Karakalpakstan, Uzbekistan, has faced water scarcity and low water during several years as a consequence of Uzbekistan’s extensive irrigation of cotton fields. The environmental status of the Mejdurechye Reservoir, which is the largest in the lower Amudarya Delta, is therefore of great local importance. This thesis quantifies pollutant mass flows through the reservoir, concidering for instance salt, DDT and Lindane (HCH). Surface water flow paths through Mejdurechye Reservoir are also conceptualized in order to provide suggestions for future a possible monitoring program. Results show that chloride concentrations have decreased during July 2007-2008 with at least 10% in spite of a large specific evaporation and a reservoir volume reduction of at least 60%. The most important implication of this is that pollutants in the reservoir cannot have been subject of evapoconcentration during this period. DDT and Lindane have on the other hand increased with up to 50000% in concentration and 20000% mass compared to measurements dating back to 2002. A rough age estimation of DDT shows that the DDT has been mobilized recently. The results of this thesis may prove valuable when forming environmental policy plans and setting up future monitoring programs.

Recent research has shown that the Arctic may be a sink for mercury, however, the fate of this deposited mercury in the environment is not known. The objective of this project was to determine the factors affecting methyl mercury (MeHg) production in Arctic organic soil on the Truelove Lowlands, Devon Island, Canada. In the field we observed a steady decrease in MeHg over time, with MeHg concentration at many sampling locations declining below detection limits. This decrease did not correlate to any chemical or biophysical parameter measured. During the study the Lowlands appeared to be mildly reducing with dissolved Fe(II) being present in the porewater, however, no correlation was observed between MeHg production and the variables measured. The dissolved organic matter concentration of the porewater was quite high, the pH was circumneutral and it would seem that in the absence of more highly reducing conditions that mercury would be unavailable for methylation.<p> It seems likely under field conditions MeHg was much more bioavailable then inorganic mercury. This would lead to a higher rate of demethylation then methylation and a net decrease in MeHg. Little research has been done on demethylation and the effect of environmental conditions on demethylation, especially in arctic environments. However, it is possible that the rate of demethylation was not affected by changes in temperature or any other parameter measured over the course of the field study. <p> Laboratory microcosm studies using saturated soil from the organic horizons demonstrated little potential for unspiked organic soil to produce significant amounts of MeHg. The spiked treatment, however, had an eight fold increase in MeHg concentration and the sterile treatment showed no change in MeHg concentration over 40 days of freeze (-5 0C) and 59 days of thaw (4 oC). <p> Our data suggests that a combination of atmospheric and in-situ processes maintain a cycle of MeHg production (spring) and loss (summer) in arctic soils. It would seem that Arctic wetland soils are not a significant source of MeHg to the Arctic ecosystem and that snowmelt is the dominant source.

The river Göta Älv reaches between Vänern and Gothenburg and is the main raw water source for Gothenburg that supplies about 700 000 people with water. To protect and maintain a high water quality, continuously samples and water analyses are made throughout the river. In 1998 a protection area was founded between surte and Lärjeholm where the raw water intake is. This was made to increase the awareness of the importance to protect the water. However, there is a lot of contribution of untreated stormwater to Göta Älv within the protection area. Göteborg Water and Sewage Works commissioned this thesis where two areas, Tagene industrial area and Kärra residential area, with untreated stormwater outlets within the protection area are studied. The areas have been divided according to surface composition with different rates of pollutant contribution. Then the stormwater flow and the contribution of pollutants was simulated with the model SEWSYS. The future aim is that the model will be able to simulate the contribution of pollutants for a variety of rains, for the whole protection area. SEWSYS (Sewer System) is built in MATLAB/Simulink and consists of three modules, a stormwater module, a sanitary wastewater module and a treatment plant module. This project only includes the stormwater module. The model simulates the stormwater flow and the pollutants total phosphorous, total nitrogen, copper, zinc, lead, cadmium and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH). Samples and analysis for the two areas has been carried out for another thesis work during the same period. The results from those analyses have been used for the model settings for the areas. Simulations have been performed to adjust the model and evaluate its ability to describe the stormwater flow and the pollutant contribution within the areas. The amount of stormwater and the runoff are well simulated by the model. However, the measured and analysed data has not been enough to get reliable simulations over the pollutant contribution. Further development of the model is necessary. Generally the model simulates lower values compared to measured values, especially in the industrial area. For a more general understanding over how SEWSYS works for the two areas, simulations were carried out on a yearly basis. Those simulations have been compared with general data for stormwater pollutants. Even though the results from the simulations have shown lower values than the measured values, the model shows clearly that the contribution of pollutants from the industrial site is greater than the contribution from the residential site. / Göta Älv sträcker sig från Vänern ner till Göteborg och är Göteborgs huvudsakliga råvattentäkt som försörjer ca 700 000 personer med vatten dagligen. För att säkra råvattenkvaliteten görs kontinuerliga provtagningar utmed älven. Dessutom beslutade Länsstyrelsen 1998 om ett skyddsområde med skyddsföreskrifter för avrinningsområdet mellan Surte i norr till vattenintaget vid Lärjeholm i söder. Ett mål med skyddsområdet är att det ska öka medvetenheten hos boende och de som är verksamma inom området om behovet att värna om vårt vatten. Dock leds det på flera ställen ut orenat dagvatten till älven inom skyddsområdet. Examensarbetet är ett uppdrag av Göteborgs Va-verk där två områden med orenade dagvattenutsläpp till Göta Älv studeras, Tagene industriområde samt Kärra bostadsområde. Dessa områden har karterats och dagvattenflödet samt föroreningsbelastningen från dagvattnet har simulerats med modellen SEWSYS. Målet på lång sikt är att modellen ska kunna användas för att simulera föroreningsbelastningen vid olika regn för hela skyddsområdet. Modellen SEWSYS (Sewer System) är uppbyggd i MATLAB/Simulink och bygger på tre moduler, en dagvattenmodul, en spillvattenmodul och en reningsverksmodul. För detta projekt har endast delen för dagvatten använts. Modellen simulerar dagvattenflödet och behandlar föroreningarna totalfosfor, totalkväve, koppar, zink, bly, kadmium samt polycykliska aromatiska kolväten (PAH). I ett examensarbete parallellt med detta har provtagning och analyser av föroreningar för de båda områdena ägt rum och dessa värden ligger till grund för inställningen av modellen. Simuleringar har utförts för att anpassa modellen samt utvärdera dess förmåga att beskriva dagvattenflödet och föroreningsbelastningen inom de aktuella områdena. Simuleringarna visar att avrinningen och dagvattenflödet simuleras bra av modellen. Det har dock visat sig att de gjorda mätningarna inte har varit tillräckliga som underlag för att få en tillförlitlig beskrivning av föroreningsbelastningen och vidare utveckling är nödvändig. Detta gäller särskilt i industriområdet där modellen generellt simulerar för låga föroreningsmängder. För en mer allmän uppfattning av SEWSYS modellen för de två områdena, har även simuleringar på årsbasis utförts och jämförts med schablonhalter för dagvattenföroreningar. Trots att simuleringsvärdena har legat lägre än de uppmätta värdena på föroreningsmängderna har det gått att visa att industriområdet bidrar till högre föroreningsbelastning än bostadsområdet på recipienten Göta Älv.

Recent research has shown that the Arctic may be a sink for mercury, however, the fate of this deposited mercury in the environment is not known. The objective of this project was to determine the factors affecting methyl mercury (MeHg) production in Arctic organic soil on the Truelove Lowlands, Devon Island, Canada. In the field we observed a steady decrease in MeHg over time, with MeHg concentration at many sampling locations declining below detection limits. This decrease did not correlate to any chemical or biophysical parameter measured. During the study the Lowlands appeared to be mildly reducing with dissolved Fe(II) being present in the porewater, however, no correlation was observed between MeHg production and the variables measured. The dissolved organic matter concentration of the porewater was quite high, the pH was circumneutral and it would seem that in the absence of more highly reducing conditions that mercury would be unavailable for methylation.<p> It seems likely under field conditions MeHg was much more bioavailable then inorganic mercury. This would lead to a higher rate of demethylation then methylation and a net decrease in MeHg. Little research has been done on demethylation and the effect of environmental conditions on demethylation, especially in arctic environments. However, it is possible that the rate of demethylation was not affected by changes in temperature or any other parameter measured over the course of the field study. <p> Laboratory microcosm studies using saturated soil from the organic horizons demonstrated little potential for unspiked organic soil to produce significant amounts of MeHg. The spiked treatment, however, had an eight fold increase in MeHg concentration and the sterile treatment showed no change in MeHg concentration over 40 days of freeze (-5 0C) and 59 days of thaw (4 oC). <p> Our data suggests that a combination of atmospheric and in-situ processes maintain a cycle of MeHg production (spring) and loss (summer) in arctic soils. It would seem that Arctic wetland soils are not a significant source of MeHg to the Arctic ecosystem and that snowmelt is the dominant source.

This study investigates the trends and varieties of concentration of ozone in recent years in Taiwan in order to understand the situation of air qualities in different areas. Ozone is the secondary pollutant produced by nitrogen oxides, reactive hydrocarbons and sunlight. Because ozone has strong oxidizing power, it is easy to stimulate the respiratory system, which may cause cough, asthma, headache, tiredness and harmful to lung; and it is also harmful to plants and even synthetic materials. Here, we tried to study the trends and varieties of the time effect to the ozone level in each region and compare the similarities and heterogeneity of the models in different regions by the ozone data obtained from all air quality monitoring stations of environmental protection administration. Analysis of building appropriate temporal and spatial models are performed and factor analysis on the model residuals are used to investigate the possible latent variables to interpret the patterns of the ozone values in different regions. These may help to set up strategies for ozone control in the future.

In this study, Three-dimensional (3D) airflow and dispersion of pollutants were modeled under various excess wall temperature and traffic rate using the RNG k-£` turbulence model and Boussinesq approximation, which was solved numerically using the finite volume method. The street canyon is 60 m long (=L) and 20 m wide (=W). The height of five-story buildings on both sides of the street are about 16 m (=H). Hence, the street canyon has an aspect ratio (AR=H/W) of 0.8 and a length to width ratio of 3 (=L/W). Vehicle emissions were estimated from the measured traffic flow rates and modeled as banded line sources. 3D simulations reveal that the vortex line, joining the centers of cross-sectional vortices of the street canyon, meanders between street buildings. Notably, there is also a horizontal vortex within street canyon. Pollutant concentrations decline as the height increases, and are higher on the leeward side than on the windward side. The ratio of CO pollutants between leeward side and windward side is related to wind velocity. As wind smaller than 0.7 m/sec , the ratio is 1.23¡Fhowever, the ratio is 2.03 with more wind speed above 1.2 m/sec. The CO concentration reveals that the predicted values generally follow the hourly zigzag traffic rate, indicating that CO is closely related to the traffic emissions in a street canyon. The 3D airflow in the street canyon is dominated by both wind fields on buildings top and street exit. The 3D simulations reveal that air flux is 50% higher than 2D. Entrainment of outside air reduces pollutant concentrations, thus reducing concentrations of CO¡BNOx¡Band SO2 by about 51%¡B68% and 70% ,respectively. Thermal boundary layers are very thin. Entrainment of outside air increases and pollutant concentration decreases with increasing heating condition. For T = 5 K, the upward velocity on leeward side increases by about 10%, Also, the downward velocity on windward side decreases by about 28 %. Furthermore, simulation showed that the averaged inflow speed in the lateral direction increases by about 100% as compared with T = 0 K. Hence, the pollutant concentrations with T = 5 K is ony 50% of those without heating. Simulations are followed measurements in street canyon. The averaged simulated concentrations with no heating conditions are about 11~24% and 22~36% lower than measured for CO and NOx , respectively. For heating conditions and without outside traffic source, the averaged simulated concentrations with T = 2 K are 29~36% lower than the measurements. Even at T = 5 K , the concentrations are only about 54% of those without heating, due to the fact that pollutant dilution is enhanced by buoyancy force as to having more outside air entrained into the canyon. However, when traffic emissions outside two ends of canyon were considered, the simulated CO concentrations are 23% and 19% higher than those without outside traffic sources at T = 0 K and T = 2 K, respectively. Traffic-produced turbulence (TPT) enhances the turbulent kinetic energy and the mixing of temperature and admixtures in the canyon. Although the simulated means with the TPT effect are in better agreement with the measured means than those without the TPT effect, the average reduction of CO concentration by the TPT is only about 5% at a given height and heating conditions. Factors affecting the variations between this work and other studies are addressed and explained.

No description available.

Residential and light-commercial buildings comprise a significant portion of buildings in the United States. They account for a large fraction of the total amount of energy used in the U.S., and they also represent environments where people spend the majority of their time. Thus, the design, construction, and operation of these buildings and their systems greatly affect energy consumption and exposures to airborne pollutants of both indoor and outdoor origin. However, there remains a need to improve knowledge of some key source and removal mechanisms of indoor and outdoor pollutants in residential and light-commercial buildings, as well as their connections to energy use and peak electricity demand. Several standardized field test methods exist for characterizing energy use and indoor air quality in actual buildings, although few explicitly address residential and light-commercial buildings and they are generally limited in scope. Therefore, the work in this dissertation focuses on improving methods to characterize three particular building components for their impacts on exposures to indoor pollutants and their implications for energy consumption: (1) central forced-air heating and cooling (HAC) systems, (2) HAC filters, and (3) building envelopes. Specifically, the research in this dissertation is grouped to fulfill two primary objectives of developing and applying novel methods to: (1) characterize and evaluate central air-conditioning systems and their filters as pollutant removal devices in residential and light-commercial buildings, and to explore their implications for energy consumption, and (2) characterize and evaluate the ability of two particular outdoor pollutants of concern (ozone and particulate matter) to infiltrate indoors through leaks in building envelopes. The research in this dissertation is divided into four primary investigations that fulfill these two objectives. The first investigation (Investigation 1a) addresses Objective 1 by first providing a detailed characterization of a variety of operational characteristics measured in a sample of 17 existing central HAC systems in occupied residential and light-commercial buildings in Austin, Texas, and exploring their implications for exposure to indoor pollutants, energy use, and peak electricity demand. Among the findings in this study, central air-conditioning systems in occupied residential and light-commercial buildings did not operate most of the time, even in the hot and humid climate of Austin, Texas (i.e., ~25% of the time on average in the summer). However, average recirculation rates still make central air-conditioning systems competitive as particle removal mechanisms, given sufficient filtration efficiency. Additionally, this investigation used a larger, much broader, dataset of energy audits performed on nearly 5000 single-family homes in Austin to explore common inefficiencies in the building stock. Residential and light-commercial air-conditioning systems are often inefficient; in fact, residential central air-conditioning systems in particular likely account for nearly 20% of peak electric demand in the City of Austin. As much as 8% of peak demand could be saved by upgrading all single-family homes in Austin to higher-efficiency equipment. The second investigation (Investigation 1b) also addresses Objective 1 by developing and applying a novel test method for measuring the in-situ particle removal efficiency of HAC systems and filters in residential and light-commercial buildings. Results from the novel test method as performed with three test filters and 0.3–10 μm particles in an unoccupied test house agreed reasonably well with results from other field and laboratory test methods. Low-efficiency filters did not increase particle removal much more than simply running the HAC system without a filter, and higher-efficiency filters provided greater than ~50% removal efficiency for most particles greater than 1–2 μm in diameter. The benefit of this test method is that it can be used to measure how filters perform in actual environments, how filter removal efficiency changes with actual dust loading, and how much common HAC design and installation issues, such as low airflow rates, duct leakage, fouled coils, and filter bypass airflow, impact particle removal in real environments. The third investigation (Investigation 2a) addresses Objective 2 by developing and applying a novel test methodology for measuring the penetration of outdoor ozone, a reactive gas, through leaks in exterior building envelopes using a sample of 8 single-family residences in Austin, Texas. These measurements represent the first ever measurements of ozone penetration factors through building envelopes of which I am aware, and penetration factors were lower than the usual assumption of unity (i.e., P = 1) in seven of the eight test homes (ranging from 0.62±0.09 to 1.02±0.15), meaning that some building envelopes provide occupants with more protection from indoor exposures to ozone and ozone reaction byproducts than others. Additionally, ozone penetration factors were correlated with some building characteristics, including the amount of painted wood siding on the exterior envelope and the year of construction, suggesting that simple building details may be used to predict ozone infiltration into homes. Finally, the fourth investigation (Investigation 2b) also addresses Objective 2 by refining and applying a test methodology for measuring the penetration of ambient particulate matter through leaks in building envelopes, and using a sample of 19 single-family residences in Austin, Texas to explore correlations between experimentally-determined particle penetration factors and standardized fan pressurization air leakage tests. Penetration factors of particles 20–1000 nm in diameter ranged from 0.17±0.03 to 0.72±0.08 across 19 homes that relied solely on infiltration for ventilation air. Particle penetration factors were also significantly correlated with results from standardized fan pressurization (i.e., blower door) air leakage tests and the year of construction, suggesting that occupants of older and leakier homes are exposed to more particulate matter of outdoor origin than those in newer tighter homes. Additionally, blower door tests may actually offer some predictive ability of particle penetration factors in single-family homes, which could allow for vast improvements in making easier population exposure estimates. Overall, the work in this dissertation provides new methods and data for assessing the impacts of central air-conditioning systems, filters, and building envelopes on human exposure to indoor pollutants and energy use in residential and light-commercial buildings. Results from these four primary investigations will allow building scientists, modelers, system designers, policymakers, and health scientists to make better informed decisions and assumptions about source and removal mechanisms of indoor pollutants and their impacts on building energy consumption and peak electricity demand. / text

The western part of the border between Mexico and the United States consists of two primary regions, Tijuana-San Diego and Mexicali-Calexico (Imperial Valley). Over the last fifteen years Mexicali has been one of the fastest-growing cities in Mexico in terms of industrial development, job creation, and energy demand, thus resulting in increased air pollution and environmental degradation. This air pollution has thus been linked to high rates of asthma and respiratory diseases on both sides of the border. This thesis focuses on pollutant formation and pollutant interactions between the three regions of the Mexicali-Imperial Valley (MC), Tijuana-San Diego (TS), and Los Angeles (LA) areas. The MODELS-3 modeling approach is used for analyzing the formation of secondary species, and transport of both primary and secondary pollutants between the regions during three pollution episodes in July 2001, August 2001, and January 2002. Area and mobile sources are identified as primary pollutant emitters in MC and TS regions. Source contribution from within the region and from other regions is conducted using CMAQ/ DDM. During the summer episode, O3 plumes originating from TS are transported eastwards along the border region towards MC. O3 plumes generated from precursors emitted by LA mobile sources are transported towards MC and add up to 10 ppbv in the MC region. O3 plumes reach the border regions of California-Arizona and O3 concentrations up to 4 ppbv in the Grand Canyon area can be attributed to area sources in the MC region. Contribution of up to 11 ppbv of O3 in Calexico-Mexicali can be attributed to the high density of vehicles in and around the San Diego region. During the winter episode, the winds being southeasterly (towards southeast) plumes from TS, LA and Las Vegas unite and move towards the MC region with impacts of 10-35 μg m-3. The soil dust contributions from LA, TS and MC range between 5-25 μg m-3. MC area sources contribute a maximum of 34 μg m-3 PM2.5.

O presente trabalho propõe um novo modelo para dispersão de poluentes na atmosfera, tal modelo foi idealizado no trabalho de dissertação da autora e continuou-se seu desenvolvimento nesta pesquisa. O modelo é baseado na solução semi-analítica da equação de advecção-difusão para emissão contínua, com resolução através do método de separação de variáveis e da transformada de Fourier. As condições de contorno são tratadas como infinitas reflexões do poluente no solo e no topo da camada limite atmosférica. Adiante, estas reflexões são utilizadas de modo parcial, na tentativa de considerar fenômenos da dispersão que não podem ser explicitados no modelo determinístico, de forma que os contornos podem ser entendidos como estocásticos, ou seja, pode-se interpretar os contornos como uma amostragem de uma distribuição. Além disso, é realizada uma otimização nos contornos parcialmente reflexivos, com o objetivo de desenvolver uma metodologia de otimização e determinar os valores ótimos para a reflexão parcial. Os resultados obtidos foram, primeiramente, comparados com os experimentos de Copenhagen e Hanford. Posteriormente, comparou-se o modelo com dados de concentração coletados em uma fábrica de celulose, a CMPC Celulose Riograndense. Simulou-se, também, a dispersão de poluentes emitidos por uma usina termelétrica no Brasil, que faz parte do programa de pesquisa e desenvolvimento tecnológico do setor de energia elétrica da Agência Nacional de Energia Elétrica (ANEEL). / The present work proposes a new model for pollutant dispersion in the atmosphere, this model was idealized in the dissertation work of the author and continued its development in this research. The model is based on the semi-analytic solution of the advectiondiffusion equation for continuous emission, with resolution through the method of separation of variables and the Fourier transform. The boundary conditions are treated as infinite reflections of the pollutant in the soil and at the top of the atmospheric boundary layer. These reflections are used in a partial way in the attempt to consider phenomena of dispersion that can not be explained in the deterministic model, so that the boundaries can be understood as stochastic, that is, one can interpret the boundaries as a sampling of a distribution. In addition, an optimization is performed in the partially reflective boundaries, with the purpose of developing an optimization methodology and determining the optimal values for the partial reflection. The results obtained were firstly compared with the experiments of Copenhagen and Hanford. Subsequently, the model was compared with concentration data collected at a cellulose production plant. The dispersion of pollutants emitted by a thermoelectric plant in Brazil was also simulated, which is part of the research and technological development program of the electric energy sector of the National Electric Energy Agency (ANEEL).