scholarly journals Impact of the municipal merger on watershed management: a study of Lake Kasumigaura, Japan

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Takeshi Mizunoya ◽  
Noriko Nozaki ◽  
Rajeev Kumar Singh
Keyword(s):  
Watershed Management ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Water Environment ◽  
Reduction Rate ◽  
Oxygen Demand ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Pollution Reduction ◽  
Lake Kasumigaura ◽  
The Impact

AbstractIn the early 2000s, Japan instituted the Great Heisei Consolidation, a national strategy to promote large-scale municipal mergers. This study analyzes the impact that this strategy could have on watershed management. We select the Lake Kasumigaura Basin, the second largest lake in Japan, for the case study and construct a dynamic expanded input–output model to simulate the ecological system around the Lake, the socio-environmental changes over the period, and their mutual dependency for the period 2012–2020. In the model, we regulate and control the following water pollutants: total nitrogen, total phosphorus, and chemical oxygen demand. The results show that a trade-off between economic activity and the environment can be avoided within a specific range of pollution reduction, given that the prefectural government implements optimal water environment policies, assuming that other factors constraining economic growth exist. Additionally, municipal mergers are found to significantly reduce the budget required to improve the water environment, but merger budget efficiency varies nonlinearly with the reduction rate. Furthermore, despite the increase in financial efficiency from the merger, the efficiency of installing domestic wastewater treatment systems decreases drastically beyond a certain pollution reduction level and eventually reaches a limit. Further reductions require direct regulatory instruments in addition to economic policies, along with limiting the output of each industry. Most studies on municipal mergers apply a political, administrative, or financial perspective; few evaluate the quantitative impact of municipal mergers on the environment and environmental policy implications. This study addresses these gaps.

Legal-water assessment as a new legal and administrative instrument of surface water protection

2021 ◽  
Vol 1(23) ◽  
pp. 191-210
Author(s):  
Elżbieta Zębek
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Water Status ◽  
Water Environment ◽  
Primary Objective ◽  
Water Law ◽  
Water Protection ◽  
Environmental Goals ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Water Assessment

The primary objective of the water protection in the Water Framework Directive No. 2000/60/ EC is to maintain and improve the water environment by achieving good water status. These provisions have been implemented into Polish legislation in the Water Law Act of 2017. These goals are achieved by the use of appropriate legal instruments as a system of water-law approvals, including a permit, notification and legal-water assessment. The subject of the analysis is water-legal assessments as a new legal and administrative instrument of water protection. The aim is to deter-mine the legal nature of water-law assessments and to indicate their role in the protection of surface waters. Obtaining this assessment is required for investments that may affect the possibility of achieving environmental goals. If the planned investment has a positive or no impact on the possibility of achieving the environmental goals, it seems that the legal-water assessment is made. In the case of a negative impact, the obligation to submit documents confirming that all measures are taken to mitigate the negative effects of the impact on the state of water bodies are imposed. In this way, the legislator strengthened the protection of waters by imposing the obligation to meet additional conditions for large-scale investments that have a negative impact on the water environment.

scholarly journals How to Choose Pollution Indicators for Monitoring Landfill Leachates

Proceedings ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 51 (1) ◽  
pp. 23
Author(s):  
Aleksandra Wdowczyk ◽  
Agata Szymańska-Pulikowska
Keyword(s):  
Negative Impact ◽  
Statistical Tests ◽  
Water Environment ◽  
Oxygen Demand ◽  
Principal Component ◽  
Ammonium Nitrogen ◽  
Landfill Leachates ◽  
Limit Of Quantification ◽  
Pollution Indicators ◽  
The Impact

Leachates are one of the main factors polluting the ground and water environment in the vicinity of landfills. This is connected with the need to systematically control the elements of the environment that are exposed to the negative impact of landfill emissions. In Poland, the scope of landfill leachate quality monitoring includes 10 obligatory parameters (pollution indicators). The paper presents an example of the application of selected statistical methods (basic statistics, statistical tests, principal component analysis) to assess the impact of individual pollution indicators on the quality of landfill leachates. Four landfills from the area of Lower Silesia were selected for analyzes, for which in the years 2018–2019 tests of leachate properties were conducted in an extended scope (in relation to the scope applicable during monitoring). Analyses of the obtained results showed significant differences between landfills, depending mainly on their age and method of operation. Specific factors for assessing differences between landfills were as follows: electrolytic conductivity, chemical oxygen demand (COD(Cr)), organic nitrogen, ammonium nitrogen, chlorides and calcium. The values of some of the parameters included in the monitoring studies did not show variability, remaining below the limit of quantification. The conducted analyses permit the determination of the level of leachate contamination from selected landfills and the proposal of indicators that could complement the monitoring range of landfills for many years.

Quantifying the impact of human activities on water quality based on spatialization of social data: a case study of the Pingzhai Reservoir Basin

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 688-699 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yongrong Zhang ◽  
Zhongfa Zhou ◽  
Haotian Zhang ◽  
Yusheng Dan
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
River Basin ◽  
Human Activities ◽  
Water Environment ◽  
Oxygen Demand ◽  
Pollution Source ◽  
Pollution Load ◽  
Social Data ◽  
Reservoir Basin ◽  
The Impact

Abstract In water pollution source research, it is difficult to quantify the impact of human activities on water quality. Based on pollution load theory and the concept of spatialization of social data, this study integrates land-use type, slope gradient, and spatial position, and uses the contribution of human activities to quantify the impact of farmland fertilizers, livestock and poultry wastes, and human domestic pollution on water quality in the study area. The results show that livestock manure is the largest source of total phosphorus (TP) and total nitrogen (TN) discharges in the research area, and domestic pollution is the largest source of chemical oxygen demand (COD) discharges. The total equal standard pollution load (as well as the load of each pollution source and its pollutant amount) is the highest in the Nayong River Basin and the lowest in the Baishui River Basin. The contributions of human activities to TP and TN have similar spatial distributions. The impact of human activities on COD discharge is minimal. The quantitative results of this model are basically consistent with the actual conditions in the Pingzhai Reservoir Basin, which suggests that the model reasonably reflects the impact of human activities on the water environment of the basin.

Changes in hydrological behaviour: case studies of the Unica and Rižana karst springs, Slovenia

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Natasa Ravbar ◽  
Gregor Kovačič ◽  
Metka Petrič
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Hydrological Cycle ◽  
Land Use Changes ◽  
Precipitation Amount ◽  
Flood Pulse ◽  
Karst Springs ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Gauging Station

<p>Environmental changes, such as alterations in precipitation and evapotranspiration regimes, changes in vegetation type, etc. are triggering direct impact on hydrological cycle through modified amounts and patterns of recharge conditions, as well as occurrence of more frequent and severe hydrometeorological events. Karst aquifers are particularly vulnerable to these effects due to highly dynamic hydrological processes. In this study, we were interested in studying the possibilities to observe changed hydrological behaviour of karst springs on a human timescale. Therefore, we focused on two examples in Slovenia, both regionally important for freshwater supply, agriculture and hydropower. The Unica spring mostly drains areas under moderate continental climate. Its catchment has been repeatedly and severely hit by natural disasters (e.g., ice break, bark beetle attack, windthrow) after 2014 causing large-scale forest disturbances. The catchment of Rižana spring, on the other hand, belongs to the moderate Submediterranean climate. There these types of disturbance did not occur in recent years (excluding some wildfires), but the catchment has been liable to substantial land use changes in the past six decades. For assessment of vegetation cover changes and large-scale disturbances in forests, historical digital orthophotos of the Surveying and Mapping Authority of the Republic of Slovenia since 1957 have been compared with the recent land use data provided by Ministry of Agriculture, Economy and Food and forest state database of Slovenian Forest Service. At the same time, hydrological data of the Unica (Hasberg gauging station) in the period 1962-2018 and Rižana springs (Kubed gauging station) in the period 1966-2018 and precipitation data from Postojna (period 1962-2018) and Podgrad (period 1966-2018) meteorological stations have been processed. Individual flood pulse events over the 57 years for Unica and 53 years for Rižana have been separated. For each flood pulse various information about precipitation amount and intensity, duration of discharge increase, its intensity and amplitude have been specified. We compared these findings with the calculated trends of meteorological and hydrological variables and also changes in land use. The impact of particular environmental change on discharge values of both springs has been evaluated, showing that both, climate and land-use changes, have considerable impact on hydrological regime of studied karst springs. In particular, altered duration of flood pulses increase, their amplitude and intensity have been observed, meaning that the most important issues of water availability that are crucial for water-dependant economic sectors are under threat.</p>

scholarly journals Effects of Combined Salt-Damage Resistant Agent on the Shrinkage, Chloride Penetration and Chemical Erosion of Mortar

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 3813-3818
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Sea Water ◽  
Water Environment ◽  
Reduction Rate ◽  
Drying Shrinkage ◽  
Shrinkage Cracking ◽  
Aluminum Salts ◽  
Salt Damage ◽  
Restrained Shrinkage Cracking ◽  
Chlorine Ion

Reinforced concrete structures located on coastal landfill frequently adjoin sea-water environment, and are exposed to sea water and humid environment during construction. Particularly, in the case of large-scale structures like dams, their drying shrinkage is accompanied by fatal cracking, and thus chlorine ion penetration becomes easier. The present study develops a salt damage-resistant agent (SRA) to which aluminum salts, oligomer condensate, and amino alcohol derivatives with the alkyl group are applied as binding inducers. SRA performs the roles of reducing the drying shrinkage of cement composites, binding chlorine ions, and preventing erosion by sulfate ions. This study tests and evaluates its resistance to degradation factors that may occur to structures constructed on coastal landfill and so on. As a result of evaluating shrinkage cracking properties by performing the restrained shrinkage cracking test, SRC showed the shrinkage reduction compared with BSC. As for the performance of resistance to chlorine ion and the chemical sulfate erosion rate, SRC showed the highest resistance performance, followed by BSC and OPC, regardless of the concentration of aqueous solutions for immersion. In addition, as for the rate of mortar weight change by sulfate erosion, the SRA-intermixed SRC mixture showed a weight reduction rate at the level of 1/3 of BSC and 1/6 of OPC, respectively

scholarly journals Unraveling the effects of environmental drivers and spatial structure on benthic species distribution patterns in Eurasian-Arctic seas (Barents, Kara and Laptev Seas)

Polar Biology ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 43 (11) ◽  
pp. 1693-1705
Author(s):  
Miriam L. S. Hansen ◽  
Dieter Piepenburg ◽  
Dmitrii Pantiukhin ◽  
Casper Kraan
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Factors ◽  
Spatial Structure ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Spatial Scales ◽  
Distribution Patterns ◽  
Environmental Drivers ◽  
Arctic Seas ◽  
Faunal Distribution ◽  
The Impact

Abstract In times of accelerating climate change, species are challenged to respond to rapidly shifting environmental settings. Yet, faunal distribution and composition are still scarcely known for remote and little explored seas, where observations are limited in number and mostly refer to local scales. Here, we present the first comprehensive study on Eurasian-Arctic macrobenthos that aims to unravel the relative influence of distinct spatial scales and environmental factors in determining their large-scale distribution and composition patterns. To consider the spatial structure of benthic distribution patterns in response to environmental forcing, we applied Moran’s eigenvector mapping (MEM) on a large dataset of 341 samples from the Barents, Kara and Laptev Seas taken between 1991 and 2014, with a total of 403 macrobenthic taxa (species or genera) that were present in ≥ 10 samples. MEM analysis revealed three spatial scales describing patterns within or beyond single seas (broad: ≥ 400 km, meso: 100–400 km, and small: ≤ 100 km). Each scale is associated with a characteristic benthic fauna and environmental drivers (broad: apparent oxygen utilization and phosphate, meso: distance-to-shoreline and temperature, small: organic carbon flux and distance-to-shoreline). Our results suggest that different environmental factors determine the variation of Eurasian-Arctic benthic community composition within the spatial scales considered and highlight the importance of considering the diverse spatial structure of species communities in marine ecosystems. This multiple-scale approach facilitates an enhanced understanding of the impact of climate-driven environmental changes that is necessary for developing appropriate management strategies for the conservation and sustainable utilization of Arctic marine systems.

scholarly journals Quantitative analysis on the environmental impact of large-scale water transfer project on water resource area in a changing environment

2012 ◽  
Vol 16 (8) ◽  
pp. 2685-2702 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. H. Yan ◽  
H. Wang ◽  
H. H. Li ◽  
G. Wang ◽  
T. L. Qin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Water Resources ◽  
Environmental Impact ◽  
Water Resource ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Water Environment ◽  
Water Transfer ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
Changing Environment ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Natural Reserves

Abstract. The interbasin long-distance water transfer project is key support for the reasonable allocation of water resources in a large-scale area, which can optimize the spatio-temporal change of water resources to secure the amount of water available. Large-scale water transfer projects have a deep influence on ecosystems; besides, global climate change causes uncertainty and additive effect of the environmental impact of water transfer projects. Therefore, how to assess the ecological and environmental impact of megaprojects in both construction and operation phases has triggered a lot of attention. The water-output area of the western route of China's South-North Water Transfer Project was taken as the study area of the present article. According to relevant evaluation principles and on the basis of background analysis, we identified the influencing factors and established the diagnostic index system. The climate-hydrology-ecology coupled simulation model was used to simulate and predict ecological and environmental responses of the water resource area in a changing environment. The emphasis of impact evaluation was placed on the reservoir construction and operation scheduling, representative river corridors and wetlands, natural reserves and the water environment below the dam sites. In the end, an overall evaluation of the comprehensive influence of the project was conducted. The research results were as follows: the environmental impacts of the western route project in the water resource area were concentrated on two aspects: the permanent destruction of vegetation during the phase of dam construction and river impoundment, and the significant influence on the hydrological situation of natural river corridor after the implementation of water extraction. The impact on local climate, vegetation ecology, typical wetlands, natural reserves and the water environment of river basins below the dam sites was small.

scholarly journals Quantitative analysis on the ecological impact of large-scale water transfer project on water resource area in a changing environment

2011 ◽  
Vol 8 (6) ◽  
pp. 10465-10500 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. H. Yan ◽  
H. Wang ◽  
H. H. Li ◽  
G. Wang ◽  
T. L. Qin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Water Resources ◽  
Water Resource ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Ecological Impact ◽  
Water Environment ◽  
River Basins ◽  
Water Transfer ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Natural Reserves

Abstract. The interbasin long-distance water transfer project is a key support for the reasonable allocation of water resources in a large-scale area, which can optimize the spatiotemporal change of water resources to reinforce the guarantee of the access of water resources. And large-scale water transfer projects have a deep influence on ecosystems; besides, global climate change causes the uncertainty and additive effect of the ecological impact of water transfer projects. Therefore, how to assess the ecological and environmental impact of large-scale water transfer projects in both construction and operation has triggered a lot of attention. The water-output area of the western route of China's South-North Water Transfer Project was taken as the study area of the present article. According to relevant evaluation principles and on the basis of background analysis on the eco-environment of the study area, the influence factors were identified and evaluation indexes were established. The climate-hydrology-ecology coupled simulation model was used to imitate the laws of ecological and environmental change of the water resource area in a changing climate. The emphasis of influence analysis and quantitative evaluation was placed on the reservoir construction and operation scheduling, representative river corridors and wetlands, natural reserves and the water environment of river basins below the dam sites. In the end, an overall influence evaluation of the impact of the project on the water circulation and ecological evolution of the water resource area was conducted. The research results were as follows: the environmental impacts of the western route project in the water resource area were concentrated on two aspects, i.e. the permanent destruction of vegetation during the phase of dam construction and river impoundment, and the significant influence on the hydrological situation of natural river corridor after the implementation of water transfer. Its impact on local climate, vegetation ecology, typical wetlands, natural reserves and the water environment of river basins below the dam sites was small.

scholarly journals Innovation Mirage: The Role of Technological Uncertainty in Military Instability

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 7-52
Author(s):  
I. A. Istomin
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Time Lag ◽  
Historical Record ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Balance Theory ◽  
Technological Changes ◽  
Technological Uncertainty ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
The Impact

The article examines the impact of technological changes on the risks of military clashes between states. Currently, experts express increasing concerns about the destabilizing effect of new weapons (including anti-missile and anti-satellite weapons, hypersonic missiles, autonomous lethal systems, and artificial intelligence). These assessments are rarely based on solid theoretical foundations. The author seeks to fill this gap, arguing that the emergence of new weapons has a negative impact on international stability, and this effect is weakly related to the specific characteristics of underline technologies. The theory of technological uncertainty offers an alternative to the offense-defense balance theory. The latter developed since the 1970s, but its validity is questionable. The theory of technological uncertainty attributes the destabilizing effect of weapons to the divergence of states' perceptions of the balance of powers, to the hyped expectations regarding the ability to compensate quantitative limitations with qualitative superiority, to the alarmistic sense of closing windows of opportunities and growing vulnerabilities. The article tests the theory against the historical record of military clashes in Europe from the end of the 18th to the middle of the 20th centuries, as well as the crises between superpowers during the Cold War. The empirical cases are selected in order to cover the period marked by the intensification of qualitative arms races between states. In addition, it is also the period most often used to substantiate the offense-defense balance theory. The history of the last two and a half centuries provides a solid foundation for the theory of technological uncertainty. All instances of large-scale military clashes were preceded by significant technological changes, while peace fell on periods of technological stagnation. The author addresses the policy implications of the theory for the discussions on emerging weapons in the 2010s and 2020s. The study confirms that concerns regarding their destabilizing effect are justified, but for the different reasons from those put forward by most analysts. A somewhat optimistic caveat to its conclusions is the fact that currently emerging weapons are at various stages of development. The greatest likelihood of military clashes corresponds to the overlap of several technological uncertainties. Therefore, an increase in the time lag between introduction of various arms can mitigate destabilizing effect.

Changes in soil properties on agricultural land with the impact of water and tillage erosion in the last 60 years

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Juřicová ◽  
Tomáš Chuman ◽  
Daniel Žížala
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Variability ◽  
Soil Properties ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Agricultural Land ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Soil Depth ◽  
Field Investigation ◽  
Strong Impact ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Tillage Erosion

<p>The decline in soil organic carbon (SOC) is generally perceived as a major threat to the sustainability of the soil due to its key role in many productive and non - productive soil functions. The aim of this research is to assess the intensity of changes and the spatial variability of SOC and soil depth in the last 60 years. Estimation of spatial variability of soil properties was performed by using digital soil mapping. A study area is located in the chernozems area in south Moravia (Czechia). This region is traditionally intensively cultivated with the strong impact of water and tillage erosion. The study is based on the analysis of historical data that comes from the Large-scale mapping of Agricultural Soils in Czechoslovakia soil database. Our dataset contained data from 120 soil profiles. A new field investigation shows significant SOC losses on steep slopes and slope shoulders with a decrease of depth of the humic horizon. As a result, there is a gradual transformation of soil units from the former Calcic Chernosems into the Haplic Calcisols. These findings are the result of ongoing environmental changes with the strong impact of historical agricultural policy and inappropriate interference in the landscape.</p>

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