In China, ambient fine particulate matter (PM₂.₅) causes a large health burden and raises specific concerns for policymakers. However, assessments of the health effects associated with air pollution from industrial land layouts remain inadequate. This study established a comprehensive assessment framework to quantify the health and economic impacts of PM₂.₅ exposure at different industrial geographical locations. This framework aims to optimize the spatial distribution of industrial emissions to achieve the lowest public health costs in Changsha, a representative industrial city in China. Health effects were estimated by applying the integrated exposure-response model and a long-range pollution dispersion model (CALPUFF). The value of statistical life (VSL) was used to monetize health outcomes. It was found that implementing an optimal industrial land layout can yield considerable social and financial benefits. Compared with the current industrial space layout, in 2030, the averted contribution by Changsha’s industrial sector to PM₂.₅-related mortality and corresponding economic losses will be 60.8% and 0.69 billion US dollars (USD), respectively. The results of optimization analyses highlighted that population density and emission location are significant factors affecting the health burden. This method can identify the optimal geographical allocation of industrial land with minimal expected health and economic burden. These results will also provide policymakers with a measurable assessment of health risks related to industrial spatial planning and the associated health costs to enhance the effectiveness of efforts to improve air quality.

Water shortages are an issue of growing worldwide concern. Irrigated agriculture accounts for about 70% of total freshwater withdrawals globally, therefore alternatives to use of conventional sources need to be investigated. This paper critically reviews the application of treated wastewater for agricultural fertigation (i.e., water and nutrient recovery) considering different perspectives: legislation, agronomic characteristics, social acceptability, sustainability of treatment technologies. Critical issues that still need further investigation for a wider application of fertigation practices include accumulation of emerging contaminants in soils, microbiological and public health implications, and stakeholders' acceptance. A techno-economic methodological approach for assessing the sustainability of treated wastewater reuse in agriculture is subsequently proposed herein, which considers different possible local conditions (cultivated crops and effluent characteristics). The results showed that tailoring effluent characteristics to the desired nutrient composition could enhance the process economic sustainability; however, water savings have a major economic impact than fertilizers’ savings, partly due to limited P reuse efficiency. The developed methodology is based on a practical approach and may be generalized to most agricultural conditions, to evaluate and encourage safe and efficient agricultural wastewater reuse practices.

The ground-level ozone (O₃) concentration in the urban regions of China has become an increasingly noticeable environmental problem in recent years. Many epidemiological studies have reported the association between O₃ pollution and mortality, only a few studies have focused on the O₃-related mortality and corresponding economic effects at the Chinese city and province level. This study reports the seasonal variation of ground-level O₃ in 338 cities of China during the year 2016 and evaluates its effect on premature mortality and economic loss. It further illustrates the differences in cause-specific mortality outcomes of the log-linear and linear model, two of the prominently used methods for estimating health effects. In 2016, the annual average daily maximum 8-h O₃ concentration in China ranged between 74 and 201 μg/m³ (138 ± 24.7 μg/m³). 30% of the total population was exposed to >160 μg/m³ O₃ concentration (Chinese national ambient air quality standard) and about 67.2% urban population lived in exposure above the WHO recommended O₃ concentrations (100 μg/m³). The estimated national O₃-attributable mortality was 74.2 × 10³ (95% CI: 16.7×10³–127×10³) in the log-linear model, whereas, the total O₃-related mortality using the linear model was 69.6 × 10³ (95% CI: 16.2 × 10³–115 × 10³). The exposure to O₃ caused a nationwide economic loss of about 7.6 billion US$ (range: 1.7–12.9) in 2016. This study uniquely provides most comprehensive coverage of the Chinese cities for O₃ associated mortality utilizing ground level measurement data for 2016 and presents a measurable assessment to the policymakers of China for streamlining their efforts on air quality improvement and O₃ containment.

Air pollution continues to be a problem in the urban environment. A range of different pollutant mitigation strategies that promote dispersion and deposition exist, but there is little evidence with respect to their comparative performance from both an environmental and economic perspective. This paper focuses on examining different NO2 mitigation strategies such as trees, buildings facades coated with photocatalytic paint and solid barriers in Oxford Street in London. The case study findings will support ranking the environmental and economic impacts of these different strategies to improve personal exposure conditions on the footpath and on the road in a real urban street canyon. CFD simulations of airflow and NO2 dispersion in Oxford Street in London were undertaken using the OpenFOAM software platform with the k-ε model, taking into account local prevailing wind conditions. Trees are shown to be the most cost-effective strategy, with a small reduction in NO2 concentrations of up to 0.7% on the road. However, solid barriers with and without the application of photocatalytic paint and an innovative material (20 times more expensive than trees) can improve air quality on the footpaths more substantially, up to 7.4%, yet this has a significant detrimental impact on NO2 concentrations (≤23.8%) on the road. Photocatalytic paint on building surfaces presented a minimal environmental reductions (1.2%) and economic (>100 times more expensive than trees) mitigation strategy. The findings recognised the differences between footpath and road concentrations occurred and that a focused examination of three pollution hotspots can provide more cost effective pollution mitigation. This study considers how a number of pollutant mitigation measures can be applied in a single street canyon and demonstrates the strengths and weaknesses of these strategies from economic and environmental perspectives. Further research is required to extrapolate the findings presented here to different street geometries.

This study assessed the economic value of health impacts of transboundary smoke haze pollution in Kuala Lumpur and adjacent areas in the state of Selangor, Malaysia. Daily inpatient data from 2005, 2006, 2008, and 2009 for 14 haze-related illnesses were collected from four hospitals. On average, there were 19 hazy days each year during which the air pollution levels were within the Lower Moderate to Hazardous categories. No seasonal variation in inpatient cases was observed. A smoke haze occurrence was associated with an increase in inpatient cases by 2.4 per 10,000 populations each year, representing an increase of 31 percent from normal days. The average annual economic loss due to the inpatient health impact of haze was valued at MYR273,000 ($91,000 USD).

The MV Rena ran aground on the 5 October 2011 off the coast of New Zealand, releasing over 350 t of heavy fuel oil. The environmental effects of this spill are well documented, however, little research has been undertaken regarding the short term economic losses observed because of the spill. By looking at pre- and post-spill trends for commercial fisheries and tourism in the area, as well as the clean-up and restoration costs, the direct costs associated with the MV Rena oil spill can be estimated. Overall, net losses of NZD 45,479,017 were observed. This research adds to the limited economic reports regarding small/medium oil spills, and demonstrates that even these smaller spills are capable of having a sizeable impact on local economies.

Biofouling by marine organisms can result in a variety of negative environmental and economic consequences, with decontamination procedures remaining problematic, costly and labour-intensive. Here, we examined the efficacy of direct steam exposure to induce mortality of selected biofouling species: Mytilus edulis; Magallana gigas; Semibalanus balanoides; Fucus vesiculosus; and an Ulva sp. Total mortality occurred at 60-sec of steam exposure for M. edulis and juvenile M. gigas, at 30-sec for S. balanoides, while 300-sec was required for adult M. gigas. Application of steam reduced the biomass of F. vesiculosus and significantly reduced Ulva sp. biomass, with complete degradation being observed for Ulva sp. following 120-sec of exposure. Accordingly, it appears that steam exposure can cause mortality of biofouling organisms through thermal shock. Although preliminary, our novel and promising results suggest that steam applications could potentially be used to decontaminate niche areas and equipment.

Bryozoa is a phylum of aquatic invertebrates widely distributed around the world, including harbor areas. They have association to artificial structures as main mechanism of dispersal, including ships, which facilitates their introduction to new environments. The detection of exotic species is important to prevent new introductions and to propose management strategies of marine areas. Thus, after analyzing and discussing local and global criteria of exotic species, an account of exotic bryozoans from Brazil is presented, including 12 classified as exotic (six established and six detected) and 17 classified as potentially exotic (cryptogenic). Three species have been reported causing economic or environmental impacts worldwide. Of those, Membraniporopsis tubigera is known to cause economic impacts on the Brazilian coast. Hull fouling is the main dispersal mechanism for exotic bryozoans. The lacking of reliable data did not allow inferring on the exotic status on some fouling bryozoan species in Brazil.

Oil spills in the marine environment can have serious environmental, social and economic impacts. These impacts may be of transnational nature, and this makes the oil spill problem an international issue. Therefore, it is necessary to develop a common structured methodology for oil spill risk assessment. In this research, a general framework is presented for probabilistic risk assessment of oil spill from offshore oil wells. A case study is also performed in Persian Gulf to quantify the risk posed by 357 offshore wells to the near-shore receptors. First, thousands of hypothetical spill scenarios of different volumes are defined and simulated using a Lagrangian particle tracking model. Then, the result of the simulations is statistically processed to generate the risk networks and risk maps. The result of this research shed light on the importance of the pattern of environmental forcing elements and the frequency of spills in oil spill risk assessment.

In early XXth century, the Gulf of Gabes (SE Tunisia) used to host the most extended Posidonia oceanica seagrass beds in the Mediterranean Sea, and a highly productive hotspot of benthic/demersal biodiversity. Sponge harvesting and seabed trawling provoked a first step of seagrass degradation. Subsequently, phosphogypsum releases from Gabes Industrial Complex, since mid-1970s, accelerated the decline of the remaining patches. A sharp reduction of coastal fisheries landings took place with the establishment of the last industrial plant units in 1985. The decrease in coastal commercial species landings was found to be directly correlated with P. oceanica decline. The trophic web system switched from a ‘benthic-dominated’ to a ‘pelagic-dominated’ system. The economic loss related to coastal fisheries was estimated at ~60 million € in 2014 and the 1990–2014 cumulated loss exceeded 750 million €. This first economic valuation of the only direct-use consumptive value of the coastal fishing service provided by P. oceanica in Gabes Gulf is a first step towards the assessment of the environmental cost of the negative externalities caused by the local phosphate industry. It may be used as a preliminary decision-making aid to consider alternative industrial solutions.