Chlorination of soil-derived dissolved organic matter: Long term nitrogen deposition does not increase terrestrial precursors of toxic disinfection byproducts.

Terrestrial dissolved organic matter (DOM) in forested watersheds is a known precursor of disinfection byproducts (DBPs) in drinking water. Although the characteristics of terrestrial DOM may change with increasing nitrogen (N) deposition in forests, how these changes alter formation potential and toxicity of DBPs remains unexplored. We analyzed the speciation and toxicity of DBPs from chlorination of DOM derived from soils (O, A, and B horizons) in an experimental temperate forest with 22 years of N addition. With long-term N addition, the DOM reactivity toward the formation of trihalomethanes (from 27.7-51.8 to 22.8-31.1 µg/mg-dissolved organic carbon (DOC)) and chloral hydrate (from 1.25-1.63 to 1.14-1.36 µg/mg-DOC) decreased, but that toward the formation of haloketones increased (from 0.23-0.26 to 0.26-0.33 µg/mg-DOC). The DOM reactivity toward the formation of haloacetonitriles was increased in the deeper soil but reduced in the surface soil. The DBP formation potential of DOM draining from a certain area of forest soils (in µg-DBP/m2-soil) was estimated to be reduced by 20.3% for trihalomethanes and increased by 37.5% for haloketones and have minor changes for haloacetonitriles and chloral hydrate (both <7%). Furthermore, the DBPs from chlorination of the soil-derived DOM showed lowered microtoxicity with N addition possibly due to reduced brominated DBP formation. Overall, this study highlights that N deposition may not increase drinking water toxicity through altering terrestrial DOM characteristics.

Long-term biochar addition alters the characteristics but not the chlorine reactivity of soil-derived dissolved organic matter.

Biochar is widely and increasingly applied to farmlands. However, it remains unclear how long-term biochar addition alters the characteristics and chlorine reactivity of soil-derived dissolved organic matter (DOM), an important terrestrial disinfection byproduct (DBP) precursor in watersheds. Here, we analyzed the spectroscopic and molecular-level characteristics of soil-derived DOM and the formation and toxicity of DBP mixtures from DOM chlorination for two long-term (5 and 11 years) biochar addition experimental farmlands. As indicated by spectroscopic indices and Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry analyses, 11 years of biochar addition could increase the humic-like and aromatic and condensed aromatic DOM and decrease the microbial-derived DOM, while 5 years of biochar addition at the other site did not. The response of condensed aromatic dissolved black carbon did not increase with increasing cumulative biochar dose but appeared to be affected by biochar aging time. Despite the possible increase in aromatic DOM, biochar addition neither increased the reactivity of DOM in forming trihalomethanes, haloacetonitriles, chloral hydrates, or haloketones nor significantly increased the microtoxicity or genotoxicity of the DBP mixture. This study indicates that biochar addition in watersheds may not deteriorate the drinking water quality via the export of terrestrial DBP precursors like wildfire events.

[Evaluation on the atmospheric correction methods for water color remote sensing by using HJ-1A/1B CCD image-taking Poyang Lake in China as a case].

HJ-1A/1B satellite CCD images have higher spatial and temporal resolution, making them of great potential in quantitatively monitoring the water quality of inland lakes. However, the atmospheric correction of the images restricts their application. Therefore, taking Poyang Lake, the biggest freshwater lake in China as study area , and using the in-situ data collected in 2009 and 2011, this paper compares the atmospheric correction results done by the four methods: FLAASH, 6S, COST and QUAC, and analyzes the influence of these atmospheric correction methods on the inversion accuracy of the total suspended sediments (TSS) concentration. The results indicate: (1) the band 1 (blue band) of HJ-1A/1B CCD satellite images should be recalibrated while being applied into water quality remote sensing. The accuracy of atmospheric correction done from band 2 (green band) and band 3 (red band) is higher than that of others , especially that of the correction done by FLAASH, 6S and COST is much higher while that of correction done by QUAC is lower. So the algorithms of QUAC should be pointedly improved. (2) The ratios done from band 2 and band 3 have a good match with in-situ data , with an average relative error of 8.2%, 9.5%, 7.6% and 11.6% respectively for FLAASH, 6S, COST and QUAC. Therefore, it would be better to use the ratio done from band 2 and band 3 as inversion factors in Poyang Lake. (3) It is found that the accuracy of directly building models by using the four atmospheric corrected results and the TSS concentration is higher than the models built by the in-situ remote sensing reflectance and the TSS concentration. The accuracy of the TSS concentration inverted by FLAASH, 6S and COST is much high with an average error of only 10.0%, 10.2% and 8.0% respectively, while the error inverted by QUAC is a little bit higher of being 18.6%. So it is suggested to build model with atmospheric correction results and the TSS concentration data, because it can avoid the cumulate error resulted from modeling by using the in-situ spectrum data. (4) Under a low requested situation, these four atmospheric correction algorithms can all be adopted; otherwise, the COST should be used in the case of lacking supplementary information.

[Partitioning of the suspended particulate spectral scattering coefficient in Poyang Lake].

A model for partitioning the particulate scattering coefficient into the contributions of suspended mineral particle and organic particle was proposed based on the measured data. The independent variables, i. e. the concentrations of mineral particles and organic particles in this study, were used to determine the mass-specific scattering cross section with the concurrent total suspended particulate scattering coefficients collected during the field trip in Poyang Lake 2009. Results show that the scattering spectra of inorganic particles and organic particles can be successful derived by the proposed model, and the reconstructed total particulate scattering coefficients are in better agreement with the measured values by the ordinary least square linear regression. For the whole South Poyang Lake, mean absolute percentage errors between the measured scattering coefficients and reconstructed value were less than 25% over the main remote sensing effective wavebands such as 440, 532, 555 and 676 nm. A remarkable lower predicted error, which can be controlled within 15%, were found at all stations with higher concentration of total suspended matters, while the spectral partitioning is less efficient at stations with total suspended particle concentration less than 15 mg x L(-1). Particulate scattering spectrum retrieved by RMA shows that illite and montmorillonite are the major constituents of inorganic matters which dominate the light scattering properties of Poyang Lake. It is possible that scattering spectrum partitioned by the model could infer the major effective components in waters, and could be used to predict particulate scattering properties for highly turbid waters.