International audience

The state of India's environment has been deteriorating steadily over the past two decades. Ambient standards of air, water and soil pollution are routinely exceeded with potentially disastrous consequences. Recognising the seriousness of the problem, the Indian government has recently introduced a series of measures which concentrate on practical aspects of implementation. | However, there are few studies available which can guide the formulation of policies in terms of the most appropriate choice of instruments which can contain pollution and protect India's environment. | That is the central purpose of this pioneering study - namely, to assess the efficacy of alternative instruments for pollution abatement based both on theoretical explorations and real-life case studies. The authors begin by reviewing the existing policy regime and analysing its impact on the quality of air and water in India's cities and rivers respectively. They then proceed to assess the choice of instruments for pollution control by linking economic and environmental systems.

What laws, processes, and institutions exist to protect the American environment? To what degree do they succeed, and where do they fall short? This important new book concisely describes and evaluates America's pollution control system. It concludes, "For all its accomplishments... the pollution control regulatory system is deeply and fundamentally flawed." The authors, analysts with RFF's Center for Risk Management, examine the fragmented tangle of statutes, regulatory bodies, and programs designed to control environmental degradation in the United States. CRM Director Davies and Mazurek employ carefully chosen criteria such as pollution reduction, economic efficiency, and responsiveness to social values in order to judge the effectiveness of the various instruments -- and the system as a whole -- in protecting the environment. Their description of the system is concise and clear, and their selection of criteria is an important contribution to program evaluation. The book also compares U.S. performance with that of other countries. The authors' goal is a critical understanding of pollution regulation in the United States, thus laying the groundwork for improving it. Regulating Pollution emerges from a major research project undertaken by RFF's Center for Risk Management with support from the Andrew W. Mellon and Smith Richardson foundations. The three-year project constitutes the first in-depth, systematic evaluation of U.S. pollution control efforts.

International audience

Products of wet and dry deposition of aero-pollutants, reached by over-boundary or internal-boundary transport, are significant source of pollution, almost, whole territory of Serbia (Yugoslavia). Products of wet and dry deposition endangere surface storages in two ways: (1) directly, by deposition on surface storages; (2) indirectly, by deposition on surface of catchment areas, and further transporting through hydrographic system. In the period 1992-1996 investigations were carried out at some localities in Serbia (Yugoslavia). Their results show that recorded quantities significantly over pass MDK (maximal permitted quantity). Investigations included analysis of samples of precipitation (rain and snow), soil and sediment from hydrographic system.

The work is concerned with the possibility of inactivation of galvanic sludge formed in treatment of wastewaters of electroplanting plants by imbedding the waste in a glass material. Glass can be synthesized in contact with the waste by mixing and heating with glass constituents. The efficiency of inactivation was monitored by leaching the obtained materials. The results of leaching tests showed that the highest amount of electroplanting sludge (about 30%) can be inactivated by vitrification of the following mixtures: 26.3% of electoplanting sludge, 43.7% of sand, and 30.0% of Na2CO3 at 1000 deg C; 30% of galvanic sludge, 49% of sand and 21% of Na2CO3 at 1100 deg C.

This paper deals with microbiological and chemical analysis of waste mud, produced in wastewater purification plants of the oil refinery. After digest, mud is removed to the filter press. Compressed mud is placed and stored on the storage yard. Content of organic, anorganic and oil matters and also heavy metals contents were determined. Microbiological analysis comprised determination of total count of aerobic organotrophic organisms and many physiological groups of bacteria. As the indicator of the general biochemical activity, enzymatic (dehydrogenase and phosphatase) activities were determined. Waste mud was mixed with soil (chernozem) in 20%, 40% and 60% amount relations. Changes of activities and quantitative fluctuations of the present microflora were observed after 15 and 30 days. Gained results should enable assessing of using-ability of waste mud in soil-quality improvement, in the sense of its utilization as the fertilizer.

In our earlier work, we have shown that enzymes from rat brain synaptosomal membranes, Na(+)/K(+)-ATPase and Mg(2+)-ATPase, are promising biological components of a biosensor for lead detection. In this work, we represent our results of investigation with the same enzymes as biological components for the biosensor in presence of Hg(2+) ions in water. It was established that IC50 for Na(+)/K(+)-ATPase and Mg(2+)-ATPase is 6.9 and 5.5 x 10E-6 M, and the percentages of inhibition are 96% and 77% respectively. We concluded that these enzymes could be the base for developing biosensors for the presence of Hg(2+) ion in water. Since these enzymes maintain a stable activity for a longer period of time, they could be appropriate as components of biosensors for monitoring water quality.