Since 1983, the Ministry of the Environment of Japan has conducted nation-wide acid deposition surveys. To investigate the effects of acid deposition on surface water, we used the nonparametric Mann-Kendall test to find temporal trends in pH, alkalinity, and electrical conductivity (EC) in more than 10 years of data collected from five lakes and their catchments (Lake Kuttara: northernmost; Lake Kamakita: near Tokyo; Lake Ijira: central; Lake Banryu: western; and Lake Unagiike: southernmost). The pH of Lake Ijira water has declined slightly since the mid-1990s, corresponding with the downward trends seen in the pH and alkalinity of the river water flowing into the lake. There were significant upward trends in the EC of both the lake and stream water; the same trends were also found for [graphic removed] concentrations. These trends show evidence of acidification due to atmospheric deposition, and this is the first such finding in Japan based on significant long-term trends. Lake Ijira is located about 40 km north of the Chukyo industrial area near Nagoya. The annual depositions of H⁺, nss- [graphic removed] , and [graphic removed] in Lake Ijira were among the highest of all deposition monitoring sites, suggesting that this is the main cause of the significant acidification observed in Lake Ijira. No significant trends suggesting acidification were observed in any of the other lake catchments in spite of the significant upward trends in EC. Upward trends in pH and alkalinity at Lake Banryu and upward trends in alkalinity at Lake Kamakita were detected, but no change in pH or alkalinity at Lake Kuttara and Lake Unagiike was observed.

CH₄ concentrations in both the surface and bottom waters of Jiaozhou Bay were determined during four surveys in 2003, which showed variability with both seasons and tidal cycles. Atmospheric fluxes of CH₄ in Jiaozhou Bay showed obvious seasonal and spatial variations, with the highest values occurring in summer and the lowest in winter. The annual emission of CH₄ from Jiaozhou Bay was estimated to be [graphic removed] . CH₄ in the water column of Jiaozhou Bay was found to come from several land-sources including riverine water input, sewage water input and groundwater input. The spatial and temporal variation in distributions and atmospheric fluxes of CH₄ in Jiaozhou Bay was influenced mainly by the input of polluted river waters and the sewage effluents along the eastern coast, which highlights the effects of human impacts on CH₄ emission rates.

Analysis of the sensitivity of soils to acidification caused by the deposition of atmospheric pollutants has been one of the major scientific issues in Europe during the past few decades. In the present study, critical loads of acid deposition were calculated using the most accurate datasets available at present for European soils, by the “Simple Mass Balance” method. The results show that the soils most sensitive to acid deposition are Histosols, Cryosols and Podzols in cold areas in northern countries, followed by Lithic and Haplic Leptosols (Dystric) developed on acid parent materials. The highest critical loads corresponded to soils developed over calcareous rocks and soils in areas subject to high precipitation, even those dominated by poorly weatherable primary mineral. In the latter case critical alkalinity leaching is the main variable that determines the value of critical loads, because of the buffering action of the dissolution of aluminium compounds. The results were compared with those obtained by the Stockholm Environmental Institute in the same area, but with a different method of analysis. It was found that the results are highly dependent on the method used to perform the analysis.

Critical loads have been used to develop international agreements on acidifying air pollution abatement, and within the UK and other countries, to develop national policies for pollution abatement. The Environment Agency (England and Wales) has regulatory obligations to protect sites of high conservation value from the threat of acidification, and hence requires a practical methodology for acidification assessments at the site-specific scale. The Environment Agency has therefore posed the question: Are the national critical load exceedance models sufficiently robust to form the basis for methods to assess harm to individual sites or are they only useful for national policy development? In order to provide one measure of the appropriateness of applying the models at the site-specific scale we incorporated estimates of uncertainty in both national and site-specific data into the calculation of critical load exceedance for individual sites. The exceedance calculations use data from a wide range of sources and the accuracy of the exceedance will be influenced by the accuracy of the input data sets. Using Monte Carlo methods to incorporate the uncertainty in the input data sets into the calculation a distribution of critical load exceedance values is generated rather than a single point estimate. This paper compares uncertainty analyses for coniferous forested sites in England and Wales using both national scale and site-specific data sets and uncertainty ranges.

A simple and very sensitive method determining microgram quantities of indium in soil has been developed. The spectrophotometric method (ε = 1.74 x 10⁵ l mol⁻¹ cm⁻¹) based on the mixed complex In (III) with Chrome Azurol S and benzyldodecyldimethylammonium bromide was used for the analysis. A preliminary separation is made by extracting indium into butyl acetate from 5 M HBr solution. The selectivity of indium extraction and determination in the presence of macro- and micro components of soil was studied. Prior reduction of Fe (III) to Fe (II) with ascorbic acid prevents its co-extraction with indium. Indium was determined in synthetic mixtures corresponding to soil compositions and real samples of soil from different agricultural and industrial regions of Poland. The content of indium was found from the calibration graph (in the range, 0.12-0.48 μg/ml; r = 0.9991) obtained after extraction. The precision was satisfactory: % RSD (n = 6) ranged from 2.7 to 8.2. The average indium standard recovery ranged from 95 to 101%. Analysis using an ICP-OES method gave comparable results.

Highly organic soils, and in particular ombrotrophic bogs, have been often used to reconstruct climate changes and heavy metal contaminations. Ombrotrophic peat bogs, in fact, are domed peatlands in which the surface layers are hydrologically isolated from the influence of local groundwaters and surface waters, and are supplied only by atmospheric depositions. In the present work, the attention of Authors has been focused on Pb, Cu, and Zn, coming mainly from anthropogenic activities, and ¹³⁷Cs, released mostly during the Chernobyl disaster. Practically, an undisturbed peat profile was cored in 2005 from a Swiss ombrotrophic bog and analysed using energy-dispersive miniprobe multielement analyzer X-ray fluorescence and Low Background γ-ray spectrometry in order to investigate and quantify the impact of human activities (e.g., industry, traffic, combustion of fossil fuels, “environmental disasters”) in causing Pb, Cu, Zn, and ¹³⁷Cs contaminations during the centuries. Obtained data show that highly organic soils in general, and ombrotrophic bogs in particular, reflect the anthropogenic inputs in heavy metal and radionuclide contaminations. In fact, these environments allowed to follow the depositional history of Pb, Cu, and Zn, both underlining a general increasing of their production since the Industrial Revolution, and remarking past single impacting events such as the introduction of leaded gasoline and of particular agricultural practices. Further, although ¹³⁷Cs showed a main peak corresponding to the Chernobyl disaster, confirming the role of bogs as archive of human activity, data revealed a certain mobility of this radionuclide along the profile. Thus, highly organic soils can be considered as both “witness” of the impact of human activity during centuries and indicator of the health of our planet.

We studied the seasonal cycle of the coupling between atmospheric denoxification processes and in-situ daytime formation of gas phase HNO₃ using a photochemical air pollution model. The model is constrained with urban atmospheric boundary layer observations of O₃, NO₂ and NO made in Ciudad Real, central Spain. The highest daytime HNO₃ mixing ratio of 0.3 ppbv was predicted to occur in summer, following a modelled OH concentration peak of ∼1.4 × 10⁶ molecules cm⁻³ and subsequent reaction with NO₂. During winter, calculated values of HNO₃ are lower due to less incoming radiation and higher wet removal of atmospheric HNO₃. The predicted mixing ratios are in good agreement with observations of atmospheric HNO₃ at similar urban environments in central Spain. Additionally, a marked seasonal cycle is predicted with minimum HNO₃ concentrations occurring in winter, indicative that traffic emissions and photochemistry dominate the in-situ formation of gas phase HNO₃ at this location. This process has implications in the removal of NOₓ from the urban atmosphere.

Groundwater contamination by leakage and spill of petroleum hydrocarbons from underground storage tanks has been a major environmental concern. Among various remediation alternatives, the vacuum-enhanced free product recovery (VFPR) is an important technology to extract light nonaqueous-phase liquids (LNAPLs) from subsurface. However, efficient design of a VFPR system was challenging to practitioners, since the process of hydrocarbon removal is costly and time consuming. To address such a problem, an integrated study system for optimizing the VFPR process was developed through coupling a numerical modeling system, a multivariate regression technique and nonlinear optimization model into a general framework. A two-dimensional multiphase flow simulation system was provided for modeling VFPR processes. An iterative stepwise-inference regression (ISIR) method was advanced for establishing a linkage between remediation actions and system responses. A nonlinear optimization model embedded with ISIR was then established for generating desired operating conditions. The results from a case study demonstrated that the established optimization model could effectively analyze tradeoffs between various environmental and economical considerations, and provide effective decision supports for site remediation practices. Compared with the conventional stepwise-cluster analysis method, the proposed ISIR method was more efficient and reliable in approximating relationships between remediation actions and system responses, and could significantly enhance the robustness of optimization solutions.

In 1998, the pond containing the ore wastes from a pyrite mine in Aznalcóllar (SW, Spain) broke open, spilling some 36×10⁵ m³ of acidic waters and 9 × 10⁵ m³ of tailings containing high concentrations of As and heavy metals. The affected area was around 55 km² of predominantly agricultural soils. After the clean-up of the tailings, many remediation actions were undertaken and the use of blocking agents to immobilize the As was one of the most extended measure. The first experiment performed was to determine the most important soil components in As adsorption under acidic conditions. A second experiment was conducted to neutralize the acidity caused by the solution coming from the tailings undergoing oxidation; an adequate liming material (sugar-refinery scum) was selected and the application rates were established. After the remediation measures, the zone was monitored for three years. A detailed study in four experimental plots located in the most polluted sector was carried out to test the influence of iron oxides in the As immobilization. The use of red soils of the area (rich in free-iron oxides Fed) was established as an appropriate material in the remediation of the area.

Lake Victoria and its basin supports more than 30 million people, while its fishes are exported the world over. This second largest fresh water body is however experiencing stress due to eutrophication, sedimentation, declining levels and more recently the motor vehicle sector. This contribution examines the general pollution from motor vehicle and gives an in-depth analysis of motor vehicle washing along the lakeshore. The results indicate the water samples from the motor vehicle washing and urban runoff points to be slightly acidic (i.e., average pH of 6.7) and average Total Phosphorus levels of 0.4 and 2.4 ppm respectively. This implies that there was high soap input at these points. The conductivity for the motor vehicle washing points averaged at 150 μS/cm, while the urban runoffs point was more varied ranging from below 150 μS/cm to over 400 μS/cm (average 301 μS/cm). A positive correlation coefficient of more than 0.7 is obtained between the total daily count of vehicles and each of the water quality parameter tested. This signifies a strong correlation between motor vehicle related activities and the pollution of the lake. In general, the motor vehicle industry is found to have a noticeable negative effect on the Lake.