scholarly journals Characteristics of Internal Ammonium Loading from Long-Term Polluted Sediments by Rural Domestic Wastewater

Author(s):  
Xiang Luo ◽  
Yungui Li ◽  
Qingsong Wu ◽  
Zifei Wei ◽  
Qingqing Li ◽  
...  

Given long-term decentralized and centralized rural domestic wastewater (RDW) discharge, nitrogen is continuously depositing in sediments. RDW discharge is assumed to be an important source of ammonium in surface water; however, the effect of long-term RDW discharge on nitrogen pollution in sediments remains unknown. Batch incubations were conducted to investigate the characteristics of internal ammonium loading from long-term polluted sediments by RDW discharge. Four sediments were demonstrated to be heavily polluted by long-term RDW discharge, with total nitrogen (TN) values of 5350, 8080, 2730, and 2000 mg·kg−1, respectively. The internal ammonium release from sediment was a slow and long process, and the risk of ammonium release from sediment during the dry season was significantly greater than that during the wet season. Though all selected sediments were heavily polluted by long-term RDW discharge, the relative contribution of internal ammonium loading from sediments was generally lower than that of external pollution. Hence, dredging is not suggested for RDW-polluted sediments except in response to an emergency. The excessive ammonium in the selected catchment was mainly from untreated and centralized black water in RDW. Centralized black waters in rural communities are highlighted to be separately treated or reused to maintain ammonium content at a safe level.

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (9) ◽  
pp. 1827
Author(s):  
Yan Peng ◽  
Guojin He ◽  
Guizhou Wang ◽  
Hongjuan Cao

Dongting Lake plays an important role in water regulation and biodiversity protection, but it is vulnerable to climate change and human activities. To quantify surface water changes and factors driving them, long-term surface water variation in Dongting Lake was investigated using the multiple spectral indices method based on a decision tree classification for full time-series Landsat and MODIS datasets. Factors influencing surface water changes were explored by combining the annual maximum surface water and annual permanent occurrent water with meteorological and hydrological data. The results showed that both annual maximum surface water and annual permanent water decreased from 1975 to 2019 and the trends of rainfall and runoff at three outlets also changed. The annual maximum surface water surface of Dongting Lake increased during the 1990s due to high rainfall but decreased again after 2000. A significant change in both the hydrological stage and surface water sequence from 1986 to 2019 occurred in 2003, which coincided with the beginning of work to construct the Three Gorges Dam (TGD). The surface water decreased by about 360 km2 and runoff at the three outlets decreased by about 150 × 108 m3 after the impoundment of the TGD, which was likely the main cause of surface water changes after 2003. The area of surface water that changed from permanent water in the pre-TGD period into seasonally occurring water in the post-TGD periods is 209 km2, while the area of surface water that changed from seasonally occurring water in the pre-TGD period into permanent occurrent water in the post-TGD period is 31 km2. Meteorological elements and human activities have had a comprehensive impact on surface water changes in Dongting Lake. Rainfall and temperature account for about one-third of the influence on long-term changes of surface water, and rainfall is the main meteorological driving factor of surface water in the wet season, while temperature is the main factor in the dry season. Runoff at three outlets, four rivers and the Chenglingji explain about half of the change in surface water; the three outlets runoff is mainly affected by human activities and is the main hydrological driving factor of surface water. The monthly maximum surface water fluctuates regularly and Dongting Lake has a strong seasonal characteristic. Indeed, the seasonal changes are significantly altered when drought or flooding occurs, the causes of which are diverse and complex.


Author(s):  
Z.B. Baktybaeva ◽  
R.A. Suleymanov ◽  
T.K. Valeev ◽  
N.R. Rakhmatullin

Carried out ecological and hygienic assessment of pollution of surface and groundwater of mining areas in the Republic of Bashkortostan. Revealed exceeding standards for fishery water bodies and drinking and cultural and community water use, which indicates the potential danger of surface water for the health of the region's population. The greatest relative contribution to the overall pollution of surface water bodies are making manganese (33,0–66,6 %), iron (9,1–15,6 %), calcium (6,5–11,7 %), lead (5,8– 7,2 %). The quality of water used for drinking purposes from decentralized water sources (boreholes, wells, springs), do not always correspond to the hygienic and sanitary-epidemiological requirements. In this case, the highest priority performance of drinking water contamination are increased stiffness, high content of iron, calcium, nitrate, presence cadmium, and hexavalent chromium.


2020 ◽  
Vol 103 (12) ◽  
pp. 1315-1324

Background: Factors related to long-term care needs have been studied widely, but there is limited research about the influence of health literacy on long-term care needs among the elderly in rural communities where the social context and care environment are uniquely different. Objective: To examine factors influencing long-term care needs among Thai elderly in rural communities. Materials and Methods: The present study used the cross-sectional design. The study sample included 477 elderly persons, who were members of the communities in Nakhon Ratchasima Province. Multi-stage random sampling was used to select participants. They were interviewed using the demographic and health information questionnaire, the Thai Geriatric Depression Scale (TGDS), the health literacy scale of Thai adults and long-term care needs questionnaire. The selected factors examined as independent variables included some demographic factors, depressive symptom, and health literacy. Results: The present study results revealed significant positive relationships existing between long-term care needs with age and depressive symptom, while negative relationships between income and health literacy were reported. A hierarchical multiple regression analysis indicated that four of nine determinants of long-term care needs: age, depressive symptom, health knowledge and understanding, and ability managing their health condition significantly predicted long-term care needs at a level of 18% (R² adjusted=0.18, p<0.001). Conclusion: The present study results showed associations between personal and health literacy factors with long-term care needs. These findings prove that it is vitally important for healthcare professionals to consider the rural elderly’s mental health status and health literacy when providing care and planning treatment. Keywords: Health literacy, Long-term care needs, Rural community


1988 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 99-120 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Lepistö ◽  
P. G. Whitehead ◽  
C. Neal ◽  
B. J. Cosby

A modelling study has been undertaken to investigate long-term changes in surface water quality in two contrasting forested catchments; Yli-Knuutila, with high concentrations of base cations and sulphate, in southern Finland; and organically rich, acid Liuhapuro in eastern Finland. The MAGIC model is based on the assumption that certain chemical processes (anion retention, cation exchange, primary mineral weathering, aluminium dissolution and CO2 solubility) in catchment soils are likely keys to the responses of surface water quality to acidic deposition. The model was applied for the first time to an organically rich catchment with high quantities of humic substances. The historical reconstruction of water quality at Yli-Knuutila indicates that the catchment surface waters have lost about 90 μeq l−1 of alkalinity in 140 years, which is about 60% of their preacidification alkalinity. The model reproduces the declining pH levels of recent decades as indicated by paleoecological analysis. Stream acidity trends are investigated assuming two scenarios for future deposition. Assuming deposition rates are maintained in the future at 1984 levels, the model indicates that stream pH is likely to continue to decline below presently measured levels. A 50% reduction in deposition rates would likely result in an increase in pH and alkalinity of the stream, although not to estimated preacidification levels. Because of the high load of organic acids to the Liuhapuro stream it has been acid before atmospheric pollution; a decline of 0.2 pH-units was estimated with increasing leaching of base cations from the soil despite the partial pH buffering of the system by organic compounds.


2007 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 103-110
Author(s):  
C. Schilling ◽  
M. Zessner ◽  
A.P. Blaschke ◽  
D. Gutknecht ◽  
H. Kroiss

Two Austrian case study regions within the Danube basin have been selected for detailed investigations of groundwater and surface water quality at the catchment scale. Water balance calculations have been performed using the conceptual continuous time SWAT 2000 model to characterise catchment hydrology and to identify individual runoff components contributing to river discharge. Nitrogen emission calculations have been performed using the empirical emission model MONERIS to relate individual runoff components to specific nitrogen emissions and for the quantification of total nitrogen emissions to surface waters. Calculated total nitrogen emissions to surface waters using the MONERIS model were significantly influenced by hydrological conditions. For both catchments the groundwater could be identified as major emission pathway of nitrogen emissions to the surface waters. Since most of the nitrogen is emitted by groundwater to the surface water, denitrification in groundwater is of considerable importance reducing nitrogen levels in groundwater along the flow path towards the surface water. An approach was adopted for the grid-oriented estimation of diffuse nitrogen emissions based on calculated groundwater residence time distributions. Denitrification in groundwater was considered using a half life time approach. It could be shown that more than 90% of the total diffuse nitrogen emissions were contributed by areas with low groundwater residence times and short distances to the surface water. Thus, managing diffuse nitrogen emissions the location of catchment areas has to be considered as well as hydrological and hydrogeological conditions, which significantly influence denitrification in the groundwater and reduce nitrogen levels in groundwater on the flow path towards the surface water.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (11) ◽  
pp. 6313
Author(s):  
Ramona Ciolac ◽  
Tiberiu Iancu ◽  
Ioan Brad ◽  
Tabita Adamov ◽  
Nicoleta Mateoc-Sîrb

The agritourism activity can be a characteristic reality of the present, considering rural area’s sustainability, being at the same time a business reality for rural entrepreneurs and a “must have” for rural communities that have tourism potential. It is a form of tourism, through which the tourist can receive a qualitative product at a reasonable price, but also a field that can ensure sustainable development over time, being at the same time environmentally friendly. The purpose of this scientific paper is to identify the aspects that make agritourism “a possible business reality of the moment”, for Romanian rural area’s sustainability. We take into account the following areas: Bran-Moieciu area—considered “the oldest” in terms of agritourism experience, and Apuseni Mountains area, with a great inclination and potential for this activity. The study conducted for these two areas is focused on several aspects: the degree of involvement in agritourism activities, considering the number of years and managerial experience, the analysis of the types of activities/experiences offered by agritourism structures, the identification of the main reasons/motivations for the orientation towards agritourism and the manner in which this field is perceived. Aspects related to the marketing-finance part of the agritourism business are also taken into account: customers, distribution channels, financial sources, shortcomings observed by agritourism business owners and possible action directions so as to improve the activity/agritourism product. Agritourism may be “a possible business reality of the moment” for the studied areas and not only, but in the future, the entrepreneur/farmer must be constantly updated because of the changing situations that appear on the market, be able to make sustainable decisions for his/her own business, which in the future will ensure its viability and obviously its long-term profitability and development, and in the same time rural area’s sustainability.


Water ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (8) ◽  
pp. 1109
Author(s):  
Nobuaki Kimura ◽  
Kei Ishida ◽  
Daichi Baba

Long-term climate change may strongly affect the aquatic environment in mid-latitude water resources. In particular, it can be demonstrated that temporal variations in surface water temperature in a reservoir have strong responses to air temperature. We adopted deep neural networks (DNNs) to understand the long-term relationships between air temperature and surface water temperature, because DNNs can easily deal with nonlinear data, including uncertainties, that are obtained in complicated climate and aquatic systems. In general, DNNs cannot appropriately predict unexperienced data (i.e., out-of-range training data), such as future water temperature. To improve this limitation, our idea is to introduce a transfer learning (TL) approach. The observed data were used to train a DNN-based model. Continuous data (i.e., air temperature) ranging over 150 years to pre-training to climate change, which were obtained from climate models and include a downscaling model, were used to predict past and future surface water temperatures in the reservoir. The results showed that the DNN-based model with the TL approach was able to approximately predict based on the difference between past and future air temperatures. The model suggested that the occurrences in the highest water temperature increased, and the occurrences in the lowest water temperature decreased in the future predictions.


2015 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 70-77
Author(s):  
E. N. Bakaeva ◽  
A. M. Nikanorov ◽  
N. A. Ignatova

1995 ◽  
Vol 52 (8) ◽  
pp. 1803-1811 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karl E. Havens

Deviations among Carlson's trophic state index values were used to quantify a 12-year history of seston composition and underwater light attenuation in Lake Okeechobee, Florida, U.S.A. Deviations between chlorophyll a, total phosphorus, and transparency-based trophic state indices indicated that (i) light attenuation is generally dominated by phosphorus-rich abiotic particles; (ii) abiotic light attenuation is maximal in a central lake region overlying soft mud sediments, and minimal in a near-littoral region overlying hard sand; and (iii) there has been a progressive increase in the relative contribution of algal pigments to total light attenuation between 1980 and 1992. Coincident with that 12-year trend, there have been declines in external nitrogen loads, lake water nitrogen:phosphorus ratios, and wind velocities. Surface water temperatures in the lake have significantly increased. Explanations for the trend in light attenuation include (i) more favorable meteorological conditions for algal growth, which increased the contribution of algae to overall light attenuation and (ii) reduced nitrogen:phosphorus ratios favoring proliferation of buoyant cyanobacteria, which are more effectively sampled by surface water monitoring. In either case, the trend did not coincide historically with enhanced nutrient loading, the common cause of algal proliferation in lakes.


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