Acid deposition is considered to be a major environmental problem in China, but information about effects on soils and waters is scarce. To contribute to increased knowledge about the problem a small catchment (about 7 ha) in the outskirts of Guiyang, the provincial capital of Guizhou in south-western China, was instrumented for collection of precipitation, throughfall, soil water and stream water. In addition soil samples have been collected and analyzed for key properties. Median pH in the precipitation is 4.40 (quartiles: 4.19 and 4.77) and the median sulfate concentration 228 µeq/L (quartiles: 147 and 334 µeq/L). The dry deposition of both SO₂ and alkaline dust is considerable. The sum of wet deposition of sulfate and dry deposition of SO₂ has been estimated to about 8.5 gSm⁻²yr⁻¹. The total S-deposition may be somewhat higher due to dry deposition of sulfate and occult deposition. In soil water, SO₄ ²⁻ is the major anion, generally ranging from 300 to 2500 µeq/L in the different plots. Calcium is an important cation, but there is also a considerable contribution of aluminum from the soil. In some of the plots the concentrations of inorganic monomeric aluminum (Ali) are typically between 200 and 400 µm. Potential harmful levels of aluminum and/or high Ali/(Ca²⁺ + Mg²⁺) molar ratios occur in the catchment, but damages to vegetation have not yet been reported. In most cases exchangeable aluminum accounts for between 75 and 95% of the total effective cation exchange capacity (CECE) in the mineral soils. The aluminum chemistry cannot easily be explained by conventional models as the Gaines-Thomas ion-exchange equation or equilibrium with an Al(OH)₃ mineral phase. The stream water is generally less acidic and has considerably lower concentrations of aluminum than the soil water, even though quite acid events have been observed (pH < 4.4). The median pH values are 4.9 and 5.0 in the two first order streams and 6.3 in the dam at the lower boarder of the catchment.

Arsenic, an environmental pollutant, is present in minute but invariable amounts in food, drinking water and ambient air. Izmir is founded on a land of long extinct volcanoes, with vast areas of lava ground suitable for agriculture. It is located at close vicinity to high thermal activity, e.g., hot springs and thermal baths. In the present study, total arsenic level in breast milk was assessed in randomly chosen 35 lactating women of different socioeconomic levels who live downtown in Izmir and in milk of 36 cows grazing on shoulder grass of highways with heavy traffic. Total arsenic was assessed on an atomic absorption spectrophotometer (AA-680 Shimadzu). Mean (± SEM) arsenic was found to be 4.219 ± 0.079 µg L⁻¹ in breast milk, and 4.932 ± 0.38 µg L⁻¹ in cow's milk. Conclusion: in Izmir, arsenic contamination of breast milk was not found so as to be considered noxious for suckling infants, whereas was found relatively higher in cow's milk. It would be prudent to remember breast and cow's milk arsenic contamination in breast fed or milk fed babies living in areas with higher thermal activity or in regions where ground water is with high arsenic content.

Estimates of mercury emissions from individual sources and source categories are needed to understand relationships between the emissions and resulting deposition and to evaluate possible approaches to reducing those emissions. We have developed geographically-resolved estimates of annual average mercury emission rates from current anthropogenic sources in the 48 contiguous United States. These estimates were made by applying emission factors to individual facility operating data and to county-wide source activity levels. We apportioned the emissions to an Eulerian modeling grid system using point source coordinates and the fractions of county areas in each grid cell. Point sources account for about 89% of the 48-state total mercury emissions of 146.4 Mg/yr. Most of the emissions in the inventory are from combustion of mercury-containing fossil fuels and municipal waste, located primarily in the mid-Atlantic and Great Lakes states as well as in the Southeast. The major uncertainties in the emission estimates are caused by uncertainties in the emission factors used to develop the estimates. This uncertainty is likely a result of variability in the mercury content of the combusted materials and in the removal of mercury by air pollution control devices. The greatest research need to reduce uncertainties in mercury emission estimates is additional measurements to improve emission factors.

In the practice of soil remediation, organoleptic observations such as the smell or the colour of contaminated soil play an important role when determining well-defined volumes of contaminated soil. A GIS is then used to combine quantitative measurements with such soft data. In this study general procedures concerning how to deal with this type of observations are presented. The procedures were applied to a former gas works site, which was contaminated with cyanide and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in the Netherlands. The volume of contaminated soil was determined. Use of soft data reduced the uncertainty in the volume of contaminated soil with 4 to 16%.