scholarly journals How many pellets are too many? The pellet pollution index as a tool to assess beach pollution by plastic resin pellets in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil

2015 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 325-332 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerson Fernandino ◽  
Carla I. Elliff ◽  
Iracema R. Silva ◽  
Abílio C.S.P. Bittencourt
2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerson Fernandino ◽  
Carla Isobel Elliff ◽  
Iracema Reimão Silva ◽  
Abílio C.S.P. Bittencourt

Plastic pellets are significant components of marine litter and can be found floating in the sea or stranded on beaches. How- ever, current assessments of this issue lack standardization to allow comparisons of pellet pollution levels between different locations. Thus, the present study proposes the Pellet Pollution Index (PPI) to classify beaches based on the amount of pellets found in a given area of superficial sand. Pellets were sampled from 24 sites (P01 – P24) along the municipality of Salvador, Brazil, within a quadrat of 1 x 1 x 0.05m on the strandline and backshore. Twenty-two sites were located along the oceanic coastline, while the remaining 2 sites were within the Todos os Santos Bay. Results showed that, considering the coastline of Salvador as a whole, the PPI indicated a very low degree of pollution. This approach should aid future attempts of locating and removing the plastic anthropogenic component of the sediment on beaches and in marine environments.


Author(s):  
Defri Yona ◽  
Syarifah Hikmah Julinda Sari ◽  
Anedathama Kretarta ◽  
Citra Ravena Putri Effendy ◽  
Misba Nur Aini ◽  
...  

This study attempted to analyze the distribution and contamination status of heavy metals (Cu, Fe and Zn) along western coast of Bali Strait in Banyuwangi, East Java. Bali Strait is one of the many straits in Indonesia with high fisheries activities that could potentially contributed to high heavy metal pollution. There were five sampling areas from the north to south: Pantai Watu Dodol, Pantai Kalipuro, Ketapang Port, Pantai Boom and Muncar as the fish landing area. Heavy metal pollution in these locations comes from many different activities such as tourism, fish capture and fish industry and also domestic activities. Contamination factor (CF), geo-accumulation index (Igeo) and enrichment factor (EF) of each heavy metal were calculated to obtain contamination status of the research area. The concentrations of Fe were observed the highest (1.5-129.9 mg/kg) followed by Zn (13.2-23.5 mg/kg) and Cu (2.2-7.8 mg/kg). The distribution of Cu, Fe and Zn showed variability among the sampling locations in which high concentrations of Cu and Zn were higher in Ketapang Port, whereas high concentration of Fe was high in almost all sampling locations. According to the pollution index, contamination factors of Cu, Fe and Zn were low (CF < 1 and Igeo < 1). However, high index of EF (> 50) showed high influence of the anthropogenic activities to the contribution of the metals to the environment. This could also because of the high background value used in the calculation of the index due to the difficulties in finding background value from the sampling areas.Keywords: heavy metals, pollution index, contamination factor, geo-accumulation index, Bali Strait


2017 ◽  
Vol 924 (6) ◽  
pp. 6-16
Author(s):  
V.S. Tikunov ◽  
O.Yu. Chereshnia

The article presents a methodology for a comprehensive assessment of the environmental situation in Russian Federation regions based on the pollution index and the index of the ecological tension. The evaluation was carried out in two stages. At the first stage, the degree of pollution of the atmosphere, hydrosphere and lithosphere of the regions was estimated on the basis of the emission of pollutants into the atmosphere, departing from stationary sources, the formation of solid domestic wastes (SDW) and the discharge of contaminated wastewater. Based on these three indicators, a pollution index was constructed that estimates aggregate pollution level. In the second stage, the authors made the estimation of loads generated by atmospheric emissions, solid waste and waste water discharged into the territory of each region, per capita and in relation to the environmental capacity of the economy. This allows us to take into account the area of pollution, anthropogenic pressure and environmental responsibility of the population, as well as the environmental friendliness of production. On the basis of relative indicators, the index of ecological tension was created.


Author(s):  
Zhenzhen Wang ◽  
Jianjun Zhao ◽  
Jiawen Xu ◽  
Mingrui Jia ◽  
Han Li ◽  
...  

Northeast China is China’s primary grain production base. A large amount of crop straw is incinerated every spring and autumn, which greatly impacts air quality. To study the degree of influence of straw burning on urban pollutant concentrations, this study used The Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer/Terra Thermal Anomalies & Fire Daily L3 Global 1 km V006 (MOD14A1) and The Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer/Aqua Thermal Anomalies and Fire Daily L3 Global 1 km V006 (MYD14A1) data from 2015 to 2017 to extract fire spot data on arable land burning and to study the spatial distribution characteristics of straw burning on urban pollutant concentrations, temporal variation characteristics and impact thresholds. The results show that straw burning in Northeast China is concentrated in spring and autumn; the seasonal spatial distributions of PM2.5, PM10 andAir Quality Index (AQI) in 41 cities or regions in Northeast China correspond to the seasonal variation of fire spots; and pollutants appear in the peak periods of fire spots. In areas where the concentration coefficient of rice or corn is greater than 1, the number of fire spots has a strong correlation with the urban pollution index. The correlation coefficient R between the number of burned fire spots and the pollutant concentration has a certain relationship with the urban distribution. Cities are aggregated in geospatial space with different R values.


Author(s):  
Wayan Budiarsa Suyasa ◽  
Sri Kunti Pancadewi G. A ◽  
Iryanti E. Suprihatin ◽  
Dwi Adi Suastuti G. A.

In order to maintain the environmental carrying capacity of coastal tourism, this research was conducted to determine the condition of river water environmental pollution in the Petitenget beach area and pollutant source activities. Determination of water quality is carried out by analyzing the water quality taken at several sampling points in the four rivers that lead to the Petitenget beach. Determined the pollution index value (IP) of the physical chemical and biological pollution parameters. The results showed that the four rivers that flow into the Petitenget Beach area had been contaminated with indications of pH, BOD, COD, ammonia, Coliform and E. coli which exceeded water quality category III class quality (PerGub Bali No 16 Year 2016). The four rivers are included in the criteria of severe contamination. The four rivers have experienced physical damage or structural changes that have very high discharge fluctuations both in quantity and quality. Slimy basic structure, smelly and slum aesthetic waters. While the indication of the impact of pollution is waste water which is directly discharged into the river from hotels, restaurants, homestays, commercial centers and settlements.


Author(s):  
Alexey V. Alekseenko ◽  
Carsten Drebenstedt ◽  
Jaume Bech

AbstractThe highly rugged mountainous land topography of the Novorossiysk industrial agglomeration (NW Caucasus, Krasnodar Krai, Russia) and arid climate limit the restoration abilities of disturbed mine lands. Abandoned waste-rock dumps of a marl quarry occupy an area of ca. 150,000 m2 next to the cement plant, residential districts, and a commercial seaport. To assess the eco-risk, topsoil horizons of urban and mine-site Technosols and background Rendzinas were sampled and analyzed; measurements of particulate matter fractions PM1, PM2.5, PM4, and PM10 were conducted throughout the agglomeration. Fugitive dust emission from the unreclaimed marl dumps raises the PM2.5 content in the air by a factor of 2.68 on average. The high sorption capacity of the fine eluvium results in the accumulation of urban emissions by the dust and contributes to the subsequent soil pollution; the Cumulative Pollution Index of pedochemical anomalies reaches the high-risk level over the areas of up to 5 km2. Environmental threats caused by the mine dumps can be assessed more reliably by means of land zoning based on accumulated environmental damage indicators and the debris flow and waterspout risk calculation. To abate the technogenic impact caused by the mine spoils, reclamation actions must be taken including soil stabilization on sensitive sites by application of geosynthetic cover, hydroseeding of the mixture of soil improvers and seeds of herbaceous plants on the slopes, and anti-erosion plantation of cades (Juniperus oxycedrus L.) and smoke trees (Cotinus coggygria Scop.) at subhorizontal surfaces.


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