Requirements for the Catchment,Treatment, and Surveillance of Drinking Water To Avoid the Transmittance of Pathogenic Bacterial,Viral, and Parasitic Organisms

Measures devised for guaranteeing the supply of epidemiologically and hygienically sound drinking water are generally based on observations made during epidemics and the follow‐up scientific studies. Despite the high level standards that have been attained in the treatment of drinking water, the drinking water‐derived outbreaks still keep cropping up even in the industrialized countries. The outbreaks of the parasites Giardia lamblia and Cryptosporidium parvum, and the recent outbreak in Canada caused by Toxoplasma gondii, again focused our attention to the possible infection risk posed by pathogens in drinking water. The circumstances of the cryptosporidia outbreak in Milwaukee in 1993 can be considered as typical for such outbreaks in which parasites have caused human disease. There are generally two ways of avoiding the transmittance of pathogens by drinking water: (i) use of uncontaminated groundwater, or (ii) treatment of the potentially contaminated one. All surface waters have to be considered potentially contaminated, while the purity of the groundwater depends on the local conditions. Routine disinfection of drinking water should be used to minimize the residual risk posed by pathogens. For purification of fecally contaminated water it is utterly inadequate. Testing of water for pathogens followed by more extensive decontamination measures in the case of positive findings appears to be of little value.     

Morphometric techniques allow environmental reconstructions from low-diversity continental ostracode assemblages

Quantification of intra-specific morphological variability of aquatic biota along environmental gradients can produce biological proxies that can be applied to paleoenvironmental reconstructions. This morphology-derived proxy information can be especially valuable when dealing with low-diversity fossil assemblages, i.e. in situations when paleoenvironmental inference based on species composition of the assemblage is less effective. We analyzed valve size and outline shape of the widespread and highly environmentally tolerant ostracode species Limnocythere inopinata collected in 15 lakes and ponds of Western Mongolia. We quantified shape variability among and within these living populations in relation to water chemistry and physical habitat variables. Our results indicate that: (1) a population’s mean valve outline is related to habitat type, (2) surface water temperature, the alkalinity to sulphate ratio, specific conductance and total phosphorus together explain a high portion of the variance in mean valve outline between populations, and (3) a quantitative model inferring the alkalinity to sulphate ratio from mean valve outline has an R2 of 0.88 and RMSEP of 0.17. These results corroborate the hypothesis that high morphological variability in this ostracode species is due to both ecophenotypic variance and high clonal diversity associated with a mixed reproductive strategy (a combination of sexual and parthenogenetically reproducing lineages), and underline the value of morphometric techniques in paleoecology.     

Estimates of wind power and radiative near-inertial internal wave flux

Ocean Dynamics - Energy transfer mechanisms between the atmosphere and the deep ocean have been studied for many years. Their importance to the ocean’s energy balance and possible...     

A methodology for spatially representing the likelihood of occurrence of natural contaminants in groundwater

This paper presents a novel method of spatially representing the likelihood of occurrence of a contaminant in groundwater at the scale of a municipality or watershed. The specific contaminant of concern in the case study area is arsenic, which is variably present in groundwater at concentrations exceeding the 10 µg/l drinking water guideline. The method used to produce the likelihood of occurrence map incorporates confidence of geochemical interpretation based on availability of information and data on each aquifer. While demonstrated using arsenic as the contaminant of interest, the approach is readily adapted to other groundwater constituents. The final map is intended to be of use to water managers as it provides a spatial representation of aquifers of concern and identifies areas where further sampling or monitoring may be needed.     

A statistical test on the local effects of spatially structured variance

Spatial variance is an important characteristic of spatial random variables. It describes local deviations from average global conditions and is thus a proxy for spatial heterogeneity. Investigating instability in spatial variance is a useful way of detecting spatial boundaries, analysing the internal structure of spatial clusters and revealing simultaneously acting geographic phenomena. Recently, a corresponding test statistic called ‘Local Spatial Heteroscedasticity’ (LOSH) has been proposed. This test allows locally heterogeneous regions to be mapped and investigated by comparing them with the global average mean deviation in a data set. While this test is useful in stationary conditions, its value is limited in a global heterogeneous state. There is a risk that local structures might be overlooked and wrong inferences drawn. In this paper, we introduce a test that takes account of global spatial heterogeneity in assessing local spatial effects. The proposed measure, which we call ‘Local Spatial Dispersion’ (LSD), adapts LOSH to local conditions by omitting global information beyond the range of the local neighbourhood and by keeping the related inferential procedure at a local level. Thereby, the local neighbourhoods might be small and cause small-sample issues. In the view of this, we recommend an empirical Bayesian technique to increase the data that is available for resampling by employing empirical prior knowledge. The usefulness of this approach is demonstrated by applying it to a Light Detection and Ranging-derived data set with height differences and by making a comparison with LOSH. Our results show that LSD is uncorrelated with non-spatial variance as well as local spatial autocorrelation. It thus discloses patterns that would be missed by LOSH or indicators of spatial autocorrelation. Furthermore, the empirical outcomes suggest that interpreting LOSH and LSD together is of greater value than interpreting each of the measures individually. In the given example, local interactions can be statistically detected between variance and spatial patterns in the presence of global structuring, and thus reveal details that might otherwise be overlooked.     

Sunflower (Helianthus annuus): phytoextraction capacity for heavy metals on a mining-influenced area in Thuringia,Germany

On an uranium-mining-influenced area, sunflowers (Helianthus annuus) were grown on a small-scaled plot. Subsamples of sunflowers were harvested 34, 66, 96, 108, 140, and 170 days after sowing. Contents of Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb, Th, U, Zn, and rare earth elements (REEs, La–Lu) were determined in the sunflower shoots, as well as total and bioavailable contents of these 25 elements in the soil taken on the day of sowing and after the last harvest. Shoot contents alone were not sufficient to evaluate the extraction capacity of the sunflowers. Instead total extracted masses (product of biomass and element content) had to be calculated. The total extracted mass increased for most of the elements until 140 days after sowing. Bioconcentration factors (BCFs) as ratio between element content in shoot and soil, were calculated for this time to evaluate the phytoextraction efficiency. BCFs ≥1 (relating total soil contents) and thus a very effective extraction was calculated for Cd. The BCFs, based on mobile soil contents, were ≥1 for all elements, except for U and REEs (La–Lu). Consequently, the sunflower is able to extract many elements effectively from the direct harmful soil fraction. To reduce the contents of Cd and Ni down to levels, where the mining-influenced area could be classified as arable land would require 55 and 207 sunflower growth cycles. Although this is quite a long time, the uranium-mining-influenced area could be successively remediated, while growing biofuel crops, without interfering with food production.     

Characterisation of ground motion recording stations in the Groningen gas field

The seismic hazard and risk analysis for the onshore Groningen gas field requires information about local soil properties, in particular shear-wave velocity (V_S). A fieldwork campaign was conducted at 18 surface accelerograph stations of the monitoring network. The subsurface in the region consists of unconsolidated sediments and is heterogeneous in composition and properties. A range of different methods was applied to acquire in situ V_S values to a target depth of at least 30 m. The techniques include seismic cone penetration tests (SCPT) with varying source offsets, multichannel analysis of surface waves (MASW) on Rayleigh waves with different processing approaches, microtremor array, cross-hole tomography and suspension P-S logging. The offset SCPT, cross-hole tomography and common midpoint cross-correlation (CMPcc) processing of MASW data all revealed lateral variations on length scales of several to tens of metres in this geological setting. SCPTs resulted in very detailed V_S profiles with depth, but represent point measurements in a heterogeneous environment. The MASW results represent V_S information on a larger spatial scale and smooth some of the heterogeneity encountered at the sites. The combination of MASW and SCPT proved to be a powerful and cost-effective approach in determining representative V_S profiles at the accelerograph station sites. The measured V_S profiles correspond well with the modelled profiles and they significantly enhance the ground motion model derivation. The similarity between the theoretical transfer function from the V_S profile and the observed amplification from vertical array stations is also excellent.     

Modern and early Holocene mollusc fauna of the Ounianga lakes (northern Chad): implications for the palaeohydrology of the central Sahara

The fresh and saline lakes of Ounianga Kebir and Serir in northeastern Chad are among the very few permanent aquatic ecosystems currently existing in the hyper‐arid core of the Sahara desert. The confirmed modern fauna of aquatic molluscs at Ounianga comprises three widespread species (Melanoides tuberculata, Biomphalaria pfeifferi and Lymnaea natalensis), of which only the first appears to maintain a thriving population. We recovered seven more species of gastropods, among which one is new to science (Gabbiella ouniangaensis), and one bivalve species from early Holocene outcrops of diatomaceous limestone at Ounianga Serir. All species except one are known to be commonly spread between lake and river systems by birds, and in its entirety this species‐rich fossil mollusc fauna of Ounianga Serir resembles that of other Saharan lake sites known to have been hydrologically isolated during the early Holocene. The impoverished modern mollusc fauna, which lacks even the widespread and opportunistic species Bulinus truncatus, may have become established relatively recently through new colonisation events, following eradication of the early Holocene mollusc fauna during a later episode of high salinity or desiccation. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Limits of sediment transfer in an alpine debris-flow catchment,Illgraben, Switzerland

The 9.5 km² Illgraben catchment, located in the Rhône valley in the Central Alps of Switzerland, is one of the most active debris flow torrents in the Alps. In this paper we present sediment yield data collected in 2006 for segments where hillslopes and channels form a fully connected network and contrast these with sediment yields measured for disconnected hillslopes. The data reveal that sediment yields are 1–2 orders of magnitude larger in segments where hillslopes are connected with the channel network than on disconnected hillslopes. Support for this conclusion is provided by observations made on 1959, 1999 and 2004 aerial photographs that the vegetation cover in the disconnected segments is still intact, whereas denudation rates of several centimeters per year in the connected segments have inhibited the establishment of a stable vegetation cover. Furthermore, sediment supplied from hillslopes during the past 40 years has temporarily accumulated along the Illgraben channel, indicating that the channel aggraded over this period and has not yet recovered. An implication of this observation is that initiation of debris flows in the Illgraben catchment is limited more by the availability of intense rainfall than sediment. In contrast, on disconnected hillslopes, sediment flux does not appear to be driven by precipitation.The petrographic composition of the Illgraben fan deposits indicates two distinct sediment sources, one related to rockfall and the other to landslides and debris flows. The presence of clasts from both sources implies multiple processes of erosion, deposition, mixing and re-entrainment in the catchment before the material is exported to the Illgraben fan and to the Rhône River. In addition, delivery of large amounts of coarse-grained sediment to the Rhône causes a modification of the flow pattern from meandering or anastomosing upstream to braided downstream. Hence, the direct connectivity between hillslope and channelized processes in the Illgraben catchment causes not only rapid topographic modifications in the catchment, but also morphologic adjustment in the Rhône valley downstream.