groundwater pollution source. The model comprises two parts- an optimization model and an ANN model. Decision variables of linked ANN-Optimization model contain source location and release period of pollution source. An objective function is formulated using the spatial and temporal data of observed and simulated concentrations, and then minimized to identify the pollution source parameters. In the formulation of the objective function, we require the lag time which is not known. An ANN model with one hidden layer is trained using Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm to find the lag time. Different combinations of source locations and release periods are used as inputs and lag time is obtained as the output. Performance of the proposed model is evaluated for two and three dimensional case with error-free and erroneous data. Erroneous data was generated by adding uniformly distributed random error (error level 0-10%) to the analytically computed concentration values. The main advantage of the proposed model is that it requires only upper half of the breakthrough curve and is capable of predicting source parameters when the lag time is not known. Linking of ANN model with proposed optimization model reduces the dimensionality of the decision variables of the optimization model by one and hence complexity of optimization model is reduced. The results show that our proposed linked ANN-Optimization model is able to predict the source parameters for the error-free data accurately. The proposed model was run several times to obtain the mean, standard deviation and interval estimate of the predicted parameters for observations with random measurement errors. It was observed that mean values as predicted by the model were quite close to the exact values. An increasing trend was observed in the standard deviation of the predicted values with increasing level of measurement error. The model appears to be robust and may be efficiently utilized to solve the inverse pollution source identification problem.

Technical management techniques for identification and control of industrial safety and pollution hazards

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Campbell, R.; Dyer, M. K.; Hoard, E. G.; Little, D. G.; Taylor, A. C.

1972-01-01

Constructive recommendations are suggested for pollution problems from offshore energy resources industries on outer continental shelf. Technical management techniques for pollution identification and control offer possible applications to space engineering and management.

How chemical pollution becomes a social problem. Risk communication and assessment through regional newspapers during the management of PCB pollutions of the Rhône River (France).

PubMed

Comby, Emeline; Le Lay, Yves-François; Piégay, Hervé

2014-06-01

The case study of the polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) pollutions of the Rhône River (France) offers the possibility of studying criteria for the construction of social problems that result from chemical pollution (2005-2010). We investigated the dynamics of competition that create and define pollution as a social problem and entail its decline. News outlets are crucial for determining how an environmental issue emerges locally or nationally; this study used newspapers to highlight the potential of new outlets as a data source to analyze discourse variability, science-policy-media connections and the hydrosphere. Media coverage was based on a content analysis and textual data analysis of 75 articles. Analytical frameworks such as the Downs Model and the Public Arena Model (Hilgartner and Bosk, 1988) that consider time and stakeholders were tested to determine how human alteration of the hydrosphere can become a social problem and to analyze different communication strategies held by stakeholders. In terms of management, we described the temporal dynamics of the social problem based on the case study and considered an explanation of the selections. We considered the organization of particular stakeholders who define the social problem from its beginning to end by focusing on their discourses, relationships, decision-making and political choices, and scientific studies. Despite some biases, newspapers are useful for retrospectively evaluating the emergence of a social problem in the public arena by describing it through discourse and then understanding the temporal patterns of information. Despite uncertainties and information flow, decisions are made and science is translated to the public. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Human Exposure Assessment for Air Pollution.

PubMed

Han, Bin; Hu, Li-Wen; Bai, Zhipeng

2017-01-01

Assessment of human exposure to air pollution is a fundamental part of the more general process of health risk assessment. The measurement methods for exposure assessment now include personal exposure monitoring, indoor-outdoor sampling, mobile monitoring, and exposure assessment modeling (such as proximity models, interpolation model, air dispersion models, and land-use regression (LUR) models). Among these methods, personal exposure measurement is considered to be the most accurate method of pollutant exposure assessment until now, since it can better quantify observed differences and better reflect exposure among smaller groups of people at ground level. And since the great differences of geographical environment, source distribution, pollution characteristics, economic conditions, and living habits, there is a wide range of differences between indoor, outdoor, and individual air pollution exposure in different regions of China. In general, the indoor particles in most Chinese families comprise infiltrated outdoor particles, particles generated indoors, and a few secondary organic aerosol particles, and in most cases, outdoor particle pollution concentrations are a major contributor to indoor concentrations in China. Furthermore, since the time, energy, and expense are limited, it is difficult to measure the concentration of pollutants for each individual. In recent years, obtaining the concentration of air pollutants by using a variety of exposure assessment models is becoming a main method which could solve the problem of the increasing number of individuals in epidemiology studies.

The assessment of sublethal effects of pollutants in the sea. Review of the problems.

PubMed

Waldichuk, M

1979-08-08

Sublethal effects of pollution may be significant to survival of a stock of marine fish or even a species. Such effects sometimes lead to reproductive failure and have been identified so far only in freshwater systems. Atlantic salmon have disappeared from many streams in Europe and eastern North America, partly as a result of pollution in their freshwater spawning areas and in their estuarine nursing grounds. Reductions in populations of marine fishes due to pollution solely have not yet been demonstrated. However, Baltic Sea seals, where reproductive failure is apparently associated with high concentrations of DDT and polychlorinated biphenyl in the blubber, may have suffered a decline owing to the presence of these organochlorines. Sublethal effects of pollutants have been studied in the laboratory, essentially under four categories: (1) physiology (growth, swimming performance, respiration, circulation); (2) biochemistry/cell structure (blood chemistry, enzyme activity, endocrinology, histochemistry); (3) behaviour/neurophysiology; and (4) reproduction. Not all pollutants elicit meaningful responses in all categories, and a response is not always linear with pollutant concentration. For application to survival of populations the response has to be ultimately related to a healthy progression through a full life cycle, including successful reproduction. In recent time, physiological studies have moved into polluted marine environments with mobile laboratories having continuous sampling capability, to observe effects of pollutants in situ on marine organisms. The Controlled Ecosystem Pollution Experiment (Cepex) in Saanich Inlet, British Columbia, endeavours to investigate the effects of low concentrations of pollutants on marine organisms in large plastic silos having a slow replacement of water.

Sources of Indoor Air Pollution and Respiratory Health in Preschool Children

PubMed Central

Fuentes-Leonarte, Virginia; Ballester, Ferran; Tenías, José Maria

2009-01-01

We carried out bibliographic searches in PubMed and Embase.com for the period from 1996 to 2008 with the aim of reviewing the scientific literature on the relationship between various sources of indoor air pollution and the respiratory health of children under the age of five. Those studies that included adjusted correlation measurements for the most important confounding variables and which had an adequate population size were considered to be more relevant. The results concerning the relationship between gas energy sources and children's respiratory health were heterogeneous. Indoor air pollution from biomass combustion in the poorest countries was found to be an important risk factor for lower respiratory tract infections. Solvents involved in redecorating, DYI work, painting, and so forth, were found to be related to an increased risk for general respiratory problems. The distribution of papers depending on the pollution source showed a clear relationship with life-style and the level of development. PMID:20168984

Noise Pollution, Teachers' Edition.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

O'Donnell, Patrick A.; Lavaroni, Charles W.

One of three in a series about pollution, this teacher's guide for a unit on noise pollution is designed for use in junior high school grades. It offers suggestions for extending the information and activities contained in the textual material for students. Chapter 1 discusses the problem of noise pollution and involves students in processes of…

Controlling Air Pollution; A Primer on Stationary Source Control Techniques.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Corman, Rena

This companion document to "Air Pollution Primer" is written for the nonexpert in air pollution; however, it does assume a familiarity with air pollution problems. This work is oriented toward providing the reader with knowledge about current and proposed air quality legislation and knowledge about available technology to meet these standards for…

Water Pollution, Teachers' Edition.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lavaroni, Charles W.; And Others

One of three in a series about pollution, this teacher's guide for a unit on water pollution is designed for use in junior high school grades. It offers suggestions for extending the information and activities contained in the textual material for students. Chapter 1 discusses the problem of water pollution and involves students in processes of…

Development of Laboratory Model Ecosystems as Early Warning Elements of Environmental Pollution

DTIC Science & Technology

1974-12-01

AD-AOll 851 DEVELOPMENT OF LABORATORY MODEL ECOSYSTEMS AS EARLY WARNING ELEMENTS OF ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION Robert L. Metcalf... ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION Robert L. Metcalf, Ph. D. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Illinois INTRODUCTION Problems of environmental pollution with...house dust is unsafe to breathe (Ewing and Pearson, 1974). Most of the source of our concern about environmental pollution by trace substances relates

Clean Air Act Requirements and History

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

In 1970 congress designed the Clean Air Act to combat a variety of air pollution problems, and to tackle emerging pollution threats such as public health, national welfare, toxic air pollutants, acid rain, protection of the ozone layer, and regional haze.

Application of a Human Fecal Marker Assay to Diverse Coastal Environments in California and Hawaii

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Layton, B.; Boehm, A.

2007-05-01

Bacterial pollution at beaches is a growing problem of increasing national concern. Currently, the EPA uses Enterococcus as one measure of water quality for recreational contact. Recent work has suggested that rather than indicating anthropogenic pollution, enterococci may be indigenous to the environment. A human-specific gene marker for Enterococcus faecium (known as esp) was recently proposed as a molecular test for bacterial contamination of human origin. The present study applied the esp gene assay to a variety of coastal environments in California and Hawaii, including groundwater, sand, freshwater creeks, estuaries, and the surf zone. Results indicate that enterococci of human origin are present in many of these environments, suggesting that at least a portion of the bacterial pollution at these sites is a result of anthropogenic inputs rather than autochthonous microbial populations.

Correlation between air pollution and weather data in urban areas: Assessment of the city of Rome (Italy) as spatially and temporally independent regarding pollutants

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Battista, Gabriele; de Lieto Vollaro, Roberto

2017-09-01

Air pollution represents the biggest environmental risk for health. It is so widespread and it represents one of the main problems of the worldwide, especially because it is emitted by so many different types of sources. The pollutants can originate directly by exhausted or they can be formed because of the reaction with the atmosphere. The first one includes particulate matter and gaseous pollutants such as sulfur oxides, nitrogen oxides, and carbon oxides. The second one includes the ozone formed from nitrogen oxides and hydrocarbons, and particulate sulfate and nitrate aerosols created in the atmosphere from sulfur and nitrogen oxide gases. During the entire life course, people are exposed to the pollutants and suffer from different consequences depending on the age. The first nine month of life are generally recognized as more critical than latter time periods. The mortality associated to air pollutant exposure is main related to the concentrations of NOx , ozone, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxides and particular matter. More than 92% of the world's population lives in places where air quality levels exceed the standards. In 2012, one out of every nine deaths was the result of air pollution-related conditions. In 2016 about 3 million deaths a year were linked to exposure to outdoor air pollution. In the last few years many epidemiological studies have shown associations between air pollutant concentrations and human health. Apart from people, even monuments and artworks can be damaged by pollution, especially in city centres. Furthermore, urbanization modified microclimate conditions of the cities, and, together with traffic and domestic heating, led to a discomfort of living conditions. For these reasons, there is the necessity to improve the research on the impact of pollutant and microclimate conditions inside urban areas. In this work different kinds of pollutants in Rome from 2006 to 2015 were analysed, and different techniques of post elaboration were used. In particular, the attention was focused on statistic and cross statistic techniques in time and space. The results led to describe Rome as spatially and temporally independence regarding pollutant. Even weather changes were studied in relation with pollution. In particular, cross-correlation analysis were done with air temperature, solar radiation, wind direction and velocity, highlighting a strong coupling for the most of cases except for particular matter.

The Paul-Emile Victor group. to the rescue of the sea (in French)

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Not Available

The Paul-Emile Victor Group, which includes P. E. Victor, J. Auriol, A. Bombard, J. Y. Consteau, J. Debat, L. Leprince-Ringuet, and H. Tazieff, was formed to protect man and his environment, and for about a year has been prepared to deal with problems caused by marine pollution. Eight industrial firms, including the Compagnie Francaise des Petroles, supply chemical, financial, and scientific assistance. The Service d'Action and d'Assistance Marine d'Urgence and de Recherche (SAMUR), has three functions: corrective action, research and prevention, and education; it is divided into two sections: one comprising several rapid-action units (UNIR), and the other constituting amore » center for marine bioecological study and research (''cerber-mer''). The UNIR includes professional divers, pollution-control technicians, and biologists and goes into action immediately. The ''cerber-mer'' section will constitute a 24 hr information-exchange center for all of Europe.« less

A linked simulation-optimization model for solving the unknown groundwater pollution source identification problems.

PubMed

Ayvaz, M Tamer

2010-09-20

This study proposes a linked simulation-optimization model for solving the unknown groundwater pollution source identification problems. In the proposed model, MODFLOW and MT3DMS packages are used to simulate the flow and transport processes in the groundwater system. These models are then integrated with an optimization model which is based on the heuristic harmony search (HS) algorithm. In the proposed simulation-optimization model, the locations and release histories of the pollution sources are treated as the explicit decision variables and determined through the optimization model. Also, an implicit solution procedure is proposed to determine the optimum number of pollution sources which is an advantage of this model. The performance of the proposed model is evaluated on two hypothetical examples for simple and complex aquifer geometries, measurement error conditions, and different HS solution parameter sets. Identified results indicated that the proposed simulation-optimization model is an effective way and may be used to solve the inverse pollution source identification problems. Copyright (c) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

lnvasive pests ('biological pollutants') and US forests: whose problem, who pays?

Treesearch

W.E. Wallner

1996-01-01

Invasive pests, or 'biological pollutants' are among the most serious threats to biological diversity in the forest ecosystems of the USA. Additionally, they can disrupt forest management practices and cause enormous financial losses. In the USA, as elsewhere, the receiving country inherits the problem and, along with its citizenry, bears the permanent...

Differentiating impacts of land use changes from pasture management in a CEAP watershed using the SWAT model

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Due to intensive farm practices, nonpoint-source (NPS) pollution has become one of the most challenging environmental problems in agricultural and mixed land use watersheds. Usually, various conservation practices are implemented in the watershed to control the NPS pollution problem. However, land u...

Environmental Activities, Junior High School.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Edwards, William C.; Larson, Robert J.

This guide, for use at the junior high level, is aimed at helping our youth become more knowledgeable concerning the environment and associated problems, thus making them aware of how to solve these problems and motivating them to work toward their solution. Among the subjects discussed are art in nature, erosion, body pollution, water pollution,…

Environmental Pollution: Is There Enough Public Concern to Lead to Action?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sharma, Navin C.; And Others

1975-01-01

Research indicates that the impetus to solve pollution problems may have to come from processes outside the realm of ordinary problem solving institutions. Mass media exposure and involvement in the political process are ineffective in generating antipollution sentiment. "Grass roots" movements based on informal communication may emerge to combat…

Hotspots within the Transboundary Selenga River Basin

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kasimov, Nikolay; Lychagin, Mikhail; Chalov, Sergey

2013-04-01

Gathering the efficient information on water pollution of transboundary river systems remains the crucial task in international water management, environmental pollution control and prevention health problems. Countries, located in the low parts of the river basins, depend on the water strategy and water use in the adjacent countries, located upstream. Surface water pollution is considered to be the most serious problem, facing the above-mentioned countries. Large efforts in terms of field measurement campaigns and (numerical) transport modeling are then typically needed for relevant pollution prediction and prevention. Russian rivers take inflow from 8 neighboring countries. Among them there are 2 developing economies - People Republic of China and Mongolia, which are located in water-scarce areas and thus solve their water-related problems through the consumption of international water. Negative change of water runoff and water quality in the foreign part of transboundary river is appeared inside Russian territory with more or less delay. The transboundary river system of Selenga is particularly challenging, being the biggest tributary of Lake Baikal which is the largest freshwater reservoir in the world. Selenga River contributes about 50 % of the total inflow into Baikal. It originates in the mountainous part of Mongolia and then drains into Russia. There are numerous industries and agricultural activities within the Selenga drainage basin that affect the water quality of the river system. Absence of the single monitoring system and predictive tools for pollutants transport in river system requires large efforts in understanding sources of water pollution and implemented data on the relevant numerical systems for the pollution prediction and prevention. Special investigations in the Selenga river basin (Mongolia and Russia) were done to assess hot spots and understand state-of-the art in sediment load, water chemistry and hydrobiology of transboundary systems. Hot spot assessment included 100 gauge stations in the river basin with discharge measurement by ADCP, turbidity (T) and suspended sediment concentration (SSC), bed load by bed load traps, composition of salt, biochemical oxidation, nitrogen and phosphorous content in water, pH, redox and conductivity values, and also content of heavy metals in water, suspended matter and sediments. The study revealed rather high levels of dissolved Fe, Al, Mn, Zn, Cu, and Mo in the Selenga River water which often are higher than MPC for water fishery. Most contrast distribution is characteristic for W and Mo, which is caused by mineral deposits in the Selenga basin. The most severe pollution of aquatic systems in the basin caused by mining activities is characteristic for a small river Modonkul, which flows into Dzhida River (left tributary of Selenga).

[Environmental pollution, climate variability and climate change: a review of health impacts on the Peruvian population].

PubMed

Gonzales, Gustavo F; Zevallos, Alisson; Gonzales-Castañeda, Cynthia; Nuñez, Denisse; Gastañaga, Carmen; Cabezas, César; Naeher, Luke; Levy, Karen; Steenland, Kyle

2014-01-01

This article is a review of the pollution of water, air and the effect of climate change on the health of the Peruvian population. A major air pollutant is particulate matter less than 2.5 μ (PM 2.5). In Lima, 2,300 premature deaths annually are attributable to this pollutant. Another problem is household air pollution by using stoves burning biomass fuels, where excessive indoor exposure to PM 2.5 inside the household is responsible for approximately 3,000 annual premature deaths among adults, with another unknown number of deaths among children due to respiratory infections. Water pollution is caused by sewage discharges into rivers, minerals (arsenic) from various sources, and failure of water treatment plants. In Peru, climate change may impact the frequency and severity of El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO), which has been associated with an increase in cases of diseases such as cholera, malaria and dengue. Climate change increases the temperature and can extend the areas affected by vector-borne diseases, have impact on the availability of water and contamination of the air. In conclusion, Peru is going through a transition of environmental risk factors, where traditional and modern risks coexist and infectious and chronic problems remain, some of which are associated with problems of pollution of water and air.

Respiratory tract pathology and cytokine imbalance in clinically healthy children chronically and sequentially exposed to air pollutants.

PubMed

Calderón-Garcidueñas, L; Devlin, R B; Miller, F J

2000-11-01

Chronic exposure of children to a complex mixture of air pollutants leads to recurrent episodes of upper and lower respiratory tract injury. An altered nasal mucociliary apparatus leaves the distal acinar airways more vulnerable to reactive gases and particulate matter (PM). The heterogeneity of structure in the human lung can impart significant variability in the distribution of ozone dose and particle deposition; this, in turn, influences the extent of epithelial injury and repair in chronically exposed children. Cytokines are low-molecular-weight proteins that act as intercellular mediators of inflammatory reactions, including lung injury of various etiologies. Cytokines are involved in generating inflammatory responses that contribute to injury at the lung epithelial and endothelial barriers. Mexico City is a 20-million-person megacity with severe air pollution problems. Southwest Metropolitan Mexico City (SWMMC) atmosphere is characterized by a complex mixture of air pollutants, including ozone, PM, and aldehydes. There is radiological evidence that significant lower respiratory tract damage is taking place in clinically healthy children chronically and sequentially exposed to air pollutants while growing up in SWMMC. We hypothesize that there is an imbalanced and dysregulated cytokine network in SWMMC children with overproduction of proinflammatory cytokines and cytokines involved in lung tissue repair and fibrosis. The nature of the sustained imbalance among the different cytokines ultimately determines the final lung histopathology, which would include subchronic inflammation, emphysema, and fibrosis. Cytokines likely would reach the systemic circulation and produce systemic effects. Individuals with an underlying respiratory or cardiovascular disease are less able to maintain equilibrium of the precarious cytokine networks.

North Branch Potomac River Basin mine drainage study. Phase I. Baseline survey. Final report

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Not Available

1977-05-06

This baseline survey of the mine drainage and related water resources of the North Branch Potomac River Basin established the extent, magnitude, and effects of coal mine drainage pollution. Alternative abatement and reclamation solutions were considered. The study included an analysis of socioeconomic and environmental conditions as related to the mine drainage problem.

Teacher Candidates' Perception Level of Environmental Pollutant and Their Risk Factors

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Oztas, Fulya; Kalipci, Erkan

2009-01-01

It is generally accepted that the environmental education deals with a wide range of environmental experiences, methods and processes. Teaching the subject of the environment should not be considered as an easy task. It should not only cover pure ecology education; but also include the citizenship responsibilities and the problems that are sourced…

Recycling Resources. [Student Handbook, Sound Filmstrips, 12-Inch Record, Pollution Simulation Game, Teacher's Manual

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hatch, C. Richard

A 15- to 20-hour course on materials recycling, teaching junior high school students about environmental problems and solutions, is developed in this set of materials. It attempts to stimulate them to participate in community efforts aimed at improving the environment. Items in the kit include: (1) teacher's manual, with lesson plans enumerating…

Characterization of manure from conventional and phytase transgenic pigs by advanced solid-state NMR spectroscopy

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Non-point phosphorus (P) pollution from animal manure is becoming a serious global problem. The current solution for the swine industry is including the enzyme phytase as a component of the cereal grain diet. A very real possibility in the future is the production of transgenic pigs that express phy...

[The health problems which can brougth by 3G cell phones to our country].

PubMed

Enöz, Murat

2009-01-01

At present, we are being exposed to electromagnetic pollution which is steadily increasing parallel to the technological advancements and which is invisible and unnoticeable in the short run. Electromagnetic waves which were previously used for therapeutic reasons have recently been uncontrollably used in daily life. By widespread use of 3rd generation (3G) cellular phones, the electromagnetic pollution has multiplied and brought us a huge amount of health dangers in our country. In this article, electromagnetic pollution, which is a comprehensive topic, and problems related with this kind of pollution which is rapidly increasing due to recent wide use of 3G cell phones are summarized in the light of the literature.

Nanobiotechnology for the Environment: Innovative Solutions for the Management of Harmful Algal Blooms.

PubMed

Gellert, Matthew R; Kim, Beum Jun; Reffsin, Samuel E; Jusuf, Sebastian E; Wagner, Nicole D; Winans, Stephen C; Wu, Mingming

2017-12-04

Nanobiotechnology has played important roles in solving contemporary health problems, including cancer and diabetes, but has not yet been widely exploited for problems in food security and environmental protection. Water scarcity is an emerging worldwide problem as a result of climate change and population increase. Current methods of managing water resources are not efficient or sustainable. In this perspective, we focus on harmful algal blooms to demonstrate how nanobiotechnology can be explored to understand microbe-environment interactions and allow for toxin/pollutant detection with significantly improved sensitivity. These capabilities hold potential for future development of sustainable solutions for drinking water management.

Large-scale monitoring of air pollution in remote and ecologically important areas

Treesearch

Andrzej Bytnerowicz; Witold Fraczek

2013-01-01

New advances in air quality monitoring techniques, such as passive samplers for nitrogenous (N) or sulphurous (S) pollutants and ozone (O3), have allowed for an improved understanding of concentrations of these pollutants in remote areas. Mountains create special problems with regard to the feasibility of establishing and maintaining air pollution monitoring networks,...

Anxiety, locus of control and appraisal of air pollution

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Navarro, P.L.; Simpson-Housley, P.; de Man, A.F.

1987-06-01

100 residents of Santiago de Chile took part in a study of the relationship among locus of control, trait-anxiety, and perception of air pollution. Concern over the problem of atmospheric pollution and number of antipollution measures taken was related to trait-anxiety. Locus of control was associated with variation in awareness of pollution hazard.

In Search of Air Pollution

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Beckendorf, Kirk

2006-01-01

Air pollution is no longer just a local issue; it is a global problem. The atmosphere is a very dynamic system. Pollution not only changes in chemical composition after it is emitted, but also is transported on local and global air systems hundreds and even thousands of miles away. Some of the pollutants that are major health concerns are not even…

Analysis on policies text of air pollution control in Beijing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

ZHANG, Yujuan; WANG, Wen; ZHANG, Wei

2017-04-01

Air pollution is one of the most serious environmental problems, and it is also the inevitable result of the extensive economic development mode. The matter of air pollution in Beijing is becoming more and more serious since 2010, which has a great impact on the normal social production, living and human health. These hazards have been highly valued by the whole society. More than 30 years have been pasted since controlling the air pollution and the system of policies was relatively complete. These policies have improved the quality of atmospheric and prevented environment further deterioration. The policies performance is not obvious. It is urgent trouble to improve policy performance. This paper analyzes the 103 policies text of air pollution control in Beijing, and researches status, history and problems, and put forward suggestions on policy improvement and innovation at last.

Dredging and Water Quality Problems in the Great Lakes. Volume 2. Appendices A1 to A19. Sampling Surveys with Separate Reports

DTIC Science & Technology

1969-01-01

Ii necessary and Identity by block number) Dredging Water Quality Water Pollution M0 AUOTR ACT e-ausamtoj m wesem. et itp omea d Identtfy by block...nmuibeA) The present report presents the results of a study conducted by the Corps Engineers with cooperation of the Federal Water Pollution Control...areas of the Great Lakes, as well as to develop the most practical methods for management of pollution problems that may be identified as resulting

The U.S. and Environmental Pollution Control

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Newill, Vaun A.

1974-01-01

Background concerning legislation and development of environmental programs is detailed in the areas of air pollution, water pollution, pesticides, and multimedia toxic substances. Each section contains a discussion of scientific knowledge, health effects, costs, proposed standards, and possible approaches to the problems. (LS)

U.S. News Media Coverage of Pharmaceutical Pollution in the Aquatic Environment: A Content Analysis of the Problems and Solutions Presented by Actors.

PubMed

Blair, Benjamin; Zimny-Schmitt, Daniel; Rudd, Murray A

2017-08-01

Pharmaceutical pollution in the aquatic environment is an issue of concern that has attracted attention by the news media. Understanding the factors that contribute to media framing of pharmaceutical pollution may lead to a better understanding of the management and governance of this issue, including why these pollutants are generally unregulated at this time. This study conducted a content analysis of 405 newspaper articles (81 had substantive information on the topic) from 2007 to 2014, using the search terms "water" and "pharmaceuticals" in the Chicago Tribune, Denver Post, Los Angeles Times, New York Daily News, New York Times, USA Today, Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post. We sought to analyze the factors that contributed to the news media presentation of pharmaceutical pollution in the United States, including the presentation of the risks/safety and solutions by various actors. We found that the primary issues in the news media were uncertainty regarding public health and harm to the environment. The primary solutions recommended within the news media were implementing additional water treatment technologies, taking unused pharmaceuticals to predetermined sites for disposal (take-back programs), and trash disposal of unused pharmaceuticals. Water utilities and scientists presented improved water treatment technology, government actors presented take-back programs, and pharmaceutical representatives, while sparsely involved in the news media, presented trash disposal as their primary solutions. To advance the understanding of the management of pharmaceutical pollution, this article offers further insight into the debate and potential solutions within the news media presentation of this complex scientific topic.

U.S. News Media Coverage of Pharmaceutical Pollution in the Aquatic Environment: A Content Analysis of the Problems and Solutions Presented by Actors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Blair, Benjamin; Zimny-Schmitt, Daniel; Rudd, Murray A.

2017-08-01

Pharmaceutical pollution in the aquatic environment is an issue of concern that has attracted attention by the news media. Understanding the factors that contribute to media framing of pharmaceutical pollution may lead to a better understanding of the management and governance of this issue, including why these pollutants are generally unregulated at this time. This study conducted a content analysis of 405 newspaper articles (81 had substantive information on the topic) from 2007 to 2014, using the search terms "water" and "pharmaceuticals" in the Chicago Tribune, Denver Post, Los Angeles Times, New York Daily News, New York Times, USA Today, Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post. We sought to analyze the factors that contributed to the news media presentation of pharmaceutical pollution in the United States, including the presentation of the risks/safety and solutions by various actors. We found that the primary issues in the news media were uncertainty regarding public health and harm to the environment. The primary solutions recommended within the news media were implementing additional water treatment technologies, taking unused pharmaceuticals to predetermined sites for disposal (take-back programs), and trash disposal of unused pharmaceuticals. Water utilities and scientists presented improved water treatment technology, government actors presented take-back programs, and pharmaceutical representatives, while sparsely involved in the news media, presented trash disposal as their primary solutions. To advance the understanding of the management of pharmaceutical pollution, this article offers further insight into the debate and potential solutions within the news media presentation of this complex scientific topic.

Cleaning By Blasting With Pellets Of Dry Ice

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fody, Jody

1993-01-01

Dry process strips protective surface coats from parts to be cleaned, without manual scrubbing. Does not involve use of flammable or toxic solvents. Used to remove coats from variety of materials, including plastics, ceramics, ferrous and nonferrous metals, and composites. Adds no chemical-pollution problem to problem of disposal of residue of coating material. Process consists of blasting solid carbon dioxide (dry ice) pellets at surface to be cleaned. Pellets sublime on impact and pass into atmosphere as carbon dioxide gas. Size, harness, velocity, and quantity of pellets adjusted to suit coating material and substrate.

Air pollution removal and temperature reduction by Gainesville's urban forest

Treesearch

Francisco Escobedo; Jennifer A. Seitz; Wayne Zipperer

2009-01-01

Poor air quality is a common problem in many urban areas. It can lead to human health problems and reduced visibility, and it can impair the health of plants and wildlife. The urban forest can help improve air quality by removing pollutants and by reducing air temperature through shading and transpiration. Trees also emit volatile...

Water Pollution, A Scientists' Institute for Public Information Workbook.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Berg, George G.

Analyzed are the reasons why present mechanisms for the control of water purity are inadequate. The control of waterborne epidemics is discussed to illustrate a problem which has been solved, then degradation of the environment is presented as an unsolved problem. Case histories are given of pollution and attempts at control in rivers, lakes,…

Phytoremediation: An Environmentally Sound Technology for Pollution Prevention, Control and Remediation in Developing Countries

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Erakhrumen, Andrew Agbontalor

2007-01-01

The problem of environmental pollution has assumed an unprecedented proportion in many parts of the world especially in Nigeria and its Niger-Delta region in particular. This region is bedeviled with this problem perhaps owing to interplay of demographic and socio-economic forces coupled with the various activities that revolve round the…

The Relationship between Pre-Service Teachers' Awareness Levels of Electromagnetic Pollution and Other Environmental Problems

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Koklukaya, Ayse Nesibe; Guven Yildirim, Ezgi; Selvi, Mahmut

2017-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to find out the relationship between the awareness level of preservice science teachers' conscious use of technological devices, which cause electromagnetic pollution, and their awareness level of related environmental problems. Research Methods: In this study, a mixed design method was used. A relational…

IMPROVIDING SUSTAINABILITY IN METALLIC MATERIALS THROUGH REDUCTION OF WASTES DISCARDED TO THE ENVIRONMENT BY RECOVERY AND REUSE IN EXTRACTION AND FABRICATION INDUSTRIES

EPA Science Inventory

Designed to chronicle the pollution problem occurring at one of the world's largest Superfund sites and to address the potential of the application of the approach of the recovery of metal resources occurring in the acid mine drainage causing the pollution problem. Acid mine drai...

Identifing Atmospheric Pollutant Sources Using Artificial Neural Networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Paes, F. F.; Campos, H. F.; Luz, E. P.; Carvalho, A. R.

2008-05-01

The estimation of the area source pollutant strength is a relevant issue for atmospheric environment. This characterizes an inverse problem in the atmospheric pollution dispersion. In the inverse analysis, an area source domain is considered, where the strength of such area source term is assumed unknown. The inverse problem is solved by using a supervised artificial neural network: multi-layer perceptron. The conection weights of the neural network are computed from delta rule - learning process. The neural network inversion is compared with results from standard inverse analysis (regularized inverse solution). In the regularization method, the inverse problem is formulated as a non-linear optimization approach, whose the objective function is given by the square difference between the measured pollutant concentration and the mathematical models, associated with a regularization operator. In our numerical experiments, the forward problem is addressed by a source-receptor scheme, where a regressive Lagrangian model is applied to compute the transition matrix. The second order maximum entropy regularization is used, and the regularization parameter is calculated by the L-curve technique. The objective function is minimized employing a deterministic scheme (a quasi-Newton algorithm) [1] and a stochastic technique (PSO: particle swarm optimization) [2]. The inverse problem methodology is tested with synthetic observational data, from six measurement points in the physical domain. The best inverse solutions were obtained with neural networks. References: [1] D. R. Roberti, D. Anfossi, H. F. Campos Velho, G. A. Degrazia (2005): Estimating Emission Rate and Pollutant Source Location, Ciencia e Natura, p. 131-134. [2] E.F.P. da Luz, H.F. de Campos Velho, J.C. Becceneri, D.R. Roberti (2007): Estimating Atmospheric Area Source Strength Through Particle Swarm Optimization. Inverse Problems, Desing and Optimization Symposium IPDO-2007, April 16-18, Miami (FL), USA, vol 1, p. 354-359.

Urban Planning Problems of Agglomerations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Olenkov, V. D.; Tazeev, N. T.

2017-11-01

The article explores the state of the air basin of the Chelyabinsk agglomeration and gives the examples of solutions for the pollution problems from the point of view of city planning. The main features and structure of the modern urban agglomerations are considered, the methods for determining their boundaries are studied and the main problems are identified. The study of the boundaries and territorial structure of the Chelyabinsk urban agglomeration is conducted, and a general description of the territory is given. The data on the change in the volume of pollutant emissions into the atmosphere and the index of atmospheric pollution for the period 2003-2015 are given basing on the annual comprehensive reports regarding the state of the environment. The review of the world experience of city-planning actions on the decision of ecological problems is carried out. The most suitable ways for the ecological problems solving in the Chelyabinsk agglomeration are considered. The authors give recommendations for the ecological situation improving in the territory of the Chelyabinsk agglomeration.

Microbial succession in response to pollutants in batch-enrichment culture

PubMed Central

Jiao, Shuo; Chen, Weimin; Wang, Entao; Wang, Junman; Liu, Zhenshan; Li, Yining; Wei, Gehong

2016-01-01

As a global problem, environmental pollution is an important factor to shape the microbial communities. The elucidation of the succession of microbial communities in response to pollutants is essential for developing bioremediation procedures. In the present study, ten batches of soil-enrichment subcultures were subjected to four treatments: phenanthrene, n-octadecane, phenanthrene + n-octadecane, or phenanthrene + n-octadecane + CdCl2. Forty pollutant-degrading consortia, corresponding to each batch of the four treatments were obtained. High-throughput sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene revealed that the diversity, richness and evenness of the consortia decreased throughout the subculturing procedure. The well-known hydrocarbon degraders Acinetobacter, Gordonia, Sphingobium, Sphingopyxis, and Castellaniella and several other genera, including Niabella and Naxibacter, were detected in the enriched consortia. The predominant microbes varied and the microbial community in the consortia gradually changed during the successive subculturing depending on the treatment, indicating that the pollutants influenced the microbial successions. Comparison of the networks in the treatments indicated that organic pollutants and CdCl2 affected the co-occurrence patterns in enriched consortia. In conclusion, single environmental factors, such as the addition of nutrients or selection pressure, can shape microbial communities and partially explain the extensive differences in microbial community structures among diverse environments. PMID:26905741

A Survey of Wireless Sensor Network Based Air Pollution Monitoring Systems

PubMed Central

Yi, Wei Ying; Lo, Kin Ming; Mak, Terrence; Leung, Kwong Sak; Leung, Yee; Meng, Mei Ling

2015-01-01

The air quality in urban areas is a major concern in modern cities due to significant impacts of air pollution on public health, global environment, and worldwide economy. Recent studies reveal the importance of micro-level pollution information, including human personal exposure and acute exposure to air pollutants. A real-time system with high spatio-temporal resolution is essential because of the limited data availability and non-scalability of conventional air pollution monitoring systems. Currently, researchers focus on the concept of The Next Generation Air Pollution Monitoring System (TNGAPMS) and have achieved significant breakthroughs by utilizing the advance sensing technologies, MicroElectroMechanical Systems (MEMS) and Wireless Sensor Network (WSN). However, there exist potential problems of these newly proposed systems, namely the lack of 3D data acquisition ability and the flexibility of the sensor network. In this paper, we classify the existing works into three categories as Static Sensor Network (SSN), Community Sensor Network (CSN) and Vehicle Sensor Network (VSN) based on the carriers of the sensors. Comprehensive reviews and comparisons among these three types of sensor networks were also performed. Last but not least, we discuss the limitations of the existing works and conclude the objectives that we want to achieve in future systems. PMID:26703598

A Survey of Wireless Sensor Network Based Air Pollution Monitoring Systems.

PubMed

Yi, Wei Ying; Lo, Kin Ming; Mak, Terrence; Leung, Kwong Sak; Leung, Yee; Meng, Mei Ling

2015-12-12

The air quality in urban areas is a major concern in modern cities due to significant impacts of air pollution on public health, global environment, and worldwide economy. Recent studies reveal the importance of micro-level pollution information, including human personal exposure and acute exposure to air pollutants. A real-time system with high spatio-temporal resolution is essential because of the limited data availability and non-scalability of conventional air pollution monitoring systems. Currently, researchers focus on the concept of The Next Generation Air Pollution Monitoring System (TNGAPMS) and have achieved significant breakthroughs by utilizing the advance sensing technologies, MicroElectroMechanical Systems (MEMS) and Wireless Sensor Network (WSN). However, there exist potential problems of these newly proposed systems, namely the lack of 3D data acquisition ability and the flexibility of the sensor network. In this paper, we classify the existing works into three categories as Static Sensor Network (SSN), Community Sensor Network (CSN) and Vehicle Sensor Network (VSN) based on the carriers of the sensors. Comprehensive reviews and comparisons among these three types of sensor networks were also performed. Last but not least, we discuss the limitations of the existing works and conclude the objectives that we want to achieve in future systems.

Case study project: The use of low-VOC/HAP coatings at wood furniture manufacturing facilities. Report for March 1995--March 1999

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Marshall, A.M.; Jones, J.W.; Fields, J.L.

1999-07-01

The paper discusses a study of pollution prevention and the use of low-VOC/HAP (volatile organic compound/hazardous air pollutant) coatings at wood furniture manufacturing facilities. The study is to identify wood furniture and cabinet manufacturing facilities that have converted to low-VOC/HAP coatings and to develop case studies for those facilities. The case studies include a discussion of the types of products each facility manufactures; the types of low-VOC/HAP coatings each facility is using; problems encountered in converting to low-VOC/HAP coatings; equipment changes that were required; costs associated with the conversion process, including capital costs associated with equipment purchases, research and developmentmore » costs, and operating costs such as operator training in new application techniques;advantages/ disadvantages of the low-VOC/HAP coatings; and customer feedback on products finished with the low-VOC/HAP coatings. The paper discusses the progress of the study and pollution prevention options at wood furniture manufacturing facilities.« less

Understanding the Patterns and Drivers of Air Pollution on Multiple Time Scales: The Case of Northern China.

PubMed

Liu, Yupeng; Wu, Jianguo; Yu, Deyong; Hao, Ruifang

2018-06-01

China's rapid economic growth during the past three decades has resulted in a number of environmental problems, including the deterioration of air quality. It is necessary to better understand how the spatial pattern of air pollutants varies with time scales and what drive these changes. To address these questions, this study focused on one of the most heavily air-polluted areas in North China. We first quantified the spatial pattern of air pollution, and then systematically examined the relationships of air pollution to several socioeconomic and climatic factors using the constraint line method, correlation analysis, and stepwise regression on decadal, annual, and seasonal scales. Our results indicate that PM 2.5 was the dominant air pollutant in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, while PM 2.5 and PM 10 were both important pollutants in the Agro-pastoral Transitional Zone (APTZ) region. Our statistical analyses suggest that energy consumption and gross domestic product (GDP) in the industry were the most important factors for air pollution on the decadal scale, but the impacts of climatic factors could also be significant. On the annual and seasonal scales, high wind speed, low relative humidity, and long sunshine duration constrained PM 2.5 accumulation; low wind speed and high relative humidity constrained PM 10 accumulation; and short sunshine duration and high wind speed constrained O 3 accumulation. Our study showed that analyses on multiple temporal scales are not only necessary to determine key drivers of air pollution, but also insightful for understanding the spatial patterns of air pollution, which was important for urban planning and air pollution control.

Spatiotemporal Characterization of Ambient PM2.5 Concentrations in Shandong Province (China).

PubMed

Yang, Yong; Christakos, George

2015-11-17

China experiences severe particulate matter (PM) pollution problems closely linked to its rapid economic growth. Advancing the understanding and characterization of spatiotemporal air pollution distribution is an area where improved quantitative methods are of great benefit to risk assessment and environmental policy. This work uses the Bayesian maximum entropy (BME) method to assess the space-time variability of PM2.5 concentrations and predict their distribution in the Shandong province, China. Daily PM2.5 concentrations obtained at air quality monitoring sites during 2014 were used. On the basis of the space-time PM2.5 distributions generated by BME, we performed three kinds of querying analysis to reveal the main distribution features. The results showed that the entire region of interest is seriously polluted (BME maps identified heavy pollution clusters during 2014). Quantitative characterization of pollution severity included both pollution level and duration. The number of days during which regional PM2.5 exceeded 75, 115, 150, and 250 μg m(-3) varied: 43-253, 13-128, 4-66, and 0-15 days, respectively. The PM2.5 pattern exhibited an increasing trend from east to west, with the western part of Shandong being a heavily polluted area (PM2.5 exceeded 150 μg m(-3) during long time periods). Pollution was much more serious during winter than during other seasons. Site indicators of PM2.5 pollution intensity and space-time variation were used to assess regional uncertainties and risks with their interpretation depending on the pollutant threshold. The observed PM2.5 concentrations exceeding a specified threshold increased almost linearly with increasing threshold value, whereas the relative probability of excess pollution decreased sharply with increasing threshold.

Association between air pollution and cardiovascular mortality in Hefei, China: A time-series analysis.

PubMed

Zhang, Chao; Ding, Rui; Xiao, Changchun; Xu, Yachun; Cheng, Han; Zhu, Furong; Lei, Ruoqian; Di, Dongsheng; Zhao, Qihong; Cao, Jiyu

2017-10-01

In recent years, air pollution has become an alarming problem in China. However, evidence on the effects of air pollution on cardiovascular mortality is still not conclusive to date. This research aimed to assess the short-term effects of air pollution on cardiovascular morbidity in Hefei, China. Data of air pollution, cardiovascular mortality, and meteorological characteristics in Hefei between 2010 and 2015 were collected. Time-series analysis in generalized additive model was applied to evaluate the association between air pollution and daily cardiovascular mortality. During the study period, the annual average concentration of PM 10, SO 2 , and NO 2 was 105.91, 20.58, and 30.93 μg/m 3 , respectively. 21,816 people (including 11,876 man, and 14,494 people over 75 years of age) died of cardiovascular diseases. In single pollutant model, the effects of multi-day exposure were greater than single-day exposure of the air pollution. For every increase of 10 μg/m 3 in SO 2 , NO 2 , and PM 10 levels, CVD mortality increased by 5.26% (95%CI: 3.31%-7.23%), 2.71% (95%CI: 1.23%-4.22%), and 0.68% (95%CI: 0.33%-1.04%) at a lag03, respectively. The multi-pollutant models showed that PM 10 and SO 2 remained associated with CVD mortality, although the effect estimates attenuated. However, the effect of NO 2 on CVD mortality decreased to statistically insignificant. Subgroup analyses further showed that women were more vulnerable than man upon air pollution exposure. These findings showed that air pollution could significantly increase the CVD mortality. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Understanding the Patterns and Drivers of Air Pollution on Multiple Time Scales: The Case of Northern China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Yupeng; Wu, Jianguo; Yu, Deyong; Hao, Ruifang

2018-06-01

China's rapid economic growth during the past three decades has resulted in a number of environmental problems, including the deterioration of air quality. It is necessary to better understand how the spatial pattern of air pollutants varies with time scales and what drive these changes. To address these questions, this study focused on one of the most heavily air-polluted areas in North China. We first quantified the spatial pattern of air pollution, and then systematically examined the relationships of air pollution to several socioeconomic and climatic factors using the constraint line method, correlation analysis, and stepwise regression on decadal, annual, and seasonal scales. Our results indicate that PM2.5 was the dominant air pollutant in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, while PM2.5 and PM10 were both important pollutants in the Agro-pastoral Transitional Zone (APTZ) region. Our statistical analyses suggest that energy consumption and gross domestic product (GDP) in the industry were the most important factors for air pollution on the decadal scale, but the impacts of climatic factors could also be significant. On the annual and seasonal scales, high wind speed, low relative humidity, and long sunshine duration constrained PM2.5 accumulation; low wind speed and high relative humidity constrained PM10 accumulation; and short sunshine duration and high wind speed constrained O3 accumulation. Our study showed that analyses on multiple temporal scales are not only necessary to determine key drivers of air pollution, but also insightful for understanding the spatial patterns of air pollution, which was important for urban planning and air pollution control.

Controlling chromium slag pollution utilising scavengers: a case of Shandong Province, China.

PubMed

Liu, Changhao; Côté, Raymond P

2015-04-01

The problem of chromium slag pollution is a great challenge for China. It is now an urgent task for China to take effective measures to eliminate chromium slag pollution. This article examines the case of the treatment of chromium slag in Shandong Province and explores how chromium slag pollution can be eliminated in Shandong Province. It shows that the chromium slag stockpiled by the chemical plants was successfully utilised by local steel companies, who act as 'scavenger companies'. The driving mechanism, seeking a potential 'scavenger company' within the local region and the role of the local government on the case of Shandong Province are discussed. This article concludes that local steel companies can be utilised to effectively and efficiently treat the chromium slag while benefiting the steel companies. The local governments need to play multiple roles in solving the problem of chromium slag pollution. Seeking and identifying 'scavenger companies' within a region could be an important approach to reducing pollution within the region. © The Author(s) 2015.

Pollution in America: The Trouble with Trash. Series on Public Issues No. 7.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Maurice, S. Charles; Smithson, Charles W.

Examined in this booklet, one of a series intended to apply economic principles to major social and political issues of the day, are such questions as the origins of interest in combating pollution, why people pollute, continuing interest in the issue, the social costs of pollution, and a possible solution to the problem, all considered from an…

The Development of a Systematic Process for Enhancing the Awareness of the Potential for Indoor Air Pollution in Schools.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Liska, Roger William

This paper developed methodology to assist school principals in determining the existence of potential indoor air pollution problems and how to alleviate them, as well as a procedure for pollution prevention. Site visits were conducted on 10 South Carolina elementary schools: five with high potential for indoor air pollution; five with low…

Modeling urban air pollution with optimized hierarchical fuzzy inference system.

PubMed

Tashayo, Behnam; Alimohammadi, Abbas

2016-10-01

Environmental exposure assessments (EEA) and epidemiological studies require urban air pollution models with appropriate spatial and temporal resolutions. Uncertain available data and inflexible models can limit air pollution modeling techniques, particularly in under developing countries. This paper develops a hierarchical fuzzy inference system (HFIS) to model air pollution under different land use, transportation, and meteorological conditions. To improve performance, the system treats the issue as a large-scale and high-dimensional problem and develops the proposed model using a three-step approach. In the first step, a geospatial information system (GIS) and probabilistic methods are used to preprocess the data. In the second step, a hierarchical structure is generated based on the problem. In the third step, the accuracy and complexity of the model are simultaneously optimized with a multiple objective particle swarm optimization (MOPSO) algorithm. We examine the capabilities of the proposed model for predicting daily and annual mean PM2.5 and NO2 and compare the accuracy of the results with representative models from existing literature. The benefits provided by the model features, including probabilistic preprocessing, multi-objective optimization, and hierarchical structure, are precisely evaluated by comparing five different consecutive models in terms of accuracy and complexity criteria. Fivefold cross validation is used to assess the performance of the generated models. The respective average RMSEs and coefficients of determination (R (2)) for the test datasets using proposed model are as follows: daily PM2.5 = (8.13, 0.78), annual mean PM2.5 = (4.96, 0.80), daily NO2 = (5.63, 0.79), and annual mean NO2 = (2.89, 0.83). The obtained results demonstrate that the developed hierarchical fuzzy inference system can be utilized for modeling air pollution in EEA and epidemiological studies.

Lidar system for air-pollution monitoring over urban areas

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Moskalenko, Irina V.; Shcheglov, Djolinard A.; Molodtsov, Nikolai A.

1997-05-01

The atmospheric environmental situation over the urban area of a large city is determined by a complex combination of anthropogenic pollution and meteorological factors. The efficient way to provide three-dimensional mapping of gaseous pollutants over wide areas is utilization of lidar systems employing tunable narrowband transmitters. The paper presented describes activity of RRC 'Kurchatov Institute' in the field of lidar atmospheric monitoring. The project 'mobile remote sensing system based on tunable laser transmitter for environmental monitoring' is developed under financial support of International Scientific and Technology Center (Moscow). The objective of the project is design, construction and field testing of a DIAL-technique system. The lidar transmitter consists of an excimer laser pumping dye laser, BBO crystal frequency doubler, and scanning flat mirror. Sulfur dioxide and atomic mercury have been selected as pollutants for field tests of the lidar system under development. A recent large increase in Moscow traffic stimulated taking into consideration also the remote sensing of lower troposphere ozone because of the photochemical smog problem. The status of the project is briefly discussed. The current activity includes also collecting of environmental data relevant to lidar remote sensing. Main attention is paid to pollutant concentration levels over Moscow city and Moscow district areas.

Associations between air pollution and socioeconomic characteristics, ethnicity and age profile of neighbourhoods in England and the Netherlands.

PubMed

Fecht, Daniela; Fischer, Paul; Fortunato, Léa; Hoek, Gerard; de Hoogh, Kees; Marra, Marten; Kruize, Hanneke; Vienneau, Danielle; Beelen, Rob; Hansell, Anna

2015-03-01

Air pollution levels are generally believed to be higher in deprived areas but associations are complex especially between sensitive population subgroups. We explore air pollution inequalities at national, regional and city level in England and the Netherlands comparing particulate matter (PM10) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) concentrations and publicly available population characteristics (deprivation, ethnicity, proportion of children and elderly). We saw higher concentrations in the most deprived 20% of neighbourhoods in England (1.5 μg/m(3) higher PM10 and 4.4 μg/m(3) NO2). Concentrations in both countries were higher in neighbourhoods with >20% non-White (England: 3.0 μg/m(3) higher PM10 and 10.1 μg/m(3) NO2; the Netherlands: 1.1 μg/m(3) higher PM10 and 4.5 μg/m(3) NO2) after adjustment for urbanisation and other variables. Associations for some areas differed from the national results. Air pollution inequalities were mainly an urban problem suggesting measures to reduce environmental air pollution inequality should include a focus on city transport. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Potentially toxic elements and environmentally-related pollutants recognition using colorimetric and ratiometric fluorescent probes.

PubMed

Rasheed, Tahir; Li, Chuanlong; Bilal, Muhammad; Yu, Chunyang; Iqbal, Hafiz M N

2018-05-30

A safer detection or sensing of toxic pollutants is one among several environmental contamination issues, across the globe. The ever-increasing industrial practices and controlled or uncontrolled release of toxic pollutants from various industrial sectors is a key source of this environmental problem. Significant research efforts have been or being made to tackle this problematic issue to fulfill the growing needs of the modern world. Despite many useful aspects, heavy metals are posing noteworthy toxicological concerns and human-health related issues at various levels of the ecosystem. In this context, notable efforts from various regulatory authorities, the increase in the concentration of these toxic heavy metals in the environment is of serious concern, so real-time monitoring is urgently required. Herein, we reviewed fluorescent sensor based models and their potentialities to address the detection fate of hazardous pollutants including chromium, manganese, cobalt, nickel, copper, and zinc as model elements. The novel aspects of turn-on/off fluorescent sensors have also been discussed from a state of the art viewpoint. In summary, comprehensive literature regarding fluorescent sensor based models and their potentialities to detect various types of toxic pollutants is reviewed. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Plants and their microbial assistants: Nature's answer to Earth's environmental pollution problems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wolverton, B. C.

1990-01-01

The utilization of higher plants and their associated microorganisms to solve environmental pollution problems on Earth and in future space applications is briefly reviewed. If man is sealed inside closed facilities, he becomes a polluter of the environment. It is also common knowledge to most people that man cannot survive on Earth without green photosynthesizing plants and microorganisms. Therefore, it is vitally important to have a better understanding of the interactions of man with plants and microorganisms. Biosphere 2 and other related studies presently being conducted or planned, hopefully, will supply data that will help save planet Earth from impending environmental disaster. The development of means to utilize both air and water pollution as a nutrient source for growing green plants is examined.

Problems in the estimation of human exposure to components of acid precipitation precursors.

PubMed Central

Ferris, B G; Spengler, J D

1985-01-01

Problems associated with estimation of human exposure to ambient air pollutants are discussed. Ideally, we would prefer to have some indication of actual dose. For most pollutants this is not presently feasible. Specific problems discussed are adequacy of outdoor monitors; the need to correct for exposures and time spent indoors; the need to have particle size distributions described and the chemistry of the particles presented. These indicate the need to develop lightweight accurate and reliable personal monitors. Images FIGURE 1. PMID:4076094

The role of social marketing, marine turtles and sustainable tourism in reducing plastic pollution.

PubMed

Eagle, Lynne; Hamann, Mark; Low, David R

2016-06-15

Environmental plastic pollution constitutes a significant hazard to marine turtles, human health and well-being. We describe a transdisciplinary approach to draw together findings from diverse disciplines in order to highlight key environmental pollution problems and their consequences, together with social marketing-based strategies to address the problems. The example of plastic pollution and impacts to marine turtles illustrates the severity of the problem. Wildlife tourism and sustainable tourism activity have not focussed on specific behaviours to change and have had minimal impact on subsequent human behaviour regarding environmental issues, indicating the need for new strategies. Social marketing principles offer promise, but there is a need to investigate the utility of various theoretical foundations to aid the design and implementation of interventions. We offer insight towards using sophisticated multi-method research to develop insights into behaviours and segmentation-based strategies, that can aid the identification of barriers to, and enablers of, sustained behaviour change. Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Modelling the emissions from ships in ports and their impact on air quality in the metropolitan area of Hamburg

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ramacher, Martin; Karl, Matthias; Aulinger, Armin; Bieser, Johannes; Matthias, Volker; Quante, Markus

2016-04-01

Exhaust emissions from shipping contribute significantly to the anthropogenic burden of air pollutants such as nitrogen oxides (NOX) and particulate matter (PM). Ships emit not only when sailing on open sea, but also when approaching harbors, during port manoeuvers and at berth to produce electricity and heat for the ship's operations. This affects the population of harbor cities because long-term exposure to PM and NOX has significant effects on human health. The European Union has therefore has set air quality standards for air pollutants. Many port cities have problems meeting these standards. The port of Hamburg with around 10.000 ship calls per year is Germany's largest seaport and Europe's second largest container port. Air quality standard reporting in Hamburg has revealed problems in meeting limits for NO2 and PM10. The amount and contribution of port related ship emissions (38% for NOx and 17% for PM10) to the overall emissions in the metropolitan area in 2005 [BSU Hamburg (2012): Luftreinhalteplan für Hamburg. 1. Fortschreibung 2012] has been modelled with a bottom up approach by using statistical data of ship activities in the harbor, technical vessel information and specific emission algorithms [GAUSS (2008): Quantifizierung von gasförmigen Emissionen durch Maschinenanlagen der Seeschiffart an der deutschen Küste]. However, knowledge about the spatial distribution of the harbor ship emissions over the city area is crucial when it comes to air quality standards and policy decisions to protect human health. Hence, this model study examines the spatial distribution of harbor ship emissions (NOX, PM10) and their deposition in the Hamburg metropolitan area. The transport and chemical transformation of atmospheric pollutants is calculated with the well-established chemistry transport model TAPM (The Air Pollution Model). TAPM is a three-dimensional coupled prognostic meteorological and air pollution model with a condensed chemistry scheme including photochemistry. The model was applied to the Hamburg metropolitan area with a setup of 30 x 30 grid cells of 1 km² each and 30 vertical grid levels from 10 to 8,000 m, for a time period of one year. Emission inventories for traffic, industry, households and ships in 2013 were generated. To investigate the dispersion of ship emissions to air pollution two different model runs for 2013 were performed; one model run including land-based emissions and the ship emissions and a model run just including the land-based emissions. The modelling results were evaluated with air quality data from the monitoring station network of Hamburg (luft.hamburg.de). The results are presented in form of spatial distribution maps for the Hamburg metropolitan area highlighting the pollutants (PM and NOX) originating from harbor residential ships.

[LIGHT POLLUTION AS THE HYGIENIC PROBLEM].

PubMed

Kaptsov, V A; Gerasev, V F; Deynego, V N

2015-01-01

Mass introduction of lighting devices according to the concept of "maximum coverage area" and multistoried buildings of cities gave rise to light pollution, which became a problem for astronomers, ecologists and hygienists. Analysis of modern lighting devices and installations has shown that about 30-45% of the luminous flux becomes the light pollution. Night lighting of cities causes both direct and indirect damage to the environment, leads to unnecessary energy wastes. So in the USA due to excessive light there is wasted about 2 million barrels of oil per day. Light pollution affects the human hormonal system, causing various health disorders, such as insomnia and depression as a consequence. The light pollution through the ganglion cells of the retina affects the synthesis of melatonin by the pineal gland (epiphysis) and contributes to its calcification, which greatly affects the human psyche. At present, many countries have been paying much state attention to this problem via delivery of national documents and change of the concept of the designing of lighting devices and installations. The essence of this concept--to shine with a preset quality of light only in the right place at the specified time interval. This reduces the light pollution, saves energy and increases the environmental safety of lighting. There is presented an example of a technical solution to reduce the light pollution in the application of the light panel in the form of the gradient of the light guide generator project development.

The Role of Advocacy Organizations in Reducing Negative Externalities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Biglan, Anthony

2009-01-01

An externality is a cost that a corporation's actions impose on society. For example, a power plant may emit mercury but might not pay for the cost of that pollution to the people living near the plant. It is possible to analyze a diverse range of problems of society in these terms, including the health effects of corporate practices, the…

Sycamore Pests: A Guide to Major Insects, Diseases, and Air Pollution

Treesearch

T. H. Filer; J. D. Solomon; F. I. McCracken; F. L. Oliveria; R. Lewis; M. J. Weiss; T. J. Rogers

1977-01-01

This booklet will help nurserymen, forest woodland managers and homeowners to identify and control pest problems. Major insects and diseases are illustrated. Brief mention is made of other pests of local or sporadic concern. A list of registered chemical controls is included. This list is subject to change as new chemicals are approved. Revisions will be made available...

Marine Pollution and the Law of the Sea

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Paterson, Arthur E., III

1975-01-01

Despite a rising tide of contamination, effective controls of marine pollution appear dubious because of conflicting national and economic interests. Since countries can not agree on problems such as national sovereignty, dispute settlement, jurisdiction over oil on the Continental Shelf and international seabed sources, marine pollution will…

Air pollution, deprivation and health: understanding relationships to add value to local air quality management policy and practice in Wales, UK.

PubMed

Brunt, H; Barnes, J; Jones, S J; Longhurst, J W S; Scally, G; Hayes, E

2017-09-01

Air pollution exposure reduces life expectancy. Air pollution, deprivation and poor-health status combinations can create increased and disproportionate disease burdens. Problems and solutions are rarely considered in a broad public health context, but doing so can add value to air quality management efforts by reducing air pollution risks, impacts and inequalities. An ecological study assessed small-area associations between air pollution (nitrogen dioxide and particulate matter), deprivation status and health outcomes in Wales, UK. Air pollution concentrations were highest in 'most' deprived areas. When considered separately, deprivation-health associations were stronger than air pollution-health associations. Considered simultaneously, air pollution added to deprivation-health associations; interactions between air pollution and deprivation modified and strengthened associations with all-cause and respiratory disease mortality, especially in 'most' deprived areas where most-vulnerable people lived and where health needs were greatest. There is a need to reduce air pollution-related risks for all. However, it is also the case that greater health gains can result from considering local air pollution problems and solutions in the context of wider health-determinants and acting on a better understanding of relationships. Informed and co-ordinated air pollution mitigation and public health action in high deprivation and pollution areas can reduce risks and inequalities. To achieve this, greater public health integration and collaboration in local air quality management policy and practice is needed. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Faculty of Public Health. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Devaney, J.J.

The air pollution problems associated with coal burning are discussed. The movement of the pollutants and their natural removal from the atmosphere are reviewed as are the general inefficiencies at emission control attempts. (AIP)

Influence of Biopreparations on the Bacterial Community of Oily Waste

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Biktasheva, L. R.; Galitskaya, P. Yu; Selivanovskaya, S. Yu

2018-01-01

Oil pollution is reported to be one the most serious environmental problems nowadays. Therefore, methods of remediation of oily polluted soils and oily wastes are of great importance. Bioremediation being a perspective method of sanitation of oil pollutions, includes biostimulation of the polluted sites’ indigenous microflora, and in some cases additional introduction of active strains able to decompose hydrocarbon. The efficacy of introducing such biopreparations depends on the interactions between the introduced microbes and the indigenous ones. In this study, the influence of bacterial consortium (Rhodococcus jialingiae, Stenotrophomonas rhizophila and Pseudomonas gessardii) introduction on the bioremediation of an oily waste sampled from a refinery situated in the Mari El region (Russia) was estimated. Single and multiple inoculations of the consortium in addition to moistening and aeration were compared with a control sample, which included only aeration and moistening of the waste. It was shown, that two of the three introduced strains (Rh. jialingiae and Ps.gessardii) gene copy numbers were higher in the inoculated variants than in the control sample and with their initial counts, which meant that these strains survived and included into the bacterial community of the wastes. At the same time, bacterial counts were significantly lower, and the physiological profile of waste microflora slightly altered in the inoculated remediation variants as compared with the control sample. Interestingly, no difference in the degradation rates of hydrocarbons was revealed in the inoculated remediation variants and the control sample.

Transport and fate of gaseous pollutants associated with the National Energy Program.

PubMed Central

Altshuller, A P; Johnson, W B; Nader, J S; Niemann, B L; Turner, D B; Wilson, W E; D'Alessio, G

1980-01-01

The experimental evidence related to the long-range transport and transformations of sulfates has been critically reviewed. It has been concluded that sulfate emissions from various sources can be superimposed on each other during long-range transport to create episodes far from the contributing sources. Sulfates are important contributors to degrading visibility through the United States including relatively pristine areas in the western United States. Acid sulfate components, along with nitric acid, may increase the problem of acidity in precipitation on soils, vegetation, and lakes in certain areas of the eastern United States. Improvements in monitoring of these pollutants are required to follow changes in air quality caused by long-range transport. PMID:7428742

Global issues in environmental medicine.

PubMed

Goldstein, B D

1993-03-01

This overview will discuss a number of the issues posed by the challenge of international environmental health. The reasons that environmental problems occurring elsewhere in the world are of importance to occupational and environmental physicians in North America include the interconnectedness of the biosphere of our planet so that environmental alterations in one part of the globe can have an adverse outcome on our health and well-being; the often high levels of pollution and environmental degradation elsewhere provide an opportunity to determine and predict adverse consequences of environmental agents pertinent to protecting our own health; and, most importantly, our own ability to provide assistance in helping economic development occur in a setting of low risk of environmental pollution.

Metal pollutants and bioelements: retrospective of interactions between magnesium and toxic metals.

PubMed

Soldatovic, Danilo; Matovic, Vesna; Vujanovic, Dragana; Guiet-Bara, Andrée; Bara, Michel; Durlach, Jean

2002-03-01

Protection from heavy metals is a problem that has not been solved in a satisfactory manner so far. Usage of complexing agents in therapy of exposed workers results in both favorable outcome and recognized adverse effects. In the field of environmental protection, they cannot be used in practice, meaning that the risk of escape of metal pollutant from factory premises and their attack on the environnement remains present. The age of chemistry ('Chemistry, key to better living') has led to potent development of industry producing, at the same time, major problems induced by diffusion of metal pollutants, the nightmare of our times, like Camus' 'Plague'. According to the available results, it remains to be answered whether magnesium may influence this important problem, i.e. is this approaches the issue justifiable?

Case studies in organic contaminant hydrogeology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Baker, John A.

1989-07-01

The effective management of domestic solid waste and hazardous, toxic, and radioactive waste is a major problem in the area of environmental geology and water sciences over the world. This series of case studies of organic contaminants from both solid and hazardous waste disposal facilities provides examples of these problems. The facilities were investigated to determine risks and liabilities before acquisition, to determine the site hydrogeologic conditions for design of appropriate groundwater monitoring plans, and/or to determine the potential for groundwater contamination. The results of these studies and investigations by Waste Management Inc. (WMI) and its consultants have shown certain relationships in the distribution of organic pollutants to the different geologic and hydrogeologic charac teristics of each facility. In each of the case studies, all 129 priority pollutants were analyzed in private wells and/or monitoring wells at the request of regulatory agencies. The 31 volatile organic compounds (VOCs) of the priority pollutant list were the majority of the organic compounds detected and these data are evaluated in each case study. The case studies are on disposal facilities located in glacial tills, carbonaceous weathered clay soils, weathered shale, limestone bedrock, dolomite bedrock, and alluvial and sedimentary deposits. A brief discussion of groundwater quality impacts and remedial measures also is included.

Sustainable construction in rural Guatemala.

PubMed

Temple, Ericka K; Rose, Elizabeth

2011-11-01

Waste management is a significant problem in Guatemala, as elsewhere in the developing world. The inappropriate disposal of solid waste produces pollution and places the environment and human health at risk. Environmental risk factors, including inadequate disposal of solid waste, are implicated in 25-30% of disease worldwide with children bearing a disproportionate burden of those diseases. Therefore, economic development which reduces inappropriate disposal of waste and affords economic opportunities may help reduce the global burden of disease on children. In the indigenous highlands of central Guatemala, a community supported non-profit organisation called Long Way Home (http://www.longwayhomeinc.org) is employing alternative construction techniques to build a vocational school complex. The construction of the school from waste materials demonstrates the use and principles of re-purposing materials, helps clean the environment and affords further educational and vocational opportunities. This article will outline the health problems inherent in an indigenous area of a developing country and will offer an alternative solution to reverse environmental risk factors associated with solid waste pollution and also actively improve child health.

Air Pollution and Industry.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ross, R. D., Ed.

This book is an authoritative reference and practical guide designed to help the plant engineer identify and solve industrial air pollution problems in order to be able to meet current air pollution regulations. Prepared under the editorial supervision of an experienced chemical engineer, with each chapter contributed by an expert in his field,…

The Health of the Oceans.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Goldberg, Edward D.

International scientific literature is used to review relevant data concerning pollution of the world's oceans. Chapters 1, 8 and 9 address themselves to the problems of international control of marine pollution. Chapter 1 introduces the importance of the time factor, revealing information on how long it takes a pollutant to reach an undesirable…

Consideration of Exposures to Traffic-Related Air Pollution with Smart Growth Development

EPA Science Inventory

We address the near-road pollution problem as it relates to smart growth design strategies. Studies have shown that pollution levels tend to be high near heavily traveled roads and that road proximity is related to adverse health effects. These findings can conflict with urban ...

Air Pollution.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Scorer, Richard S.

The purpose of this book is to describe the basic mechanisms whereby pollution is transported and diffused in the atmosphere. It is designed to give practitioners an understanding of basic mechanics and physics so they may have a correct basis on which to formulate their decisions related to practical air pollution control problems. Since many…

Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) and Hopanes in Plastic Resin Pellets as Markers of Oil Pollution via International Pellet Watch Monitoring.

PubMed

Yeo, Bee Geok; Takada, Hideshige; Hosoda, Junki; Kondo, Atsuko; Yamashita, Rei; Saha, Mahua; Maes, Thomas

2017-08-01

Oil pollution in the marine environment is an unavoidable problem due to chronic input from local sources, particularly in urban areas and oil spills. Oil pollution not only causes immediate physical damages to surrounding wildlife but also some components, including higher molecular weight PAHs, can persist in the environment for many years and pose insidious threats to the ecosystem. Long-term and nontargeted monitoring of oil pollution is important. This paper examines the ability of International Pellet Watch (IPW) for initial identification and monitoring of oil pollution by analysing PAHs and hopanes in plastic pellet samples collected globally by volunteers. PAH concentrations with the sum of 28 parent and methyl PAHs vary geographically, ranging from 0.035 to 24.4 µg/g-pellet, in line with the presence or absence of local oil pollution sources, such as oil refineries or oil spill sites. This suggests that PAHs can be used to monitor petroleum pollution in IPW. A colour-coded categorization for PAH concentrations within IPW monitoring also is established to facilitate data presentation and understanding. PAH concentrations are generally higher in Western Europe, especially around the North Sea shorelines, moderate in East Asia and North America, and lower in South East Asia, Oceania, South America, and Africa. Hopane concentrations, with a smaller spatial variation (1.7-101 µg/g-pellet), showed no spatial pattern. This result and the poor correlation between hopanes and PAHs suggest that hopane concentrations alone are unsuited to identify petroleum pollution. However, hopane compositions can be used for fingerprinting sources of oil pollution. Thus, both PAHs and hopanes in IPW allow for low cost, remote monitoring of global oil pollution.

Vertical Profiling of Air Pollution at RAPCD

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Newchurch, Michael J.; Fuller, Kirk A.; Bowdle, David A.; Johnson, Steven; Knupp, Kevin; Gillani, Noor; Biazar, Arastoo; Mcnider, Richard T.; Burris, John

2004-01-01

The interaction between local and regional pollution levels occurs at the interface of the Planetary Boundary Layer and the Free Troposphere. Measuring the vertical distribution of ozone, aerosols, and winds with high temporal and vertical resolution is essential to diagnose the nature of this interchange and ultimately for accurately forecasting ozone and aerosol pollution levels. The Regional Atmospheric Profiling Center for Discovery, RAPCD, was built and instrumented to address this critical issue. The ozone W DIAL lidar, Nd:YAG aerosol lidar, and 2.1 micron Doppler wind lidar, along with balloon- borne ECC ozonesondes form the core of the W C D instrumentation for addressing this problem. Instrumentation in the associated Mobile Integrated Profiling (MIPS) laboratory includes 91 5Mhz profiler, sodar, and ceilometer. The collocated Applied particle Optics and Radiometry (ApOR) laboratory hosts an FTIR along with MOUDI and optical particle counters. With MODELS-3 analysis by colleagues in the National Space Science and Technology Center on the UAH campus and the co- located National Weather Service Forecasting Office in Huntsville, AL we are developing a unique facility for advancing the state of the science of pollution forecasting.

An Overview of Air Pollution Problem in Megacities and City Clusters in China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tang, X.

2007-05-01

China has experienced the rapid economic growth in last twenty years. City clusters, which consist of one or several mega cities in close vicinity and many satellite cities and towns, are playing a leading role in Chinese economic growth, owing to their collective economic capacity and interdependency. However, accompanying with the economic boom, population growth and increased energy consumption, the air quality has been degrading in the past two decades. Air pollution in those areas is characterized by concurrent occurrence of high concentrations of multiple primary pollutants leading to form complex secondary pollution problem. After decades long efforts to control air pollution, both the government and scientific communities have realized that to control regional scale air pollution, regional efforts are needed. Field experiments covering the regions like Pearl River Delta region and Beijing City with surrounding areas are critical to understand the chemical and physical processes leading to the formation of regional scale air pollution. In order to formulate policy suggestions for air quality attainment during 2008 Beijing Olympic game and to propose objectives of air quality attainment in 2010 in Beijing, CAREBEIJING (Campaigns of Air Quality Research in Beijing and Surrounding Region) was organized by Peking University in 2006 to learn current air pollution situation of the region, and to identify the transport and transformation processes that lead to the impact of the surrounding area on air quality in Beijing. Same as the purpose for understanding the chemical and physical processes happened in regional scale, the fall and summer campaigns in 2004 and 2006 were carried out in Pearl River Delta. More than 16 domestic and foreign institutions were involved in these campaigns. The background, current status, problems, and some results of these campaigns will be introduced in this presentation.

[Effects of air pollution on human health and their importance in Mexico City].

PubMed

Vallejo, Maite; Jáuregui-Renaud, Kathrine; Hermosillo, Antonio G; Márquez, Manlio F; Cárdenas, Manuel

2003-01-01

The impact of air pollution on human health is a complicated problem. In this review, we describe the main health effects of exposure to ozone, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, lead and particulate matter. Geographical characteristics of the metropolitan area of Mexico City that favor pollutant persistence with adverse effects on the population are described; the use of the Indice Metropolitano de la Calidad del Aire (IMECA), current norms, and present programs to diminish this problem are discussed. Evidence shows that through these actions, air quality has improved. However, some pollutants such as ozone and particulate matter, still exceed the standard. To further improve air quality in the city, existing programs should continue and multidisciplinary research, both basic and applied, is required.

Respiratory disease and particulate air pollution in Santiago Chile: Contribution of erosion particles from fine sediments

Treesearch

Pablo A. Garcia-Chevesich; Sergio Alvarado; Daniel G. Neary; Rodrigo Valdes; Juan Valdes; Juan Jose Aguirre; Marcelo Mena; Roberto Pizarro; Paolo Jofre; Mauricio Vera; Claudio Olivares

2014-01-01

Air pollution in Santiago is a serious problem every winter, causing thousands of cases of breathing problems within the population. With more than 6 million people and almost two million vehicles, this large city receives rainfall only during winters. Depending on the frequency of storms, statistics show that every time it rains, air quality improves for a couple of...

Comparative study of modeling the impacts of air pollution on carbon and water cycles in terrestrial ecosystems of China during 1980-2005

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ren, W.; Tian, H.; Liu, M.; Chen, G.; Lu, C.; Xu, X.; Zhang, C.; Pan, S.; Felzer, B. S.; Kicklighter, D. W.; Melillo, J. M.; Mu, Q.; Running, S.; Zhao, M.

2008-12-01

China has experienced one of the most rapid changes in the past three decades, which has resulted in and will raise lots of environment problems as undergoing further rapid development in the coming years. Severe air pollution combined with other changing environment factors such as climate variability, increasing CO2 and nitrogen deposition, land use cover and change including agronomic management, significantly have been the most serious environmental problems that have threatened the sustainability of China's ecosystems as well as its economy. We investigated the potential effects of elevated ozone (O3) along with other multiple stresses on net primary productivity (NPP) and evapotransporatioin (ET) in China's terrestrial ecosystems for the period 1980-2005, by using three process-based models including the Biom-BGC, Dynamic Land Ecosystem Model (DLEM) and Terrestrial Ecosystem Model (TEM) forced by the gridded data of historical tropospheric O3, climate and other environmental factors. The comparative study of the model simulations showed that elevated O3 could result in a reduction of decadal mean NPP up to 390 TgC, and a small temporal change in total ET nationwide from 1980 to 2005. However, changes in annual NPP and ET across China's terrestrial ecosystems show substantial spatial variation and the reduction rate of NPP up to 32% indicate varied sensitivity and vulnerability to elevated ozone pollution among different plant functional types. The comparative study indicates that there is an important need to test the simulated results and models' behavior against field experiments.

Pollution and respiratory consequences--Have we done enough?

PubMed

Mihălţan, Florin; Danciu, Lucia; Ulmeanu, Ruxandra

2015-01-01

Pollution is the second major cause for many respiratory diseases, after smoking. For every country it is a challenging problem to diminish the exposure of their citizens. The authors are discussing the history of progressing of pollution in different countries, the interactions with some respiratory diseases, the influence on mortality and morbidity and the strategies in developing and developed countries for diminishing the level of the polluted particles.

Urban air quality

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fenger, Jes

Since 1950 the world population has more than doubled, and the global number of cars has increased by a factor of 10. In the same period the fraction of people living in urban areas has increased by a factor of 4. In year 2000 this will amount to nearly half of the world population. About 20 urban regions will each have populations above 10 million people. Seen over longer periods, pollution in major cities tends to increase during the built up phase, they pass through a maximum and are then again reduced, as abatement strategies are developed. In the industrialised western world urban air pollution is in some respects in the last stage with effectively reduced levels of sulphur dioxide and soot. In recent decades however, the increasing traffic has switched the attention to nitrogen oxides, organic compounds and small particles. In some cities photochemical air pollution is an important urban problem, but in the northern part of Europe it is a large-scale phenomenon, with ozone levels in urban streets being normally lower than in rural areas. Cities in Eastern Europe have been (and in many cases still are) heavily polluted. After the recent political upheaval, followed by a temporary recession and a subsequent introduction of new technologies, the situation appears to improve. However, the rising number of private cars is an emerging problem. In most developing countries the rapid urbanisation has so far resulted in uncontrolled growth and deteriorating environment. Air pollution levels are here still rising on many fronts. Apart from being sources of local air pollution, urban activities are significant contributors to transboundary pollution and to the rising global concentrations of greenhouse gasses. Attempts to solve urban problems by introducing cleaner, more energy-efficient technologies will generally have a beneficial impact on these large-scale problems. Attempts based on city planning with a spreading of the activities, on the other hand, may generate more traffic and may thus have the opposite effect.

Indoor Air Pollution

MedlinePlus

... is known as sick building syndrome. Usually indoor air quality problems only cause discomfort. Most people feel better ... and getting rid of pollutants can improve the quality of your indoor air. Environmental Protection Agency

Pollution Abatement Management System--Concept Definition.

DTIC Science & Technology

1978-05-01

and (3) identify priority ranking of environmental pollution problems within the Department of the Army. This report formalizes the overall concept development of PAMS and the system’s developmental strategy.

A Worldwide Plan to Eliminate Global Warming, Air Pollution, and Energy Instability With Wind, Water, and Sunlight (WWS)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jacobson, M. Z.; Delucchi, M. A.

2011-12-01

Global warming, air pollution mortality, and energy insecurity are three of the most significant problems facing the world today. This talk discusses a plan to solve the problems by powering 100% of the world's energy for all purposes, including electricity, transportation, industrial processes, and heating/cooling, with wind, water, and sunlight (WWS) within the next 20-40 years. It reviews and ranks major proposed energy solutions to global warming, air pollution mortality, and energy insecurity while considering other impacts of the proposed solutions, such as on water supply, land use, resource availability, reliability, wildlife, and catastrophic risk. It then evaluates a scenario for powering the world on the energy options determined to be the best while also considering materials, transmission infrastructure, costs, and politics. The study concludes that powering the world with WWS electric power technologies and a conversion from combustion to electricity and electrolytically-produced hydrogen is the cleanest and safest method of solving these problems. Due to the efficiency of electricity, such a conversion reduces world power demand by 30%. Methods of ensuring reliability of WWS electric power are available and will be demonstrated. We also conclude that neither liquid biofuels for transportation (including ethanol or biodiesel from any source), solid biofuels for home heating and cooking, biomass for electricity, conventional or fracked natural gas for electricity or transportation, nuclear power, nor coal with carbon capture (clean coal) are nearly so clean or safe as WWS technologies so are not recommended, either as bridge technologies or in the long term. Our plan calls for all new energy to be supplied by WWS-electricity-hydrogen resources no later than 2030 and all existing non-WWS infrastructure to be eliminated no later than 2050. We find that the plan is technically and economically feasible but politically challenging.

Red River chloride remote sensing study

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1975-01-01

Side looking radar, infrared thermal imagery and color photography, together with a few examples of black and white panoramic photos, are used to supplement information on the natural saline pollution problem that is hydrologically and geologically oriented. The study area was explored concurrently by ground methods and a reasonably good understanding of hydrogeological conditions has been achieved. Examples of the products acquired, their interpretation, and use techniques are included.

Exposure to air pollution and self-reported effects on Chinese students: A case study of 13 megacities.

PubMed

Rajper, Sohail Ahmed; Ullah, Sana; Li, Zhongqiu

2018-01-01

Air pollution causes severe physical and psychological health complications. Considering China's continuously-deteriorating air quality, this study aimed to assess the self-reported effects of air pollution on the behavior and physical health of the students of 13 densely populated cities, and their awareness, practices, and perception of air pollution and its associated public health risks. A detailed, closed-ended questionnaire was administered to 2100 students from 54 universities and schools across China. The questionnaire, which had 24 questions, was categorized into four sections. The first two sections were focused on air pollution-associated behavior and psychology, and physical effects; while the final two sections focused on the subjects' awareness and perceptions, and practices and concerns about air pollution. The respondents reported that long-term exposure to air pollution had significantly affected their psychology and behavior, as well as their physical health. The respondents were aware of the different adverse impacts of air pollution (respiratory infections, allergies, and cardiovascular problems), and hence had adopted different preventive measures, such as the use of respiratory masks and glasses or goggles, regularly drinking water, and consuming rich foods. It was concluded that air pollution and haze had negative physical and psychological effects on the respondents, which led to severe changes in behavior. Proper management, future planning, and implementing strict environmental laws are suggested before this problem worsens and becomes life-threatening.

Sounds and Noises. A Position Paper on Noise Pollution.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chapman, Thomas L.

This position paper focuses on noise pollution and the problems and solutions associated with this form of pollution. The paper is divided into the following five sections: Noise and the Ear, Noise Measurement, III Effects of Noise, Acoustics and Action, and Programs and Activities. The first section identifies noise and sound, the beginnings of…

APTI Course 450, Source Sampling for Particulate Pollutants. Student Workbook.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Northrup Services, Inc., Research Triangle Park, NC.

This workbook is intended to provide practice problems and exercises for the technical student of particulate pollution sampling. Arranged to accompany each of 18 lectures, the chapters deal with aspects of isokinetic air pollution source sampling. Each chapter precedes the exercises by a list of lesson objectives. Three appendices supplement the…

Pollution, Health, and Avoidance Behavior: Evidence from the Ports of Los Angeles

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Moretti, Enrico; Neidell, Matthew

2011-01-01

A pervasive problem in estimating the costs of pollution is that optimizing individuals may compensate for increases in pollution by reducing their exposure, resulting in estimates that understate the full welfare costs. To account for this issue, measurement error, and environmental confounding, we estimate the health effects of ozone using daily…

APEX (Air Pollution Exercise) Volume 20: Reference Materials.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, NC. Office of Manpower Development.

The Reference Materials Manual is part of a set of 21 manuals (AA 001 009-001 029) used in APEX (Air Pollution Exercise), a computerized college and professional level "real world" game simulation of a community with urban and rural problems, industrial activities, and air pollution difficulties. For the purposes of the gaming exercise, APEX…

Quebec's Toxic Pollution Concern.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mingie, Walter

The best solution to the problems of increased pollution of Quebec lakes and rivers with toxic wastes and increased incidence of pollution related diseases is to educate children, to make them aware of the environment and man's interrelationship with it. Attitudes of concern, based on knowledge, must be developed so that as adults, they will take…

Making Water Pollution a Problem in the Classroom Through Computer Assisted Instruction.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Flowers, John D.

Alternative means for dealing with water pollution control are presented for students and teachers. One computer oriented program is described in terms of teaching wastewater treatment and pollution concepts to middle and secondary school students. Suggestions are given to help teachers use a computer simulation program in their classrooms.…

Selected stormwater priority pollutants: a European perspective.

PubMed

Eriksson, E; Baun, A; Scholes, L; Ledin, A; Ahlman, S; Revitt, M; Noutsopoulos, C; Mikkelsen, P S

2007-09-20

The chemical characteristics of stormwater are dependent on the nature of surfaces (roads, roofs etc.) with which it comes into contact during the runoff process as well as natural processes and anthropogenic activities in the catchments. The different types of pollutants may cause problems during utilisation, detention or discharge of stormwater to the environment and may pose specific demands to decentralised treatment. This paper proposes a scientifically justifiable list of selected stormwater priority pollutants (SSPP) to be used, e.g., for evaluation of the chemical risks occurring in different handling strategies. The SSPP-list consists of 25 pollutant parameters including eight of the priority pollutants currently identified in the European Water Framework Directive. It contains general water quality parameters (organic and suspended matter, nutrients and pH); metals (Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, Pt and Zn); PAH (naphthalene, pyrene and benzo[a]pyrene); herbicides (pendimethalin, phenmedipham, glyphosate and terbutylazine); and other representative industrially derived compounds (nonylphenol ethoxylates, pentachlorophenol, di(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate, PCB-28 and methyl tert-butyl ether). Tools for flux modelling, enabling calculation of predicted environmental concentrations (PECs), and for ranking the susceptibility of a pollutant to removal within a range of structural stormwater treatment systems or best management practices (BMPs) have been developed, but further work is required to allow all SSPPs to be addressed in the development of future stormwater pollution control measures. In addition, the identified SSPPs should be considered for inclusion in stormwater related monitoring campaigns.

Associations of short-term exposure to air pollution with respiratory hospital admissions in Arak, Iran.

PubMed

Vahedian, Mostafa; Khanjani, Narges; Mirzaee, Moghaddameh; Koolivand, Ali

2017-01-01

Ambient air pollution, is one of the most frequently stated environmental problems. Many epidemiological studies have documented adverse health effects for ambient air pollution. This study aimed to investigate the association between ambient air pollution and respiratory hospital admissions. In this ecological time series study data about air pollutant concentrations including CO, NO 2 , O 3 , PM 2.5 , PM 10 and SO 2 and, respiratory hospital admissions in the urban population of Arak, from January 1st 2010 to December 31st 2015; were inquired, from the Arak Department of Environment, and two major hospitals, respectively. Meteorological data were inquired for the same period as well. Time-series regression analysis with a distributed lag model, controlled for seasonality long-time trends, weather and day of the week, was used for data analysis. Every 10 μg/m 3 increase in NO 2 , and PM 10 and every 1 mg/m 3 increase in CO at lag 0 corresponded to a RR = 1.032 (95%CI, 1.003-1.06), RR = 1.01 (95%CI, 1.004-1.017) and RR = 1.09 (95%CI, 1.04-1.14), increase in respiratory disease hospitalizations, respectively. Males and the elderly were found to be more susceptible than females and other age groups to air pollutants in regard to respiratory disease admissions. The results of this study showed that outdoor air pollutants significantly increase respiratory hospital admissions; especially among the men and elders in Arak.

Identification of High Performance, Low Environmental Impact Materials and Processes Using Systematic Substitution (SyS)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dhooge, P. M.; Nimitz, J. S.

2001-01-01

Process analysis can identify opportunities for efficiency improvement including cost reduction, increased safety, improved quality, and decreased environmental impact. A thorough, systematic approach to materials and process selection is valuable in any analysis. New operations and facilities design offer the best opportunities for proactive cost reduction and environmental improvement, but existing operations and facilities can also benefit greatly. Materials and processes that have been used for many years may be sources of excessive resource use, waste generation, pollution, and cost burden that should be replaced. Operational and purchasing personnel may not recognize some materials and processes as problems. Reasons for materials or process replacement may include quality and efficiency improvements, excessive resource use and waste generation, materials and operational costs, safety (flammability or toxicity), pollution prevention, compatibility with new processes or materials, and new or anticipated regulations.

Supramolecular complexation for environmental control.

PubMed

Albelda, M Teresa; Frías, Juan C; García-España, Enrique; Schneider, Hans-Jörg

2012-05-21

Supramolecular complexes offer a new and efficient way for the monitoring and removal of many substances emanating from technical processes, fertilization, plant and animal protection, or e.g. chemotherapy. Such pollutants range from toxic or radioactive metal ions and anions to chemical side products, herbicides, pesticides to drugs including steroids, and include degradation products from natural sources. The applications involve usually fast and reversible complex formation, due to prevailing non-covalent interactions. This is of importance for sensing as well as for separation techniques, where the often expensive host compounds can then be reused almost indefinitely. Immobilization of host compounds, e.g. on exchange resins or on membranes, and their implementation in smart new materials hold particular promise. The review illustrates how the design of suitable host compounds in combination with modern sensing and separation methods can contribute to solve some of the biggest problems facing chemistry, which arise from the everyday increasing pollution of the environment.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Not Available

This report summarizes significant FY93 programmatic information and accomplishments relevant to the individual activities within the Office of Technology Development Program for Research, Development, Demonstration, Testing, and Evaluation (RDDT&E). A brief discussion of the mission of the Office of Environmental Restoration and Waste Management (EM) and the Office of Technology Development is presented. An overview is presented of the major problem areas confronting DOE. These problem areas include: groundwater and soils cleanup; waste retrieval and processing; and pollution prevention. The organizational elements within EM are highlighted. An EM-50 Funding Summary for FY92 and FY93 is also provided. RDDT&E programs aremore » discussed and their key problem areas are summarized. Three salient program-formulating concepts are explained. They are: Integrated Demonstrations, Integrated Programs, and the technology window of opportunity. Detailed information for each of the programs within RDDT&E is presented and includes a fact sheet, a list of technical task plans and an accomplishments and objectives section.« less

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Morris, S.C.; Hamilton, L.D.

This paper describes health and environmental impacts of coal-fired electric power plants. Effects on man, agriculture, and natural ecosystems are considered. These effects may result from direct impacts or exposures via air, water, and food chains. The paper is organized by geographical extent of effect. Occupational health impacts and local environmental effects such as noise and solid waste leachate are treated first. Then, regional effects of air pollution, including acid rain, are analyzed. Finally, potential global impacts are examined. Occupational health concerns considered include exposure to noise, dust, asbestos, mercury, and combustion products, and resulting injury and disease. Local effectsmore » considered include noise; air and water emissions of coal storage piles, solid waste operations, and cooling systems. Air pollution, once an acute local problem, is now a regional concern. Acute and chronic direct health effects are considered. Special attention is given to potential effects of radionuclides in coal and of acid rain. Finally, potential global impacts associated with carbon dioxide emissions are considered. 88 references, 9 tables.« less

Monetary Valuation of PM10-Related Health Risks in Beijing China: The Necessity for PM10 Pollution Indemnity

PubMed Central

Yin, Hao; Xu, Linyu; Cai, Yanpeng

2015-01-01

Severe health risks caused by PM10 (particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter ≤10 μm) pollution have induced inevitable economic losses and have rendered pressure on the sustainable development of society as a whole. In China, with the “Polluters Pay Principle”, polluters should pay for the pollution they have caused, but how much they should pay remains an intractable problem for policy makers. This paper integrated an epidemiological exposure-response model with economics methods, including the Amended Human Capital (AHC) approach and the Cost of Illness (COI) method, to value the economic loss of PM10-related health risks in 16 districts and also 4 functional zones in Beijing from 2008 to 2012. The results show that from 2008 to 2012 the estimated annual deaths caused by PM10 in Beijing are around 56,000, 58,000, 63,000, 61,000 and 59,000, respectively, while the economic losses related to health damage increased from around 23 to 31 billion dollars that PM10 polluters should pay for pollution victims between 2008 and 2012. It is illustrated that not only PM10 concentration but also many other social economic factors influence PM10-related health economic losses, which makes health economic losses show a time lag discrepancy compared with the decline of PM10 concentration. In conclusion, health economic loss evaluation is imperative in the pollution indemnity system establishment and should be considered for the urban planning and policy making to control the burgeoning PM10 health economic loss. PMID:26308020

The disappearing Environmental Kuznets Curve: a study of water quality in the Lower Mekong Basin (LMB).

PubMed

Wong, Yoon Loong Andrew; Lewis, Lynne

2013-12-15

The literature is flush with articles focused on estimating the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) for various pollutants and various locations. Most studies have utilized air pollution variables; far fewer have utilized water quality variables, all with mixed results. We suspect that mixed evidence of the EKC stems from model and error specification. We analyze annual data for four water quality indicators, three of them previously unstudied - total phosphorus (TOTP), dissolved oxygen (DO), ammonium (NH4) and nitrites (NO2) - from the Lower Mekong Basin region to determine whether an Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) is evident for a transboundary river in a developing country and whether that curve is dependent on model specification and/or pollutant. We build upon previous studies by correcting for the problems of heteroskedasticity, serial correlation and cross-sectional dependence. Unlike multi-country EKC studies, we mitigate for potential distortion from pooling data across geographically heterogeneous locations by analyzing data drawn from proximate locations within a specific international river basin in Southeast Asia. We also attempt to identify vital socioeconomic determinants of water pollution by including a broad list of explanatory variables alongside the income term. Finally, we attempt to shed light on the pollution-income relationship as it pertains to trans-boundary water pollution by examining data from an international river system. We do not find consistent evidence of an EKC for any of the 4 pollutant indicators in this study, but find the results are entirely dependent on model and error specification as well as pollutant. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Ambient air pollution, climate change, and population health in China.

PubMed

Kan, Haidong; Chen, Renjie; Tong, Shilu

2012-07-01

As the largest developing country, China has been changing rapidly over the last three decades and its economic expansion is largely driven by the use of fossil fuels, which leads to a dramatic increase in emissions of both ambient air pollutants and greenhouse gases (GHGs). China is now facing the worst air pollution problem in the world, and is also the largest emitter of carbon dioxide. A number of epidemiological studies on air pollution and population health have been conducted in China, using time-series, case-crossover, cross-sectional, cohort, panel or intervention designs. The increased health risks observed among Chinese population are somewhat lower in magnitude, per amount of pollution, than the risks found in developed countries. However, the importance of these increased health risks is greater than that in North America or Europe, because the levels of air pollution in China are very high in general and Chinese population accounts for more than one fourth of the world's totals. Meanwhile, evidence is mounting that climate change has already affected human health directly and indirectly in China, including mortality from extreme weather events; changes in air and water quality; and changes in the ecology of infectious diseases. If China acts to reduce the combustion of fossil fuels and the resultant air pollution, it will reap not only the health benefits associated with improvement of air quality but also the reduced GHG emissions. Consideration of the health impact of air pollution and climate change can help the Chinese government move forward towards sustainable development with appropriate urgency. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Respiratory cancers and pollution.

PubMed

Ding, N; Zhou, N; Zhou, M; Ren, G-M

2015-01-01

Cancer is the major public health problem worldwide, irrespective of the socio-economic status of the countries. Even though the overall mortality from cancer is higher in the western countries, the cancer burden is on the rise in under-developed countries, with a projected 81-100% increase by 2030, mostly due to pollution and tobacco use. Respiratory cancers affect the lung, larynx, trachea, and bronchus and depending on the location of the cancer, the symptoms change and also the risks, incidence and survival outcomes differ accordingly. Besides tobacco use, chronic exposure to household pollution is known to be associated with elevated risk of lung cancer and other cancers. Women and children living in severe poverty in the underdeveloped countries are exposed most to household air pollution and, thus, suffer its consequences maximally, and household air pollution, specifically arising from solid fuel burning, which accounts for nearly 4 million deaths throughout the world annually. Cancers affecting the respiratory tract, including both nasopharyngeal cancer and lung cancer, are strongly associated with pollution from coal and other solid fuel burning. Lung cancer, which is of two types, small cell lung carcinoma and the non-small cell lung cancer, is the most common and fatal cancer. Even though tobacco has been viewed as the major risk for respiratory cancers, it is now evident that household pollution, exposure to asbestos, chromium and arsenic etc, all pose a significant risk for respiratory cancers. Preventive steps to curtail the many sources of air pollution by improving living conditions and reducing the occupational exposure hazards like welding, industrial work etc., are markedly needed to control the incidence of respiratory cancers.

Monetary Valuation of PM10-Related Health Risks in Beijing China: The Necessity for PM10 Pollution Indemnity.

PubMed

Yin, Hao; Xu, Linyu; Cai, Yanpeng

2015-08-21

Severe health risks caused by PM10 (particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter ≤10 μm) pollution have induced inevitable economic losses and have rendered pressure on the sustainable development of society as a whole. In China, with the "Polluters Pay Principle", polluters should pay for the pollution they have caused, but how much they should pay remains an intractable problem for policy makers. This paper integrated an epidemiological exposure-response model with economics methods, including the Amended Human Capital (AHC) approach and the Cost of Illness (COI) method, to value the economic loss of PM10-related health risks in 16 districts and also 4 functional zones in Beijing from 2008 to 2012. The results show that from 2008 to 2012 the estimated annual deaths caused by PM10 in Beijing are around 56,000, 58,000, 63,000, 61,000 and 59,000, respectively, while the economic losses related to health damage increased from around 23 to 31 billion dollars that PM10 polluters should pay for pollution victims between 2008 and 2012. It is illustrated that not only PM10 concentration but also many other social economic factors influence PM10-related health economic losses, which makes health economic losses show a time lag discrepancy compared with the decline of PM10 concentration. In conclusion, health economic loss evaluation is imperative in the pollution indemnity system establishment and should be considered for the urban planning and policy making to control the burgeoning PM10 health economic loss.

Air pollutant intrusion into the Wieliczka Salt Mine

USGS Publications Warehouse

Salmon, L.G.; Cass, G.R.; Kozlowski, R.; Hejda, A.; Spiker, E. C.; Bates, A.L.

1996-01-01

The Wieliczka Salt Mine World Cultural Heritage Site contains many rock salt sculptures that are threatened by water vapor condensation from the mine ventilation air. Gaseous and particulate air pollutant concentrations have been measured both outdoors and within the Wieliczka Salt Mine, along with pollutant deposition fluxes to surfaces within the mine. One purpose of these measurements was to determine whether or not low deliquescence point ionic materials (e.g., NH4NO3) are accumulating on surfaces to an extent that would exacerbate the water vapor condensation problems in the mine. It was found that pollutant gases including SO2 and HNO3 present in outdoor air are removed rapidly and almost completely from the air within the mine by deposition to surfaces. Sulfur isotope analyses confirm the accumulation of air pollutant-derived sulfur in liquid dripping from surfaces within the mine. Particle deposition onto interior surfaces in the mine is apparent, with resulting soiling of some of those sculptures that have been carved from translucent rock salt. Water accumulation by salt sculpture surfaces was studied both experimentally and by approximate thermodynamic calculations. Both approaches suggest that the pollutant deposits on the sculpture surfaces lower the relative humidity (RH) at which a substantial amount of liquid water will accumulate by 1% to several percent. The extraordinarily low SO2 concentrations within the mine may explain the apparent success of a respiratory sanatorium located deep within the mine.

Modeling urban air pollution in Budapest using WRF-Chem model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kovács, Attila; Leelőssy, Ádám; Lagzi, István; Mészáros, Róbert

2017-04-01

Air pollution is a major problem for urban areas since the industrial revolution, including Budapest, the capital and largest city of Hungary. The main anthropogenic sources of air pollutants are industry, traffic and residential heating. In this study, we investigated the contribution of major industrial point sources to the urban air pollution in Budapest. We used the WRF (Weather Research and Forecasting) nonhydrostatic mesoscale numerical weather prediction system online coupled with chemistry (WRF-Chem, version 3.6).The model was configured with three nested domains with grid spacings of 15, 5 and 1 km, representing Central Europe, the Carpathian Basin and Budapest with its surrounding area. Emission data was obtained from the National Environmental Information System. The point source emissions were summed in their respective cells in the second nested domain according to latitude-longitude coordinates. The main examined air pollutants were carbon monoxide (CO) and nitrogen oxides (NOx), from which the secondary compound, ozone (O3) forms through chemical reactions. Simulations were performed under different weather conditions and compared to observations from the automatic monitoring site of the Hungarian Air Quality Network. Our results show that the industrial emissions have a relatively weak role in the urban background air pollution, confirming the effect of industrial developments and regulations in the recent decades. However, a few significant industrial sources and their impact area has been demonstrated.

Air pollution and your brain: what do you need to know right now.

PubMed

Calderón-Garcidueñas, Lilian; Calderón-Garcidueñas, Ana; Torres-Jardón, Ricardo; Avila-Ramírez, José; Kulesza, Randy J; Angiulli, Amedeo D

2015-07-01

Research links air pollution mostly to respiratory and cardiovascular disease. The effects of air pollution on the central nervous system (CNS) are not broadly recognized. Urban outdoor pollution is a global public health problem particularly severe in megacities and in underdeveloped countries, but large and small cities in the United States and the United Kingom are not spared. Fine and ultrafine particulate matter (UFPM) defined by aerodynamic diameter (<2.5-μm fine particles, PM2.5, and <100-nm UFPM) pose a special interest for the brain effects given the capability of very small particles to reach the brain. In adults, ambient pollution is associated to stroke and depression, whereas the emerging picture in children show significant systemic inflammation, immunodysregulation at systemic, intratechal and brain levels, neuroinflammation and brain oxidative stress, along with the main hallmarks of Alzheimer and Parkinson's diseases: hyperphosphorilated tau, amyloid plaques and misfolded α-synuclein. Animal models exposed to particulate matter components show markers of both neuroinflammation and neurodegeneration. Epidemiological, cognitive, behavioral and mechanistic studies into the association between air pollution exposures and the development of CNS damage particularly in children are of pressing importance for public health and quality of life. Primary health providers have to include a complete prenatal and postnatal environmental and occupational history to indoor and outdoor toxic hazards and measures should be taken to prevent or reduce further exposures.

Mapping the Indonesian territory, based on pollution, social demography and geographical data, using self organizing feature map

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hernawati, Kuswari; Insani, Nur; Bambang S. H., M.; Nur Hadi, W.; Sahid

2017-08-01

This research aims to mapping the 33 (thirty-three) provinces in Indonesia, based on the data on air, water and soil pollution, as well as social demography and geography data, into a clustered model. The method used in this study was unsupervised method that combines the basic concept of Kohonen or Self-Organizing Feature Maps (SOFM). The method is done by providing the design parameters for the model based on data related directly/ indirectly to pollution, which are the demographic and social data, pollution levels of air, water and soil, as well as the geographical situation of each province. The parameters used consists of 19 features/characteristics, including the human development index, the number of vehicles, the availability of the plant's water absorption and flood prevention, as well as geographic and demographic situation. The data used were secondary data from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS), Indonesia. The data are mapped into SOFM from a high-dimensional vector space into two-dimensional vector space according to the closeness of location in term of Euclidean distance. The resulting outputs are represented in clustered grouping. Thirty-three provinces are grouped into five clusters, where each cluster has different features/characteristics and level of pollution. The result can used to help the efforts on prevention and resolution of pollution problems on each cluster in an effective and efficient way.

[Research on problem of exogenous pollution of Chinese medicine resources from perspective of circular economy].

PubMed

Yang, Yi; Tian, Kan; Tian, Hong

2016-08-01

Based on the in-depth analysis of the current situation of the exogenous pollution of Chinese medicine resources, this research mainly discusses the intrinsic link and practical significance between the development of circular economy in Chinese medicine resources and the control of the problem of the exogenous pollution from the perspective of circular economy, and proposes some suggestions to develop the recycling economy of Chinese medicine resources from the establishment of legal system, mechanism of development, production norms, industry standards and regulatory system of the recycling of Chinese medicine resources. Copyright© by the Chinese Pharmaceutical Association.

Contribution of Man – Made Activities to the Pollution of the Tigris within Mosul Area/IRAQ

PubMed Central

Al-Rawi, S. M.

2005-01-01

This paper presents an overall view of major sources that may lead to the pollution of the Tigris within Mosul city. A stretch exceeding 20kms in length is selected that represents the “sick” path of the river. Many sites along the studied stretch are likely to affect the river quality in some way or another. Samples from 40 sources sites are taken for quality analyses These sources – as huge as 400000 m3 a day – are characterized as (medium – strong) in composition. Such wastewaters with the pollutants they carry alter the river water quality rendering it unsuitable for beneficial uses. Such alterations – do leave –many negative consequences concerning human beings and aquatic life. It is found that domestic discharges are among the most important sources of pollution. Sanitary wastes are often discharged – untreated -into the Tigris. Other illegal practices such as in-house slaughtering add to the pollution as well. Industrial, tourist and institutional wastes put an additional burden on pollution of the river water quality. These wastes contain lead, chrome, and other heavy metals that may pose health risks. Wastewater treatment plants that exist in some sectors do not perform as they are expected. They need proper evaluation and rehabilitation. Eutrophication - a characteristic problem in lakes - finds an access to occur into the Tigris. This problem results from intensive use of detergents rich in nutrients (P&N compounds). In general, pollutants of different sources heavily affect the river water. Recovery and self purification of the river is estimated to occur at 40 km far from reference point. The paper concludes with the necessity of construction of a central treatment plant(s) or tackling the pollutants at their origin. The paper also stresses on importance of environmental education and awareness in order to combat pollution problems. PMID:16705824

Relevance of the EU Structural Funds’ Allocation to the Needs of Combating Air Pollution in Poland. Analysis of the Operational Programmes of Regions Threatened With Critical Air Pollution from Distributed Energy Sources

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Włodarski, Marcin; Martyniuk-Pęczek, Justyna

2017-10-01

Recent years, the European Environmental Agency, has been reporting air quality parameters in Poland, as the poorest among all the EU countries. Despite of adoption of the EU legislation on energy efficiency and energy performance of buildings, existing legal solutions occur insufficient in reducing air pollution in Polish regions. Lack of an effective schemes supporting complex thermal renovation of buildings, exchange of inefficient boilers, developing district heating based on clean and renewable fuels results in severe health problems and 40 000 of premature deaths related to air pollution. Availability of the EU structural funds may become a tremendous opportunity, especially for the residential sector, to conduct a massive scale modernization. Nevertheless, lack of a coordinated action involving all levels of governance may put the opportunity at risk. The article aims to answer the question on the readiness of the regional governments to effectively implement energy efficiency measures mitigating the problem of air pollution. Second objective is to analyse whether the Regional Operational Programmes allocating the ERDF funds to support specific development needs of the regions, have been constructed in a way that properly addresses the problems related to energy performance of residential buildings.

Visualizing the intercity correlation of PM2.5 time series in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region using ground-based air quality monitoring data.

PubMed

Liu, Jianzheng; Li, Weifeng; Wu, Jiansheng; Liu, Yonghong

2018-01-01

The Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei area faces a severe fine particulate matter (PM2.5) problem. To date, considerable progress has been made toward understanding the PM2.5 problem, including spatial-temporal characterization, driving factors, and health effects. However, little research has been done on the dynamic interactions and relationships between PM2.5 concentrations in different cities in this area. To address the research gap, this study discovered a phenomenon of time-lagged intercity correlations of PM2.5 time series and proposed a visualization framework based on this phenomenon to visualize the interaction in PM2.5 concentrations between cities. The visualizations produced using the framework show that there are significant time-lagged correlations between the PM2.5 time series in different cities in this area. The visualizations also show that the correlations are more significant in colder months and between cities that are closer, and that there are seasonal changes in the temporal order of the correlated PM2.5 time series. Further analysis suggests that the time-lagged intercity correlations of PM2.5 time series are most likely due to synoptic meteorological variations. We argue that the visualizations demonstrate the interactions of air pollution between cities in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei area and the significant effect of synoptic meteorological conditions on PM2.5 pollution. The visualization framework could help determine the pathway of regional transportation of air pollution and may also be useful in delineating the area of interaction of PM2.5 pollution for impact analysis.

Visualizing the intercity correlation of PM2.5 time series in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region using ground-based air quality monitoring data

PubMed Central

Li, Weifeng; Wu, Jiansheng; Liu, Yonghong

2018-01-01

The Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei area faces a severe fine particulate matter (PM2.5) problem. To date, considerable progress has been made toward understanding the PM2.5 problem, including spatial-temporal characterization, driving factors, and health effects. However, little research has been done on the dynamic interactions and relationships between PM2.5 concentrations in different cities in this area. To address the research gap, this study discovered a phenomenon of time-lagged intercity correlations of PM2.5 time series and proposed a visualization framework based on this phenomenon to visualize the interaction in PM2.5 concentrations between cities. The visualizations produced using the framework show that there are significant time-lagged correlations between the PM2.5 time series in different cities in this area. The visualizations also show that the correlations are more significant in colder months and between cities that are closer, and that there are seasonal changes in the temporal order of the correlated PM2.5 time series. Further analysis suggests that the time-lagged intercity correlations of PM2.5 time series are most likely due to synoptic meteorological variations. We argue that the visualizations demonstrate the interactions of air pollution between cities in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei area and the significant effect of synoptic meteorological conditions on PM2.5 pollution. The visualization framework could help determine the pathway of regional transportation of air pollution and may also be useful in delineating the area of interaction of PM2.5 pollution for impact analysis. PMID:29438417

Active green wall plant health tolerance to diesel smoke exposure.

PubMed

Paull, Naomi J; Irga, Peter J; Torpy, Fraser R

2018-05-10

Poor air quality is an emerging world-wide problem, with most urban air pollutants arising from vehicular emissions. As such, localized high pollution environments, such as traffic tunnels pose a significant health risk. Phytoremediation, including the use of active (ventilated) green walls or botanical biofilters, is gaining recognition as a potentially effective method for air pollution control. Research to date has tested the capacity of these systems to remove low levels of pollutants from indoor environments. If botanical biofilters are to be used in highly polluted environments, the plants used in these systems must be resilient, however, this idea has received minimal research. Thus, testing was conducted to assess the hardiness of the vegetated component of a botanical biofilter to simulated street level air pollutant exposure. A range of morphological, physiological, and biochemical tests were conducted on 8 common green wall plant species prior to and post 5-week exposure to highly concentrated diesel fuel combustion effluent; as a pilot study to investigate viability in in situ conditions. The results indicated that species within the fig family were the most tolerant species of those assessed. It is likely that species within the fig family can withstand enhanced air pollutant conditions, potentially a result of its leaf morphology and physiology. Other species tested were all moderately tolerant to the pollution treatment. We conclude that most common green wall plant species have the capacity to withstand high pollutant environments, however, extended experimentation is needed to rule out potential long term effects along with potential decreases in filter efficiency from accumulative effects on the substrate. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Transportation, Air Pollution, and Climate Change

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Learn how emissions reductions, advancements in fuels and fuel economy, and working with industry to find solutions to air pollution problems benefit human and environmental health, create consumer savings and are cost effective.

Diffusion from a line source

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Burns, R. E.

1973-01-01

The problem with predicting pollutant diffusion from a line source of arbitrary geometry is treated. The concentration at the line source may be arbitrarily varied with time. Special attention is given to the meteorological inputs which act as boundary conditions for the problem, and a mixing layer of arbitrary depth is assumed. Numerical application of the derived theory indicates the combinations of meteorological parameters that may be expected to result in high pollution concentrations.

The High Altitude Pollution Program (1976-1982).

DTIC Science & Technology

1984-01-01

ground, where air pollution problems arise due to ground level emissions from, for example, automobiles and power plants) to about 25 km above the...downward and poleward. Near the ground, in areas such as cities prone to air pollution , ozone is produced by nitrogen dioxide photolysis and reaction...Spectrophotcmeter Total Ozone Measurement Errors caused by Interfering Absorbing Species Such as SO2, NO2 and Photochemically Produced 03 IN Polluted Air ," NOAA

Optimum Installation of Sorptive Building Materials Using Contribution Ratio of Pollution Source for Improvement of Indoor Air Quality.

PubMed

Park, Seonghyun; Seo, Janghoo

2016-04-01

Reinforcing the insulation and airtightness of buildings and the use of building materials containing new chemical substances have caused indoor air quality problems. Use of sorptive building materials along with removal of pollutants, constant ventilation, bake-out, etc. are gaining attention in Korea and Japan as methods for improving such indoor air quality problems. On the other hand, sorptive building materials are considered a passive method of reducing the concentration of pollutants, and their application should be reviewed in the early stages. Thus, in this research, activated carbon was prepared as a sorptive building material. Then, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) was conducted, and a method for optimal installation of sorptive building materials was derived according to the indoor environment using the contribution ratio of pollution source (CRP) index. The results show that a method for optimal installation of sorptive building materials can be derived by predicting the contribution ratio of pollutant sources according to the CRP index.

Biological scientist in an air pollution control program

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

James, H.A.

The biological scientist in an air pollution control agency is becoming of greater service as the larger districts are being formed which embrace agricultural areas. While it is not an altogether new role in history, it has often been neglected. His presence on the staff provides the air pollution control agency staff with a liaison to agriculture and public health, as well as an information source immediately at hand. His training in the life science fields not only allows him to help understand the biological problems, but also allows him to communicate these to the engineer. In the Bay Areamore » Air Pollution Control District, this position is filled by a biostatistician. Here the statistical duties are often not too sharply differentiated from the biological ones. However, these range from attempting to diagnose air pollution damage on orchids to the development of a mechanized punch-card information retrieval system. From this one can soon correctly surmise that monotony is not a problem.« less

Airborne asphyxia: an international problem

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Friedlander, G.D.

1965-10-01

An overview is presented of air pollution which has become a real problem that affects virtually every major industrial city in the United States and Europe. Air pollution presents one of the most serious threats to the coal industry which produces about 55% of the electric power in the USA. There are meteorological and climatological factors that influence the action of air borne pollutants. The effects of SO/sub 2/ and N/sub 2/O on human health are discussed. Methods of reducing SO/sub 2/ emissions are presented. The results of studies by TVA in SO/sub 2/ monitoring and control have been appliedmore » in planning subsequent plants. There are an estimated 88 million motor vehicles on the nation's highways that contribute to air pollution. Control devices for cars can effectively reduce the amount of air contaminants released from motor vehicle exhausts. From numerous surveys, it is obvious that the sources of air pollution are numerous and complex. Total and effective remedial action must be undertaken to correct the situation.« less

Studying the Light Pollution around Urban Observatories: Columbus State University’s WestRock Observatory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

O'Keeffe, Brendon Andrew; Johnson, Michael

2017-01-01

Light pollution plays an ever increasing role in the operations of observatories across the world. This is especially true in urban environments like Columbus, GA, where Columbus State University’s WestRock Observatory is located. Light pollution’s effects on an observatory include high background levels, which results in a lower signal to noise ratio. Overall, this will limit what the telescope can detect, and therefore limit the capabilities of the observatory as a whole.Light pollution has been mapped in Columbus before using VIIRS DNB composites. However, this approach did not provide the detailed resolution required to narrow down the problem areas around the vicinity of the observatory. The purpose of this study is to assess the current state of light pollution surrounding the WestRock observatory by measuring and mapping the brightness of the sky due to light pollution using light meters and geographic information system (GIS) software.Compared to VIIRS data this study allows for an improved spatial resolution and a direct measurement of the sky background. This assessment will enable future studies to compare their results to the baseline established here, ensuring that any changes to the way the outdoors are illuminated and their effects can be accurately measured, and counterbalanced.

Pollution prevention and the use of low-VOC/HAP coatings at wood furniture manufacturing facilities

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Marshall, A.M.; Spaight, J.L.; Jones, J.W.

1999-07-01

Midwest Research Institute, under a cooperative agreement with the Air Pollution Prevention and Control Division of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) National Risk Management Research Laboratory, is conducting a study to identify wood furniture and cabinet manufacturing facilities that have converted to low-volatile organic compound/hazardous air pollutant (VOC/HAP) coatings and to develop case studies for those facilities. The case studies include: (1) a discussion of the types of products each facility manufactures; (2) the types of low-VOC/HAP coatings each facility is using; (3) problems encountered in converting to low-VOC/HAP coatings; (4) equipment changes that were required; (5) the costsmore » associated with the conversion process, including capital costs associated with equipment purchases, research and development costs, and operating costs such as operator training in new application techniques; (6) advantages/disadvantages of the low-VOC/HAP coatings; and (7) customer feedback on products finished with the low-VOC/HAP coatings. The primary goals of the project are (1) to demonstrate that low-VOC/HAP coatings can be used successfully by many wood furniture manufacturing facilities, and (2) to assist other wood furniture manufacturing facilities in their conversion to low-VOC/HAP coatings, in particular facilities that do not have the resources to devote to extensive coatings research. This paper discusses the progress of the project and pollution prevention options at wood furniture manufacturing facilities and the regulatory requirements (e.g., the National Emissions Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants [NESHAP] for Wood Furniture Manufacturing Operations) that these facilities face.« less

Atmospheric pollution in a coal mine region of Romania and solutions to assure sustainable development

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Irimie, I.I.; Tulbure, I.

1996-12-31

The present paper presents the following subjects regarding the atmospheric pollution in the Jiu-Valley coal mining region of Romania: identifying polluting sources, pointing out the pollution favoring conditions, the pollution impacts, and measures for short, middle, and long time, which could be taken in order to obtain a sustainable future development of this region. The importance of the problems presented in this paper is emphasized by the fact, that beside coking and fuel coal reserves, this region has a high touristic potential the year round.

A presentation of the Norwegian project "Acid Precipitation - Effects on Forest and Fish"

Treesearch

Lars N. Overrein

1976-01-01

Air pollution is an international problem of the greatest dimensions. The continuous expansion of production and consumption in modern society is accompanied by the steadily increasing emission of air pollutants of different types. It is generally recognized that air pollutants can be transported in substantial amounts over distances of 1000 - 2000 km. This phenomenon...

Water Pollution. Environmental Education Curriculum. Revised.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Topeka Public Schools, KS.

Water is one of the most polluted resources in our environment. Since everyone has the same basic need for pure water, it follows that all people should have a basic knowledge of the causes, results and solutions to the water pollution problem. This unit is designed for use with Level II and III educable mentally retarded students to present…

Pollution of ground water in Europe

PubMed Central

Buchan, S.; Key, A.

1956-01-01

This paper discusses pollution of ground water in 20 countries of the European region, giving for each an account of the geology and hydrogeology, water supplies, the extent and nature of ground water pollution, and the legal, administrative, and technical means of controlling that pollution. For the countries not considered in the preceding article on surface water pollution, an account is also given of the superficial physical features, rainfall, population, and industries. A general discussion follows of such questions as the ways in which ground water pollution may occur, the factors mitigating or aggravating pollution, and ways of protection against pollution. The authors consider that the problem of ground water pollution in Europe may well be more serious than it would appear to be on the evidence so far obtained. PMID:13374533

Space images processing methodology for assessment of atmosphere pollution impact on forest-swamp territories

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Polichtchouk, Yuri; Tokareva, Olga; Bulgakova, Irina V.

2003-03-01

Methodical problems of space images processing for assessment of atmosphere pollution impact on forest ecosystems using geoinformation systems are developed. An approach to quantitative assessment of atmosphere pollution impact on forest ecosystems is based on calculating relative squares of forest landscapes which are inside atmosphere pollution zones. Landscape structure of forested territories in the southern part of Western Siberia are determined on the basis of procession of middle resolution space images from spaceborn Resource-O. Particularities of atmosphere pollution zones modeling caused by gas burning in torches on territories of oil fields are considered. Pollution zones were revealed by modeling of contaminants dispersal in atmosphere with standard models. Polluted landscapes squares are calculated depending on atmosphere pollution level.

[The response of the upper respiratory tract to the impact of atmospheric pollution].

PubMed

Mukhamadiev, R A; Ismagilov, Sh M

2015-01-01

The present literature review characterizes the environmental conditions in the Russian Federation in general and the Republic of Tatarstan in particular with special reference to the influence of atmospheric pollution on the development and the clinical picture of the diseases of the respiratory organs including pathology of the upper respiratory tract in the populations of the industrial centres and other environmentally unfriendly areas. The views of the domestic and foreign authors concerning the role of the environmental factors in the clinical picture of the upper respiratory tract disorders are described in detail. The authors emphasize the necessity of the further investigationsinto this problem and the development of the methods for the prevention of diseases of the upper respiratory react.

Children's environment and health in Latin America: the Ecuadorian case.

PubMed

Harari, Raul; Harari, Homero

2006-09-01

Environmental health problems of children in Latin America and Ecuador are complex due to the close relationship that exists between social and environmental factors. Extended poverty and basic problems, such as the lack of drinking water and sanitation, are common. Infectious diseases are the greatest cause of morbidity and mortality among children. Development in industry and the introduction of chemical substances in agriculture add new risks including pesticide use, heavy metal exposure, and air pollution. Major problems can be divided into (a) lack of basic infrastructure, (b) poor living conditions, (c) specific environmental problems, and (d) child labor. Reproductive health disorders are frequent in developing countries like Ecuador. Issues related to children's health should consider new approaches, creative methodologies, and the search for independent predictors to separate environmental from social problems. Only with knowledge of the specific contribution of each factor, can it be possible to develop a strategy for prevention.

Approaches to Interactive Video Anchors in Problem-based Science Learning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kumar, David Devraj

2010-02-01

This paper is an invited adaptation of the IEEE Education Society Distinguished Lecture Approaches to Interactive Video Anchors in Problem-Based Science Learning. Interactive video anchors have a cognitive theory base, and they help to enlarge the context of learning with information-rich real-world situations. Carefully selected movie clips and custom-developed regular videos and virtual simulations have been successfully used as anchors in problem-based science learning. Examples discussed include a range of situations such as Indiana Jones tackling a trap, a teenager misrepresenting lead for gold, an agriculture inspection at the US border, counterintuitive events, analyzing a river ecosystem for pollution, and finding the cause of illness in a nineteenth century river city. Suggestions for teachers are provided.

Application of oil spill model to marine pollution and risk control problems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aseev, Nikita; Agoshkov, Valery; Sheloput, Tatyana

2017-04-01

Oil transportation by sea induces challenging problems of environmental control. Millions of tonnes of oil are yearly released during routine ship operations, not to mention vast spills due to different accidents (e.g. tanker collisions, grounding, etc.). Oil pollution is dangerous to marine organisms such as plants, fish and mammals, leading to widespread damage to our planet. In turn, fishery and travel agencies can lose money and clients, and ship operators are obliged to pay huge penalties for environmental pollution. In this work we present the method of accessing oil pollution of marine environment using recently developed oil spill model. The model describes basic processes of the oil slick evolution: oil transport due to currents, drift under the action of wind, spreading on the surface, evaporation, emulsification and dispersion. Such parameters as slick location, mass, density of oil, water content, viscosity and density of "water-in-oil" emulsion can be calculated. We demonstrate how to apply the model to damage calculation problems using a concept of average damage to particular marine area. We also formulate the problem of oil spill risk control, when some accident parameters are not known, but their probability distribution is given. We propose a new algorithm to solve such problems and show results of our model simulations. The work can be interesting to broad environmental, physics and mathematics community. The work is supported by Russian Foundation for Basic Research grant 16-31-00510.

POLLUTION PREVENTION MULTI-YEAR PLAN

EPA Science Inventory

Over the last decade, the Agency has increasingly focused on pollution prevention when addressing high-risk human health and environmental problems. A preventive approach requires: (1) innovative design and production techniques that minimize or eliminate adverse environmental im...

The air quality and health impacts of domestic trans-boundary pollution in various regions of China.

PubMed

Gu, Y; Yim, S H L

2016-12-01

Air pollution is one of the most pressing environmental problems in China. Literature has reported that outdoor air pollution leads to adverse health problems every year in China. Recent measurement studies found the important regional nature of particulates in China. Trans-boundary air pollution within China has yet to be fully understood. This study aimed to comprehensively understand the processes of domestic trans-boundary air pollution in China and to apportion the impacts of emissions in different regions on air quality and public health. We applied a state-of-the-art air quality model to simulate air quality in China and then adapted a form of integrated concentration-response function for China to estimate the resultant amount of premature mortality due to exposures to PM 2.5 . Our findings show that domestic trans-boundary impacts (TBI), on average, account for 27% of the total PM 2.5 in China. We estimated that outdoor air pollution caused ~870,000 (95% CI: 130,000-1500,000) premature mortalities in China in 2010, of which on average 18% are attributed to TBI. Among all the regions, North China is the largest contributor to TBI due to 41% of the health impacts of its emissions occurring in other regions. Taiwan (TW) is the smallest contributor to TBI occurring in China, contributing 2% of the national TBI, while TBI causes 22% of the premature mortalities due to outdoor air pollution in TW. Our findings pinpoint the significant impacts of TBI on public health in China, indicating the need for cross-region cooperation to mitigate the air quality impacts and the nation's resultant health problems. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Environmental health program activities

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bergtholdt, C. P.

1969-01-01

Activities reported include studies on toxic air contaminants, excessive noise, poor lighting, food sanitation, water pollution, and exposure to nonionizing radiation as health hazards. Formulations for a radiological health manual provide guidance to personnel in the procurement and safe handling of radiation producing equipment and Apollo mission planning. A literature search and development of a water analysis laboratory are outlined to obtain information regarding microbiological problems involving potable water, waste management, and personal hygiene.

[Phthalic acid esters (PAEs) pollution in farmland soils: a review].

PubMed

Wang, Kai-Rong; Cui, Ming-Ming; Shi, Yan-Xi

2013-09-01

The environmental pollution and food safety problems caused by phthalic acid esters (PAEs) have been attracted 'extensive attention around the world. As a large PAEs producer and consumer, China is facing severe PAEs environmental pollution problems. This paper reviewed the present pollution status of six PAEs classified by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as the priority pollutants in China farmland soils, analyzed the sources of these six PAEs in this country, and discussed the absorption and accumulation characteristics of the PAEs in different crops as well as the bio-toxic effects of PAEs pollutants. The PAEs concentrations in China farmland soils are significantly higher those in the farmland soils of the United States and European countries. The main sources of PAEs in China farmland soils are atmospheric deposition, agricultural films, sewage sludge application, and wastewater irrigation. There exist significant differences in the characteristics of PAEs absorption, accumulation, and distribution among different crops. PAEs not only have negative effects on soil quality, crop growth, and crop physiological and biochemical properties, but also possess bio-accumulative characteristics. The weaknesses in current researches were pointed out, and the suggestions for the further researches were given, e. g., to expand the scope of PAEs pollution survey, to explore the toxic mechanisms of PAEs on crops, and to develop the techniques for in situ remediation of PAEs-polluted soils.

Exposure to air pollution and self-reported effects on Chinese students: A case study of 13 megacities

PubMed Central

2018-01-01

Air pollution causes severe physical and psychological health complications. Considering China’s continuously-deteriorating air quality, this study aimed to assess the self-reported effects of air pollution on the behavior and physical health of the students of 13 densely populated cities, and their awareness, practices, and perception of air pollution and its associated public health risks. A detailed, closed-ended questionnaire was administered to 2100 students from 54 universities and schools across China. The questionnaire, which had 24 questions, was categorized into four sections. The first two sections were focused on air pollution-associated behavior and psychology, and physical effects; while the final two sections focused on the subjects’ awareness and perceptions, and practices and concerns about air pollution. The respondents reported that long-term exposure to air pollution had significantly affected their psychology and behavior, as well as their physical health. The respondents were aware of the different adverse impacts of air pollution (respiratory infections, allergies, and cardiovascular problems), and hence had adopted different preventive measures, such as the use of respiratory masks and glasses or goggles, regularly drinking water, and consuming rich foods. It was concluded that air pollution and haze had negative physical and psychological effects on the respondents, which led to severe changes in behavior. Proper management, future planning, and implementing strict environmental laws are suggested before this problem worsens and becomes life-threatening. PMID:29547657

Effects of pollution on land snail abundance, size and diversity as resources for pied flycatcher, Ficedula hypoleuca.

PubMed

Eeva, Tapio; Rainio, Kalle; Suominen, Otso

2010-09-01

Passerine birds need extra calcium during their breeding for developing egg shells and proper growth of nestling skeleton. Land snails are an important calcium source for many passerines and human-induced changes in snail populations may pose a severe problem for breeding birds. We studied from the bird's viewpoint how air pollution affects the shell mass, abundance and diversity of land snail communities along a pollution gradient of a copper smelter. We sampled remnant snail shells from the nests of an insectivorous passerine, the pied flycatcher, Ficedula hypoleuca, to find out how the availability of land snails varies along the pollution gradient. The total snail shell mass increased towards the pollution source but declined abruptly in the vicinity of the smelter. This spatial variation in shell mass was evident also within a single snail species and could not be wholly explained by spatially varying snail numbers or species composition. Instead, the total shell mass was related to their shell size, individuals being largest at the moderately polluted areas. Smaller shell size suggests inferior growth of snails in the most heavily polluted area. Our study shows that pollution affects the diversity, abundance (available shell mass) and individual quality of land snails, posing reproductive problems for birds that rely on snails as calcium sources during breeding. There are probably both direct pollution-related (heavy metal and calcium levels) and indirect (habitat change) effects behind the observed changes in snail populations. Copyright 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Nutrient pollution of coastal rivers, bays, and seas

USGS Publications Warehouse

Howarth, Robert; Anderson, Donald; Cloern, James; Elfring, Chris; Hopkinson, Charles; Lapointe, Brian; Malone, Tom; Marcus, Nancy; McGlathery, Karen; Sharpley , Andrew; Walker, Dan

2000-01-01

Over the past 40 years, antipollution laws have greatly reduced discharges of toxic substances into our coastal waters. This effort, however, has focused largely on point-source pollution of industrial and municipal effluent. No comparable effort has been made to restrict the input of nitrogen (N) from municipal effluent, nor to control the flows of N and phosphorus (P) that enter waterways from dispersed or nonpoint sources such as agricultural and urban runoff or as airborne pollutants. As a result, inputs of nonpoint pollutants, particularly N, have increased dramatically. Nonpoint pollution from N and P now represents the largest pollution problem facing the vital coastal waters of the United States.

Decomposition approach of the nitrogen generation process: empirical study on the Shimabara Peninsula in Japan.

PubMed

Fujii, Hidemichi; Nakagawa, Kei; Kagabu, Makoto

2016-11-01

Groundwater nitrate pollution is one of the most prevalent water-related environmental problems worldwide. The objective of this study is to identify the determinants of nitrogen pollutant changes with a focus on the nitrogen generation process. The novelty of our research framework is to cost-effectively identify the factors involved in nitrogen pollutant generation using public data. This study focuses on three determinant factors: (1) nitrogen intensity changes, (2) structural changes, and (3) scale changes. This study empirically analyses three sectors, including crop production, farm animals, and the household, on the Shimabara Peninsula in Japan. Our results show that the nitrogen supply from crop production sectors has decreased because the production has been scaled down and shifted towards lower nitrogen intensive crops. In the farm animal sector, the nitrogen supply has also been successfully reduced due to scaling-down efforts. Households have decreased the nitrogen supply by diffusion of integrated septic tank and sewerage systems.

Hydrogeochemical analyses of groundwater from Ameca, Jalisco Mexico.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tostado, M.; Rosas-Elguera, J.; Gomez Hermosillo, C.

2008-05-01

The accelerated demographic and industrial growth of settlements in mid cities and surrounding urbane areas, requires larger water volumes for its support, including public use. Usually, these requirements are not met by superficial waters consequently underground water is required to fulfill the general necessities. TheAmeca region in Jalisco, Mexico, is located around 80km west of Guadalajara. This region has been sustained by Agriculture and mining for several decades. This last activity has been mainly developed to the north of the city, precisely on the recharge zone. The infiltrated water, eventually form the aquifers. While it travels, and due to its intrinsic dilution capacity, the water may become polluted. Eventually, if he pollutants are toxic, the water from wells used in cities like Ameca, may result in serious health problems. In this study, the Ameca aquifer is evaluated through chemical analyses of the water from wells serving the city. Thus the natural pollution caused by mineral deposit zones and mines located on the recharge zone can be evaluated.

Magnetic surveys for locating abandoned wells

USGS Publications Warehouse

,

1995-01-01

Abandoned and unrecorded wells may act as conduits for the contamination of groundwater supplies by oil field brines and other pollutants. The casings of abandoned wells eventually develop leaks, which, if not properly plugged, can allow pollutants to reach freshwater aquifers that supply drinking water. Sources of pollutants include brine ponds, landfill sites, agricultural activities, industrial activities, illegal disposal sites, or accidental spills. The problem is particularly acute in regions where there are old petroleum fields or where water wells have been extensively used for agricultural irrigation. Even urban areas can contain wells that were abandoned and concealed during development. Carefully designed ground magnetic or aeromagnetic surveys can be used to locate abandoned wells by mapping the magnetic disturbances or "anomalies" produced by their steel well casings. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) can, at the request of other Federal, State, or local agencies, conduct, process, and interpret such surveys, or it can aid in the design and monitoring of contracts for such surveys.

China's Air Quality and Respiratory Disease Mortality Based on the Spatial Panel Model.

PubMed

Cao, Qilong; Liang, Ying; Niu, Xueting

2017-09-18

Background : Air pollution has become an important factor restricting China's economic development and has subsequently brought a series of social problems, including the impact of air pollution on the health of residents, which is a topical issue in China. Methods : Taking into account this spatial imbalance, the paper is based on the spatial panel data model PM 2.5 . Respiratory disease mortality in 31 Chinese provinces from 2004 to 2008 is taken as the main variable to study the spatial effect and impact of air quality and respiratory disease mortality on a large scale. Results : It was found that there is a spatial correlation between the mortality of respiratory diseases in Chinese provinces. The spatial correlation can be explained by the spatial effect of PM 2.5 pollutions in the control of other variables. Conclusions : Compared with the traditional non-spatial model, the spatial model is better for describing the spatial relationship between variables, ensuring the conclusions are scientific and can measure the spatial effect between variables.

Air Pollution Monitoring and Use of Nanotechnology Based Solid State Gas Sensors in Greater Cairo Area, Egypt

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ramadan, A. B. A.

Air pollution is a serious problem in thickly populated and industrialized areas in Egypt, especially in greater Cairo area. Economic growth and industrialization are proceeding at a rapid pace, accompanied by increasing emissions of air polluting sources. Furthermore, though the variety and quantities of polluting sources have increased dramatically, the development of a suitable method for monitoring the pollution causing sources has not followed at the same pace. Environmental impacts of air pollutants have impact on public health, vegetation, material deterioration etc. To prevent or minimize the damage caused by atmospheric pollution, suitable monitoring systems are urgently needed that can rapidly and reliably detect and quantify polluting sources for monitoring by regulating authorities in order to prevent further deterioration of the current pollution levels. Consequently, it is important that the current real-time air quality monitoring system, controlled by the Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency (EEAA), should be adapted or extended to aid in alleviating this problem. Nanotechnology has been applied to several industrial and domestic fields, for example, applications for gas monitoring systems, gas leak detectors in factories, fire and toxic gas detectors, ventilation control, breath alcohol detectors, and the like. Here we report an application example of studying air quality monitoring based on nanotechnology `solid state gas sensors'. So as to carry out air pollution monitoring over an extensive area, a combination of ground measurements through inexpensive sensors and wireless GIS will be used for this purpose. This portable device, comprising solid state gas sensors integrated to a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) linked through Bluetooth communication tools and Global Positioning System (GPS), will allow rapid dissemination of information on pollution levels at multiple sites simultaneously.

Clearing the Air: Asthma and Indoor Air Exposure (Highlights)

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

The National Academy of Sciences Institute of Medicine issued this report in 2000 describing the role of indoor environmental pollutants in the development and exacerbation of asthma. The report concludes that exposure to indoor pollutants is an important contributor to the asthma problem in this nation. Asthma sufferers should consult with their doctor about reducing their exposure indoor air pollutants.

Nonpoint Source Pollution: Agriculture, Forestry, and Mining. Instructor Guide. Working for Clean Water: An Information Program for Advisory Groups.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Buskirk, E. Drannon, Jr.

Nonpoint sources of pollution have diffuse origins and are major contributors to water quality problems in both urban and rural areas. Addressed in this instructor's manual are the identification, assessment, and management of nonpoint source pollutants resulting from mining, agriculture, and forestry. The unit, part of the Working for Clean Water…

The Breath of Life. The Problem of Poisoned Air.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Carr, Donald E.

The origins and nature of air pollution, from earliest days to the present, are examined in this book. Although air pollution has been with us since the discovery of fire, it is proffered that the major culprit now is the burning of gasoline and low-grade heating oil. All other sources of air pollution are negligible. The main thesis is that only…

APEX (Air Pollution Exercise) Volume 6: Industrialist's Manual No. 1, Shear Power Company.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, NC. Office of Manpower Development.

The Industrialist's Manual No. 1, Shear Power Company is part of a set of 21 manuals (AA 001 009-001 029) used in APEX (Air Pollution Exercise), a computerized college and professional level "real world" game simulation of a community with urban and rural problems, industrial activities, and air pollution difficulties. The first two sections,…

APEX (Air Pollution Exercise) Volume 10: Industrialist's Manual No. 6, Dusty Rhodes' Cement Company.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, NC. Office of Manpower Development.

The Industrialist's Manual No. 6, Dusty Rhodes' Cement Company is part of a set of 21 manuals (AA 001 009-001 029) used in APEX (Air Pollution Exercise), a computerized college and professional level "real world" game simulation of a community with urban and rural problems, industrial activities, and air pollution difficulties. The first two…

Pinpointing Watershed Pollution on a Virtual Globe

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Saunders, Cheston; Taylor, Amy

2014-01-01

Pollution is not a problem we just read about anymore. It affects the air we breathe, the land we live on, and the water we consume. After noticing a lack of awareness in students, a lesson was developed that used Google Earth to pinpoint sources of pollution in the local area and in others across the country, and their effects on the surrounding…

Exploring Fifth-Grade Turkish Children's Solutions and Future Plans for Environmental Pollution through Their Drawings

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Saglam, Murat

2016-01-01

The pollution of land, water, air, noise, light etc. threatens people, plants, animals and ecosystems. Environmental literacy is at the heart of environmental education, and environmentally literate people are expected to be aware of how to help solve environmental problems such as pollution. The purpose of the present study is to explore 5th…

Evaluation of the 2013 Southeast Asian Haze on Solar Generation Performance

PubMed Central

Maghami, Mohammadreza; Hizam, Hashim; Gomes, Chandima; Hajighorbani, Shahrooz; Rezaei, Nima

2015-01-01

Pollution in Southeast Asia is a major public energy problem and the cause of energy losses. A significant problem with respect to this type of pollution is that it decreases energy yield. In this study, two types of photovoltaic (PV) solar arrays were used to evaluate the effect of air pollution. The performance of two types of solar arrays were analysed in this research, namely, two units of a 1 kWp tracking flat photovoltaic (TFP) and two units of a 1 kWp fixed flat photovoltaic arrays (FFP). Data analysis was conducted on 2,190 samples at 30 min intervals from 01st June 2013, when both arrays were washed, until 30th June 2013. The performance was evaluated by using environmental data (irradiation, temperature, dust thickness, and air pollution index), power output, and energy yield. Multiple regression models were predicted in view of the environmental data and PV array output. Results showed that the fixed flat system was more affected by air pollution than the tracking flat plate. The contribution of this work is that it considers two types of photovoltaic arrays under the Southeast Asian pollution 2013. PMID:26275303

Mexico City air quality research initiative. Volume 2, Problem definition, background, and summary of prior research

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Not Available

1994-06-01

Air pollution in Mexico City has increased along with the growth of the city, the movement of its population, and the growth of employment created by industry. The main cause of pollution in the city is energy consumption. Therefore, it is necessary to take into account the city`s economic development and its prospects when considering the technological relationships between well-being and energy consumption. Air pollution in the city from dust and other particles suspended in the air is an old problem. However, pollution as we know it today began about 50 years ago with the growth of industry, transportation, andmore » population. The level of well-being attained in Mexico City implies a high energy use that necessarily affects the valley`s natural air quality. However, the pollution has grown so fast that the City must act urgently on three fronts: first, following a comprehensive strategy, transform the economic foundation of the city with nonpolluting activities to replace the old industries, second, halt pollution growth through the development of better technologies; and third, use better fuels, emission controls, and protection of wooded areas.« less

Environmental Management in Mainland China.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shen, Thomas T.

1984-01-01

Provides an overview of China's environmental pollution management by discussing: China's Environmental Protection Organization; laws and regulations; environmental protection program; education and manpower training; and research into environmental pollution problems. (The author provided technical assistance to China's environmental pollution…

Nonpoint Source Pollution: Darby Duck, the Aquatic Crusader

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Understanding the characteristics of water, that precious resource we are trying to protect. And understanding how it interacts with other elements in the environment, some of which pollute it and cause problems for people and animals.

Smart urban design to reduce transportation impact in city centers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fezzai, Soufiane; Mazouz, Said; Ahriz, Atef

2018-05-01

Air pollution is one of the most serious problems facing human being; urban wastes are in first range of energy consumption and emission of greenhouse gasses. Transportation or car traffic is one of the most consumer sectors of fuel, and most pollutant. Reducing energy consumption in transportation and the emission of pollutant gasses becomes an important objective for urban designers; many solutions may be proposed to help solving this problem in future designs, but it depend on other factors in existing urban space especially in city centers characterized with high occupation density. In this paper we investigate traffic rate in the city center of the case study, looking for the causes of the high traffic using gate count method and estimating fuel consumption. We try to propose some design solutions to reduce distances so fuel consumption and emission of pollutant gasses. We use space syntax techniques to evaluate urban configuration and verify the proposed solutions.

Spatiotemporal patterns and source attribution of nitrogen pollution in a typical headwater agricultural watershed in Southeastern China.

PubMed

Chen, Wenjun; He, Bin; Nover, Daniel; Duan, Weili; Luo, Chuan; Zhao, Kaiyan; Chen, Wen

2018-01-01

Excessive nitrogen (N) discharge from agriculture causes widespread problems in aquatic ecosystems. Knowledge of spatiotemporal patterns and source attribution of N pollution is critical for nutrient management programs but is poorly studied in headwaters with various small water bodies and mini-point pollution sources. Taking a typical small watershed in the low mountains of Southeastern China as an example, N pollution and source attribution were studied for a multipond system around a village using the Hydrological Simulation Program-Fortran (HSPF) model. The results exhibited distinctive spatio-seasonal variations with an overall seriousness rank for the three indicators: total nitrogen (TN) > nitrate/nitrite nitrogen (NO x - -N) > ammonia nitrogen (NH 3 -N), according to the Chinese Surface Water Quality Standard. TN pollution was severe for the entire watershed, while NO x - -N pollution was significant for ponds and ditches far from the village, and the NH 3 -N concentrations were acceptable except for the ponds near the village in summer. Although food and cash crop production accounted for the largest source of N loads, we discovered that mini-point pollution sources, including animal feeding operations, rural residential sewage, and waste, together contributed as high as 47% of the TN and NH 3 -N loads in ponds and ditches. So, apart from eco-fertilizer programs and concentrated animal feeding operations, the importance of environmental awareness building for resource management is highlighted for small farmers in headwater agricultural watersheds. As a first attempt to incorporate multipond systems into the process-based modeling of nonpoint source (NPS) pollution, this work can inform other hydro-environmental studies on scattered and small water bodies. The results are also useful to water quality improvement for entire river basins.

Mobile lidar system for monitoring of gaseous pollutants in atmosphere over industrial and urban area

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Moskalenko, Irina V.; Shecheglov, Djolinard A.; Rogachev, Aleksei P.; Avdonin, Aleksandr A.; Molodtsov, Nikolai A.

1999-01-01

The lidar remote sensing techniques are powerful for monitoring of gaseous toxic species in atmosphere over wide areas. The paper presented describes design, development and field testing of Mobile Lidar System (MLS) based on utilization of Differential Absorption Lidar (DIAL) technique. The activity is performed by Russian Research Center 'Kurchatov Institute' and Research Institute of Pulse Technique within the project 'Mobile Remote SEnsing System Based on Tunable Laser Transmitter for Environmental Monitoring' under funding of International Scientific and Technology Center Moscow. A brief description of MLS is presented including narrowband transmitter, receiver, system steering, data acquisition subsystem and software. MLS is housed in a mobile truck and is able to provide 3D mapping of gaseous species. Sulfur dioxide and elemental mercury were chosen as basic atmospheric pollutants for field test of MLS. The problem of anthropogenic ozone detection attracts attention due to increase traffic in Moscow. The experimental sites for field testing are located in Moscow Region. Examples of field DIAL measurements will be presented. Application of remote sensing to toxic species near-real time measurements is now under consideration. The objective is comparison of pollution level in working zone with maximum permissible concentration of hazardous pollutant.

Permitting program with best management practices for shale gas wells to safeguard public health.

PubMed

Centner, Terence J; Petetin, Ludivine

2015-11-01

The development of shale gas resources in the United States has been controversial as governments have been tardy in devising sufficient safeguards to protect both people and the environment. Alleged health and environmental damages suggest that other countries around the world that decide to develop their shale gas resources can learn from these problems and take further actions to prevent situations resulting in the release of harmful pollutants. Looking at U.S. federal regulations governing large animal operations under the permitting provisions of the Clean Water Act, the idea of a permitting program is proposed to respond to the risks of pollution by shale gas development activities. Governments can require permits before allowing the drilling of a new gas well. Each permit would include fluids and air emissions reduction plans containing best management practices to minimize risks and releases of pollutants. The public availability of permits and permit applications, as occurs for water pollution under various U.S. permitting programs, would assist governments in protecting public health. The permitting proposals provide governments a means for providing further assurances that shale gas development projects will not adversely affect people and the environment. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Observing and simulating the impact of growing urbanization on air quality and climate in the Eastern Mediterranean

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kanakidou, Maria; Myriokefalitakis, Stelios; Mihalopoulos, Nikos; Vrekoussis, Mihalis; Daskalakis, Nikos; Sfakianaki, Maria; Hatziannastassiou, Nikos; Im, Ulas

2016-07-01

The Mediterranean, and particularly its east basin, is a crossroad of air masses coming from Europe, Asia and Africa. Over this area, anthropogenic emissions, mainly from Europe, Balkans and the Black Sea, meet with natural emissions from Sahara (Saharan dust), vegetation and the ocean as well as from biomass burning, overall presenting a strong seasonal pattern. As a consequence of its unique location and emissions, the Mediterranean region is climatically very sensitive and often exposed to multiple stresses, such as a simultaneous water shortage and elevated air pollution exposure. During the last decades, the Eastern Mediterranean, following the general trend, has experienced a rapid growth in urbanization, including increased vehicle circulation, and industrialization, all impacting pollutant emissions in the atmosphere. Air pollution is one of the challenging environmental problems for Istanbul and Cairo megacities but also for the whole Eastern Mediterranean region. The recent financial crisis resulted in changes in human habits, energy production and subsequently air pollution. This resulted in changes in tropospheric composition that reflect changes in natural emissions and in human behavior have been detected by satellites and simulated by chemistry transport models. The results are presented and their robustness is discussed.

Sustainable Remediation of Legacy Mine Drainage: A Case Study of the Flight 93 National Memorial.

PubMed

Emili, Lisa A; Pizarchik, Joseph; Mahan, Carolyn G

2016-03-01

Pollution from mining activities is a global environmental concern, not limited to areas of current resource extraction, but including a broader geographic area of historic (legacy) and abandoned mines. The pollution of surface waters from acid mine drainage is a persistent problem and requires a holistic and sustainable approach to addressing the spatial and temporal complexity of mining-specific problems. In this paper, we focus on the environmental, socio-economic, and legal challenges associated with the concurrent activities to remediate a coal mine site and to develop a national memorial following a catastrophic event. We provide a conceptual construct of a socio-ecological system defined at several spatial, temporal, and organizational scales and a critical synthesis of the technical and social learning processes necessary to achieving sustainable environmental remediation. Our case study is an example of a multi-disciplinary management approach, whereby collaborative interaction of stakeholders, the emergence of functional linkages for information exchange, and mediation led to scientifically informed decision making, creative management solutions, and ultimately environmental policy change.

The Heavy Metals in Agrosystems and Impact on Health and Quality of Life.

PubMed

Tutic, Adnan; Novakovic, Srecko; Lutovac, Mitar; Biocanin, Rade; Ketin, Sonja; Omerovic, Nusret

2015-06-15

The metal is a chemical element that conducts electricity well and heat, and the nonferrous metals builds cations and ionic bonds. Heavy metals include metals whose density is higher than 5 g/cm(3). The whole range of the metal is in the form of essential trace elements, essential for a number of functions in the human body, and its deficiency results in a lack of occurrence of a serious symptom. The best examples are anemia lack of iron, lack of chromium in diabetes, growth problems in lack of nickel. Other elements such as lead, cadmium, mercury, arsenic and molybdenum have been shown to exhibit large quantities of toxic effects. The paper examines the problem of heavy metals originating from agriculture on agroecosystems. This group of pollutants is considered the most important cause of degradation of soil quality, surface and groundwater and direct causal adverse effects on human and animal health. In order to complete the environmental monitoring of pollutants, these main categories, origins, and possible negative impacts of the basic principles of preventing their toxic effects were examined.

The Heavy Metals in Agrosystems and Impact on Health and Quality of Life

PubMed Central

Tutic, Adnan; Novakovic, Srecko; Lutovac, Mitar; Biocanin, Rade; Ketin, Sonja; Omerovic, Nusret

2015-01-01

The metal is a chemical element that conducts electricity well and heat, and the nonferrous metals builds cations and ionic bonds. Heavy metals include metals whose density is higher than 5 g/cm3. The whole range of the metal is in the form of essential trace elements, essential for a number of functions in the human body, and its deficiency results in a lack of occurrence of a serious symptom. The best examples are anemia lack of iron, lack of chromium in diabetes, growth problems in lack of nickel. Other elements such as lead, cadmium, mercury, arsenic and molybdenum have been shown to exhibit large quantities of toxic effects. The paper examines the problem of heavy metals originating from agriculture on agroecosystems. This group of pollutants is considered the most important cause of degradation of soil quality, surface and groundwater and direct causal adverse effects on human and animal health. In order to complete the environmental monitoring of pollutants, these main categories, origins, and possible negative impacts of the basic principles of preventing their toxic effects were examined. PMID:27275249

Air pollution: a tale of two countries.

PubMed

Haryanto, Budi; Franklin, Peter

2011-01-01

The fast growing economies and continued urbanization in Asian countries have increased the demand for mobility and energy in the region, resulting in high levels of air pollution in cities from mobile and stationary sources. In contrast, low level of urbanization in Australia produces low level of urban air pollution. The World Health Organization estimates that about 500,000 premature deaths per year are caused by air pollution, leaving the urban poor particularly vulnerable since they live in air pollution hotspots, have low respiratory resistance due to bad nutrition, and lack access to quality health care. Identifying the differences and similarities of air pollution levels and its impacts, between Indonesia and Australia, will provide best lesson learned to tackle air pollution problems for Pacific Basin Rim countries.

Modeling the risk of water pollution by pesticides from imbalanced data.

PubMed

Trajanov, Aneta; Kuzmanovski, Vladimir; Real, Benoit; Perreau, Jonathan Marks; Džeroski, Sašo; Debeljak, Marko

2018-04-30

The pollution of ground and surface waters with pesticides is a serious ecological issue that requires adequate treatment. Most of the existing water pollution models are mechanistic mathematical models. While they have made a significant contribution to understanding the transfer processes, they face the problem of validation because of their complexity, the user subjectivity in their parameterization, and the lack of empirical data for validation. In addition, the data describing water pollution with pesticides are, in most cases, very imbalanced. This is due to strict regulations for pesticide applications, which lead to only a few pollution events. In this study, we propose the use of data mining to build models for assessing the risk of water pollution by pesticides in field-drained outflow water. Unlike the mechanistic models, the models generated by data mining are based on easily obtainable empirical data, while the parameterization of the models is not influenced by the subjectivity of ecological modelers. We used empirical data from field trials at the La Jaillière experimental site in France and applied the random forests algorithm to build predictive models that predict "risky" and "not-risky" pesticide application events. To address the problems of the imbalanced classes in the data, cost-sensitive learning and different measures of predictive performance were used. Despite the high imbalance between risky and not-risky application events, we managed to build predictive models that make reliable predictions. The proposed modeling approach can be easily applied to other ecological modeling problems where we encounter empirical data with highly imbalanced classes.

Forest avifauna as a bioindicator of heavy metal pollution

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Costa, Rute Alexandra Pais

Air pollution has become a widespread problem in the last century, becoming necessary the monitorization of several habitats. Air pollution was found to have direct and indirect effects on forest passerines (Eeva et al. 1997), but there is very little information on the effects of emissions from the paper and pulp industry. The present work includes a series of studies which main goals were to use non-invasive procedures in the evaluation of forest passerines as bioindicators of heavy metal pollution and to assess the possible influence of pollution in birds’ breeding biology and health status in industrial and rural sites in maritime pine forests on the west coast of Portugal. We found higher arsenic levels in the rural area and higher mercury levels in the industrial area but we also found several differences with significantly lower levels of contamination in 2010 and 2011. We found that Great tits bred earlier, laid more eggs and produced more fledglings in the industrial area, where we also found higher caterpillar biomass, which are an important food source for tits. Health indices presented similar results in both areas and comparing to other studies in Europe the values are consistent with good health conditions. Our results suggest that there are no direct toxic effects of emissions from the paper industry on the study species. However, invertebrate food availability seems to be related to pollution levels, which indirectly affect the breeding performance of the Great tit.

Rapid population growth and environmental degradation: ultimate versus proximate factors.

PubMed

Shaw, R P

1989-01-01

This philosophical review of 2 arguments about responsibility for and solutions to environmental degradation concludes that both sides are correct: the ultimate and the proximal causes. Ultimate causes of pollution are defined as the technology responsible for a given type of pollution, such as burning fossil fuel; proximate causes are defined as situation-specific factors confounding the problem, such as population density or rate of growth. Commoner and others argue that developed countries with low or negative population growth rates are responsible for 80% of world pollution, primarily in polluting technologies such as automobiles, power generation, plastics, pesticides, toxic wastes, garbage, warfaring, and nuclear weapons wastes. Distortionary policies also contribute; examples are agricultural trade protection, land mismanagement, urban bias in expenditures, and institutional rigidity., Poor nations are responsible for very little pollution because poverty allows little waste or expenditures for polluting, synthetic technologies. The proximal causes of pollution include numbers and rate of growth of populations responsible for the pollution. Since change in the ultimate cause of pollution remains out of reach, altering the numbers of polluters can make a difference. Predictions are made for proportions of the world's total waste production, assuming current 1.6 tons/capita for developed countries and 0.17 tons/capita for developing countries. If developing countries grow at current rates and become more wealthy, they will be emitting half the world's waste by 2025. ON the other hand, unsustainable population growth goes along with inadequate investment in human capital: education, health, employment, infrastructure. The solution is to improve farming technologies in the 117 non-self-sufficient countries, fund development in the most unsustainable enclaves of growing countries, break institutionalized socio-political rigidity in these enclaves, and focus on educating and empowering women in these enclaves. Women are in charge of birth spacing and all aspects of management of energy, food, water and the local environment, more so than men, in most countries.

[Modern problems of maintenance of hygienic safety of drinking water consumption at the regional level].

PubMed

Tulakin, A V; Tsyplakova, G V; Ampleeva, G P; Kozyreva, O N; Pivneva, O S; Trukhina, G M

Problems of hygienic reliability of the drinking water use in regions of the Russian Federation are observed in the article. The optimization of the water use was shown must be based on the bearing in mind of regional peculiarities of the shaping of water quality of groundwater and surface sources of the water use, taking into account of the effectiveness of regional water protection programs, programs for water treatment, coordination of the activity of economic entities and oversight bodies in the management of water quality on the basis of socio-hygienic monitoring. Regional problems requiring hygienic justification and accounting, include such issues as complex hydrological, hydrogeological, climatic and geographical conditions, pronouncement of the severity of anthropogenic pollution of sources of water supply, natural conditions of the shaping of water quality, efficiency of the water treatment. There is need in the improvement of the problems of the water quality monitoring, including with the use of computer technology, which allows to realize regional hygienic monitoring and spatial-temporal analysis of the water quality, to model the water quality management, to predict conditions of the water use by population in regions taking into account peculiarities of the current health situation. In the article there is shown the practicability of the so-called complex concept of multiple barriers suggesting the combined use of chemical oxidation and physical methods of the preparation of drinking water. It is required the further development of legislation for the protection of water bodies from pollution with the bigging up the status of sanitary protection zones; timely revision of the regulatory framework, establishing sanitary-epidemiological requirements to potable water and drinking water supply. The problem of the provision of the population with safe drinking water requires complex solution within the framework of the implementation of target programs adopted at the Federal and regional levels.

URBAN RUNOFF POLLUTION CONTROL - STATE-OF-THE-ART

EPA Science Inventory

Combined sewer overflows are major sources of water pollution problems, but even discharges of stormwater alone can seriously affect water quality. Current approaches involve control of overflows, treatment, and combinations of the two. Control may involve maximizing treatment wi...

Indoor Air Pollution: An Energy Management Problem?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cousins, David M.; Kulba, John W.

1987-01-01

Energy conservation measures have led to airtight buildings and reduced levels of ventilation resulting in indoor air pollution. Five kinds of contaminants--tobacco smoke, combustion products, microorganisms, organic compounds, and radon--are described, their hazards considered, and countermeasures outlined. (MLF)

Treatability Aspects of Urban Stormwater Stressors

EPA Science Inventory

Eleven years into the 21st century, pollution from diffuse sources (pollution from contaminants picked up and carried into surface waters by stormwater runoff) remains the nation's largest source of water quality problems. Scientists and engineers still seek solutions that will ...

Los Angeles and Its Mistress Machine

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Marx, Wesley

1973-01-01

Los Angeles city has acute air pollution problems because of lack of an adequate mass transit system and the type of local industries. Air pollution in Los Angeles has affected agricultural production, vegetation, and public health in nearby areas. (PS)

Social Justice Is in the Air: Teaching Climate Change and Air Pollution with Scientific and Social Inquiry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hahnenberger, M.

2014-12-01

The intersection of environmental with social problems is a growing area of concern for scientists, policy makers, and citizens. Climate change and air pollution are two current environmental issues holding the public's attention which require collaboration of all stakeholders to create meaningful solutions. General education science courses are critical venues to engage students in the intersection of science with society. Effective teaching methods for these intersections include case studies, gallery walks, and town hall meetings. A case study from California explores how air quality has greatly improved in Los Angeles in the past 20 years, however residents of neighborhoods with lower socioeconomic status are still exposed to high levels of air pollutants. Students analyze scientific and health data to develop understanding and expertise in the problem, and are then tasked with developing a cost-benefit analysis of solutions. Gallery walks can be used to connect natural phenomena, such as hurricanes and severe weather, with their human impacts. Students bring their personal experiences with disasters and recovery to analyze how societies should deal with the changing climate and weather risks in their region, the country, or across the world. Town hall meetings allow students to gain expertise and perspective while embodying a role as a particular stakeholder in a climate mitigation or adaptation issue. A successful application of this method is a discussion of whether a resort community should be rebuilt on a barrier island after being destroyed in a category 3 hurricane. Stakeholders which students take on as roles have included climate scientists, homeowners, emergency managers, meteorologists, and others. Including distinct connections to social issues in introductory science courses helps students to not only engage with the material in a deeper way, but also helps to create critical thinkers who will become better citizens for tomorrow.

Building on the International Year of Astronomy: The Dark Skies Awareness Program

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Walker, C. E.; Sparks, R. T.; Pompea, S. M.

2010-08-01

The International Year of Astronomy (IYA2009) offered opportunities to create exemplary educational programs in astronomy, such as those through the cornerstone project, Dark Skies Awareness (DSA). The preservation of dark skies is important for many reasons including astronomy, energy conservation, wildlife conservation, and even human health. Light pollution is a growing concern, yet it is one of the easiest global environmental problems citizen scientists can address on a local level. The Dark Skies workshop imparted the skills necessary for participants to lead activities at their home institution for conserving dark skies. Workshop participants experienced the hands-on activities, which are suitable for use in a variety of settings including museums, science centers, planetariums, schools, university outreach efforts, and astronomy club events. Participants were immersed in activities that illustrate proper lighting, light pollution's effects on wildlife, and how to measure the darkness of your skies. Several citizen science projects were highlighted, including GLOBE at Night, the Great World Wide Star Count, and How Many Stars. These programs enlist the help of students and the general public to collect data on the night sky conditions in their community and contribute to a worldwide database on light pollution. The data can be analyzed using various online tools. A CD of activities, a light shielding demonstration, a book, a two DVD set with a planetarium show, and many other resources are included in a Dark Skies Education Kit, which workshop participants received at the close of the workshop.

An analysis of effects of San Diego wildfire on ambient air quality.

PubMed

Viswanathan, Shekar; Eria, Luis; Diunugala, Nimal; Johnson, Jeffrey; McClean, Christopher

2006-01-01

The impact of major gaseous and particulate pollutants emitted by the wildfire of October 2003 on ambient air quality and health of San Diego residents before, during, and after the fire are analyzed using data available from the San Diego County Air Pollution Control District and California Air Resources Board. It was found that fine particulate matter (PM) levels exceeded the federal daily 24-hr average standard during the fire. There was a slight increase in some of the gaseous pollutants, such as carbon monoxide, which exceeded federal standards. Ozone (O3) precursors, such as total hydrocarbons and methane gases, experienced elevated concentration during the fire. Fortunately, the absence of sunlight because of the cloud of thick smoke that covered most of the county during the fire appears to have prevented the photochemical conversion of the precursor gases to harmful concentrations of O3. Statistical analysis of the compiled medical surveillance data has been used to establish correlations between pollutant levels in the region and the resultant health problems experienced by the county citizens. The study shows that the increased PM concentration above the federal standard resulted in a significant increase in hospital emergency room visits for asthma, respiratory problems, eye irritation, and smoke inhalation. On the basis of the findings, it is recommended that hospitals and emergency medical facilities engage in pre-event planning that would ensure a rapid response to an impact on the healthcare system as a result of a large wildfire and appropriate agencies engage in the use of all available meteorological forecasting resources, including real-time satellite imaging assets, to accurately forecast air quality and assist firefighting efforts.

PM 0,5 and Health effects in an extreme pollution episode

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Grigoropoulos, K. N.; Nastos, P. T.; Gialouris, A.; Zontanos, M.; Saratsiotis, D.; Mavroidakos, J.; Khan, U.; Tissera, W. A.

2009-04-01

The mega cities' pollution problem during the last two decades, occupied the whole European scientific community, Asia and the U.S.A. The atmosphere remains suffocating due to rapid industrial development and the ever increasing traffic. Registered health problems are numerous and dramatic in all ages groups, but particularly in infants, old people and patients suffering chronic diseases. After 1980 many governments applied restrictions to maintain a clearer atmosphere. Particulate matters are everywhere, they are inhaled, they enter the lungs, migrate through the blood stream and finally, they deposit in several organs which leads to severe consequences. Wind remains the only restraining factor of PM concentrations, but this is not the desired solution. The issue of atmospheric pollution and its influence on health are both the main aim of this study, which consists of monitoring and mapping PM 0.5 in six areas of Athens and examining the relation of the quantity inhaled by pedestrians and number of health incidents during an acute pollution episode in GAA in November 2008.In this empirical model, values of PM inhaled by humans at a height of two metres above ground are shown as number/ litre and μg/m3. In fact, a lot of patients appeared in the city's hospital emergency centres needing assistance. Most of them exhibit the PM symptomatology which includes: dyspnea, dry cough, lacrimation, headache, arrhythmias. This symptoms are firstly by K.N.Grigoropoulos et al. 2008 (Fresenious Environment Bulletin issue b September 2008.pp 1426-1431) Although this situation is already widely known to everyone, governments continue to ignore it systematically. The time is probably right for the European Community to apply restrictions on PM1.

Assessment of health benefits related to air quality improvement strategies in urban areas: An Impact Pathway Approach.

PubMed

Silveira, Carlos; Roebeling, Peter; Lopes, Myriam; Ferreira, Joana; Costa, Solange; Teixeira, João P; Borrego, Carlos; Miranda, Ana I

2016-12-01

Air pollution is, increasingly, a concern to our society given the threats to human health and the environment. Concerted actions to improve air quality have been taken at different levels, such as through the development of Air Quality Plans (AQPs). However, air quality impacts associated with the implementation of abatement measures included in AQPs are often neglected. In order to identify the major gaps and strengths in current knowledge, a literature review has been performed on existing methodologies to estimate air pollution-related health impacts and subsequent external costs. Based on this review, the Impact Pathway Approach was adopted and applied within the context of the MAPLIA research project to assess the health impacts and benefits (or avoided external costs) derived from improvements in air quality. Seven emission abatement scenarios, based on individual and combined abatement measures, were tested for the major activity sectors (traffic, residential and industrial combustion and production processes) of a Portuguese urban area (Grande Porto) with severe particular matter (PM10) air pollution problems. Results revealed a strong positive correlation between population density and health benefits obtained from the assessed reduction scenarios. As a consequence, potential health benefits from reduction scenarios are largest in densely populated areas with high anthropic activity and, thus, where air pollution problems are most alarming. Implementation of all measures resulted in a reduction in PM10 emissions by almost 8%, improving air quality by about 1% and contributing to a benefit of 8.8 million €/year for the entire study domain. The introduction of PM10 reduction technologies in industrial units was the most beneficial abatement measure. This study intends to contribute to policy support for decision-making on air quality management. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Sparse time-frequency decomposition based on dictionary adaptation.

PubMed

Hou, Thomas Y; Shi, Zuoqiang

2016-04-13

In this paper, we propose a time-frequency analysis method to obtain instantaneous frequencies and the corresponding decomposition by solving an optimization problem. In this optimization problem, the basis that is used to decompose the signal is not known a priori. Instead, it is adapted to the signal and is determined as part of the optimization problem. In this sense, this optimization problem can be seen as a dictionary adaptation problem, in which the dictionary is adaptive to one signal rather than a training set in dictionary learning. This dictionary adaptation problem is solved by using the augmented Lagrangian multiplier (ALM) method iteratively. We further accelerate the ALM method in each iteration by using the fast wavelet transform. We apply our method to decompose several signals, including signals with poor scale separation, signals with outliers and polluted by noise and a real signal. The results show that this method can give accurate recovery of both the instantaneous frequencies and the intrinsic mode functions. © 2016 The Author(s).

Evaluation of On-Road Vehicle Emission Trends in the United States

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Harley, R. A.; Dallmann, T. R.; Kirchstetter, T.

2010-12-01

Mobile sources contribute significantly to emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx), carbon monoxide (CO), fine particulate matter (PM2.5), and black carbon (BC). These emissions lead to a variety of environmental problems including air pollution and climate change. At present, national and state-level mobile source emission inventories are developed using statistical models to predict emissions from large and diverse populations of vehicles. Activity is measured by total vehicle-km traveled, and pollutant emission factors are predicted based on laboratory testing of individual vehicles. Despite efforts to improve mobile source emission inventories, they continue to have large associated uncertainties. Alternate methods, such as the fuel-based approach used here, are needed to evaluate estimates of mobile source emissions and to help reduce uncertainties. In this study we quantify U.S. national emissions of NOx, CO, PM2.5, and BC from on-road diesel and gasoline vehicles for the years 1990-2010, including effects of a weakened national economy on fuel sales and vehicle travel from 2008-10. Pollutant emissions are estimated by multiplying total amounts of fuel consumed with emission factors expressed per unit of fuel burned. Fuel consumption is used as a measure of vehicle activity, and is based on records of taxable fuel sales. Pollutant emission factors are derived from roadside and tunnel studies, remote sensing measurements, and individual vehicle exhaust plume capture experiments. Emission factors are updated with new results from a summer 2010 field study conducted at the Caldecott tunnel in the San Francisco Bay Area.

NASA Earth Resources Survey Symposium. Volume 1-A: Agriculture, environment

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1975-01-01

A number of papers dealing with the practical application of imagery obtained from remote sensors on LANDSAT satellites, the Skylab Earth resources experiment package, and aircraft to problems in agriculture and the environment were presented. Some of the more important topics that were covered included: range management and resources, environmental monitoring and management, crop growth and inventory, land management, multispectral band scanners, forest management, mapping, marshlands, strip mining, water quality and pollution, ecology.

Poland: An energy and environmental overview

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Szpunar, C.B.; Bhatti, N.; Buehring, W.A.

1990-10-01

Poland's reliance on coal as its primary source of energy imposes heavy environmental costs on its economy and population. Specifically, many of Poland's air and water pollution problems can be traced to the high energy intensity of Polish industrial production. This overview presents environment and energy information for Poland. Topics discussed include: energy resources, production and use; energy production, trade and use; environmental quality and impacts; and control strategies. 109 refs., 25 figs., 40 tabs.

Manpower Requirements for Pollution Control and Water Resources in Indiana and a Related Pollution Control Technology Curriculum. Manpower Report 69-1.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Purdue Univ., Lafayette, IN. Office of Manpower Studies.

The purpose of this study was to identify the trained manpower needed to cope with Indiana's mounting problems in air and water pollution control, liquid and solid waste disposal, and water supply and resources. This report contains data concerning the present employment, current job opportunities, and projected manpower needs for related…

Prenatal and Childhood Traffic-Related Air Pollution Exposure and Childhood Executive Function and Behavior

PubMed Central

Harris, Maria H.; Gold, Diane R.; Rifas-Shiman, Sheryl L.; Melly, Steven J.; Zanobetti, Antonella; Coull, Brent A.; Schwartz, Joel D.; Gryparis, Alexandros; Kloog, Itai; Koutrakis, Petros; Bellinger, David C.; Belfort, Mandy B.; Webster, Thomas F.; White, Roberta F.; Sagiv, Sharon K.; Oken, Emily

2016-01-01

Background Traffic-related air pollution exposure may influence brain development and function and thus be related to neurobehavioral problems in children, but little is known about windows of susceptibility. Aims Examine associations of gestational and childhood exposure to traffic-related pollution with executive function and behavior problems in children. Methods We studied associations of pre- and postnatal pollution exposures with neurobehavioral outcomes in 1,212 children in the Project Viva pre-birth cohort followed to mid-childhood (median age 7.7 years). Parents and classroom teachers completed the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF), and the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). Using validated spatiotemporal models, we estimated exposure to black carbon (BC) and fine particulate matter (PM2.5) in the third trimester of pregnancy, from birth to 3 years, from birth to 6 years, and in the year before behavioral ratings. We also measured residential distance to major roadways and near-residence traffic density at birth and in mid-childhood. We estimated associations of BC, PM2.5, and other traffic exposure measures with BRIEF and SDQ scores, adjusted for potential confounders. Results Higher childhood BC exposure was associated with higher teacher-rated BRIEF Behavioral Regulation Index (BRI) scores, indicating greater problems: 1.0 points (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.0, 2.1) per interquartile range (IQR) increase in birth-age 6 BC, and 1.7 points (95% CI: 0.6, 2.8) for BC in the year prior to behavioral ratings. Mid-childhood residential traffic density was also associated with BRI score (0.6, 95% CI: 0.1, 1.1). Birth-age 3 BC was not associated with BRIEF or SDQ scores. Third trimester BC exposure was not associated with teacher-rated BRI scores (−0.2, 95% CI: −1.1, 0.8), and predicted lower scores (fewer problems) on the BRIEF Metacognition Index (−1.2, 95% CI: −2.2, −0.2) and SDQ total difficulties (−0.9, 95% CI: −1.4, −0.4). PM2.5 exposure was associated with teacher-rated BRIEF and SDQ scores in minimally adjusted models but associations attenuated with covariate adjustment. None of the parent-rated outcomes suggested adverse effects of greater pollution exposure at any time point. Conclusions Children with higher mid-childhood exposure to BC and greater near-residence traffic density in mid-childhood had greater problems with behavioral regulation as assessed by classroom teachers, but not as assessed by parents. Prenatal and early childhood exposure to traffic-related pollution did not predict greater executive function or behavior problems; third trimester BC was associated with lower scores (representing fewer problems) on measures of metacognition and behavioral problems. PMID:27350569

Prenatal and childhood traffic-related air pollution exposure and childhood executive function and behavior.

PubMed

Harris, Maria H; Gold, Diane R; Rifas-Shiman, Sheryl L; Melly, Steven J; Zanobetti, Antonella; Coull, Brent A; Schwartz, Joel D; Gryparis, Alexandros; Kloog, Itai; Koutrakis, Petros; Bellinger, David C; Belfort, Mandy B; Webster, Thomas F; White, Roberta F; Sagiv, Sharon K; Oken, Emily

Traffic-related air pollution exposure may influence brain development and function and thus be related to neurobehavioral problems in children, but little is known about windows of susceptibility. Examine associations of gestational and childhood exposure to traffic-related pollution with executive function and behavior problems in children. We studied associations of pre- and postnatal pollution exposures with neurobehavioral outcomes in 1212 children in the Project Viva pre-birth cohort followed to mid-childhood (median age 7.7years). Parents and classroom teachers completed the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF) and the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). Using validated spatiotemporal models, we estimated exposure to black carbon (BC) and fine particulate matter (PM 2.5 ) in the third trimester of pregnancy, from birth to 3years, from birth to 6years, and in the year before behavioral ratings. We also measured residential distance to major roadways and near-residence traffic density at birth and in mid-childhood. We estimated associations of BC, PM 2.5 , and other traffic exposure measures with BRIEF and SDQ scores, adjusted for potential confounders. Higher childhood BC exposure was associated with higher teacher-rated BRIEF Behavioral Regulation Index (BRI) scores, indicating greater problems: 1.0 points (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.0, 2.1) per interquartile range (IQR) increase in birth-age 6BC, and 1.7 points (95% CI: 0.6, 2.8) for BC in the year prior to behavioral ratings. Mid-childhood residential traffic density was also associated with BRI score (0.6, 95% CI: 0.1, 1.1). Birth-age 3BC was not associated with BRIEF or SDQ scores. Third trimester BC exposure was not associated with teacher-rated BRI scores (-0.2, 95% CI: -1.1, 0.8), and predicted lower scores (fewer problems) on the BRIEF Metacognition Index (-1.2, 95% CI: -2.2, -0.2) and SDQ total difficulties (-0.9, 95% CI: -1.4, -0.4). PM 2.5 exposure was associated with teacher-rated BRIEF and SDQ scores in minimally adjusted models but associations attenuated with covariate adjustment. None of the parent-rated outcomes suggested adverse effects of greater pollution exposure at any time point. Children with higher mid-childhood exposure to BC and greater near-residence traffic density in mid-childhood had greater problems with behavioral regulation as assessed by classroom teachers, but not as assessed by parents. Prenatal and early childhood exposure to traffic-related pollution did not predict greater executive function or behavior problems; third trimester BC was associated with lower scores (representing fewer problems) on measures of metacognition and behavioral problems. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A simplified risk-ranking system for prioritizing toxic pollution sites in low- and middle-income countries.

PubMed

Caravanos, Jack; Gualtero, Sandra; Dowling, Russell; Ericson, Bret; Keith, John; Hanrahan, David; Fuller, Richard

2014-01-01

In low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), chemical exposures in the environment due to hazardous waste sites and toxic pollutants are typically poorly documented and their health impacts insufficiently quantified. Furthermore, there often is only limited understanding of the health and environmental consequences of point source pollution problems, and little consensus on how to assess and rank them. The contributions of toxic environmental exposures to the global burden of disease are not well characterized. The aim of this study was to describe the simple but effective approach taken by Blacksmith Institute's Toxic Sites Identification Program to quantify and rank toxic exposures in LMICs. This system is already in use at more than 3000 sites in 48 countries such as India, Indonesia, China, Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, Uruguay, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Ukraine. A hazard ranking system formula, the Blacksmith Index (BI), takes into account important factors such as the scale of the pollution source, the size of the population possibly affected, and the exposure pathways, and is designed for use reliably in low-resource settings by local personnel provided with limited training. Four representative case studies are presented, with varying locations, populations, pollutants, and exposure pathways. The BI was successfully applied to assess the extent and severity of environmental pollution problems at these sites. The BI is a risk-ranking tool that provides direct and straightforward characterization, quantification, and prioritization of toxic pollution sites in settings where time, money, or resources are limited. It will be an important and useful tool for addressing toxic pollution problems in LMICs. Although the BI does not have the sophistication of the US Environmental Protection Agency's Hazard Ranking System, the case studies presented here document the effectiveness of the BI in the field, especially in low-resource settings. Understanding of the risks posed by toxic pollution sites helps assure better use of resources to manage sites and mitigate risks to public health. Quantification of these hazards is an important input to assessments of the global burden of disease. Copyright © 2014 Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Evaluation of Proposed Solutions to Global Warming, Air Pollution, and Energy Security

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jacobson, M. Z.

2008-12-01

This study reviews and ranks major proposed solutions to global warming, air pollution mortality, and energy security while considering other impacts of the proposed solutions, such as on water supply, land use, wildlife, resource availability, thermal pollution, water chemical pollution, nuclear proliferation, and undernutrition. Nine electric power sources and two liquid fuel options are considered. The electricity sources include solar-photovoltaics (PV), concentrated solar power (CSP), wind, geothermal, hydroelectric, wave, tidal, nuclear, and coal with carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology. The liquid fuel options include corn-E85 and cellulosic E85. To place the electric and liquid fuel sources on an equal footing, we examine their comparative abilities to address the problems mentioned by powering new-technology vehicles, including battery-electric vehicles (BEVs), hydrogen fuel cell vehicles (HFCVs), and flex-fuel vehicles run on E85. Twelve combinations of energy source-vehicle type are considered. Upon ranking and weighting each combination with respect to each of 11 impact categories, four clear divisions of ranking, or tiers, emerge. Tier 1 (highest-ranked) includes wind-BEVs and wind-HFCVs. Tier 2 includes CSP-BEVs, geothermal-BEVs, PV-BEVs, tidal-BEVs, and wave-BEVs. Tier 3 includes hydro-BEVs, nuclear-BEVs, and CCS-BEVs. Tier 4 includes corn- and cellulosic-E85. Wind-BEVs ranked first in six out of 11 categories, including the two most important, mortality and climate damage reduction. Although HFCVs are less efficient than BEVs, wind- HFCVs ranked second among all combinations. Tier 2 options provide significant benefits and are recommended. Tier 3 options are less desirable. However, hydroelectricity, which was ranked ahead of coal- CCS and nuclear with respect to climate and health, is an excellent load balancer, thus strongly recommended. The Tier-4 combinations (cellulosic- and corn-E85) were ranked lowest overall and with respect to climate, air pollution, land use, wildlife damage, and chemical waste. Cellulosic-E85 ranked lower than corn-E85 overall, primarily due to its potentially larger land footprint based on recent data and its higher upstream air pollution emissions than corn-E85. Whereas cellulosic-E85 may cause the greatest average human mortality, nuclear-BEVs cause the greatest upper-limit mortality risk due to the expansion of plutonium separation and uranium enrichment in nuclear energy facilities worldwide. Wind-BEVs and CSP-BEVs cause the least mortality. The footprint area of wind-BEVs is 2-6 orders of magnitude less than that of any other option. Because of their low footprint and pollution, wind-BEVs cause the least wildlife loss. The largest consumer of water is corn-E85. The smallest are wind-, tidal-, and wave-BEVs. In sum, use of wind, CSP, geothermal, tidal, PV, wave, and hydro to power electricity for BEVs and HFCVs and for general use in the residential, industrial, and commercial sectors will result in the most benefit among the options considered. The combination of these technologies should be advanced as a solution to global warming, air pollution, and energy security. Coal-CCS and nuclear offer less benefit, and the biofuel options provide little or no benefit and greater negative impacts.

Methane Recovery from Animal Manures The Current Opportunities Casebook

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Lusk, P.

1998-09-22

Growth and concentration of the livestock industry create opportunities for the proper disposal of the large quantities of manures generated at dairy, swine, and poultry farms. Pollutants from unmanaged livestock wastes can degrade the environment, and methane emitted from decomposing manure may contribute to global climate change. One management system not only helps prevent pollution but can also convert a manure problem into a new profit center. Economic evaluations and case studies of operating systems indicate that the anaerobic digestion of livestock manures is a commercially viable conversion technology with considerable potential for providing profitable coproducts, including a cost-effective renewablemore » fuel for livestock production operations. This casebook examines some of the current opportunities for recovering methane from anaerobic digestion animal manures.« less

Putting polluters in jail: the imposition of criminal sanctions on corporate defendants under environmental statutes

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Not Available

1985-01-01

Congress included criminal sanctions in several current environmental statutes in an attempt to punish those who jeopardize the public's health and well being by polluting. After exploring how criminal sanctions are actually employed by the courts against corporate defendants, the author argues that these sanctions are ineffective deterrents. Special problems which exist for the prosecutor or judge who attempts to invoke criminal sanctions against a corporate defendant raise questions about the feasibility and propriety of punishing the corporate entities and difficulties associated with proceeding against a corporate official or responsible individual within the corporate organization. The only way to makemore » the sanctions effective is to use them and to impose both fines and jail sentences on the guilty parties.« less

Understanding Wicked Problems: A Key to Advancing Environmental Health Promotion

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kreuter, Marshall W.; De Rosa, Christopher; Howze, Elizabeth H.; Baldwin, Grant T.

2004-01-01

Complex environmental health problems--like air and water pollution, hazardous waste sites, and lead poisoning--are in reality a constellation of linked problems embedded in the fabric of the communities in which they occur. These kinds of complex problems have been characterized by some as "wicked problems" wherein stakeholders may have…

A primer on motor vehicle air pollution.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1973-01-01

This primer presents a brief state-of-the art review of motor vehicle air pollution. Its purpose is to aid highway personnel in understanding the nature of this environmental problem on our highways and to present possible solutions for its abatement...

Treatability Aspects of Urban Stormwater Stressors - journal

EPA Science Inventory

Eleven years into the 21st century, pollution from diffuse sources (pollution from contaminants picked up and carried into surface waters by stormwater runoff) remains the nation's largest source of water quality problems. Scientists and engineers still seek solutions that will a...

Source Emissions in Multipollutant Air Quality Management

EPA Science Inventory

Human activities and natural processes that emit pollutants into the ambient atmosphere are the underlying cause of all air quality problems. In a technical sense, we refer to these activities and processes as pollutant sources. Although air quality management is usually concerne...

Treatability Aspects of Urban Stormwater Stressors - paper

EPA Science Inventory

Eleven years into the 21st century, pollution from diffuse sources (pollution from contaminants picked up and carried into surface waters by stormwater runoff) remains the nation's largest source of water quality problems. Scientists and engineers still seek solutions that will a...

Women and Power: Problems of Feminine Pollution.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Michaelson, Evalyn J.

The author reviews cross-cultural studies correlating women's reproductive functions with states of ritual defilement, pollution, and cultural restrictions on social behavior. Women's reproductive functions--childbirth, menstruation, and sexual intercourse--are frequently viewed as contaminating. Thus, during her menstrual period or period…

The harm of petroleum-polluted soil and its remediation research

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Shuguang; Xu, Yan; Lin, Zhaofeng; Zhang, Jishi; Norbu, Namkha; Liu, Wei

2017-08-01

Land resources are the foundation of human's survival and development, and it's one of the most valuable natural resources of each country. In view of the serious problems of petroleum pollution to soil caused during the exploration and development processes, this article based on a large number of literature researches, firstly discussed the compositions and properties of petroleum contaminants, secondly investigated some restoration methods for the current situation of petroleum polluted soil, compared and analyzed the advantages and disadvantages of three kinds of bioremediation technologies. Finally, according to the deficiencies of previous research and existing problems, made an outlook of the physical and chemical remediation, bioremediation, and microbe-plant remediation, to provide some enlightenments for petroleum-contaminated soil remediation.

Geothermal Energy: Prospects and Problems

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ritter, William W.

1973-01-01

An examination of geothermal energy as a means of increasing the United States power resources with minimal pollution problems. Developed and planned geothermal-electric power installations around the world, capacities, installation dates, etc., are reviewed. Environmental impact, problems, etc. are discussed. (LK)

The advances of Chinese non-ferrous metal mineral industry and its environmental management

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Miao Zewei; Gao Lin; Zhou Xiaoyuan

1998-12-31

With the steady growth of Chinese economy, the nonferrous metal industry of China was also developed quickly. The gross output of ten main nonferrous metals 4.25 million tons in 1995 so that China ranks the fourth in the world. However, a series of environmental problems also occurred, which relate to characteristics of mineral resources, techniques for mining, dressing, smelting and processing, equipment and their management level. The major pollutants include sulphur dioxide, industrial powder-dust and smoke-dust, water containing heavy metal ions as well as solid wastes. Air, water body, soil, vegetation and people`s health were polluted and damaged to differentmore » extent due to the above pollutants. For the purpose of environmental management and pollution control, some measures must be taken: (1) to strengthen environmental planning, accelerate and perfect environmental laws and related regulations as well as spread the consciousness of environmental protection energetically; (2) to extend cleaner production and adopt advanced technologies so as to reduce environmental pollution; (3) to turn the concept of the end-of-pipe management to the whole-process control; (4) to recovery or reuse the wastes fully. In addition, general situation and policies on reclamation of mining land as well as theory, methods and techniques of restoration of waste land were also stated in the paper.« less

Remediation of metalliferous mines, revegetation challenges and emerging prospects in semi-arid and arid conditions.

PubMed

Nirola, Ramkrishna; Megharaj, Mallavarapu; Beecham, Simon; Aryal, Rupak; Thavamani, Palanisami; Vankateswarlu, Kadiyala; Saint, Christopher

2016-10-01

Understanding plant behaviour in polluted soils is critical for the sustainable remediation of metal-polluted sites including abandoned mines. Post-operational and abandoned metal mines particularly in semi-arid and arid zones are one of the major sources of pollution by soil erosion or plant hyperaccumulation bringing ecological impacts. We have selected from the literature 157 species belonging to 50 families to present a global overview of 'plants under action' against heavy metal pollution. Generally, all species of plants that are drought, salt and metal tolerant are candidates of interest to deal with harsh environmental conditions, particularly at semi-arid and arid mine sites. Pioneer metallophytes namely Atriplex nummularia, Atriplex semibaccata, Salsola kali, Phragmites australis and Medicago sativa, representing the taxonomic orders Caryophyllales, Poales and Fabales are evaluated in terms of phytoremediation in this review. Phytoremediation processes, microbial and algal bioremediation, the use and implication of tissue culture and biotechnology are critically examined. Overall, an integration of available remediation plant-based technologies, referred to here as 'integrated remediation technology,' is proposed to be one of the possible ways ahead to effectively address problems of toxic heavy metal pollution. Graphical abstract Integrated remediation technology (IRT) in metal-contaminated semi-arid and arid conditions. The hexagonal red line represents an IRT concept based on remediation decisions by combination of plants and microbial processes.

Progresses in Polystyrene Biodegradation and Prospects for Solutions to Plastic Waste Pollution

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yang, S. S.; Brandon, A. M.; Xing, D. F.; Yang, J.; Pang, J. W.; Criddle, C. S.; Ren, N. Q.; Wu, W. M.

2018-05-01

Petroleum-based plastic pollution has been a global environmental concern for decades. The obvious contrast between the remarkable durability of the plastics and their short service time leads to the increasing accumulation of plastic wastes in the environment. A cost-effective, sustainable strategy to solve the problem should focus on source control and clean up. Polystyrene (PS) wastes, a recalcitrant plastic polymer, are among the wide spread man-made plastic pollutants. Destruction of PS wastes can be achieved using various abiotic methods such as incineration but such methods release potential air pollution and generation of hazardous by-products. Biodegradation and bioremediation has been proposed for years. Since the 1970’s, the microbial biodegradation of plastics, including PS, has been evaluated with mixed and isolated cultures from different sources such as activated sludge, trash, soil, and manure. To date, PS biodegradation by these microbial cultures is still quite slow. Recently, the larvae of yellow mealworms (Tenebrio molitor Linnaeus) have demonstrated promising PS biodegradation performance. Mealworms have demonstrated the ability to chew and ingest PS foam as food and are capable of degrading and mineralizing PS into CO2 via microbe-dependent activities within the gut in less than the 12-15 hrs gut retention time. These research results have revealed a potential for microbial biodegradation and bioremediation of plastic pollutants.

Would environmental pollution affect home prices? An empirical study based on China's key cities.

PubMed

Hao, Yu; Zheng, Shaoqing

2017-11-01

With the development of China's economy, the problem of environmental pollution has become increasingly more serious, affecting the sustained and healthy development of Chinese cities and the willingness of residents to invest in fixed assets. In this paper, a panel data set of 70 of China's key cities from 2003 to 2014 is used to study the effect of environmental pollution on home prices in China's key cities. In addition to the static panel data regression model, this paper uses the generalized method of moments (GMM) to control for the potential endogeneity and introduce the dynamics. To ensure the robustness of the research results, this paper uses four typical pollutants: per capita volume of SO 2 emissions, industrial soot (dust) emissions, industrial wastewater discharge, and industrial chemical oxygen demand discharge. The analysis shows that environmental pollution does have a negative impact on home prices, and the magnitude of this effect is dependent on the level of economic development. When GDP per capita increases, the size of the negative impact on home prices tends to reduce. Industrial soot (dust) has the greatest impact, and the impact of industrial wastewater is relatively small. It is also found that some other social and economic factors, including greening, public transport, citizen income, fiscal situation, loans, FDI, and population density, have positive effects on home prices, but the effect of employment on home prices is relatively weak.

Additive genetic variation for tolerance to estrogen pollution in natural populations of Alpine whitefish (Coregonus sp., Salmonidae).

PubMed

Brazzola, Gregory; Chèvre, Nathalie; Wedekind, Claus

2014-11-01

The evolutionary potential of natural populations to adapt to anthropogenic threats critically depends on whether there exists additive genetic variation for tolerance to the threat. A major problem for water-dwelling organisms is chemical pollution, and among the most common pollutants is 17α-ethinylestradiol (EE2), the synthetic estrogen that is used in oral contraceptives and that can affect fish at various developmental stages, including embryogenesis. We tested whether there is variation in the tolerance to EE2 within Alpine whitefish. We sampled spawners from two species of different lakes, bred them in vitro in a full-factorial design each, and studied growth and mortality of embryos. Exposure to EE2 turned out to be toxic in all concentrations we tested (≥1 ng/L). It reduced embryo viability and slowed down embryogenesis. We found significant additive genetic variation in EE2-induced mortality in both species, that is, genotypes differed in their tolerance to estrogen pollution. We also found maternal effects on embryo development to be influenced by EE2, that is, some maternal sib groups were more susceptible to EE2 than others. In conclusion, the toxic effects of EE2 were strong, but both species demonstrated the kind of additive genetic variation that is necessary for an evolutionary response to this type of pollution.

Quantification of Aerosol Derived Particulate Matter and Trace gases in the Coastal Belt of Kochi, Kerala, India

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

H, S. C.

2016-02-01

Aerosol chemistry is a window to unravel the various environmental health hazard problems. This open forum which deals with the study of formation, interaction, transformation of aerosol species, which could enable in the assessment of biogeochemical cycling of anthropogenic and toxic species. It also preserves the temperature balance and reservoir and sink for nutrients, trace metals and organic species. An inventory of air pollutants is a proactive and necessary first step towards the control of air pollution. Surveys and studies on the sources of pollution and their apportionment to different sources are a pre-requisite for alleviating environmental disorder. The Kochi City (The Queen of Arabian Sea), Kerala, India is a fast growing industrial region where mounting urbanization has been affecting the quality of the atmospheric environment. Cochin estuarine environment is progressively affected by marine pollution concomitant by industrial hazardous chemicals and municipal waste. Further, rapid urbanization and industrialization has lead to lofting and large scale advection of these omnipresent species in the atmosphere. Studies were conducted to assess the significance and potential impact occupied to these ubiquitous species. The major gaseous pollutants include gases like sulphur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, ammonia and particulate matter (PM). An attempt was performed to unravel the inorganic species in the atmosphere and programmed by means of quantification of PM10 and trace gases. Their distribution pattern and outcomes are inferred.

Patterns of Hits to the Nearshore from a Major Fairway in the Gulf of Finland

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Viikmae, B.; Soomere, T.

2012-04-01

The Baltic Sea hosts one of the heaviest ship traffic in the world. Although relatively small in size, still up to 15% of the world's cargo is transported along its numerous fairways. The largest threat to the environment is oil transportation that has increased more than by a factor of two in 2000-2008 and a 40% increase is expected by the year 2015. One of the major marine highways in the European waters enters the Baltic Sea through the Danish Straits, crosses the Baltic Proper and stretches through the Gulf of Finland to Saint Petersburg. An area that is highly vulnerable to ship pollution is the nearshore that usually has the largest ecological value. While the probability of coastal pollution for open ocean coasts can be reduced by shifting ship routes farther offshore, the problem for narrow bays, like the Gulf of Finland, is how to minimize the probability of hitting any of the coasts. To a certain extent, light can be shed to this problem by means of quantification of the offshore areas in terms of their ability to serve a danger to coastal environment if pollution would happen in these areas. A convenient way to address this problem is to use statistical analysis of a large number of Lagrangian trajectories of test particles representing the potential pollution and passively carried by surface currents. In this paper, we make and attempt to quantify the link between potential sources of pollution along an existing fairway and the sections of the coast reached by current-driven pollution. The problem is analysed by means of considering hits to the nearshore from a major fairway in the Gulf of Finland and by making sure whether certain parts of the coast are hit by pollution particles most frequently and whether or not these pollution particles stem from certain specific parts of the fairway. Trajectories are simulated in the Gulf of Finland by placing tracers among a line that follows one of the major fairways from the Baltic Proper to Saint Petersburg. The probabilities for the hit to different parts of the nearshore and the ability of different sections of the fairway to provide coastal pollution have extensive seasonal variability. The potential impact of the fairway is roughly proportional to its distance from the nearest coast. A short section of the fairway to the south of Vyborg and a segment to the west of Tallinn are the most probable sources of coastal pollution. The most frequently hit coastal areas are short fragments between Hanko and Helsinki, the NE coast of the gulf to the south of Vyborg, and longer segments from Tallinn to Hiiumaa on the southern coast of the gulf.

DRUG USAGE AND DISPOSAL: OVERVIEW OF ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

This article provides the background for understanding the many complex variables that combine to cause pollution of the environment with the active ingredients from pharmaceuticals. It also summarizes the many approaches that could potentially reduce this pollution. Significantly, actions designed for pollution prevention or pollution reduction hold the potential to also reduce healthcare expenses, improve therapeutic outcomes, and moderate the long-persisting national problem of morbidity and mortality caused by poisonings of infants, children, adults, pets, and sometimes wildlife. These collateral benefits are important to this discussion beacuse one of the major unknowns regarding trhe various pollution control actions (such as reducing generation and disposal of unwanted drugs) is whether they would actually result in significantly reduced pollution. The main driving force for reducing pollution may have more to do with human health and safety. Presentation

Air Pollution over the States

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Environmental Science and Technology, 1972

1972-01-01

State plans for implementing air quality standards are evaluated together with problems in modeling procedures and enforcement. Monitoring networks, standards, air quality regions, and industrial problems are also discussed. (BL)

Bringing air pollution into the climate change equation.

PubMed

Pettersen, Marit Viktoria; Fleck, Fiona

2014-08-01

As countries gear up for a major round of international climate talks next year in Paris, the growing problem of air pollution is fast becoming a vital part of the climate change and health debate. Fiona Fleck talks to Marit Viktoria Pettersen.

microRNA Regulation of DEP-induced Inflammation in Airway Epithelial Cells

EPA Science Inventory

Morbidity and mortality attributable to air pollution continues to be a growing problem worldwide. Despite several studies on the health effects of ambient air pollution, underlying molecular mechanisms of susceptibility and disease remain elusive. The epigenome controls gene exp...

Overview of cleaner production as a result of clean technology research in Vietnam

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Sam, D.V.; Nhan, T.V.; Lan, N.N.

Vietnam is beginning its industrialization process, and it currently lacks the capital necessary for expensive pollution control and treatment systems. Pollution strategies are critical for the country. This study evaluates the present status of industry and the pollution problems associated with industrial development in Vietnam. The purpose of the study is to identify sectors that may have potential for promoting cleaner production practices. 4 refs.

Civilization’s Drying Cradle: Water Politics in the Tigris-Euphrates River Basin

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-03-22

pollution will ensure that water disputes increasingly shape Middle East politics for the foreseeable future. Exacerbating the water supply problem is...tolls in water withdrawals, damaged land, and polluted watersheds. One hectare of irrigated land requires an average of 12,000 m3 water annually.21...communities are forced to use polluted runoff from upstream irrigation projects, already highly saline and contaminated with herbicides. Soil salinization

Transnational Environmental Problems--The United States, Canada, Mexico.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wilcher, Marshall E.

1983-01-01

Examines problems associated with transboundary environmental pollution, focusing on problems arising between the United States and Mexico and between the United States and Canada. Also discusses new organizational forms developed to bring transboundary issues to a higher policy-making level. (JN)

Fighting ambient air pollution and its impact on health: from human rights to the right to a clean environment.

PubMed

Guillerm, N; Cesari, G

2015-08-01

Clean air is one of the basic requirements of human health and well-being. However, almost nine out of 10 individuals living in urban areas are affected by air pollution. Populations living in Africa, South-East Asia, and in low- and middle-income countries across all regions are the most exposed. Exposure to outdoor air pollution ranks as the ninth leading risk factor for mortality, killing 3.2 million people each year, especially young children, the elderly, persons with lung or cardiovascular disease, those who work or exercise outdoors and low-income populations. In October 2013, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classified outdoor air pollution as carcinogenic to humans, calling air pollution 'a major environmental health problem'. Human rights and environmental norms are powerful tools to combat air pollution and its impact on health. The dependence of human rights on environmental quality has been recognised in international texts and by human rights treaty bodies. The growing awareness of the environment has already yielded considerable legislative and regulatory output. However, the implementation of standards remains a pervasive problem. In the fight against violations of norms, citizens have a crucial role to play. We discuss the relevance of a yet to be proclaimed standalone right to a healthy environment.

Investigation on the efficiency of treated Palm Tree waste for removal of organic pollutants

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Azoulay, Karima; El HajjajiI, Souad; Dahchour, Abdelmalek

2017-04-01

Development of the industrial sector generates several problems of environmental pollution. This issue rises concern among scientific community and decision makers, in this work; we e interested in water resources polluted by the chemical substances, which can cause various problems of health. As an example, dyes generated by different industrial activities such as textile, cosmetic, metal plating, leather, paper and plastic sectors, constitute an important source of pollution. In this work, we aim at investigating the efficiency of palm tree waste for removal of dyes from polluted solution. Our work presents a double environmental aspect, on one hand it constitutes an attempt for valorization of Palm Tree waste, and on the other hand it provides natural adsorbent. The study focuses on the effectiveness of the waste in removing Methylene Bleu and Methyl Orange taken as models of pollutants from aqueous solution. Kinetics and isotherm experiments were conducted in order to determine the sorption behavior of the examined dye. The effects of initial dye and adsorbent concentrations are considered. The results indicate that the correlation coefficient calculated from pseudo-second order equation was higher than the other kinetic equations, indicating that equilibrium data fitted well with pseudo-second order model where adsorption process was chemisorption. The adsorption equilibrium was well described by Langmuir isotherm model.

Joint space-time geostatistical model for air quality surveillance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Russo, A.; Soares, A.; Pereira, M. J.

2009-04-01

Air pollution and peoples' generalized concern about air quality are, nowadays, considered to be a global problem. Although the introduction of rigid air pollution regulations has reduced pollution from industry and power stations, the growing number of cars on the road poses a new pollution problem. Considering the characteristics of the atmospheric circulation and also the residence times of certain pollutants in the atmosphere, a generalized and growing interest on air quality issues led to research intensification and publication of several articles with quite different levels of scientific depth. As most natural phenomena, air quality can be seen as a space-time process, where space-time relationships have usually quite different characteristics and levels of uncertainty. As a result, the simultaneous integration of space and time is not an easy task to perform. This problem is overcome by a variety of methodologies. The use of stochastic models and neural networks to characterize space-time dispersion of air quality is becoming a common practice. The main objective of this work is to produce an air quality model which allows forecasting critical concentration episodes of a certain pollutant by means of a hybrid approach, based on the combined use of neural network models and stochastic simulations. A stochastic simulation of the spatial component with a space-time trend model is proposed to characterize critical situations, taking into account data from the past and a space-time trend from the recent past. To identify near future critical episodes, predicted values from neural networks are used at each monitoring station. In this paper, we describe the design of a hybrid forecasting tool for ambient NO2 concentrations in Lisbon, Portugal.

Air pollution: impact and prevention.

PubMed

Sierra-Vargas, Martha Patricia; Teran, Luis M

2012-10-01

Air pollution is becoming a major health problem that affects millions of people worldwide. In support of this observation, the World Health Organization estimates that every year, 2.4 million people die because of the effects of air pollution on health. Mitigation strategies such as changes in diesel engine technology could result in fewer premature mortalities, as suggested by the US Environmental Protection Agency. This review: (i) discusses the impact of air pollution on respiratory disease; (ii) provides evidence that reducing air pollution may have a positive impact on the prevention of disease; and (iii) demonstrates the impact concerted polices may have on population health when governments take actions to reduce air pollution. © 2012 The Authors. Respirology © 2012 Asian Pacific Society of Respirology.

Transformations in understanding the health impacts of air pollutants in the 20th century

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brimblecombe, P.

2009-02-01

The transformations of air pollution in the 20th century are well known. The century opened with urban atmospheres polluted by the combustion products of burning coal: smoke and sulfur dioxide. At the millennium these pollutants had almost vanished, replaced by the pollutants, both primary and secondary, a function of fossil-fuelled vehicles. However transitions in terms of health outcomes have been equally dramatic. Fine particulate matter causes notable cardiovascular problems such as increased incidence of stroke and heart attack, although the mechanism remains somewhat unclear. Cancer inducing air pollutants remain a concern, but in addition more recently there has been a rising interest in the presence of neurotoxins and endocrine disrupting substances in the environment.

Polluted Morality: Air Pollution Predicts Criminal Activity and Unethical Behavior.

PubMed

Lu, Jackson G; Lee, Julia J; Gino, Francesca; Galinsky, Adam D

2018-03-01

Air pollution is a serious problem that affects billions of people globally. Although the environmental and health costs of air pollution are well known, the present research investigates its ethical costs. We propose that air pollution can increase criminal and unethical behavior by increasing anxiety. Analyses of a 9-year panel of 9,360 U.S. cities found that air pollution predicted six major categories of crime; these analyses accounted for a comprehensive set of control variables (e.g., city and year fixed effects, population, law enforcement) and survived various robustness checks (e.g., balanced panel, nonparametric bootstrapped standard errors). Three subsequent experiments involving American and Indian participants established the causal effect of psychologically experiencing a polluted (vs. clean) environment on unethical behavior. Consistent with our theoretical perspective, results revealed that anxiety mediated this effect. Air pollution not only corrupts people's health, but also can contaminate their morality.

Study on leaching of pollutants from vegetable tanning residue.

PubMed

Mazumder, Debabrata; Biswas, Santosh; Bandyopadhyay, Pratip

2006-07-01

The processing of heavy leather employs the vegetable tanning method involving use of tan liquor. The solid residue of this vegetable tanning process aggravates the water pollution by means of leaching of tannin and other associatedpollutants. Tannin is a biologically resistant compound causing several problems in animal body. The present study dealt with the pollution hazard arising out of leaching of pollutants from the open dumped vegetable tanning residue by rainfall washing. The concerned pollutants were pH, Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), tannin,sulfate and chloride concentration. To explore the possible extent of contamination of these pollutants in the leached water, two different masses (2 kg and 3 kg) of tanning residue were employed. The results of the study showed that there was a continuous release of pollutants from the vegetable tanning residue. Moreover, there was no regular variation in various pollutant concentrations in both the cases solely due to non-homogeneity of the residue.

Distribution of Heavy Metal Pollution in Surface Soil Samples in China: A Graphical Review.

PubMed

Duan, Qiannan; Lee, Jianchao; Liu, Yansong; Chen, Han; Hu, Huanyu

2016-09-01

Soil pollution in China is one of most wide and severe in the world. Although environmental researchers are well aware of the acuteness of soil pollution in China, a precise and comprehensive mapping system of soil pollution has never been released. By compiling, integrating and processing nearly a decade of soil pollution data, we have created cornerstone maps that illustrate the distribution and concentration of cadmium, lead, zinc, arsenic, copper and chromium in surficial soil across the nation. These summarized maps and the integrated data provide precise geographic coordinates and heavy metal concentrations; they are also the first ones to provide such thorough and comprehensive details about heavy metal soil pollution in China. In this study, we focus on some of the most polluted areas to illustrate the severity of this pressing environmental problem and demonstrate that most developed and populous areas have been subjected to heavy metal pollution.

Solar Sea Power Plants (SSPP): A critical review and survey

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Strauss, A. M.

1974-01-01

An overview of technical and economic matters relating to the eventual success or failure of the SSPP concept is presented, with emphasis on the pollution and energy problems which the SSPP would serve to eliminate. Factors discussed include cost, mariculture possibilities, siting, legal limitations, design materials, mooring and anchoring, and the human element involved. Several alternative power systems are considered for incorporation into SSPP design, such as Nitinol power, Claude cycle, and closed cycle engine systems.

Multi-Scale Enviro-HIRLAM Forecasting of Weather and Atmospheric Composition over China and its Megacities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mahura, Alexander; Amstrup, Bjarne; Nuterman, Roman; Yang, Xiaohua; Baklanov, Alexander

2017-04-01

Air pollution is a serious problem in different regions of China and its continuously growing megacities. Information on air quality, and especially, in urbanized areas is important for decision making, emergency response and population. In particular, the metropolitan areas of Shanghai, Beijing, and Pearl River Delta are well known as main regions having serious air pollution problems. The on-line integrated meteorology-chemistry-aerosols Enviro-HIRLAM (Environment - HIgh Resolution Limited Area Model) model adapted for China and selected megacities is applied for forecasting of weather and atmospheric composition (with focus on aerosols). The model system is running in downscaling chain from regional to urban scales at subsequent horizontal resolutions of 15-5-2.5 km. The model setup includes also the urban Building Effects Parameterization module, describing different types of urban districts (industrial commercial, city center, high density and residential) with its own morphological and aerodynamical characteristics. The effects of urbanization are important for atmospheric transport, dispersion, deposition, and chemical transformations, in addition to better quality emission inventories for China and selected urban areas. The Enviro-HIRLAM system provides meteorology and air quality forecasts at regional-subregional-urban scales (China - East China - selected megacities). In particular, such forecasting is important for metropolitan areas, where formation and development of meteorological and chemical/aerosol patterns are especially complex. It also provides information for evaluation impact on selected megacities of China as well as for investigation relationship between air pollution and meteorology.

Water Quality Monitoring Manual.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mason, Fred J.; Houdart, Joseph F.

This manual is designed for students involved in environmental education programs dealing with water pollution problems. By establishing a network of Environmental Monitoring Stations within the educational system, four steps toward the prevention, control, and abatement of water pollution are proposed. (1) Train students to recognize, monitor,…

HISTORICAL RECONSTRUCTION OF POLLUTION STRESS AND RECOVERY IN AN URBAN ESTUARY

EPA Science Inventory

The major problems in the coastal areas result from human overutilization of the environment. Pollution is correlated with population density and there is currently a major effort to monitor estuaries to assess their ecological status. These monitoring efforts are important becau...

THE PITTSBURGH AIR POLLUTION EPISODE OF NOVEMBER 17-21 1975: AIR QUALITY

EPA Science Inventory

In November 1975 a serious air stagnation problem developed over Western Pennsylvania, with extremely heavy air pollution in the Pittsburgh area. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Health Effects Research Laboratory (HERL) mobilized a team of air monitoring and epidemiolo...

Eucalyptus as a pollution - controlling energy source

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

NONE

1995-12-31

This article describes the possibility of using Eucalyptus as a biomass crop in Florida. It is not only a good fuel for energy production, but it can help alleviate the water pollution problem because of its substantial uptake of excess nutrients and tolerance of flooding.

microRNA Profiling Reveals Differential Response to Ozone between Asthmatic and Healthy Donors

EPA Science Inventory

Introduction: Morbidity and mortality attributable to air pollution continue to be growing problems worldwide. People with underlying pulmonary diseases, such as asthma, are susceptible to the negative health effects of air pollutant exposure. Asthma is characterized by an increa...

Health Effects of Air Pollution.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Environmental Education Report and Newsletter, 1985

1985-01-01

Summarizes health hazards associated with air pollution, highlighting the difficulty in establishing acceptable thresholds of exposure. Respiratory disease, asthma, cancer, cardiovascular disease, and other problems are addressed. Indicates that a wide range of effects from any one chemical exists and that there are differences in sensitivity to…

Optimal Ventilation Control in Complex Urban Tunnels with Multi-Point Pollutant Discharge

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2017-10-01

Zhen Tan (ORCID ID 0000-0003-1711-3557) H. Oliver Gao (ORCID ID 0000-0002-7861-9634) We propose an optimal ventilation control model for complex urban vehicular tunnels with distributed pollutant discharge points. The control problem is formulated as...

Exploring Water Pollution. Part II

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rillo, Thomas J.

1975-01-01

This is part two of a three part article related to the science activity of exploring environmental problems. Part one dealt with background information for the classroom teacher. Presented here is a suggested lesson plan on water pollution. Objectives, important concepts and instructional procedures are suggested. (EB)

Water Pollution Control Across the Nation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Environmental Science and Technology, 1973

1973-01-01

Reviewed are accomplishments, problems, and frustrations faced by individual states in meeting requirements of P.L. 92-500, Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments of 1972. State Environmental officials complain the new law may be a hindrance to established cleanup programs. Statistics and charts are given. (BL)

Air Pollution as a Result of the Application of the Insecticide Antio by Tractors and Aircraft to the Cottonfields of Uzbekistan,

DTIC Science & Technology

of the environmental pollution which threatens the health not only of the agricultural workers themselves, but also that of the population of the cotton-producing areas. The report discusses these problems.

How sustainable agriculture can address the environmental and human health harms of industrial agriculture.

PubMed

Horrigan, Leo; Lawrence, Robert S; Walker, Polly

2002-05-01

The industrial agriculture system consumes fossil fuel, water, and topsoil at unsustainable rates. It contributes to numerous forms of environmental degradation, including air and water pollution, soil depletion, diminishing biodiversity, and fish die-offs. Meat production contributes disproportionately to these problems, in part because feeding grain to livestock to produce meat--instead of feeding it directly to humans--involves a large energy loss, making animal agriculture more resource intensive than other forms of food production. The proliferation of factory-style animal agriculture creates environmental and public health concerns, including pollution from the high concentration of animal wastes and the extensive use of antibiotics, which may compromise their effectiveness in medical use. At the consumption end, animal fat is implicated in many of the chronic degenerative diseases that afflict industrial and newly industrializing societies, particularly cardiovascular disease and some cancers. In terms of human health, both affluent and poor countries could benefit from policies that more equitably distribute high-protein foods. The pesticides used heavily in industrial agriculture are associated with elevated cancer risks for workers and consumers and are coming under greater scrutiny for their links to endocrine disruption and reproductive dysfunction. In this article we outline the environmental and human health problems associated with current food production practices and discuss how these systems could be made more sustainable.

How sustainable agriculture can address the environmental and human health harms of industrial agriculture.

PubMed Central

Horrigan, Leo; Lawrence, Robert S; Walker, Polly

2002-01-01

The industrial agriculture system consumes fossil fuel, water, and topsoil at unsustainable rates. It contributes to numerous forms of environmental degradation, including air and water pollution, soil depletion, diminishing biodiversity, and fish die-offs. Meat production contributes disproportionately to these problems, in part because feeding grain to livestock to produce meat--instead of feeding it directly to humans--involves a large energy loss, making animal agriculture more resource intensive than other forms of food production. The proliferation of factory-style animal agriculture creates environmental and public health concerns, including pollution from the high concentration of animal wastes and the extensive use of antibiotics, which may compromise their effectiveness in medical use. At the consumption end, animal fat is implicated in many of the chronic degenerative diseases that afflict industrial and newly industrializing societies, particularly cardiovascular disease and some cancers. In terms of human health, both affluent and poor countries could benefit from policies that more equitably distribute high-protein foods. The pesticides used heavily in industrial agriculture are associated with elevated cancer risks for workers and consumers and are coming under greater scrutiny for their links to endocrine disruption and reproductive dysfunction. In this article we outline the environmental and human health problems associated with current food production practices and discuss how these systems could be made more sustainable. PMID:12003747

Crowd Sourcing to Improve Urban Stormwater Management

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Minsker, B. S.; Band, L. E.; Heidari Haratmeh, B.; Law, N. L.; Leonard, L. N.; Rai, A.

2017-12-01

Over half of the world's population currently lives in urban areas, a number predicted to grow to 60 percent by 2030. Urban areas face unprecedented and growing challenges that threaten society's long-term wellbeing, including poverty; chronic health problems; widespread pollution and resource degradation; and increased natural disasters. These are "wicked" problems involving "systems of systems" that require unprecedented information sharing and collaboration across disciplines and organizational boundaries. Cities are recognizing that the increasing stream of data and information ("Big Data"), informatics, and modeling can support rapid advances on these challenges. Nonetheless, information technology solutions can only be effective in addressing these challenges through deeply human and systems perspectives. A stakeholder-driven approach ("crowd sourcing") is needed to develop urban systems that address multiple needs, such as parks that capture and treat stormwater while improving human and ecosystem health and wellbeing. We have developed informatics- and Cloud-based collaborative methods that enable crowd sourcing of green stormwater infrastructure (GSI: rain gardens, bioswales, trees, etc.) design and management. The methods use machine learning, social media data, and interactive design tools (called IDEAS-GI) to identify locations and features of GSI that perform best on a suite of objectives, including life cycle cost, stormwater volume reduction, and air pollution reduction. Insights will be presented on GI features that best meet stakeholder needs and are therefore most likely to improve human wellbeing and be well maintained.

Respiratory disease and particulate air pollution in Santiago Chile: contribution of erosion particles from fine sediments.

PubMed

Garcia-Chevesich, Pablo A; Alvarado, Sergio; Neary, Daniel G; Valdes, Rodrigo; Valdes, Juan; Aguirre, Juan José; Mena, Marcelo; Pizarro, Roberto; Jofré, Paola; Vera, Mauricio; Olivares, Claudio

2014-04-01

Air pollution in Santiago is a serious problem every winter, causing thousands of cases of breathing problems within the population. With more than 6 million people and almost two million vehicles, this large city receives rainfall only during winters. Depending on the frequency of storms, statistics show that every time it rains, air quality improves for a couple of days, followed by extreme levels of air pollution. Current regulations focus mostly on PM10 and PM2.5, due to its strong influence on respiratory diseases. Though more than 50% of the ambient PM10s in Santiago is represented by soil particles, most of the efforts have been focused on the remaining 50%, i.e. particulate material originating from fossil and wood fuel combustion, among others. This document emphasizes the need for the creation of erosion/sediment control regulations in Chile, to decrease respiratory diseases on Chilean polluted cities. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Take the Eco-Challenge

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

MacKinnon, Gregory R.

2005-01-01

"Earth Mission: Rescue" focuses on problems like pollution and wasting resources-- but with an emphasis on the problems? societal implications and solutions. Working in teams, students must show a working knowledge of environmental issues and demonstrate environmental awareness so that they can eliminate various environmental problems. The…

Are retail prices "just" when they do not include social costs?

PubMed

McMahon, T F

1999-01-01

The price is "right" when the buyer agrees to purchase goods or service. But is it "just"? That is, does the price include social costs such as pollution and discrimination? Cost shifting is the passing down of these costs from the seller to the buyer. The amount of cost shifting depends upon the inelasticity or elasticity of supply or demands, methods of assigning social costs, means used in promotion and the role of the market price. Wal-Mart and Body Shop International exemplify the problems of social costs. Recommendations for marketing managers concludes the article.

Problems and prospects concerning the phytoremediation of heavy metal polluted soils: A review

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Koptsik, G. N.

2014-09-01

The current state, problems, and prospects of phymoremediation of heavy metal polluted soils are analyzed. The main attention is paid to the phytoextraction and phytostabilization as the most widespread and alternative methods of soil phytoremediation. The efficiency of phymoremediation is related to the natural capability of plants for the accumulation and translocation of metals, their tolerance to a high content of metals, the plant biomass, and the amendments applied. The advantages and disadvantages of phytoremediation as compared to other methods of remediation of polluted soils in situ are considered. Examples of successful phytoextraction and phytomining for cleaning up of contaminated soils in Rasteburg (South Africa) and the phytostabilization of technogenic barrens nearby the copper-nickel plants in Sudbury (Ontario, Canada) and in the Kola Subarctic (Russia) are presented.

Watershed modeling and monitoring for assessing nutrient ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Presentation for the American Water Works Association Water Sustainability Conference. The presentation highlights latest results from water quality trading research conducted by ORD using the East Fork Watershed in Southwestern Ohio as a case study. The watershed has a nutrient enrichment problem that is creating harmful algal blooms in a reservoir used for drinking water and recreation. Innovative modeling and monitoring is combined to understand how to best manage this water quality problem and costs associated with this endeavor. The presentation will provide an overview of the water quality trading feasibility research. The research includes the development and evaluation of innovative modeling and monitoring approaches to manage watersheds for nutrient pollution using a whole systems approach.

[Ecology and health in Chile: present and future development].

PubMed

Oyarzún, M

1997-09-01

In response to the progressive environmental deterioration, the Ecological Society of America has made a proposal, called "Sustainable Biosphere Initiative", to do research, teaching and decision making processes on biodiversity, global change and the effects of human activities on environment. The goal of appropriate environmental protection and welfare for mankind includes health and quality of life. Presently, Chile faces a number of environmental problems such as pollution, excessive urban growth, loss of agricultural areas, disposal of solid waste and species extinction. The lack of education and information in Chile, on these problems, is worrisome. The role of universities to overcome this deficit should be crucial in the future sustainable development of Chile.

Krakow clean fossil fuels and energy efficiency program. Phase 1 report

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Butcher, T.; Pierce, B.

1995-06-01

Krakow is one of the largest and oldest cities in Poland. It is situated in the south of the country on the banks of the Vistula River. From the 11th until the 17th centuries, it was the capital of Poland. Today, Krakow is a city of 750,000 residents, one of the largest centers of higher education, an important industrial center, and is of particular importance because of the number and kinds of historic buildings and sites. For this reason, Krakow was included by the UNESCO in the list of the world`s cultural heritages. For about three decades, significant air pollutionmore » has been one of Krakow`s most serious problems. Because the city is situated in the Vistula River valley, it is poorly ventilated and experiences a high concentration of air pollutants. The quality of air in Krakow is affected mainly by industry (Sendzimir Steelworks, energy industry, chemical plants), influx from the Silesian industrial region (power plants, metallurgy), transboundary pollution (Ostrava - Czech Republic), and local sources of low pollution, i.e. more than 1,000 boiler houses using solid fuels and more than 100,000 coal-fired home stoves. These local sources, with low stacks and almost no pollution-control equipment, are responsible for about 35-40% of the air pollution. This report presents phase I results of a program to reduce pollution in krakow. Phase I was to gather information on emissions and costs, and to verify assumptions on existing heating methods and alternatives.« less

Heavy metal pollution in surface soils of Pearl River Delta, China.

PubMed

Jinmei, Bai; Xueping, Liu

2014-12-01

Heavy metal pollution is an increasing environmental problem in Chinese regions undergoing rapid economic and industrial development, such as the Pearl River Delta (PRD), southern China. We determined heavy metal concentrations in surface soils from the PRD. The soils were polluted with heavy metals, as defined by the Chinese soil quality standard grade II criteria. The degree of pollution decreased in the order Cd > Cu > Ni > Zn > As > Cr > Hg > Pb. The degree of heavy metal pollution by land use decreased in the order waste treatment plants (WP) > urban land (UL) > manufacturing industries (MI) > agricultural land (AL) > woodland (WL) > water sources (WS). Pollution with some of the metals, including Cd, Cu, Ni, and Zn, was attributed to the recent rapid development of the electronics and electroplating industries. Cd, Hg, and Pb (especially Cd) pose high potential ecological risks in all of the zones studied. The soils posing significantly high and high potential ecological risks from Cd covered 73.3 % of UL, 50 % of MI and WP land, and 48.5 % of AL. The potential ecological risks from heavy metals by land use decreased in the order UL > MI > AL > WP > WL > WS. The control of Cd, Hg, and Pb should be prioritized in the PRD, and emissions in wastewater, residue, and gas discharges from the electronics and electroplating industry should be decreased urgently. The use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides should also be decreased.

40 CFR 63.5910 - What reports must I submit and when?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants: Reinforced Plastic Composites Production Notifications, Reports, and... period into those that are due to startup, shutdown, control equipment problems, process problems, other...

40 CFR 63.5910 - What reports must I submit and when?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants: Reinforced Plastic Composites Production Notifications, Reports, and... period into those that are due to startup, shutdown, control equipment problems, process problems, other...

Impact of urban environmental pollution on growth, leaf damage, and chemical constituents of Warsaw urban trees

Treesearch

Waldemar Chmielewski; Wojciech Dmuchowski; Stanislaw Suplat

1998-01-01

In the last 10 years, 3.5 percent of the tree population died annually in PolandÕs largest and most polluted cities, which is a problem of economic importance. Dieback of streetside trees in Warsaw is a long term process. It is an effect of biological reactions of trees to unfavorable conditions in the urban environment, particularly air and soil pollution and water...

Chemist--meteorologist workshop, Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, January 15--19, 1973

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

None

1973-01-01

Panel recommendations from the Third Chemist--Meteorologist Workshop are presented with the hope that these recommendations will be useful in determining air pollution problems needing funther research and in establisbing priorities for programming and funding such research studies. The recondmendations were made by four separate panels on: regional air studies, disposition and removal processes; global balances of chemical pollutants and radioactive gases; and photochemical and transformation modelling of pollutants. (LCL)

Indoor air pollution in old people's homes related to some health problems: a survey study.

PubMed

Coelho, C; Steers, M; Lutzler, P; Schriver-Mazzuoli, L

2005-08-01

The present research reports on a survey of 96 subjects between the ages of 60 and 95 years, living close to Paris in a social collective habitat. The aim was to show, using goodness-of-fit statistical tests (P < 0.1), how old people lifestyles can subject them to generated chemical or bacteriological indoor pollutants. Risk factors due to lifestyles were analyzed in relation to complaints and to health condition. There are many ways that old people are exposed to pollutants: difficulty in maintaining the residence, preference for staying in the kitchens, substantial use of cleaning chemicals. However, the principal risk for health problems is arguably inadequate ventilation (unclean screens, blocked air vents, etc.), which increases the concentration of indoor pollutants. These risks are amplified by ignorance about the hazards of inadequate ventilation. The present investigation suggests that the lifestyle and the behavior of old people could be the cause of an interior air pollution of their housing. Measures realized in representative dwellings selected in relation to results must confirm that these risks would require the installation of an automatic monitoring system of the indoor air near these people.

National education program for energy efficient illumination engineering

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Walker, Constance E.; Pompea, Stephen M.

2011-05-01

About one-third of outdoor lighting escapes unused into the sky, wasting energy and causing sky glow. Because of excessive sky glow around astronomical facilities, the National Optical Astronomy Observatory has a strong motivation to lead light pollution education efforts. While our original motivation of preserving the dark skies near observatories is still important, energy conservation is a critical problem that needs to be addressed nationwide. To address this problem we have created an extensive educational program on understanding and measuring light pollution. A set of four learning experiences introduces school students at all grade levels to basic energy-responsive illumination engineering design principles that can minimize light pollution. We created and utilize the GLOBE at Night citizen science light pollution assessment campaign as a cornerstone activity. We also utilize educational activities on light shielding that are introduced through a teaching kit. These two components provide vocabulary, concepts, and visual illustrations of the causes of light pollution. The third, more advanced component is the school outdoor lighting audit, which has students perform an audit and produce a revised master plan for compliant lighting. These learning experiences provide an integrated learning unit that is highly adaptable for U.S. and international education efforts in this area.

Health effects of arsenic, fluorine, and selenium from indoor burning of Chinese coal.

PubMed

Guijian, Liu; Liugen, Zheng; Duzgoren-Aydin, Nurdan S; Lianfen, Gao; Junhua, Liu; Zicheng, Peng

2007-01-01

China's economy has developed rapidly in the last two decades, leading to an increase in energy consumption and consequently emissions from energy generation. Coal is a primary energy source in China because of its abundance and will continue to be used in the future. The dominance of coal in energy production is expected to result in increasing levels of exposure to environmental pollution in China. Toxic trace elements emitted during coal combustion are the main sources of indoor air pollution. They are released into the atmosphere mainly in the forms of fine ash and vapors and have the potential to adversely affect human health. Those trace elements, which volatilize during combustion, are hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) and are particularly rich in Chinese coals. Among the HAPs, arsenic (As), fluorine (F), and selenium (Se) have already been identified as pollutants that can induce severe health problems. In this review, the geochemical characteristics of As, F, and Se, including their concentration, distribution, and mode of occurrences in Chinese coal, are documented and discussed. Our investigations have confirmed the current As- and F-induced epidemics in Guizhou (Southwest China) and Se epidemic in Hubei (Northeast China). In this study, diagnostic symptoms of arseniasis, fluorosis, and selenosis are also illustrated.

Teaching case studies on the regulation of motor vehicle air pollution in China.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2009-12-23

Motor vehicle air pollution is a critical component of China's severe air quality problem and has the potential to become an even greater issue in the years to come. On this project, the principal investigator and research staff are developing Harvar...

A Passive Sampler for Determination of Nitrogen Dioxide in Ambient Air

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Xiao, Dan; Lin, Lianzhi; Yuan, Hongyan; Choi, Martin M. F.; Chan, Winghong

2005-01-01

A passive sampler that provides a convenient, simple, and fast method for nitrogen dioxide determination is proposed. The experiment can be modified for determinations of other air pollutants like formaldehyde and sulfur dioxide for hands-on experience for students studying environmental pollution problems.

Joint Group on Pollution Prevention: Partnering for Progress

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hill, R.

2001-01-01

This viewgraph presentation outlines the Joint Group on Pollution Prevention (JG-PP) partnership. Details are given on what groups comprise JG-PP, the proven methodology for what JG-PP can accomplish, the common problems, joint solutions, and shared efforts, and some of the JG-PP projects.

Residuals Management and Water Pollution Control Planning.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC. Office of Public Affairs.

This pamphlet addresses the problems associated with residuals and water quality especially as it relates to the National Water Pollution Control Program. The types of residuals and appropriate management systems are discussed. Additionally, one section is devoted to the role of citizen participation in developing management programs. (CS)

China’s Air Quality and Respiratory Disease Mortality Based on the Spatial Panel Model

PubMed Central

Cao, Qilong; Liang, Ying; Niu, Xueting

2017-01-01

Background: Air pollution has become an important factor restricting China’s economic development and has subsequently brought a series of social problems, including the impact of air pollution on the health of residents, which is a topical issue in China. Methods: Taking into account this spatial imbalance, the paper is based on the spatial panel data model PM2.5. Respiratory disease mortality in 31 Chinese provinces from 2004 to 2008 is taken as the main variable to study the spatial effect and impact of air quality and respiratory disease mortality on a large scale. Results: It was found that there is a spatial correlation between the mortality of respiratory diseases in Chinese provinces. The spatial correlation can be explained by the spatial effect of PM2.5 pollutions in the control of other variables. Conclusions: Compared with the traditional non-spatial model, the spatial model is better for describing the spatial relationship between variables, ensuring the conclusions are scientific and can measure the spatial effect between variables. PMID:28927016

Occurrence of carbapenemase-producing bacteria in coastal recreational waters.

PubMed

Montezzi, Lara Feital; Campana, Eloiza Helena; Corrêa, Laís Lisboa; Justo, Livia Helena; Paschoal, Raphael Paiva; da Silva, Isabel Lemos Vieira Dias; Souza, Maria do Carmo Maciel; Drolshagen, Marcia; Picão, Renata Cristina

2015-02-01

The spread of carbapenemase-producing Gram-negative rods is an emerging global problem. Although most infections due to carbapenemase producers are limited to healthcare institutions, reports of the occurrence of clinically relevant carbapenemase producers in sewage and polluted rivers are increasingly frequent. Polluted rivers flowing to oceans may contaminate coastal waters with multidrug-resistant bacteria, potentially threatening the safety of recreational activities in these locations. Here we assessed the occurrence of carbapenemase producers in water from touristic beaches located in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, showing distinct pollution patterns. The presence of enterobacteria was noted, including the predominantly environmental genus Kluyvera spp., producing either Klebsiella pneumoniae carbapenemase (KPC) or Guyana extended-spectrum (GES)-type carbapenemases and often associated with quinolone resistance determinants. An Aeromonas sp. harbouring blaKPC and qnrS was also observed. These findings strengthen the role of aquatic matrices as reservoirs and vectors of clinically relevant antimicrobial-resistant bacteria, with potential to favour the spread of these resistance threats throughout the community. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. and the International Society of Chemotherapy. All rights reserved.

Comprehensive evaluation of environmental and economic benefits of China's urban underground transportation construction projects.

PubMed

Yang, Xiaobin; Chen, Zhilong; Guo, Dongjun

2015-07-01

Urban underground transportation projects are introduced to address problems of scarce green land and traffic pollution. As construction of urban underground transportation is still in its infancy, there is no definite quantitative measurement on whether the construction is beneficial and what influences it will place on the region in China. This study intends to construct a comprehensive evaluation method for evaluating social, economic and environmental benefits of urban underground transportation projects and proposes the concept, role and principle for evaluation of environmental and economic benefits. It figures out relationship between the environment and factors of city development. It also summarizes three relevant factors, including transportation, biophysics and social economy, and works out indicators to evaluate the influence of urban underground transportation construction. Based on Contingent Valuation Method (CVM), Cost of Illness Approach (CIA), Human Capital Approach (HCA), this paper constructs 13 monetization calculation models for social, economic and environmental benefits in response to seven aspects, namely, reducing noise pollution and air pollution, using land efficiently, improving traffic safety, reducing traffic congestion, saving shipping time and minimizing transportation costs.

[Ecological protection and sustainable utilization of Erhai Lake, Yunnan].

PubMed

Yan, Chang-Zhou; Jin, Xiang-Can; Zhao, Jing-Zhu; Shen, Bing; Li, Ning-Bo; Huang, Chang-Zhu; Xiong, Zhong-Hua

2005-09-01

Economic development and increase of population pressure have caused a series of ecological environmental problems of Erhai Lake. These problems include: (1) Quickening of eutrophication process, (2) Decrease of water level and water resources, (3) Habitat deterioration of lakeside zone, and (4) Overfishing and slow depletion of aboriginal fish. Pollutant loading of Erhai Lake is as follows: COD(Cr) 3 008 t x a(-1), TP 137.31 t x a(-1), TN 1 426.35 t x a(-1). According to the mestrophic target of water quality, loading of nitrogen and phosphorus is far above environmental capacity of Erhai Lake. Erhai Lake is now in a pivotal and hypersensitive period of trophic states change, and the position is very critical. Therefore, some countermeasures to solve the problems are presented as follows: (1) Defining the dominant functions of Erhai Lake, (2) Paying attention to the adjustment of the industrial structure and distribution in the course of urbanization, (3) Setting up lakeside zone reserve, (4) Strengthening the control of tourism pollution, (5) Properly adjusting the water level of Erhai Lake, and (6) Some ecological engineering measures for water resources protection in the basin should be taken through collecting and treating of urban sewages, ecological rehabilitating of the main inflowing rivers, constructing of ecological agricultures and improving of rural environment, ecological restoring of aquatic ecosystem, and soil and water conservation.

A meshless method for solving two-dimensional variable-order time fractional advection-diffusion equation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tayebi, A.; Shekari, Y.; Heydari, M. H.

2017-07-01

Several physical phenomena such as transformation of pollutants, energy, particles and many others can be described by the well-known convection-diffusion equation which is a combination of the diffusion and advection equations. In this paper, this equation is generalized with the concept of variable-order fractional derivatives. The generalized equation is called variable-order time fractional advection-diffusion equation (V-OTFA-DE). An accurate and robust meshless method based on the moving least squares (MLS) approximation and the finite difference scheme is proposed for its numerical solution on two-dimensional (2-D) arbitrary domains. In the time domain, the finite difference technique with a θ-weighted scheme and in the space domain, the MLS approximation are employed to obtain appropriate semi-discrete solutions. Since the newly developed method is a meshless approach, it does not require any background mesh structure to obtain semi-discrete solutions of the problem under consideration, and the numerical solutions are constructed entirely based on a set of scattered nodes. The proposed method is validated in solving three different examples including two benchmark problems and an applied problem of pollutant distribution in the atmosphere. In all such cases, the obtained results show that the proposed method is very accurate and robust. Moreover, a remarkable property so-called positive scheme for the proposed method is observed in solving concentration transport phenomena.

The relationships between ambient air pollutants and childhood asthma and eczema are modified by emotion and conduct problems.

PubMed

Zhou, Cailiang; Baïz, Nour; Banerjee, Soutrik; Charpin, Denis André; Caillaud, Denis; de Blay, Fréderic; Raherison, Chantal; Lavaud, François; Annesi-Maesano, Isabella

2013-12-01

This study examined the hypothesis that emotion and conduct problems (ECPs) may modify the relationships between ambient air pollutants and childhood asthma and eczema. In the cross-sectional study, 4209 French schoolchildren (aged 10e12 years) were investigated between March 1999 and October 2000. Ambient air pollutants exposures were estimated with dispersion modeling. Health outcomes and ECPs were evaluated by validated questionnaires, completed by the parents. Marginal models were used to analyze the relationships of exposures to ambient air pollutants and/or ECPs to asthma phenotypes and current eczema, adjusting for potential confounders. In our population, interactions were found between ECPs and exposures to ambient air pollutants (benzene, carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, nitrogen oxides, particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter below 10 mm, volatile organic compounds) (P < .20). In addition, ECPs were related to current wheezing (adjusted prevalence odds ratio [aOR], 2.35; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.59e3.47), current doctor-diagnosed asthma (aOR, 1.82; 95% CI, 1.25e2.66), and current eczema (aOR, 2.21; 95% CI, 1.61e3.02). Children with ECPs had 1.17e1.51 times higher aORs for the associations between ambient air pollutants and asthma phenotypes and current eczema than those without ECPs. ECPs may modify the relationships between ambient air pollutants and childhood asthma and eczema. 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.