Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management最新文献

Heavy metal contamination in soil and its accumulation in rice poses a health risk to over 50% of the global population. Simultaneously, the poor management and underutilization of agricultural biomass waste presents an additional environmental challenge. Converting this biomass into biochar offers a potential solution to these challenges. This study evaluated biochar's impacts on soil trace element content, rice plant uptake, translocation, accumulation, and associated human health risks while identifying rice response mechanisms to biochar application. A two-season field experiment was conducted using five treatments: T1 (no biochar), T2 and T3 (10 and 20 tons of rice-husk biochar), and T4 and T5 (10 and 20 tons of longan biochar). Eight trace elements, categorized as micronutrients (Fe, Mn, Cu, Zn) and toxic elements (Cd, Pb, Co, Ni), were measured in rice roots, stems, grains, and soil. Biochar application reduced the heavy metal pollution index (HPI) by 5.9% to 11.4% for micronutrients and 2.8% to 4.4% for toxic elements compared to T1. Translocation, bioaccumulation, and phytoextraction indexes tend to increase with biochar, while the hazard index decreased by 5.1-9.5% for micronutrients and 1.3-8.5% for toxic elements, indicating reduced health risks. These results highlight biochar's dual role in enhancing trace element phytoextraction and reducing health risks, with a more pronounced effect on micronutrients. Rice plants responded to reduced micronutrient availability by boosting uptake while lowering toxic element absorption when HPI was high. Briefly, transforming agricultural waste into biochar for rice cultivation offers multiple benefits, promoting agricultural sustainability, environmental health, and consumer safety.

Using Marine Spatial Planning (MSP) as a management tool for long-term sustainability is relatively new in Malaysia. This paper addresses and discusses the potential MSP has to manage Setiu Wetland as an ecologically sensitive area. Setiu Wetland is the largest natural wetland in the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia. The enabling environment for the adoption of MSP in Setiu Wetland is explored to foresee potential in managing the wetland's conflicting uses. Located in Terengganu, the wetland provides various ecosystem services to humans, birds, reptiles, mammals, invertebrates, and bivalves. The Setiu Wetland 's coastal and marine natural ecosystems provide various benefits to the well-being of the population there. However, the human population growth in Setiu Wetland and the surrounding areas is increasingly contributing to the natural resource exploitation in this ecologically sensitive area causing detrimental effects on the wetland ecosystem. This paper aims to review the threats to the ecosystems in Setiu Wetland from multiple development activities and existing uses to examine the potential implementation of MSP in managing the wetland as an ecologically sensitive area. In conclusion, this study proposes the adoption of MSP as the best management process to protect the natural habitat and preserve the ecological functions of the wetland without compromising the local communities' livelihood.

The Dieng Plateau in Central Java, Indonesia, is home to unique volcanic lakes with significant ecological and economic value. Effective environmental governance is critical for the sustainable management of volcanic lakes, particularly in regions prone to natural hazards like the Dieng Plateau. Several hazards have been reported, including phreatic explosions. This paper explores a multidisciplinary approach to environmental governance, integrating ecological sciences and social sciences, to ensure the sustainable management of these lakes. We investigated the necessity and challenges of establishing collaborative environmental governance mechanisms to address the complex issues surrounding Lake Menjer as volcanic lake management in the region. Based on an investigation of water quality and biodiversity, all nutrient inputs from anthropogenic activities promoted this lake's degradation. The environmental degradation of the lake showed the absence of management institutions. Drawing upon multidisciplinary research and stakeholder engagement, this study aims to: 1) to analyze the trend of environmental degradation in Lake Menjer in terms of eutrophication; and 2) to evaluate the current governance structures and propose strategies for enhancing collaboration among the various stakeholders. We analyzed existing policies, institutional frameworks, and community participation models to identify gaps and opportunities for improving environmental governance practices. We also advocate for a holistic and sustainable approach to volcanic lake management that balances ecological conservation and socio-economic development in Lake Menjer by fostering collaboration and co-management approaches. Key recommendations include fostering inclusive decision-making processes and promoting knowledge exchange and capacity-building initiatives with collaborative environmental governance approaches.

Kent Lake is an impoundment of the Huron River in southeast lower Michigan. Fish collected from Kent Lake in 2017 had high concentrations of perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) in fillets which resulted in a fish consumption advisory from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS). In June 2018, a major source of PFOS was identified as the City of Wixom's wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) which discharges treated effluent to Norton Creek and the Huron River 5 miles upstream of Kent Lake. An industrial facility, which has been in operation since approximately 2000, was found to be the source of high levels of PFOS to Wixom's sanitary sewer. A granular activated carbon (GAC) system was installed at the facility, resulting in substantial reductions in PFOS concentrations in surface water and fish from Kent Lake. However, the PFOS decline in fish tissue reached a plateau at a level exceeding the "Do Not Eat" advisory threshold. This case study sought to explore the supposition that sediment is acting as an ongoing source of PFAS to the Kent Lake food web. We sampled PFAS in biota, sediment and water from Kent Lake and a nearby reference lake in 2021. Biota (benthos, forage fish and predator fish) were collected from both lakes and analyzed as whole-body composites for PFAS analytes. The results, including the patterns of PFAS contamination between the water, sediment and biota samples as well as partition coefficients and bioaccumulation factors, are consistent with PFAS in sediment acting as an ongoing source of contamination to the biota in Kent Lake. This study's results for PFOS (the predominant PFAS in Kent Lake sediment and biota) and 6:2 fluorotelomer sulfonic acid (6:2 FTS) provide additional lines of evidence that sediment acts as a source of PFAS to the aquatic food web.

Offspring of adult Yellowstone cutthroat trout (YCT) exposed to a range of selenium (Se) concentrations in situ were reared in a laboratory setting to assess effects on survival, growth and abnormalities. Maternal whole body Se concentrations ranged from 2.6 to 25.7 mg/kg dry weight (dw) for Site fish while corresponding Se concentrations in embryos ranged from 3.4 to 47.6 mg/kg dw. A significant relationship was found between egg and whole-body tissue concentrations. Endpoints were evaluated at hatch to swim up and hatch to test termination for survival and abnormalities (e.g., deformities and edema). Dose response models were developed to visualize the data distribution and predicted EC10 (the effect concentration where a 10% effect is observed) values for survival and abnormality endpoints relative to egg Se concentrations. EC10s for the survival endpoint were nearly identical, ranging from 35.1 to 35.6 mg/kg dw while EC10s for the abnormality endpoint ranged from 10.6 to 35.3 mg/kg dw. Using the best fit models for survival and abnormality endpoints the EC10 for survival was 35.1 mg/kg dw and the EC10 for abnormalities was 35.2 mg/kg dw. The EPA's evaluation of these data, based on the abnormality data alone, suggested effects to YCT were likely greater than 30 mg/kg dw. The EPA suggested conversion factor for YCT is 1.96 based on a median value of the paired maternal whole body and egg tissue Se data available. However, a reanalysis of these data presented in the paper indicates a ratio of 1.43 is more appropriate; therefore, the egg to whole-body conversion factor for YCT recommended is 1.43 which results in a whole-body tissue EC10 of is 24.55 mg/kg dw at an egg tissue EC10 of 35.1 mg/kg dw.

This study investigates the ecological risks posed by organic micropollutants (OMPs) in wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) effluents in Flanders, Belgium based on single-compound risk characterization. Utilizing a five-year monitoring dataset from the Flemish Environment Agency (VMM) and employing seven ecological threshold values (ETV) types, this research characterizes the risk of 207 OMPs, including pharmaceuticals, pesticides, industrial chemicals, and other pollutants. Several OMPs persist in effluents at concentrations that pose significant ecological risks after secondary and tertiary treatment processes in the region of Flanders (Belgium). This study identified 32 OMPs with regional risk quotients (RQregion) exceeding 1, with 24 of these showing RQregion values over 10, marking them as high-priority pollutants. Notable high-risk substances include chlorpyrifos, benzo(b)fluorene, and several herbicides. The findings highlight the necessity for investment in advanced treatment processes to enable compliance with the updated Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive (UWWTD), which mandates an 80% reduction in a fixed set of micropollutant indicators in relation to their load in WWTP influent by 2045. Based on our prioritization of high-risk OMPs, the fixed set of indicators mandated by the UWWTD does not fully represent the range of harmful contaminants in WWTP effluents, indicating a need for a broader monitoring framework and a more inclusive indicator set. These results underscore the necessity for an expanded approach to monitoring and regulating OMPs to ensure comprehensive protection of aquatic environments.

Estimating pesticide concentrations in paddy rice systems is challenging due to unique cultivation methods and water management practices. Various models, ranging from simple exposure calculators to complex scenario-dependent tools, have been developed globally to address this issue (PADDY, MED-Rice, RICEWQ, PFAM). In Brazil, pesticides are used in paddy rice production, and there is a potential risk of these compounds reaching waterbodies. Legislative changes in 2023 made environmental risk assessment mandatory for pesticide registration in Brazil. However, Brazil has not officially adopted a specific modelling tool for paddy rice systems. This critical review evaluates (i) the strengths and limitations of pesticide exposure models for paddy rice most commonly used in Europe, North America, Asia and Latin America; (ii) it reviews the tools used in a regulatory context outside Brazil; (iii) it discusses exposure tools used in lower tiers and then proceeds to a discussion of more sophisticated tools used in higher tiers; (iv) provides and overview of paddy rice production system in Brazil, (v) performs a comparative analysis of the features of each exposure tool against the characteristics of the Brazilian paddy rice production system, and finally, this review (vi) discusses which exposure tools may be most appropriate for integration into a prospective regulatory ERA framework in Brazil. The goal of this review is to contribute to the ongoing regulatory changes and discussions by identifying appropriate models that can effectively assess the environmental risks associated with pesticide use in Brazilian paddy rice cultivation.

Traditional ecological and human health risk assessment often relies on deterministic frameworks that preclude the presence of variability or uncertainty among input parameters characterizing exposure, effects, and risk. To promote increased realism and generate more robust risk management decisions, probabilistic risk assessment (PRA) has been introduced as a foundational grouping of techniques that seeks to broadly characterize variability among its components. While multiple methods exist (e.g., Monte Carlo simulations, Bayesian networks) along with some federal and state regulatory guidance, gaps remain in prescriptive regulatory recommendations for the implementation of PRA methods. This article describes specific probabilistic approaches for risk characterization and assessment, regulatory support of PRA, challenges that may limit more widespread use, and opportunities for its expanded use in regulatory areas where it is not currently applied. Taken together, we hope to advance the understanding of probabilistic methodologies and their versatility for robust, transparent, data-based environmental risk assessment and standards derivation across a range of media that align with regulatory objectives to protect aquatic and terrestrial biota, human health, and vulnerable populations.

Environmental Quality Standards (EQS) derived under the European Water Framework Directive are legally binding and enshrined in individual European Member State Country national legislation. These EQS are derived following well-established guidance documents. In 2013, EQS for nickel were derived for freshwaters to be protective against long and short-term exposures, at 4 and 34 µg L-1, respectively. The value for long-term exposures uses chronic ecotoxicity data and accounts for bioavailability, whereas the short-term value uses acute data and does not account for bioavailability. In 2022, the European Commission revised these values as part of the on-going legislative process. Despite an increase in available data for both chronic and acute ecotoxicity endpoints, the update and development of chronic and acute Biotic Ligand Models (BLMs) published in peer-reviewed literature, and the accessibility of vastly more monitoring data (used in the European EQS derivation), the values for the nickel EQS were reduced by increasing the assessment factors, to account for increases in apparent uncertainties. The Commission's 2022 derivation failed to consider additional chronic data for more than 20 species as well as the updated and new acute and chronic BLMs. As a result, the derived nickel EQS is limited in its applicability and relevance to European freshwater ecosystems, as illustrated in practice by the observation that monitoring sites can comply with the chronic EQS but fail the acute EQS. Here, we provide an explanation as to why this has occurred and detail what it means for the risk assessment of nickel in European Member State freshwaters. Finally, we outline a path forward, that should be relevant for any risk-based and evidence-driven regulatory framework and acknowledging that political decisions are part of the process, but that these should be separate and after scientific aspects are undertaken.

Microplastics (MPs) have become a notable concern and are released into the environment through the disposal or fragmentation of large plastics. Rivers have been the major pathways for MPs present in the oceans, which significantly affects the marine environment. In the current study, water samples were collected from the upper stream and downstream of Damanganga and Tapi rivers across different sites in the state of Gujarat, India for exploration of MPs contamination. Additionally, samples were also collected from Dumas Beach to detect the presence of MPs. MPs were extracted from the samples through sieving, density separation and wet peroxide oxidation (WPO) techniques which were subsequently analyzed using μ-FTIR, optical microscope, Pyrolysis GCMS (Py-GCMS) and SEM. The concentration of MPs was also quantified from each stretch of Damanganga, Tapi rivers as well as Dumas Beach. Findings revealed that Damanganga showed a higher concentration (3.53 particles/L) of MPs as compared to others. Further, optical microscope and μ-FTIR analysis confirm the presence of MPs like Polypropylene (PP), Polystyrene (PS), Polyethylene terephthalate (PET), Polyethylene (PE) and Polymethyl Methacrylate (PMMA). Pyrolysis products of PP, PS and Polyamide (PA) were detected from Py-GCMS studies. Additionally, SEM images revealed that MPs were subjected to weathering, oxidation and atmospheric deposition over the years. The study additionally confirmed the flux of MPs in both the rivers and beach due to anthropogenic and industrial effects. Risk assessment of MPs was performed using the Pollutant Loading Index (PLI), which indicated that the overall MPs pollution in the studied sites was marginal. Nevertheless, the PLI scores revealed that Damanganga was the most prone to MP pollution among the three study sites.