Chemical Fate and Transport in the Environment

Chemical Fate and Transport in the Environment
Author: Harold F. Hemond
Publisher: Academic Press
Total Pages: 530
Release: 2022-08-03
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0128222530

Chemical Fate and Transport in the Environment, Fourth Edition explains the fundamental principles of mass transport, chemical partitioning, and chemical/biological transformations of pollutants and naturally occurring chemicals in surface waters, in the subsurface (which includes soil and groundwater), and in the atmosphere. Each of these three major environmental media is introduced by a descriptive overview, followed by presentations of the governing physical, chemical, and biological processes. The text emphasizes intuitively based mathematical models for chemical equilibria, transformations, and transport in the environment. This book serves as a primary text for graduate and senior undergraduate courses in environmental science and engineering, provides relevant scientific knowledge for students of public health and environmental policy, and is a useful reference for environmental practitioners. This fourth edition builds on the third edition, which won a 2015 Textbook Excellence Award (Texty) from The Text and Academic Authors Association. This updated textbook expands the discussion of global climate change, presents concepts of stationarity and sustainability, provides additional coverage of wastewater treatment and air pollution abatement technologies, and includes information on additional anthropogenic pollutants such as plastics, PFAS, and nanoparticles. Tables, figures, and references are updated, and worked examples and practice exercises are included for each chapter. Illustrates the interconnections, similarities, and contrasts among three major environmental media: surface waters, the subsurface (which includes soil and groundwater), and the atmosphere Discusses and builds upon fundamental concepts, teaching students to realistically address environmental problems and preparing students for more advanced studies Each chapter includes many worked examples and extensive practice exercises; a solutions manual is available for instructors

Sources, Fate, and Transport of Nitrogen and Phosphorus in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed

Sources, Fate, and Transport of Nitrogen and Phosphorus in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed
Author: Scott W. Ator
Publisher: Geological Survey (USGS)
Total Pages: 27
Release: 2011
Genre: Chesapeake Bay Watershed
ISBN: 9781411332621

Spatially Referenced Regression on Watershed Attributes (SPARROW) was used to provide empirical estimates of the sources, fate, and transport of total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorus (TP) in the Chesapeake Bay watershed, and the mean annual TN and TP flux to the bay and in each of 80,579 nontidal tributary stream reaches. Restoration efforts in recent decades have been insufficient to meet established standards for water quality and ecological conditions in Chesapeake Bay. The bay watershed includes 166,000 square kilometers of mixed land uses, multiple nutrient sources, and variable hydrogeologic, soil, and weather conditions, and bay restoration is complicated by the multitude of nutrient sources and complex interacting factors affecting the occurrence, fate, and transport of nitrogen and phosphorus from source areas to streams and the estuary. Effective and efficient nutrient management at the regional scale in support of Chesapeake Bay restoration requires a comprehensive understanding of the sources, fate, and transport of nitrogen and phosphorus in the watershed, which is only available through regional models. The current models, Chesapeake Bay nutrient SPARROW models, version 4 (CBTN_v4 and CBTP_v4), were constructed at a finer spatial resolution than previous SPARROW models for the Chesapeake Bay watershed (versions 1, 2, and 3), and include an updated timeframe and modified sources and other explantory terms.

Transport of Nitrogen in a Treated-wastewater Plume to Coastal Discharge Areas, Ashumet Valley, Cape Cod, Massachusetts

Transport of Nitrogen in a Treated-wastewater Plume to Coastal Discharge Areas, Ashumet Valley, Cape Cod, Massachusetts
Author: Jeffrey R. Barbaro
Publisher: CreateSpace
Total Pages: 44
Release: 2014-08-01
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 9781500275327

Land disposal of treated wastewater from a treatment plant on the Massachusetts Military Reservation in operation from 1936 to 1995 has created a plume of contaminated groundwater that is migrating toward coastal discharge areas in the town of Falmouth, Massachusetts. To develop a better understanding of the potential impact of the treated-wastewater plume on coastal discharge areas, the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Air Force Center for Engineering and the Environment, evaluated the fate of nitrogen (N) in the plume. Groundwater samples from two large sampling events in 1994 and 2007 were used to map the size and location of the plume, calculate the masses of nitrate-N and ammonium-N, evaluate changes in mass since cessation of disposal in 1995, and create a gridded dataset suitable for use in nitrogen-transport simulations. In 2007, the treated-wastewater plume was about 1,200 meters (m) wide, 30 m thick, and 7,700 m long and contained approximately 87,000 kilograms (kg) nitrate-N and 31,600 kg total ammonium-N. An analysis of previous studies and data from 1994 and 2007 sampling events suggests that most of biologically reactive nitrogen in the plume in 2007 will be transported to coastal discharge areas as either nitrate or ammonium with relatively little transformation to an environmentally nonreactive end product such as nitrogen gas. Nitrogen-transport simulations were conducted with a previously calibrated regional three-dimensional MODFLOW groundwater flow model. Mass-loaded particle tracking was used to simulate the advective transport of nitrogen to discharge areas (or receptors) along the coast. In the simulations, nonreactive transport (no mass loss in the aquifer) was assumed, providing an upper-end estimate of nitrogen loads to receptors. Simulations indicate that approximately 95 percent of the nitrate-N and 99 percent of the ammonium-N in the wastewater plume will eventually discharge to the Coonamessett River, Backus River, Green Pond, and Bournes River. Approximately 76 percent of the total nitrate-N mass in the plume will discharge to these receptors within 100 years of 2007; 90 and 94 percent will discharge within 200 and 500 years, respectively. Nitrate loads will peak within about 50 years at all of the major receptors. The highest peak loads will occur at the Coonamessett River (450 kg per year (kg/yr) nitrate-N) and the Backus River (350 kg/yr nitrate-N). Because of adsorption, travel times are longer for ammonium than for nitrate; approximately 5 percent of the total ammonium-N mass in the plume will discharge to receptors within 100 years; 46 and 81 percent will discharge within 200 and 500 years, respectively. The simulations indicate that the Coonamessett River will receive the largest cumulative nitrogen mass and the highest rate of discharge (load). Ongoing discharge to Ashumet Pond is relatively minor because most of the wastewater plume mass has already migrated downgradient from the pond.