Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management最新文献

Perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and herbicides are important persistent contaminants that require specific management. A variety of herbicides is stored in fluorinated containers in the form of aquatic solutions. In such environments, the simultaneous release of PFAS and herbicides takes place. Nature-based solutions, such as the use of clay materials as possible sorbents, are attractive for the immobilization of such contaminants and environmental protection. Nanotubular clay minerals, such as halloysite and imogolite, are sufficient sorbents for herbicides. Due to their structural morphology, such materials could be efficient sorbents for the simultaneous immobilization of PFAS and herbicides. In this study, the potential sorption of a short chain PFAS, perfluorobutanoic acid (PFBA), sorbent of PFBA, and herbicides (atrazine and diuron) were investigated. Forcefield calculations were used for the classical molecular simulation study. Different distributions, arrangements, and ratios of the investigated molecules were investigated for the complete structural and energy characterization of the systems. Both clay minerals created stable complexes with PFBA as well as with both PFBA and herbicide molecules. Halloysite mineral led to similar total energies of the system with sorbed PFBA molecules alone, herbicides alone, or both of the pollutants. In contrast, imogolite led to lower energies with sorbed herbicides and showed relatively higher energies when interacting with PFBA. The complexes with both of the pollutants presented moderate energies. Electrostatic interactions were dominant in all the investigated complexes.

Pollinating bee dietary risk assessment for pesticide registration requires knowledge of nectar and pollen pesticide residue concentrations following different pesticide application methods to crops. The magnitude and duration of bee dietary pesticide exposures vary according to crop attractiveness to bees, physiochemical properties, plant characteristics, application rate, method, timing, and soil characteristics. Regulatory authorities rely on model-generated default estimates of pollinator exposure when measured food item pesticide residue data are unavailable for pesticide active ingredients. In North America, default pesticide residue estimates for pollen and nectar are imbedded in the USEPA's BeeREX model and, depending on the application method, are derived from various model approaches and data sources. Pursuing comprehensive bee-relevant data, we compiled and analyzed pesticide residue data from nectar and pollen samples collected during numerous field studies previously submitted to the USEPA, California Department of Pesticide Regulation, Canada Pesticide Regulatory Agency, and the European Food Safety Authority by pesticide product registrants. The information was compiled into a database that is accessible through an interactive Excel user interface termed NPRUDv1. The interactive file that makes up NPRUDv1 allows the user to generate statistical estimates of pesticide residue per unit dose values in nectar and pollen matrices for different application methods. The values can be used to calculate nectar and pollen estimated environmental concentrations in models to assess dietary pollinator risk. The use of this database and the NPRUDv1 tool will strengthen the dietary exposure component of pollinator pesticide risk assessments by utilizing a database of field-measured pollen and nectar residue concentrations that represent pesticide use patterns in different crops. This publication describes the procedures followed to establish a globally comprehensive nectar and pollen residue database, demonstrates the use of NPRUDv1, and demonstrates its applicability to lower tier pollinator pesticide risk assessment.

The concept of integrated management emerged in the 1980s and was adopted by the United Nations Program within Agenda 21, with a strong connection to the ecosystem-based approach. Both integrated coastal management and integrated agriculture management derive from this model and are adapted to different contexts and uses, including planning, decision-making, and efficient production. The blue economy model leverages integrated management in aquaculture and fishing. In Costa Rica's Gulf of Nicoya, this model is promoted for application to aquaculture. This article gives an overview of integrated aquaculture management practices around the world. For this, we applied a meta-analysis using a bibliometric methodology. The review reveals that most of the experiences are from East and South Asia and Europe, with China being the primary proponent. The practices found are related to production management practices and integrated coastal management. A large number of documents are associated with the ecosystem-based approach. The research is related not only to the principal commercial species but also to alternative species like octopus, sponges, and algae. The practices found in the documents reviewed can be classified as either ecosystem management, production maximization, technology, or integrated multisector or spatial planning. Turning an eye to Costa Rica, the conditions explored reveal a lack of information about aquaculture management in addition to a complex administrative and legal framework. Therefore, it is necessary to study aquaculture management to make an integrated aquaculture management proposal. Global practices establish a base platform for the theoretical underpinning of an eventual proposal for the Gulf of Nicoya, Costa Rica.

Fugitive or diffuse methane emissions constitute an important source of damage to the environment, much greater even than CO2 both over a time span of 20 years and over a longer time span of 100. It is therefore of preeminent importance to undertake all the efforts necessary to implement new tools, protocols, and methods that contribute to the identification and measurement of these emissions to implement site-specific actions of mitigation, repair, and conscious management of the emitting plants. Among the remote sensing and leak detection technologies currently used, the tunable diode laser absorption spectroscopy (TDLAS) method plays a relevant role. Thanks to the study and implementation of increasingly high-performance sensors to be equipped on drones, this method is strongly promoted in the unmanned aerial vehicle sector. However, as often happens, the operational performance of a measurement method must be associated with measurement errors, which must be foreseen (where possible), and certainly detailed and corrected. The purpose of this article is to describe the procedure for identifying and processing "false-positive" values recorded by the payload during a survey flight for the measurement of methane concentrations in airborne matrix, with a TDLAS sensor. The methodology contained in this article is based on the study of scientific evidence referable to previous in-depth experiences on false positives and largely on the direct experience gained by the project team of the TALSEF laboratory (University of Bari, Italy) during numerous measurement campaigns in landfills, oil and gas sites, and cattle stables.

This study evaluated the feasibility of immobilizing diffuse per- and polyfluoroalkyl substance (PFAS)-contaminated soil by developing and validating a novel field-scale methodology. The effectiveness of this approach was assessed via a field-scale trial conducted at an airport in Australia. Prior to full-scale treatment, laboratory trials were undertaken to determine optimal treatment reagents and application rates. The Standardised Sorbent Qualities Measure (SSQM) and Matrix Sorbent Qualities Measure (MSQM) were developed and applied to assess sorbent sorption/desorption capacity for PFAS under standardized conditions, facilitating sorbent selection. Three blending techniques were employed for field-scale trials: manual mixing with an excavator, large-scale rapid mixing using a pug mill, and a portable trommel screen. The efficacy of soil blending with a RemBind sorbent was validated using the sum of and leachable perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS) + perfluorohexanesulfonic acid (PFHxS) assessments. Results showed a substantial reduction in PFAS leachability, with mean PFOS + PFHxS concentrations generally decreasing to below the limit of reporting, resulting in over 98% reductions in leachable fractions. The Sorbent Application Uniformity Test (SAUT) effectively served as a quality assurance and quality control (QA/QC) measure alongside PFAS analysis, demonstrating consistent sorbent-soil blending across all methods evaluated. Overall, the large-scale trial at the airport confirmed that immobilization using 1%-2% RemBind 100 sorbent offered a viable, sustainable, and cost-effective solution, particularly for PFOS and PFHxS. Applying novel SSQM/MSQM and SAUT methods combined with pre- and post-treatment leachability analysis established a clear link between the sorbent application specification determined from laboratory-scale trials and field validation requirements. Thus, these methods are pertinent for assessing the immobilization technique's efficacy and sorbent blending quality.

Many soil and water ecosystems are in poor condition. Contamination, among the numerous anthropogenic pressures on soils, causes degradation that may completely limit provision of ecosystem services. Healthy soils and waters are fundamental to sustaining life on Earth, so the development and application of sustainable and effective technologies for remediation of contaminated environments is a priority. Also important are robust contaminated site risk assessment and management processes, and the application of high-resolution techniques for pollutant characterization. In addition, the socioeconomic burden of contamination presents another highly complex challenge that requires attention. This special series features selected works from RemTech Europe 2023, including presentations regarding difficult-to-treat contaminants such as pesticides and perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), and the application of tools for rapid assessment of methane emissions from contaminated soils (e.g., tunable diode laser adsorption spectroscopy mounted on drones). The series also includes a range of advanced approaches for in situ site remediation and practical site management, together with a demonstration of how soil degradation can reduce economic land value. Overall, advanced techniques for in situ remediation together with practical management of contaminated sites were presented in a hybrid attendance event that included combined face-to-face and online engagement participation at RemTech Europe. This fundamental role of RemTech Europe in knowledge exchange and sharing is crucial for promoting suitable and effective methodologies for the assessment and remediation of contaminated sites.

Traditional air dispersion modeling usually relies on deterministic frameworks that use multiple conservative assumptions as inputs. For example, atmospheric pollutant concentrations are often overestimated by using maximum emission rates for point sources, an approach recommended by regulatory agencies that may not reflect typical operating conditions, especially for sources with variable emissions. To better understand how emission variability affects modeled pollutant concentrations, this study presents a novel probabilistic modeling framework designed to estimate pollutant concentrations from industrial sources, with a focus on integrating variability in emission rates. The framework incorporates a Monte Carlo screening method combined with AERMOD (American Meteorological Society/Environmental Protection Agency Regulatory Model) to evaluate the atmospheric dispersion of emissions. This approach provides a more flexible and data-driven method for determining emission rates compared to traditional modeling methods. The utility of the method was demonstrated through an application to the pulp and paper industry that included modeling of nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions from a virtual kraft pulp mill. A base AERMOD simulation, using maximum emission rates, predicted the highest concentration of ambient nitrogen dioxide (NO2), representing a worst-case scenario. In contrast, using emission rates derived from the Monte Carlo screening method, the estimated ambient NO2 concentrations were substantially lower. The method can be further enhanced by incorporating additional sources of variability and expanding its application to other pollutants.

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. Although 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.

In this study, we propose a new metric for substance mobility in extension to the already implemented use of the log Koc as a sorption constant to the organic carbon content of soils. The new metric is based on the leachability of a compound in soil, i.e., the fraction thereof that is predicted to be transported to shallow groundwater. Apart from including climate and soil properties of European regions, the degradation half-life in soil is used in addition to the log Koc as an important parameter. This improves the applicability of the mobility concept for substances used under European environmental conditions due to the important role of degradation on a substance's potential to pass drinking water barriers such as soil or sediment. To factor in these additional parameters, the meta-model Leaching Calculator was developed. It is based on FOCUS (FOrum for Coordination of pesticide models and their USe) PELMO (PEsticide Leaching MOdel) as the underlying model to calculate the leachability of substances. FOCUS PELMO is a mechanistic leaching model that may provide a more comprehensive understanding of a chemical's movements in the environment. While calculations with FOCUS PELMO require many substance parameters and well-defined pedo-climatic scenarios, the Leaching calculator only uses the log Koc and the half-life in soil as input parameters, and subsequently calculates the leachability based on a set of PELMO computations. Mobility assessments are then derived from proposed leachability thresholds.

Belgian coastal waters are influenced by densely populated cities, industrial activities, and marine shipping, and they are therefore subject to chemical contamination. In the NewSTHEPS (New Strategies for Monitoring and Risk Assessment of Hazardous Chemicals in the Marine Environment With Passive Samplers) project (2012-2019), more than 150 contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) were detected in the Belgian part of the North Sea, including hormones, personal care products (PCPs), pesticides, nonhormone pharmaceuticals, phenols, and phthalates. In this study, we developed and used an automated algorithm to calculate the marine screening level predicted no-effect concentration (PNECscreen) of substances and identify the organisms and organism groups most sensitive to these chemicals based on ecotoxicological data from the ECOTOX Knowledgebase. By combining these PNECscreen values, existing environmental quality standards (EQSs) from the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD), and PNECs from other sources with environmental concentrations of substances measured in the NewSTHEPS project, we assessed the risk of different classes of CECs at four sampling stations. The distribution of risk was comparable between open sea and harbor sampling locations, and also between samples collected with grab sampling and passive sampling. In total, 33 substances, including 11 hormones (natural and synthetic ones), two PCPs, four pesticides, eight nonhormone pharmaceuticals, two phenols, and six phthalates, were found to be associated with potential environmental risk (median risk quotient > 1), with fish most frequently being the most sensitive organisms. The majority (23/33, i.e., > 80%) of these substances, particularly hormones and phthalates, have not been included in the EU WFD EQS directive's Priority List or associated Watch Lists. Although the risks associated with pharmaceuticals were primarily driven by individual substances, hormones, phthalates, and pesticides with endocrine disrupting and/or neurotoxic potentials were estimated to contribute to a "something from nothing" effect, where mixture risk arises even when all individual components are present at concentrations below their effect thresholds.