A habitat model for Parus major minor using a logistic regression model for the urban area of Osaka, Japan

We developed a habitat model for Great Tits, Parus major minor, in an urban area of Osaka, Japan. Although Great Tits play an important role in the urban food web, there are few in most of Osaka and downtown Tokyo, areas that have low vegetation cover. We derived a habitat model for Great Tits using a logistic regression model with GIS. A bird survey was conducted twice in 85 urban parks using the line census method in the breeding season, May–July 2000. A GIS base map was created from aerial photographs. The following variables were measured for each park from public records and GIS for predicting the habitat: park properties (age, distance to the nearest mountains, distance to the nearest forest of more than 10 ha), the number of other habitats occupied by the tits within 500 m and 1 km and area of tree cover (within it and surrounding parks). Number of nearby habitats and distance from the nearest mountains and forest of more than 10 ha are variables related to the regional populations of the tits. Area of tree cover was measured for five radii (50, 100, 150, 200, 250 m) from park centers, and a logistic regression model was calculated for each of these radii. Variables were selected by a stepwise method. The best fitting model of the five models was selected using Akaike’s Information Criteria. In the bird survey, the tit was recorded in 12 parks. The areas of parks occupied by the tit were 0.56–136.0 ha (mean: 26.0 ha±42.06 S.D., n=12). Variables selected in the best fitting model were area of tree cover in a radius of 250 m from park center and the number of other habitats within 1 km as positive factors. This model shows that area of tree cover within a certain range and number of nearby populations are the keys to the distribution of Great Tits. From this model obtained, 6.0 ha (31%), 4.0 ha (20%), 2.6 ha (13%) and 1.8 ha (9%) of tree area are needed to achieve probability of 0.5 in a radius of 250 m when numbers of other habitats within 1 km was 0–3, respectively. A realistic target figure is 10% of tree cover throughout urban areas to create an ecologically sustainable city.     

Groundwater suitability zonation with synchronized GIS and MCDM approach for urban and peri-urban phreatic aquifer ensemble of southern India

ABSTRACT

The integrated application of Geographic Information System (GIS) and Multi Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) technique is employed for groundwater (GW) suitability zonation in the phreatic coastal aquifer of two differently urbanized clusters in the south west coast of India. The normalized weights in accordance with the WHO and BIS standards were obtained using the MCDM technique-Analytical Network Process integrated with the spatially interpolated GW quality data and performed overlay analysis using spatial analysis tool, ArcGIS-10. The Mann-Whitney U test confirmed the significant (P ≤ 0.05) spatial variation between urban and peri-urban GW quality variables. The groundwater quality index divided the study area into four zones as highly suitable – 60%, suitable –24%, moderately suitable and unsuitable – 16% regions. The study endowed a new platform for the integration of field data and geospatial techniques for sustainable urban water quality management.     

Drivers of land abandonment in Southern Chile and implications for landscape planning

In recent decades, land abandonment has become one of the most important trends in land use and cover change. This study identifies drivers of land abandonment in Southern Chile through a spatially explicit statistical model, based on an economic theoretical framework. A logistic regression was used to model the probability of land abandonment, observed as the land cover change from agricultural land to arboreous shrubland or native forest between 1985 and 2007. We relied on census information and land cover data from 2472 farms, which represented 86.6% of the farm population in the study area. Land cover data came from two Landsat scenes taken in 1985 (TM) and 2007 (ETM+). The results from the spatial analysis show that agricultural land covered 30 061 ha in 1985. By 2007, only 16 518 ha had persisted in agriculture, while the rest had been covered by natural vegetation. Soil quality was a significant benefit-related geophysical driver of land abandonment. Important cost related socioeconomic drivers were the distances to secondary roads, aquaculture production centers, and national parks, and the existence of farm subsidies. Significant farm structural variables were the amount of bovine heads and farm's livestock carrying capacity. Variables such as age, education, and place of residence of the farmer were not statistically significant. These results may serve as an important planning tool for land managers, by helping identify areas and farming systems with high probability of land abandonment, and furthermore explore the outcomes of some potential scenarios on the future probability of the process.     

The spatial and temporal distribution of crop residue burning in the contiguous United States

Burning crop residue before and/or after harvest is a common farming practice however; there is no baseline estimate for cropland burned area in the contiguous U.S. (CONUS). We present the results of a study, using five years of remotely sensed satellite data to map the location and areal extent of crop residue burning in the CONUS. Our burned area approach combines 500 m Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Normalized Burn Ratio (dNBR) data, with 1 km MODIS active fire counts calibrated using coincident high resolution satellite data to generate area estimates. Our results show that cropland burning is an extensive and recurring annual event in several states in the CONUS. On average, 1,239,000 ha of croplands burn annually, which is equivalent to 43% of the annual average area of wildland fires in the U.S., as reported by the United States Forest Service for the same period. Several states experience high levels (> 30,000 ha yr^− 1) of crop residue burning, including Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Kansas, Louisiana, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, and Washington. Validation with high resolution burn scar imagery and GPS data collected during targeted field campaigns showed a moderate to high-level accuracy for our burned area estimates, ranging from 78 to 90%. Our approach provides a more consistent methodology for quantifying cropland burned area at regional scales than the previously available U.S. national and state-level statistics on crop residue burning.     

Determinants,reproducibility, and seasonal variation of ergosterol levels in house dust

This study aimed to clarify the determinants that affect the concentrations of ergosterol and viable fungi in house dust and to examine the seasonal variation and reproducibility of ergosterol concentrations indoors. In studying the determinants, dust samples from living room floors and vacuum cleaner dust bags were collected from 107 farming and 105 non‐farming homes. Ergosterol levels were determined with gas chromatography‐mass spectrometry, and the dust bag dust was cultivated for enumeration of fungal genera. Lifestyle and environmental factors, for example using of the fireplace, and visible mold observations in homes, explained 20–26% of the variation of fungal concentrations. For the reproducibility study, samples were collected from five urban homes in four different seasons. The reproducibility of ergosterol determinations within a sample was excellent (ICC = 89.8) for floor dust and moderate (ICC = 63.8) for dust bag dust, but poor when sampling the same home throughout a year (ICC = 31.3 and 12.6, respectively) due to large temporal variation in ergosterol concentrations. In conclusion, environmental characteristics only partially predicted the variation of fungal concentrations. Based on these studies, we recommend repeated sampling of dust over time if one seeks to adequately describe overall fungal levels and exposure in a home.     

Use of Moringa oleifera seed extracts to reduce helminth egg numbers and turbidity in irrigation water

Water from wastewater-polluted streams and dug-outs is the most commonly used water source for irrigation in urban farming in Ghana, but helminth parasite eggs in the water represent health risks when used for crop production. Conventional water treatment is expensive, requires advanced technology and often breaks down in less developed countries so low cost interventions are needed. Field and laboratory based trials were carried out in order to investigate the effect of the natural coagulant Moringa oleifera (MO) seed extracts in reducing helminh eggs and turbidity in irrigation water, turbid water, wastewater and tap water. In medium to high turbid water MO extracts were effective in reducing the number of helminth eggs by 94-99.5% to 1-2 eggs per litre and the turbidity to 7-11 NTU which is an 85-96% reduction. MO is readily available in many tropical countries and can be used by farmers to treat high turbid water for irrigation, however, additional improvements of water quality, e.g. by sand filtration, is suggested to meet the guideline value of ≤1 helminth egg per litre and a turbidity of ≤2 NTU as recommended by the World Health Organization and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for water intended for irrigation. A positive correlation was established between reduction in turbidity and helminth eggs in irrigation water, turbid water and wastewater treated with MO. This indicates that helminth eggs attach to suspended particles and/or flocs facilitated by MO in the water, and that turbidity and helminth eggs are reduced with the settling flocs. However, more experiments with water samples containing naturally occurring helminth eggs are needed to establish whether turbidity can be used as a proxy for helminth eggs.     

Groundwater quality impacts from the land application of treated municipal wastewater in a large karstic spring basin: Chemical and microbiological indicators

Geochemical and microbiological techniques were used to assess water-quality impacts from the land application of treated municipal wastewater in the karstic Wakulla Springs basin in northern Florida. Nitrate-N concentrations have increased from about 0.2 to as high as 1.1 mg/L (milligrams per liter) during the past 30 years in Wakulla Springs, a regional discharge point for groundwater (mean flow about 11.3 m³/s) from the Upper Floridan aquifer (UFA). A major source of nitrate to the UFA is the approximately 64 million L/d (liters per day) of treated municipal wastewater applied at a 774 ha (hectare) sprayfield farming operation. About 260 chemical and microbiological indicators were analyzed in water samples from the sprayfield effluent reservoir, wells upgradient from the sprayfield, and from 21 downgradient wells and springs to assess the movement of contaminants into the UFA. Concentrations of nitrate-N, boron, chloride, were elevated in water samples from the sprayfield effluent reservoir and in monitoring wells at the sprayfield boundary. Mixing of sprayfield effluent water was indicated by a systematic decrease in concentrations of these constituents with distance downgradient from the sprayfield, with about a 10-fold dilution at Wakulla Springs, about 15 km (kilometers) downgradient from the sprayfield. Groundwater with elevated chloride and boron concentrations in wells downgradient from the sprayfield and in Wakulla Springs had similar nitrate isotopic signatures, whereas the nitrate isotopic composition of water from other sites was consistent with inorganic fertilizers or denitrification. The sprayfield operation was highly effective in removing most studied organic wastewater and pharmaceutical compounds and microbial indicators. Carbamazepine (an anti-convulsant drug) was the only pharmaceutical compound detected in groundwater from two sprayfield monitoring wells (1-2 ppt). One other detection of carbamazepine was found in a distant well water sample where enteroviruses also were detected, indicating a likely influence from a nearby septic tank.     

Captured streams and springs in combined sewers: A review of the evidence,consequences and opportunities

Captured streams and springs may be flowing in combined sewers, increasing clean baseflow in pipes and wastewater treatment works (WwTWs), reducing pipe capacity and increasing treatment costs. The UK water industry is aware of this in principle, but there has been no explicit discussion of this in the published literature, nor have there been any known attempts to manage it. Instead, the current focus is on the similar intrusion of groundwater infiltration through pipe cracks and joints. We have conducted a thorough review of literature and international case studies to investigate stream and spring capture, finding several examples with convincing evidence that this occurs. We identify three modes of entry: capture by conversion, capture by interception, and direct spring capture. Methods to identify and quantify capture are limited, but the experience in Zurich suggests that it contributed 7–16% of the baseflow reaching WwTWs. There are negative impacts for the water industry in capital and operational expenditure, as well as environmental and social impacts of loss of urban streams. For a typical WwTW (Esholt, Bradford) with 16% of baseflow from captured streams and springs, we conservatively estimate annual costs of £2 million to £7 million. A detailed case study from Zurich is considered that has successfully separated captured baseflow into daylighted streams through the urban area, with multiple economic, environmental and social benefits. We conclude that there is a strong case for the UK water industry to consider captured streams and springs, quantify them, and assess the merits of managing them.     

Are public open space attributes associated with walking and depression?

Public open spaces (POS) are key neighbourhood destinations shown to confer numerous physical and mental health benefits. The amount and spatial distribution of POS throughout cities are guided by urban planning policies and standards. However, empirical evidence is not generally used to create POS standards. Developing and testing POS indices associated with positive health outcomes, can inform evidence-based POS urban design and planning standards that support the creation of healthier cities. This study examined associations of urban design policy-derived and empirical measures of POS proximity and density with walking and depression. The 2011–12 Australian Diabetes, Obesity and Lifestyle study (AusDiab) wave data were used. Adults living in metropolitan Melbourne, Australia were included (n = 319). Participants reported walking for recreation and any walking within their neighbourhood during the last week. Depression was calculated using the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Short Depression Scale (CESD-10). Informed by Australian urban design policies and empirical evidence, various POS measures were calculated at different street network distances around residential addresses using geographic information systems software. Measures tested included: distance to nearest POS, size of nearest POS, total number of POS, and area of POS at scales of 400, 800, 1000, and 1600 m. Associations of these POS measures with walking and depression were examined using adjusted multilevel logistic regression models. Overall 68% and 77% of participants reported walking for recreation and any walking in the past week, respectively; and about 13% were categorized as depressed. Living within 400 m of POS was not associated with either type of walking, but those whose nearest POS was > 1.5 ha had 1.90 and 2.66 times greater odds of walking for recreation and any walking during the last week, respectively. In Melbourne, the urban design policy standard is that POS be available within 400 m of homes. In our study, this standard was not associated with walking or depression; however having a larger POS nearby supported residents' walking. This study highlights the importance of assessing such standards for their potential health impact, and warrants further investigation.     

Impact of irrigation water quality and envelope materials around drip line on emitter performance in subsurface drip irrigation

A field experiment was conducted to study the effect of water quality types of fresh water (FW) and treated wastewater (TWW) and envelope materials of coarse sand (CS), fine sand (FS), and control (CO) on emitter performance, dry matter yield (DMY), and water use efficiency (WUE) under subsurface drip irrigation.The main interaction effect of water quality type and envelope material on coefficient of variation, Christiansen uniformity coefficient, and emission uniformity was not significant (P < 0.05), but they have a significant effect on the average emitter discharge (Q_avg), DMY, and WUE. The means of Q_avg for FW with CS, FS, and CO were 7.13, 6.94, 2.65 L/h, and for TWW, they were 6.78, 6.84, and 2.35 L/h, respectively. The DMY under FW with CS, FS, and CO was 3083.87, 1367.95, and 417.45 kg/ha, and under the TWW, it was 2409.5, 1347.4, and 417 kg/ha, respectively.     

Contributions of wastewater, runoff and sewer deposit erosion to wet weather pollutant loads in combined sewer systems

An observatory of urban pollutants was created in Paris for the purpose of assessing the dynamics of wastewater and wet weather flow (WW and WWF) pollutant loads within combined sewers. This observatory is composed of six urban catchments, covering land areas ranging in size from 42 ha to 2581 ha. For a wide array of parameters including total suspended solids (TSS), chemical and biochemical oxygen demand (COD and BOD₅), total organic carbon (TOC), total Kjeldahl nitrogen (TKN), heavy metals (Cu and Zn) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), this article is intended to evaluate the contributions of wastewater, runoff and in-sewer processes to WWF pollutant loads through the use of an entry–exit mass balance approach. To achieve this objective, a total of 16 rain events were sampled on these sites between May 2003 and February 2006. This study has confirmed that at the considered catchment scale (i.e. from 42 ha to 2581 ha) the production and transfer processes associated with WWF pollutant loads do not vary with basin scale. Entry–exit chemical mass balances over all catchments and for a large number of rain events indicate that wastewater constitutes the main source of organic and nitrogenous pollution, while runoff is the predominant source of Zn. For Cu, PAHs and TSS, the calculation underscores the major role played by in-sewer processes, specifically by sediment erosion, as a source of WWF pollution. A significant loss of dissolved metals was also observed during their transfer within the sewer network, likely as a consequence of the adsorption of dissolved metals on TSS and/or on sewer deposits. Moreover, the nature of eroded particles was examined and compared to the various sewer deposits. This comparison has highlighted that such particles exhibit similar organic and PAH contents to those measured in the organic layer, thus suggesting that the deposit eroded during a wet weather period is organic and of a nature comparable to the organic layer. Despite the extent of initial field investigations, no organic deposit was observed to be present on sewer lines within the catchments, which implies that this organic deposit is probably present in another form or to be found elsewhere in the main trunks.     

Phthalates and nonylphenols in urban runoff: Occurrence, distribution and area emission factors

The urban water system is believed to be an important sink for the nonpoint-source pollutants nonylphenols and phthalates. The presence of nonylphenols (NPs), nonylphenol ethoxylates (NPEOs), and eight phthalates was analyzed in urban stormwater and sediment from three catchment areas in Sweden. Emission loads for these substances were then calculated for a specific urban catchment area. In addition, substance distribution in road runoff passing through a sedimentation facility was modeled using a modified QWASI-model for chemical fate. High concentrations of DEHP, DIDP and DINP (≤ 48, 66 and 200 µg/g dw, respectively) as well as nonylphenol mono- and di-ethoxylate (6.6 and 20 µg/g dw, respectively) were found in the sediment. Aqueous concentrations of the pollutants varied considerably; branched NP was detected in concentrations up to 1.2 µg/L, whereas di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP), diisodecyl phthalate (DIDP), and diisononyl phthalate (DINP) were the most frequently detected phthalates in concentrations up to 5.0, 17 and 85 µg/L, respectively. The fate modeling demonstrated that predicted substance levels in water agreed well with measured levels, whereas the modeled sediment levels were underestimated. Calculation of catchment area emission factors from an urban highway environment revealed that as much as 2.1 kg of total phthalates and 200 g of NP and NPEOs may be emitted per hectare and year. The results indicate that all monitored phthalates, branched NPs and lower NPEOs are present in Swedish urban water systems. The long-chain phthalates DIDP and DINP are believed to occur at higher concentrations than other phthalates because of their higher environmental persistence and their increasing use in Sweden.     

Simultaneous determination of microcystin contaminations in various vertebrates (fish, turtle, duck and water bird) from a large eutrophic Chinese lake, Lake Taihu, with toxic Microcystis blooms

This is the first to conduct simultaneous determination of microcystin (MC) contaminations in multi-groups of vertebrates (fish, turtle, duck and water bird) from Lake Taihu with Microcystis blooms. MCs (-RR, -YR, -LR) in Microcystis scum was 328 μg g^− 1 DW. MCs reached 235 μg g^− 1 DW in intestinal contents of phytoplanktivorous silver carp, but never exceeded 0.1 μg g^− 1 DW in intestinal contents of other animals. The highest MC content in liver of fish was in Carassius auratus (150 ng g^− 1 DW), followed by silver carp and Culter ilishaeformis, whereas the lowest was in common carp (3 ng g^− 1 DW). In livers of turtle, duck and water bird, MC content ranged from 18 to 30 ng g^− 1 DW. High MC level was found in the gonad, egg yolk and egg white of Nycticorax nycticorax and Anas platyrhynchos, suggesting the potential effect of MCs on water bird and duck embryos. High MC contents were identified for the first time in the spleens of N. nycticorax and A. platyrhynchos (6.850 and 9.462 ng g^− 1 DW, respectively), indicating a different organotropism of MCs in birds. Lakes with deaths of turtles or water birds in the literatures had a considerably higher MC content in both cyanobacteria and wildlife than Lake Taihu, indicating that toxicity of cyanobacteria may determine accumulation level of MCs and consequently fates of aquatic wildlife.     

Behavior, mass inventories and modeling evaluation of xenobiotic endocrine-disrupting chemicals along an urban receiving wastewater river in Henan Province, China

Historically, the locations of cities mainly depend on the available water source and the urban river not only supplies the fresh water to city but also receives its wastewaters. To analyze the influences of urban zone on its receiving water river, the Jialu River in Henan Province, China, a typical urban river was chosen. Water and sediment samples were collected along the river in 2007 to analyze the concentrations of xenobiotic endocrine-disrupting chemicals (XEDCs) including nonylphenol (NP), octylphenol (OP) and bisphenol A (BPA) in surface water and sediment. The results showed that the concentrations of OP, NP and BPA in surface water were 20.9-63.2 ng L⁻¹ (mean 39.8 ng L⁻¹), 75.2-1520 ng L⁻¹ (mean 645 ng L⁻¹), 410-2990 ng L⁻¹ (mean 1535 ng L⁻¹), respectively. The lowest and highest concentrations of XEDCs in surface water were found in the upper stream and downstream of Zhengzhou urban zone, which was regarded as the major discharge source of these chemicals to this river. The concentrations of OP, NP and BPA in the sediment were 15.9-31.1 ng g⁻¹, 145-349 ng g⁻¹ and 626-3584 ng g⁻¹ with the average concentrations of 21.4 ng g⁻¹, 257 ng g⁻¹ and 2291 ng g⁻¹, respectively. The results of in situ sediment-water partition of XEDCs showed that the partition coefficients (log K_oc′) in the downstream were higher than that in the upstream, which was mainly caused by the retransfer of surface sediment from the upper stream to the downstream. Comparison of measured and theoretical inventories of XEDCs in sediment indicated that the residual time of XEDCs in sediment in the river was about 5 years, which was in the same order of magnitude with its big flood frequency. In order to predict concentration variances of XEDCs in surface water, a fugacity-hydrodynamic model was developed according to the concept of in series completely stirred tank reactors (CSTR). The model results showed that about 29-65% of XEDCs derived from the urban zone (about 2.0 t yr⁻¹) would finally dissipate from aqueous phase in the 170 km downstream of the river. Assuming the discharge amount of XEDCs from the urban zone remaining constant, the predicted concentrations of the total XEDCs in the over 90% river reach would be higher than 1.0 μg L⁻¹ under all normal, high water and low water season in 2007.     

A Web-based Public Participation GIS for assessing the age-friendliness of cities: A case study in Tehran,Iran

Senior citizens are commonly regarded as the vulnerable class of society; requiring elderly-friendly urban environments as well as particular municipal services to respond to their specific needs. This study proceeds to design a PPGIS (Public Participation GIS) by means of integrating VGI (Volunteered Geographic Information), GIS and MCDA (Multicriteria Decision Analysis) techniques aiming to evaluate the age-friendliness of cities. The proposed PPGIS assesses the age-friendliness of cities through integrating certain criteria weights determined by the elderly with VGI collected by regular citizens. The system was used to create the age-friendliness map of district # 6 of Tehran, Iran. The resulting map shows that the center of the district is more age-friendly than the other areas. Based on the evaluation results, the majority of citizens found the system to be a suitable tool for evaluating the age-friendliness of the city, collecting VGI related to the elderly’s urban environment and helping urban planners improve the age-friendliness of the city. Nonetheless, a rather small percentage of citizens concur that: (i) the PPGIS is a suitable tool for persuading citizens to participate in the city age-friendliness assessment and that (ii) the PPGIS provides a reliable way for assessing the age-friendliness of cities.     

2020s scenario analysis of nutrient load in the Mekong River Basin using a distributed hydrological model

A distributed hydrological model, YHyM, was integrated with the export coefficient concept and applied to simulate the nutrient load in the Mekong River Basin. In the validation period (1992–1999), Nash–Sutcliffe efficiency was 76.4% for discharge, 65.9% for total nitrogen, and 45.3% for total phosphorus at Khong Chiam. Using the model, scenario analysis was then performed for the 2020s taking into account major anthropogenic factors: climate change, population, land cover, fertilizer use, and industrial waste water. The results show that the load at Kompong Cham in 2020s is 6.3 × 10⁴ tN a^− 1 (+ 13.0% compared to 1990s) and 4.3 × 10³ tP a^− 1 (+ 24.7%). Overall, the noticeable nutrient sources are cropland in the middle region and urban load in the lower region. The installation of waste water treatment plants in urban areas possibly cut 60.6%N and 19.9%P of the estimated increase in the case without any treatment.     

Nitrogen, land and water inputs in changing cattle farming systems.: A historical comparison for France, 19th-21st centuries

This paper provides an original account of the long-term regional metabolism in relation to the cattle rearing in western France starting by the precise formulation of animal diets at three key dates of the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries. We established links between the demand in fodder of the meat and dairy sectors and the necessary inputs of nitrogen, water and land as well as the land cover changes occurring on the affected local and remote cattle acreage. The average agricultural productivity for fodder supply is estimated at about 50 kg N/ha in the mid-19th, 54 kg N/ha in the early 20th and 150 kg N/ha at the turning of the 21st century. Jointly for the dairy and meat productions, the potential efficiency in the conversion of the vegetal into animal protein more than doubled over the studied period, passing from less than 9% in the 19th to 20% in the 21st century. The current cattle sector is sustained for about 25% by land situated beyond the regional frontiers and uses water at intensities that approach or exceed the availability of renewable water. The nitrogen pollution is expressed in terms of the Net Anthropogenic Nitrogen Inputs (NANI) and, by comparison to the N recovered in products, is used to define the N-Environmental Efficiency of the farming. We discuss the historical succession of the factors that contributed to the growth of the meat and milk production and make a comparison of the impacts and policy between the local and distant resources.     

Urban net-zero water treatment and mineralization: Experiments,modeling and design

Water and wastewater treatment and conveyance account for approximately 4% of US electric consumption, with 80% used for conveyance. Net zero water (NZW) buildings would alleviate demands for a portion of this energy, for water, and for the treatment of drinking water for pesticides and toxic chemical releases in source water. However, domestic wastewater contains nitrogen loads much greater than urban/suburban ecosystems can typically absorb. The purpose of this work was to identify a first design of a denitrifying urban NZW treatment process, operating at ambient temperature and pressure and circum-neutral pH, and providing mineralization of pharmaceuticals (not easily regulated in terms of environmental half-life), based on laboratory tests and mass balance and kinetic modeling. The proposed treatment process is comprised of membrane bioreactor, iron-mediated aeration (IMA, reported previously), vacuum ultrafiltration, and peroxone advanced oxidation, with minor rainwater make-up and H₂O₂ disinfection residual. Similar to biological systems, minerals accumulate subject to precipitative removal by IMA, salt-free treatment, and minor dilution. Based on laboratory and modeling results, the system can produce potable water with moderate mineral content from commingled domestic wastewater and 10–20% rainwater make-up, under ambient conditions at individual buildings, while denitrifying and reducing chemical oxygen demand to below detection (<3 mg/L). While economics appear competitive, further development and study of steady-state concentrations and sludge management options are needed.     

Moderating effects of the geometry of reservoirs on the relation between urban land use and water quality

Edges mediate the material flux between adjacent systems. This mediating effect of edges is strongly tied to the complexity of the adjacent shapes. Land use within a watershed has a direct impact on the water quality of adjacent aquatic systems. Hydrological processes carry material produced by land-use activities into aquatic ecosystems through the edges of the ecosystem. Therefore, the geometry of aquatic ecosystems theoretically affects the relationship between land use and water quality. This study investigates whether the shape complexity of reservoirs moderates the direct impact of land use on the water quality of adjacent reservoirs. A moderation model was adopted to measure the shape effects, and 153 reservoirs were randomly sampled with a consideration of reservoir size (surface area), geographic location, and data availability. With a focus on urban land use, we used GIS to measure land-use types within a 1 km buffer of reservoir boundaries. The shape complexity of sampled reservoirs was measured using fractal dimensions. Land uses and shape complexity were then regressed to measure water quality parameters such as chemical oxygen demand (COD), biological oxygen demand (BOD), total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorus (TP). Correlation analysis revealed that the shapes of reservoirs are likely to be simple where urban land use dominates the areas close to reservoirs. Use of the standard regression model indicated that the increasing shape complexity of reservoirs significantly reduces the concentration of BOD, COD, and TP within reservoir water. Moderation models for BOD, COD, TN, and TP suggest that shape complexity can considerably relieve the negative impacts on water quality of urban land use in areas adjacent to reservoirs. The results of this study highlight the need to focus on shoreline management in order to mitigate the adverse impacts of land use on lakes and reservoirs.     

Usage and impacts of the Envirofit HM‐5000 cookstove

Burning solid fuels to fulfill daily household energy needs results in chronic exposure to household air pollution (HAP), which is among the world's greatest health risks. This paper presents the results of a cross‐sectional study of cookstove usage, fuel consumption, and indoor PM_2.5 concentrations in rural and urban Honduran homes cooking with the Envirofit HM‐5000 metal plancha stove (n = 32) as compared to control households using baseline cooking technologies (n = 33). Temperature‐based stove usage measurements showed high HM‐5000 acceptance, with significant displacement of the traditional cookstoves at both the urban (99%, P < .05) and rural study sites (75%, P < .05). However, longer‐term usage data collected in peri‐urban households showed that participants cooked on the HM‐5000 more frequently during the 3‐day monitoring period than during the following 3 weeks. Average indoor PM_2.5 was 66% lower in HM‐5000 households as compared to control households (P < .05). Lower indoor PM_2.5 concentrations observed in participant homes as compared to control households, supported by high usage and traditional stove displacement, suggest the potential for the HM‐5000 to yield health improvements in adopting Honduran households.