Preliminary aquatic life criteria development and ecological risk assessment of ammonia in seven major river basins in China

Ammonia is one of the basin indices which are nation-controlled in the waterenvironmental management. In order to assess the differences of ammonia criteria indifferent basins, 7 major basins are used for the study object, including Songhua River,Liaohe River, Haihe River, Yellow River, Huaihe River, Yangtze River and ZhujiangRiver, referring the water environmental criteria technology of the United StatesEnvironmental Protection Agency, based on the effects of water characteristics on theecotoxicity of ammonia, and in summer and non-summer situation, aquatic life criteriais derived for ammonia. The results showed that: (a) The differences between thecriteria values in different basins and different seasons were significant. The differencesbetween the criteria values in different basins were greater than 6 times, while those indifferent seasons in the same basin were greater than 2 times. (b) The summer acuteand chronic criteria for Huaihe River were 0.37 mg/L and 0.06 mg/L while thenon-summer values were 0.81 mg/L and 0.15 mg/L. Both the summer and thenon-summer values were lowest in all of the seven basins. (c) The preliminaryassessment of Ammonia exposure ecological risk indicated that was the lowest inZhujiang River, and it was much lower in Songhua River, Liaohe River and YangtzeRiver, and was higher in Yellow River, and the highest in both Haihe River and HuaiheRiver. Haihe River has 7 sections while 2 in high risk, and Huaihe River has 27 sectionswhile sixteen in high risk. According to the differences of the criteria values for ammoniain seven basins in different seasons and difference of ammonia ecological riskassessment, it is suggested that it should be managed by different policies.

Construction Starts for Asia's Largest Aquatic Life Museum

The ground-breaking ceremony for the construction of an aquatic life museum was held on April 18 at the CAS Institute of Hydrobiology (IHB) in the city of Wuhan, capital of central China's Hubei Province. High-ranking officials including CAS Vice-President Chen Yiyu and Vice-Governor of Hubei Province took part in the ceremony. With its abundant aquatic specimens,the forthcoming museum is believed to be the largest of its kind in Asia.

Deriving freshwater quality criteria of sulphocyanic sodium for the protection of aquatic life in China

The freshwater quality criteria of sulphocyanic sodium (NaSCN) were studied on the basis of the features of the aquatic biota in China, and with reference to U.S.EPA's guidelines. Acute tests were performed on twelve different domestic species to determine 48h EC 50 /96h EC 50 (or 96h LC 50 ) values for NaSCN. 21d survival reproduction test with Daphnia magna, 60d fry juvenile part life stage test with Carassius auratus gibelio and 96h growth inhibition test with Lemna minor were also conducted to estimate lower chronic limit/upper chronic limit values. In the acute tests, D.magna was the most sensitive species to NaSCN followed by Tilapia mossambia, Cyprinus carpio and C.auratus gibelio in turn. The final acute value of NaSCN was 2.699 mg/L. In the chronic tests, reproduction of daphnids were significantly reduced by NaSCN at 1.0 mg/L. Acute to chronic ratios ranged from 5.96 to 19.1. A final chronic value of 0.2530 mg/L was obtained and a final plant value was 1346 mg/L. A criterion maximum concentration (1.349 mg/L) and a criterion continuous concentration (0.2530 mg/L) were derived respectively. The results of this study may provide useful data to derive national WQC for NaSCN as well as the procedures of deriving WQC of other chemicals for the protection of aquatic biota in China.

Quantitative Correlation of the Acute Toxicity of Phenylthio-carboxylates with Their Structural and Thermodynamic Parameters by DFT Calculation

Phenylthio-carboxylates were computed at the B3LYP/6-31G* level with DFT method. Based on linear solvation energy theory, the structural parameters were firstly taken as theoretical descriptors, and the corresponding linear solvation energy relationship (LSER) equation (r = 0.8989) to the toxicity of photobacterium phosphoreum (–lgEC50) was thus obtained. Then the structural and thermodynamic parameters were taken as theoretical descriptors, and as a result the other corresponding correlation equation (r = 0.9274) relating to –lgEC50 was provided. The two equations achieved in this work by B3LYP/6-31G* are both more advantageous than that from AM1.

Derivation of water quality criteria for representative water-body pollutants in China

In this study, toxicological data for zinc （Zn）, cadmium （Cd）, hexavalent chromium （Cr （VI））, benzene, and nitrobenzene were collected from various databases and publications, screened and then constructed into species sensitivity distribution （SSD） curves. Then water quality criteria （WQC） were derived for protection of the freshwater aquatic life in China against five representative pollutants. The values derived in this study were compared with those issued by the US Environmental Protection Agency and the Chinese national environmental standard for surface water to identify factors underlying the differences. The results showed that the SSD curves for the five pollutants differed significantly, with the examined aquatic species being gen- erally more sensitive to Zn, Cd, and Cr （VI） than benzene and nitrobenzene. The acute WQC were： 48.43 μg L-1 for Zn, 0.4218 μg L-1 for Cd, 45.79μg L-1 for Cr （VI）, 2651 μg L-1 for benzene, and 1426 μg L-1 for nitrobenzene. The chronic WQC were： 20.01μg L-1 for Zn, 0.2428 μg L-j for Cd, 14.22 μg L-1 for Cr （VI）, 530.2 μg L J for benzene, and 286.2 μg L-1 for nitroben- zene. The results of this comparative study of representative pollutants may offer guideline values for future WQC studies for China.

An investigation of roof runoff during rain events at the Royal Military College of Canada and potential discharge to Lake Ontario

The Royal Military College of Canada, located on the north eastern shore of Lake Ontario, possesses an abundance of copper roofs and lacks surface water treatment prior to discharge into Lake Ontario. Rainwater, roof runoff and soil samples were collected and analyzed for copper and other parameters. Copper was consistently detected in runoff samples with average concentrations of 3200 ± 2100 μg/L. Multivariable linear regression analysis for a dependant copper runoff concentration yielded an adjusted R 2 value of 0.611, based on an independent variable model using minimum temperature, maximum temperature, total precipitation, and wind speed. Lake water samples taken in the vicinity of storm water outfalls draining areas with copper roofs ranged from 2.0 to 40 μg/L copper. Such data exceed the 2.0 μg/L Canadian Water Quality Guidelines for the Protection of Aquatic Life as outlined by the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment （CCME）. Analysis of raw, filtered and digested forms suggested that the majority of copper present in runoff and lake water samples was in a dissolved form. The majority of soils taken in this study displayed copper concentrations below the 63 μg/g CCME residential/parkland land use limits. These findings suggested that ion exchange processes between runoff water and soil do not occur to a sufficient extent to elevate copper levels in soil. It may therefore be concluded that the eventual fate of copper, which is not discharged via storm water outfalls, is lost to the water table and Lake Ontario through the sub-soil.