Flygt China recently received its largest pump order ever -- US$1.05 million -- for a complete submersible pump/mixer package to be installed in a sewage treatment plant for the city of Zheng Zhou in the province of Henan. This is the first sewage treatment plant for Zheng Zhou, which has a population of over two million.
China is increasing its investment in environmental infrastructure. The official target is to allocate 2-3% of Gross Domestic Product for investment in environmental improvements, but the local authorities will have to raise a certain percentage of this by themselves.
What's driving this growing investment? With a fast-improving living standard and an increase in foreign contracts, China is under strong pressure from within and from neighbouring countries to improve its environment. In Shanghai, for example, the estimated wastewater volume is 5.7 million cubic metres per day, but the sewage treatment capacity for secondary treatment is less than 10%.
Dams And Development: A New Framework for Decision-Making, the Final Report by the World Commission on Dams, seeks to turn costly controversies into clear and productive consensus. For the first time, a diverse forum of engineers, environmentalists, government officials, indigenous people, financiers, affected people and academics, engaged for two years in an unprecedented global public policy process.
Some of the key findings of the commission are:
Cost is £20 for paperback. Order on-line at: www.earthscan.co.uk.
William Gates, Manager of the Halifax Water Commission, was selected as one of two recipients of AWWA's Distinguished Public Service Award. This award is presented annually to members of AWWA who have been leaders in their community in their voluntary services to the public.
Bill Gates has been active with the Atlantic Canada Water Works Association since the 1970s. In that time, he has served as Secretary-Treasurer, Director, and Chairman of the Section. He has been especially active in the area of training, and was appointed training co-ordinator in 1994. The AWWA recognized his contribution with an Honorary Membership and the Fuller Award for distinguished service to the water supply field. The ACWWA recognized his contributions with the Ira P. Macnab Award for service in the waterworks field in Atlantic Canada.
Gates is also a Fellow of the Engineering Institute of Canada, the Canadian Society of Civil Engineers, and an Honorary member of the Canadian Water and Wastewater Association, having served as the Association's founding President. He has also served as Councillor for the Halifax Area of the Association of Professional Engineers of Nova Scotia, and is a Past President of the alumni association, and alumni representative on the Board of Governors, and Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Technical University of Nova Scotia.
ES&E's February/March 2001 Editorial Comment discussed the US OSHA's Ergonomics Rule which was being opposed by the Washington Legal Foundation (WLF). Now, in a stunning reversal, the ergonomics rule has been repealed. President Bush has said that he will sign this repeal, bringing to a swift end what the WLF called 'the most intrusive federal oversight of American workplaces in history'.
WLF filed suit challenging the rule in December 2000 in federal court, charging that OSHA had exceeded its power in seeking to impose what it termed the most onerous workplace restrictions on more than 100 million American workers. Passage of the repeal legislation brings the litigation to a successful conclusion.
"Congress evidently understood that the ergonomics rule threatened to swamp our already floundering economy," WLF Senior Counsel for Litigation Affairs, Shawn Gunnarson said. "We are pleased that OSHA's attempt to over-regulate American workplaces has been decisively squelched."
A waste by-product of tomato processing, tomato skins are the source of a beneficial cancer-fighting compound that could turn food wastes which are liabilities, into beneficial chemicals. John Shi, an Agriculture and AgriFood Canada research scientist who works with the University of Guelph, is looking at the potential of extracting the chemical, known as lycopene.
Fresh tomatoes have high levels of lycopene and Ontario is the second largest tomato producer in North America. More than 25,000 tonnes of tomato skins are currently discarded as waste.
The Québec government is introducing what it calls the toughest drinking water regulations in the country. Under the new rules, any well or source of drinking water serving more than 20 people, will be subject to mandatory filtration, chlorination, and regular testing. All water suppliers in the province, from individuals to municipalities, will be required to test semi-annually for bacteria such as E. coli and protozoa such as giardia, and once a year for nitrates. Distributing water that does not meet requirements will become illegal.
Implementing the new standards will cost municipalities about $600 million, but the province will defray more than half the cost through infrastructure programs. The standards will cost home owners who are not hooked up to a municipal water system a minimum of $100 a year and some commercial enterprises more.
The American Water Works Association has called on Congress and the nation's civil engineers to join it in developing an efficient, responsible plan to overcome America's multi-billion dollar shortfall in drinking water infrastructure investment. AWWA made its request following an evaluation of the nation's core infrastructure, conducted by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), which criticized the investment shortfall, by giving the nation's drinking water infrastructure a "D" grade.
In its Report Card for America's Infrastructure, the ASCE estimated that the investment in drinking water infrastructure falls (US) $11 billion short every year. Without the necessary rate of investment, many communities continue to rely on water pipe that has passed its prime and in some cases is well over 100 years old. As pipes age, they become more likely to burst, leak or corrode.
According to the report, investment shortfalls are a result of consistent underfunding of federal drinking water initiatives, coupled with increased demands on water utilities' financial resources. ASCE anticipates the problem will be exacerbated by growing demand for drinking water nationwide over the next 20 years. To remedy the situation, ASCE recommended Congress fully fund existing federal drinking water programs and institute new federal programs targeted specifically to staving off future investment shortfalls to counter the current situation.
The findings of AWWA's ongoing research concur with the ASCE's findings on the scope of the problem and the budget pressures water utilities face. These led AWWA to call for a stronger commitment to water infrastructure investment from the federal government over a year ago. However, the Association's analysis also indicates that improved local management and more cooperative relationships between utilities and all levels of government must be implemented before access to any new funding resources can be optimized.
University of Missouri-Columbia researchers are using a "fingerprinting" test that can trace water pollution back to its source using DNA from bacteria.
According to Andrew Carson, MU professor of veterinary pathobiology, the presence of fecal E. coli bacteria -- microbes that live in the intestines of their host until they are excreted -- commonly is used to determine if water pollution is caused by human or animal waste.
"Typically, these organisms are non-pathogenic, which means they do not produce disease," Carson said. "However, their detection in water warns of the potential presence of disease-producing strains of E. coli, salmonella, or hepatitis virus that also can be found in human or animal waste."
In order to track fecal E. coli water pollutants back to their host source, Carson's laboratory is applying a DNA pattern recognition technique. This novel approach is based on the premise that each host species harbors particular types of E. coli bacteria in its intestinal tract that have unique DNA patterns, or "fingerprints". By comparing the E. coli fingerprints found in water samples with E. coli DNA patterns from known-host species, possible sources of water pollution can be identified.
"This technology, known as ribotyping, was first reported in 1988, but only recently has it been applied to water quality," Carson said. "Other scientists have used it to distinguish between human and non-human sources of water pollution, but we are now able to distinguish among a variety of animal and bird host species using DNA fingerprints."
Contact: JenkinsJL@missouri.edu.
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| A "gathering" of snowmobiles in Ontario's Muskokas shows the popularity of the sport. Photo - Steve Davey |
Following a 90-day delay in implementation by his Administration, President Bush let stand a National Park Service rule designed to protect wildlife and visitors of Yellowstone National Park by creating a winter mass transit system and phasing out the use of individual snowmobiles. Snowmobiles cause air pollution and invasive noise in the park.
Implementation of the ruling is still unclear, and under legal assault by the snowmobile industry.
Despite repeated requests by the President of the National Parks Conservation Association, the NPCA and other interveners have been shut out of settlement discussions. Secretary of the Interior, Gail Norton, also has forbidden the staff of Yellowstone National Park to spend any federal funds on snowcoaches, the favored form of winter mass transit slated for use in Yellowstone.
The Honourable David Anderson, Canada's Environment Minister, has become the first Canadian ever elected as President of the Governing Council of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). He was elected for a two-year term.
UNEP is the leading international forum for governments to address current and emerging environmental issues. The election of Minister Anderson continues a long-standing tradition of major Canadian involvement in UNEP leadership. Two of UNEP's four executive directors to date, Maurice Strong and Elizabeth Dowdeswell, have been Canadians.