Soil sampling strategies for site assessments in petroleum-contaminated areas.

Environmental site assessments are frequently executed for monitoring and remediation performance evaluation purposes, especially in total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH)-contaminated areas, such as gas stations. As a key issue, reproducibility of the assessment results must be ensured, especially if attempts are made to compare results between different institutions. Although it is widely known that uncertainties associated with soil sampling are much higher than those with chemical analyses, field guides or protocols to deal with these uncertainties are not stipulated in detail in the relevant regulations, causing serious errors and distortion of the reliability of environmental site assessments. In this research, uncertainties associated with soil sampling and sample reduction for chemical analysis were quantified using laboratory-scale experiments and the theory of sampling. The research results showed that the TPH mass assessed by sampling tends to be overestimated and sampling errors are high, especially for the low range of TPH concentrations. Homogenization of soil was found to be an efficient method to suppress uncertainty, but high-resolution sampling could be an essential way to minimize this.

Effect of Corynebacterium glutamicum on Livestock Material Burial Treatment.

In recent years, foot-and-mouth disease has occurred in all parts of the world. The animals with the disease are buried in the ground; therefore, their concentration could affect ground or groundwater. Moreover, the complete degradation of carcasses is not a certainty, and their disposal is important to prevent humans, livestock, and the environment from being affected with the disease. The treatment of Corynebacterium glutamicum is a feasible method to reduce the risk of carcass decomposition affecting humans or the environment. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the effect of C. glutamicum on the soil environment with a carcass. The composition of amino acids in the soil treated with C. glutamicum was generally higher than those in the untreated soil. Moreover, the plant root in the soil samples treated with C. glutamicum had 84.0% amino acids relative to the standard value and was similar to that of the control. The results of this study suggest the possibility to reduce the toxicity of a grave land containing animals with this disease.

Co-composting solid biowastes with alkaline materials to enhance carbon stabilization and revegetation potential.

Co-composting biowastes such as manures and biosolids can be used to stabilize carbon (C) without impacting the quality of these biowastes. This study investigated the effect of co-composting biowastes with alkaline materials on C stabilization and monitored the fertilization and revegetation values of these co-composts. The stabilization of C in biowastes (poultry manure and biosolids) was examined by their composting in the presence of various alkaline amendments (lime, fluidized bed boiler ash, flue gas desulphurization gypsum, and red mud) for 6 months in a controlled environment. The effects of co-composting on the biowastes' properties were assessed for different physical C fractions, microbial biomass C, priming effect, potentially mineralizable nitrogen, bioavailable phosphorus, and revegetation of an urban landfill soil. Co-composting biowastes with alkaline materials increased C stabilization, attributed to interaction with alkaline materials, thereby protecting it from microbial decomposition. The co-composted biowastes also increased the fertility of the landfill soil, thereby enhancing its revegetation potential. Stabilization of biowastes using alkaline materials through co-composting maintains their fertilization value in terms of improving plant growth. The co-composted biowastes also contribute to long-term soil C sequestration and reduction of bioavailability of heavy metals.

Water quality of runoff from agricultural-forestry watersheds in the Geum River Basin, Korea.

Forestry and agricultural land uses constitute 85% of Korea and these land uses are typically mixed in many watersheds. Land cover is one of the most important factors affecting diffuse pollution and water quality. The aim of this study is to estimate the pollutant concentrations in runoff from four study watersheds consisting of a mix of forestry and agricultural land uses at different ratios in the Geum River Basin. The effect of topographical variables was also considered. The ratio of agricultural land use to the total area of study watersheds was in the range of 0.01-0.36. Flow rate and water quality (suspended solids, organics and nutrients) of runoff from 40 rainfall events were monitored at the study watersheds. Descriptive statistics showed higher nutrients and organic concentrations in runoff from watershed with higher agricultural activities. Event Mean Concentration (EMC) of individual runoff event was calculated for each water quality constituent based on the flow rate and concentration data of runoff discharge, and arranged on a cumulative probability scale according to runoff occurrence. From the correlation analysis between EMC data and affecting variables, the ratio of agricultural land use to the total area was identified as the parameter that most affected the magnitude of EMC.

Diffuse pollution loading from urban stormwater runoff in Daejeon city, Korea.

In this paper, stormwater runoff from an urban watershed with combined sewer systems located in Daejeon metropolitan city, Korea, was characterized to measure the stormwater runoff discharge rates and pollutant concentrations. The observed averaged event mean concentrations (EMCs) of combined sewer overflows (CSO) were 536.1mg TSS/L, 467.7 mg TCODcr/L, 142.7 mg TBOD/L, 16.5mg TN/L, and 13.5mg TP/L. A detention basin was proposed to reduce CSO, and its essential design elements were discussed. The first flush significantly affected contaminant constituents in the descending order of suspended solid>organics>nutrients. Storage volumes for containing the first flush to improve water quality of the receiving stream can be estimated based on the total suspended solid loading. In this study, detention of the first flush equivalent to 5mm of precipitation could reduce CSO-induced diffuse pollution loading to a receiving water body by up to 80% of the total suspended solid loading.