scholarly journals Urban runoff: its significance, chemical characteristics, and possible chemical treatment

2007 ◽  
pp. 737-746
Author(s):  
Umid Man Joshi ◽  
Rajasekhar Balasubramanian

Most of the countries around the world including Singapore are becoming water scarce,Limited fresh water resources and growing demand of water in urban areas have intensifiedthe search for non-conventional water resources, For countries like Singapore, which receivescopious rainfall, the use of stormwater (rainfall which runs off urban areas such as roofs,roads, and vegetated surfaces) has the potential to enhance urban water supply, However,using urban landscape as catchments has its inherent challenges, Human activities introducechemical and biological contaminants of different types into the urban runoff, affecting itsquality significantly. Environmentally-friendly as well as cost-effective treatmenttechnologies are needed to treat urban runoff at points of collection so that the treatedstorn1water can be used for a range of practical applications,In order to identify the most appropriate treatment technology, it is necessary to have detailedinformation on the physical and chemical characteristics of urban runoff collected at anetwork of urban sites, As these characteristics of urban runoff largely depend on land usepatterns, stormwater samples have been collected in this study from various land use sectorsusing automated samplers and subsequently processed in the laboratory to establish theirchemical characteristics mainly in terms of trace metals, and organic compounds. Resultsobtained from the chemical characterization work are presented followed by the discussion onthe potential of enhancing urban runoff quality through chemical treatment with a strongoxidant having multiple functions including coagulation, flocculation, and disinfection.

Author(s):  
Sharlene L. Gomes

AbstractInstitutions, defined as social rules which guide decision-making, are an important feature of peri-urban water governance. Peri-urban institutions structure the access to and management of water resources during rural-to-urban transitions. However, peri-urban areas are dynamic in nature and heterogeneous in composition. This generates challenges for the effectiveness of institutional arrangements. Peri-urban spaces of South Asian cities like Pune, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Khulna demonstrate the various ways in which institutional arrangements influence issues of water insecurity, conflicts, and crises in the urbanisation process. This chapter explores this important dimension and demonstrates ways to intervene in the institutional context of water resources in such transitional settings. Two types of interventions to build institutional capacity are presented. First, the Approach for Participatory Institutional Analysis (APIA), is designed to help peri-urban actors frame problems through an institutional lens and offers skills to navigate the solution space. The second approach, Transformative Pathways, facilitates efforts to cope with the uncertain and dynamic nature of urban transitions. Based on the adaptation pathways approach, it helps peri-urban actors work from their existing situation and design pathways towards more sustainable and resilient futures. Practical applications of these approaches in South Asia offer insights on how to intervene institutionally in water problems during rural-urban transitions.


2014 ◽  
Vol 641-642 ◽  
pp. 409-415 ◽  
Author(s):  
Viktor Chechevichkin ◽  
Nikolai Vatin

The land runoff of major cities is a significant factor in pollution of the hydrosphere. Sorption-filtration treatment technology of large volumes of water runoff most cost-effective, it is as deep purification technology. Their application in the complex composition of runoff from urban areas gives the best results in combination with the technology pre-separation main quantity of suspended solids and emulsified oil products in different kinds of traps and sumps.


2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  

The most effective methods of well treatment, such as hydraulic fracturing, torpedoing and chemical treatment, are complicated, expensive, unsafe and unsustainable and, most importantly, insufficiently effective. We have proposed a new cost-effective, environmentally friendly and efficient well treatment technology, which has been developed over 20 years and patented many times.


2019 ◽  
Vol 489 (5) ◽  
pp. 478-482
Author(s):  
K. A. Emelyanenko ◽  
S. N. Melnikov ◽  
P. I. Proshin ◽  
A. G. Domantovsky ◽  
A. M. Emelyanenko ◽  
...  

The creation of methods for complete and cost-effective collection of water droplets from an aerosol which arises as a by-product of the low-potential heat uptake from industrial devices, is one of the key tasks of rational use of water resources contributing to the improvement of the environment near large industrial enterprises. This paper shows how the application of materials with extreme wettability and a specific surface topography in spray separators can significantly increase the efficiency of water collection.


2020 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 67-87 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Hunold

City-scale urban greening is expanding wildlife habitat in previously less hospitable urban areas. Does this transformation also prompt a reckoning with the longstanding idea that cities are places intended to satisfy primarily human needs? I pose this question in the context of one of North America's most ambitious green infrastructure programmes to manage urban runoff: Philadelphia's Green City, Clean Waters. Given that the city's green infrastructure plans have little to say about wildlife, I investigate how wild animals fit into urban greening professionals' conceptions of the urban. I argue that practitioners relate to urban wildlife via three distinctive frames: 1) animal control, 2) public health and 3) biodiversity, and explore the implications of each for peaceful human-wildlife coexistence in 'greened' cities.


Author(s):  
Sigit Arifwidodo ◽  
Orana Chandrasiri

Public Park is considered one of the essential settings for physical activity, especially in urban areas. Parks support physical activity through their accessibility, their provision to facilitate active pursuits; their capacity to provide opportunities to a wide range of users; and their semi-permanent nature. The paper explores the design intervention assessment of Benchakitti Park, which serves as the pilot project for active park and showcase during the past ISPAH 2016 conference. The objective of the paper is to understand the health and well-being benefits of an urban park in increasing PA levels of urban population and promoting a healthy and active lifestyle. Keywords: Public park; physical activity; urban landscape design; public health; SOPARC


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (15) ◽  
pp. 8421
Author(s):  
Yuan Gao ◽  
Jiandong Huang ◽  
Meng Li ◽  
Zhongran Dai ◽  
Rongli Jiang ◽  
...  

Uranium mining waste causes serious radiation-related health and environmental problems. This has encouraged efforts toward U(VI) removal with low cost and high efficiency. Typical uranium adsorbents, such as polymers, geopolymers, zeolites, and MOFs, and their associated high costs limit their practical applications. In this regard, this work found that the natural combusted coal gangue (CCG) could be a potential precursor of cheap sorbents to eliminate U(VI). The removal efficiency was modulated by chemical activation under acid and alkaline conditions, obtaining HCG (CCG activated with HCl) and KCG (CCG activated with KOH), respectively. The detailed structural analysis uncovered that those natural mineral substances, including quartz and kaolinite, were the main components in CCG and HCG. One of the key findings was that kalsilite formed in KCG under a mild synthetic condition can conspicuous enhance the affinity towards U(VI). The best equilibrium adsorption capacity with KCG was observed to be 140 mg/g under pH 6 within 120 min, following a pseudo-second-order kinetic model. To understand the improved adsorption performance, an adsorption mechanism was proposed by evaluating the pH of uranyl solutions, adsorbent dosage, as well as contact time. Combining with the structural analysis, this revealed that the uranyl adsorption process was mainly governed by chemisorption. This study gave rise to a utilization approach for CCG to obtain cost-effective adsorbents and paved a novel way towards eliminating uranium by a waste control by waste strategy.


Urban Science ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 5
Author(s):  
Hadi Zamanifard ◽  
Edward A. Morgan ◽  
Wade L. Hadwen

Modern stormwater treatment assets are a form of water sensitive urban design (WSUD) features that aim to reduce the volumes of sediment, nutrients and gross pollutants discharged into receiving waterways. Local governments and developers in urban areas are installing and maintaining a large number of stormwater treatment assets, with the aim of improving urban runoff water quality. Many of these assets take up significant urban space and are highly visible and as a result, community acceptance is essential for effective WSUD design and implementation. However, community perceptions and knowledge about these assets have not been widely studied. This study used a survey to investigate community perceptions and knowledge about stormwater treatment assets in Brisbane, Australia. The results suggest that there is limited community knowledge of these assets, but that communities notice them and value their natural features when well-maintained. This study suggests that local governments may be able to better inform residents about the importance of these assets, and that designing for multiple purposes may improve community acceptance and support for the use of Council funds to maintain them.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 1814
Author(s):  
Min Seong Kim ◽  
Sean Seungwon Lee

Drill and blast is the most cost-effective excavation method for underground construction, however, vibration and noise, induced by blasting, have been consistently reported as problems. Cut blasting has been widely employed to reduce the blast-induced problems during underground excavation. We propose that the large hole boring method using the state-of-the-art MSP (Multi-setting smart-investigation of the ground and pre-large hole boring) machine (“MSP method”) can efficiently improve vibration reduction. The MSP machine will be used to create 382 mm diameter empty holes at the tunnel cut area for this purpose. This study assessed the efficiency of the MSP method in reducing blast-induced vibration in five blasting patterns using a cylinder-cut, which is a traditional cut blasting method. The controlled blasting patterns using the MSP method demonstrated up to 72% reduction in blast-induced vibration, compared to the base case, Pattern B, where only cylinder-cut and smooth blasting method were applied. Therefore, the MSP method proves to be a promising alternative for blasting in sensitive urban areas where non-vibration excavation techniques were initially considered. Geological characteristics of 50 m beyond the excavation face can be acquired through the proposed real-time boring data monitoring system together with a borehole alignment tracking and ground exploration system. The obtained geological information will be a great help in preparing alternative designs, and scheduling of construction equipment and labour during the tunnel construction.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Drake ◽  
Shelli Dubay ◽  
Maximilian L Allen

Abstract Coyotes are ubiquitous in habitats across North America, including in urban areas. Reviews of human–coyote encounters are limited in scope and analysis and predominantly document encounters that tend to be negative, such as human–wildlife conflict, rather than benign experiences. The objective of our study was to use citizen science reports of human–coyote interactions entered into iNaturalist to better understand the range of first person accounts of human–coyote encounters in Madison, WI. We report 398 citizen science accounts of human–coyote encounters in the Madison area between October 2015 and March 2018. Most human–coyote encounters occurred during coyote breeding season and half of all encounters occurred in moderate development land cover. Estimated level of coyote aggressiveness varied significantly, with 90% of citizen scientists scoring estimated coyote aggression as a 0 and 7% scoring estimated aggression as a 1 on a 0–5 scale (with 0 being calm and 5 being aggressive). Our best performing model explaining the estimated distance between the human observer and a coyote (our proxy for a human–coyote encounter) included the variables distance to nearest paved road, biological season of the year relative to coyote life history, and time of day/night. We demonstrate that human–coyote interactions are regularly more benign than negative, with almost all first-hand reported human–coyote encounters being benign. We encourage public outreach focusing on practices that can foster benign encounters when educating the public to facilitate human–coyote coexistence.


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