Water Pollution Accidents Research Articles

Co-selection and stability of bacterial antibiotic resistance by arsenic pollution accidents in source water

Frequent heavy-metal pollution accidents severely deteriorated the source water quality of drinking water treatment plants (DWTP). Limited data have explicitly addressed the impact of these incidents on bacterial antibiotic resistance (BAR). In present study, we investigated the shift of antibiotic resistome caused by heavy metal pollution incidents via simulating an arsenic shock loading [As (III)], along with the associated risks imposed on drinking water systems. The results indicated that a quick co-selection of antibiotic resistant bacteria (ARB) was achieved after exposure to 0.2–1 mg/L As (III) for only 6 h, meanwhile, there was an increase of relative abundance of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) and mobile genetic elements. Most of the co-selected BAR could be maintained for at least 4 days in the absence of As (III) and antibiotics, implying that the pollution in source water possibly contributed to the preservation and proliferation of antibiotic resistance determinants in the subsequent DWTP. Bacterial community structure analysis showed a strong correlation between bacterial community shift and BAR promotion, and enrichment of opportunistic bacteria (e.g. Escherichia-Shigella, Empedobacter sp. and Elizabethkingia sp.). The results indicated a potential epidemiological threat to the public due to accident-level arsenic contamination in the source water. This study gave insight into understanding the source water pollution accidents from the perspective of bio-hazard and biological risks, and highlighted a neglected important source of BAR in drinking water systems.

Emergency measure of soft isolation controlling pollution diffusion response to sudden water pollution accidents.

The frequent occurrence of sudden water pollution accidents has become a major threat to water environment safety. Although most researches have focused on constructing a pollutant source identification model and risk assessment methods for dealing with sudden water pollution accidents, a real-time, effective emergency measure for controlling pollutant diffusion, isolating and removing the pollutant, aiming at sudden water pollution accidents, has not been emphasized. Therefore, in this paper, a novel emergency approach of soft isolation was investigated to control pollution diffusion and decrease damage as soon as the accident occurred. In stage 1, the feature of pollution diffusion regarding a sudden water accident was predicted through a water quality model using computational fluid dynamics (CFD). Then, a design scheme of soft isolation was constructed in stage 2 to isolate the polluted zone and attention was paid to optimizing the parameters of soft isolation. Ultimately, the mathematical model of complete purification was formulated in stage 3 to remove the pollution from the impacted zone. The results indicated that the emergency measure of soft isolation could have significant potential to control and isolate pollution occurring in a sudden water pollution accident in the future.

Study on a water pollution simulation and analysis system based on WebGIS: A case study of Liyang City, Jiangsu Province

A surface water quality analysis and pollutant diffusion simulation system was studied and developed using WebGIS. This paper introduces the structural design, technology development and main functions of the system. Using Liyang City of Jiangsu Province as an example, an environmental water monitoring database was established. Based on the database, a comprehensive analysis and evaluation of water quality in Liyang City were determined and provided decision support for pollution management. In addition, two authoritative water pollution diffusion analysis models (including a one-dimensional model and a two-dimensional model) were integrated, and a dynamic simulation of water pollution accidents was constructed with the support of GIS technology.

The Construction of Emergency Response Platform for Water Pollution Accident in Binhai New Area

An emergency prevention and control management system for water environment pollution accidents will be constructed in Tianjin Binhai New Area. The basic information database of environmental risk sources and response system should be established. The construction of emergency disposal platform based on accident emergency monitoring and emergency response linkage mechanism. Through the introduction of on-site monitoring, pollution sources outfall information, equipment database, expert database, comprehensive analysis, optimization of pollution disposal program and information delivery of pollution source data can achieve effective control of sudden pollution accidents and timely disposal from the remote command to build integrative water pollution accident emergency disposal platform.

A novel comprehensive risk assessment method for sudden water accidents in the Middle Route of the South–North Water Transfer Project (China)

The Middle Route of the South–North Water Transfer Project in China consists of a long open canal and complex hydraulic structures. It provides drinking water for Beijing, Shijiazhuang, and other cities under extremely strict water quality requirements. In the recent decades, water pollution accidents have frequently occurred in water transfer projects. Scientific and effective risk assessment is needed to assess the impact on the overall emergency management, which should be considered to incorporate social, economic, and environmental issues in the timely response to and management of emergencies. In this study, we combine the Drivers–Pressures–State–Impact–Response model, fuzzy comprehensive evaluation method, and coordinated development degree model into a comprehensive risk assessment tool. This new approach was tested on an emergency drilling simulation related to a sudden MRP water pollution accident in 2016. Based on the combined integration weight ranking, “water delivery status,” “pollution accident characteristics,” “town size,” and “public satisfaction” play prominent roles in the risk assessment. Especially, “town size” is identified as the most important influent factor. The Drivers–Pressures–State–Impact–Response model index system and comprehensive risk assessment method can be used to evaluate accidents more scientifically and versatile, which helps managers or experts to make faster and more efficient decisions.

Accident Trend Prediction of Heavy Metal Pollution in the Heshangshan Drinking Water Source Area Based on Integrating a Two-Dimensional Water Quality Model and GIS

In recent years, water pollution accidents have frequently occurred, which have caused enormous economic loss and an adverse social impact. In this study, an accident trend prediction system was developed based on integrating a two-dimensional water quality model and GIS, and Arsenic (As) was adopted as a typical pollutant to study the temporal-spatial changes of heavy metal pollutions under different hydrological and meteorological conditions in the Heshangshan drinking water source area. The simulation for a recent accident indicated that pollutant changes were influenced by lateral diffusion, longitudinal diffusion, flow velocity, water flow, and the self-purification of the water body. It took 79.5 min for the As concentration to meet the water quality standard during the dry period, while it spent 61.3 min, 71 min, and 52 min in the impound period, falling period, and flood period, respectively. The emergency response times were 32 min (in the flood period), 38 min (in the impound period), 48 min (in the falling period), and 52 min (in the dry period). Furthermore, wind speed and wind direction also had impacts on pollutant spread. The times in which the maximum values met the water quality standard were 71 min (southeast wind), 77 min (southwest wind), and 87 min (no wind). The emergency response times were 38 min (southeast wind), 49 min (southwest wind), and 59 min (no wind). This study not only provides a reference for relevant departments and managers to carry out a risk assessment, disaster prevention, and emergency management after actual pollution accidents, but also makes up for the lack of research on the spatial-temporal change of heavy metal pollutants.

A Bayesian Network-based risk dynamic simulation model for accidental water pollution discharge of mine tailings ponds at watershed-scale

Mine tailings ponds that contain heavy metals are sources of potential risk to human security and ecosystem health. China particularly faces challenge of accidental water pollution risk from more than 8869 mine tailings ponds in serve by 2015, some of which are close to residential areas and other important infrastructures within 1 km downstream. To address watershed-scale risk assessment of accidental water pollution from mine tailings ponds, a Bayesian Network-based Risk Dynamic Simulation (BN-RDS) model was proposed to simulate “sources/stressors-receptors-endpoints” risk routes. An accidental water pollution convection-diffusion simulation was coupled to Bayesian Networks to perform the risk dynamic simulation and risk evolution quantification at watershed-scale. This method was applied to the risk assessment of 23 tailings dams in 12 sub-watersheds covering the Guanting Reservoir basin (the major backup drinking water source for Beijing) in Zhangjiakou City, China. The result indicated that ecosystem health and property security were the endpoints at the highest risk in the overall watershed. Spatially, the combined risk distribution map showed the risk was higher in the downstream of the Guanting Reservoir Watershed and in its two tributary basins (the Qingshui River and the Longyang River). This research highlighted a probabilistic approach to accidental water pollution risk assessment of tailings ponds with verifiable and tangible results for risk managers and stakeholders.

Mathematical modelling and application for simulation of water pollution accidents

Water pollution accidents occur frequently and cause severe damage in recent years. The objective of this study is to build a model for simulating spatial-temporal change of pollutants after water pollution accidents. A Simulation System of Water Pollution Diffusion is developed in this study. A water pollution accident in Yuncheng City, China is used as an example. The results indicate that the pollutant moves from upstream to downstream with an increasing pollution area but a decreasing concentration. Moreover, spatial-temporal changes of the pollutant concentrations show the inverted-V tendency, where the concentration at a point in space increases then decreases through time. Finally, on the basis of the comparison of simulated concentrations of benzene with monitoring concentrations of it, Mean Absolute Deviation and Mean Deviation are computed to measure model error. The results show that Mean Deviation is -0.028 mg/L and Mean Absolute Deviation is 0.255 mg/L, whereas the data range from 0.001 mg/L to 28.104 mg/L.

Simulation of Water Pollution Accidents Based on FORTRAN and Its Application on Heshangshan Drinking Water Source Area

Developing a water quality model which is based on FORTRAN to simulate the distribution of pollutant concentration after water pollution accidents and to apply it to the drinking water source area of Heshangshan is the intention of this research. Taking ammonia nitrogen as the main water environment index, the spatial and temporal distribution and flow rate of pollutants at the inlet of Heshangshan drinking water source were analysed, and compared with those before and after the dispatching. The upstream discharge of water source area is selected from dry period, fall period, flood season and storage period respectively. The results show that the influent pollutant concentration decreases gradually with the increase of upstream flow in the source area. Moreover, the higher the upstream flow rate, the faster the decrease of influent concentration and the easier to reach level III.

Water quality safety prediction model for drinking water source areas in Three Gorges Reservoir and its application

In recent years, water pollution accidents have become major ecological environmental pollution ones in China, and bring potential risk to urban drinking water safety. The research aimed to develop a water quality safety prediction model for drinking water source areas in Three Gorges Reservoir and simulate pollutant distribution in water bodies under pollution accident conditions. In this study, a new algorithm of two-dimensional water quantity model was proposed, which incorporated Digital Elevation Model as a computational grid into the Geographic Information System. By comparing the water quality observed values with the predicted values of the study area in 2014, the relative error was less than 6%, the model can be applied in a reasonable range. Furthermore, this study assumed a pollution accident that the Huangjuedu drinking water source area was polluted by TP pollution (level V) of 0.4 mg/L. Based on the statistical annual date of Zhutuo hydrological station in 2016 (as blank group), dispatching test that was conducted by increasing discharge flow of Xiangjia Dam Reservoir. The results shows that the water velocity of intake increased with discharge flow of Xiangjia Dam Reservoir, and that the maximum water velocity was 2.051 m/s. The pollutant concentration of HDWSA intake decreased rapidly with the increase of the discharge flow. When the discharge flow was 0 m3/s, the concentration of intake reached the level III water quality standard after 127.8 min. When the discharge flow was 12,000 m3/s, the concentration of intake reached the level III water quality standard after 116.7 min. In the dispatching test, the rate of migration and diffusion of the pollutant to the lower reaches was greatly affected by the discharge flow of Xiangjia Dam Reservoir. The model could predict the water velocity and pollutant concentrations at the intake, as well as temporal-spatial distributions of pollutants in the whole water source area. Prediction results of the model were helpful for management departments to predict grasp the change of pollutions timely and accurately, and make corresponding plans under accident conditions.

A web-site system to simulate sudden water pollution accidents

In this paper, a two-dimensional water quality analytical model of pollutant concentration is used to simulate and respond to sudden water pollution accidents. The two-dimensional water quality model uses river flow rate, the distance from the river point to the place where the pollutant occured, the pollutant discharge amount, time and other parameters to calculate the river pollutant concentration in the simulated time range of each point of the river. Therefore, through the system designed in this paper, the location of the accident, the amount of pollutants and other information will be collected in time after the accident, and the concentration of pollutants in Jinhua River will change with time in the future. The system will assess the water quality of the section and provide an effective means for the decision-making department to provide scientific basis for emergency response and treatment.

Integrated Assessment Method of Emergency Plan for Sudden Water Pollution Accidents Based on Improved TOPSIS, Shannon Entropy and a Coordinated Development Degree Model

Water is the source of all things, so it can be said that without the sustainable development of water resources, there can be no sustainable development of human beings. In recent years, sudden water pollution accidents have occurred frequently. Emergency response plan optimization is the key to handling accidents. Nevertheless, the non-linear relationship between various indicators and emergency plans has greatly prevented researchers from making reasonable assessments. Thus, an integrated assessment method is proposed by incorporating an improved technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution, Shannon entropy and a Coordinated development degree model to evaluate emergency plans. The Shannon entropy method was used to analyze different types of index values. TOPSIS is used to calculate the relative closeness to the ideal solution. The coordinated development degree model is applied to express the relationship between the relative closeness and inhomogeneity of the emergency plan. This method is tested in the decision support system of the Middle Route Construction and Administration Bureau, China. By considering the different nature of the indicators, the integrated assessment method is eventually proven as a highly realistic method for assessing emergency plans. The advantages of this method are more prominent when there are more indicators of the evaluation object and the nature of each indicator is quite different. In summary, this integrated assessment method can provide a targeted reference or guidance for emergency control decision makers.

Label-free colorimetric nanosensor with improved sensitivity for Pb2 + in water by using a truncated 8–17 DNAzyme

Water pollution accidents, such as the Flint water crisis in the United States, caused by lead contamination have raised concern on the safety of drinking water distribution systems. Thus, the routine monitoring of lead in water is highly required and demands efficient, sensitive, cost-effective, and reliable lead detection methods. This study reports a label-free colorimetric nanosensor that uses unmodified gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) as indicators to enable rapid and ultra-sensitive detection of lead in environmental water. The 8–17 DNAzyme was truncated in this study to facilitate the detachment of single-stranded DNA fragments after substrate cleavage in the presence of Pb2+. The detached fragments were adsorbed over AuNPs and protected against salt concentration-induced aggregation. Accordingly, high Pb2+ would result in rapid color change from blue to pink. The established sensing principle achieved a sensitive limit of detection of 0.2×10–9 mol/L Pb2+, with a linear working range of two orders of magnitude from 0.5×10–9 mol/L to 5×10–9 mol/L. The selectivity of the nanosensor was demonstrated by evaluating the interfering metal ions. The developed nanosensor can serve as a substitute for the rapid analysis and monitoring of trace lead levels under the drinking water distribution system and even other environmental water samples.

Potential risk assessment for water pollution accident in Taipu River region, Taihu Basin

太浦河是太湖流域重要跨省界河流，沿岸区域污染源众多，下游分布重要水源地，存在突发水污染潜在风险，迫切需要开展区域污染源潜在风险评估，为突发水污染事件的风险防控提供科学依据.本研究通过太浦河周边区域的污染源调研，明确污染源的空间分布与污染源强，确定评估区域的主要污染物（化学需氧量、氨氮、锑、重金属铬、油品、危险化学品），综合考虑污染源、河流水文、沿岸社会经济等因素，筛选突发水污染潜在风险评估指标，构建评估指标体系，评估突发水污染事件的综合风险，识别太浦河周边区域的主要突发水污染潜在风险源.研究结果表明：太浦河周边区域的高突发水污染风险区呈现片状或斑块状分布，主要包括大型污水处理厂区域、大型工业企业区域、加油站和危险化学品仓库集中分布区、太浦河沿岸工业企业区域、水源地周边工业企业区域，总面积为22 km²，占太浦河污染源风险评估范围总面积的1.4%，是突发水污染事件防控的重点区域.;River Taipu in China is an important river across three provinces with considerable pollution sources in its surrounding regions. These pollution sources pose threats for several drinking water intakes located at the lower reach of the river. Assessing the potential risk of water pollution accident for Taipu River can well support our controlling for water pollution accident. This study investigated the distribution and intensity of the pollution sources surrounding Taipu River. Chemical oxygen demand, ammonia, antimony, heavy metal chromium, oils and hazardous chemicals were identified as the critical pollutions for the river. By considering the factors related to pollution sources, river hydrology, social economy, critical indictors were selected for developing assessment index for risk assessment of water pollution accident. The high-risk area in the study area was identified. The assessment results showed that the high-risk region has an area of 22 km² (1.4%), mostly located at the region with large wastewater treatment plant or industrial factories, the region with many gas stations or warehouses of hazardous chemicals, the nearshore region with industrial factories, and the near region close to drinking water intakes with industrial factories. These regions are worth our concern in the risk controlling for water pollution accident.

Simulation of Water Pollution Diffusion Based on WebGIS

Taking Liyang City of Jiangsu Province as the research object, a water pollution accident diffusion simulation and analysis system, taking WebGIS as the core, was established by taking finite difference method to do the system dynamics water quality model solution. This paper introduces the construction process of the model, the integration of the model with GIS, the interactive application of the system and users and the visual dynamic expression of water pollution accidents. By combining the statistical analysis of the spatial and environmental database in the system, the scientific simulation of the temporal and spatial relationship of the development of water pollution accidents on the client side is realized and providing precise decision support for early warning and control of water pollution diffusion.

Phenoxy‐Alkyl Maleates as Phase‐Selective Organogelators for Gelation of Edible Oils

Phase selective gelation may solve environmental problems such as water pollution and fire accidents during oil storage, a major problem for aquatic bodies. The objective of this work is to synthesize a series of phenoxy‐alkyl maleates (n‐PAM) oleogelators with homologous alkyl chain lengths for efficient phase selective gelation. The n‐PAM molecules are found to form oleogel in various edible oils among which sunflower oil shows best gelation. The gelation behavior increases with an increase in alkyl chain length of the n‐PAM gelators as observed from their low minimum gelation concentration (MGC) values. Oleogels thermal stability is examine through tube inversion method and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The rheological studies suggest that the oleogel of sunflower oil is mechanically stable and show typical viscoelastic properties. The field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE‐SEM) study of the gels shows sheet‐like morphology. Furthermore, the n‐PAM gelators exhibit quick phase selective gelation of edible oils at low MGC. Both the edible oil and gelator are quantitatively regained from recovered oleogel by employing the vacuum distillation. It is believed that these n‐PAMs could aid in reducing the environmental impacts of oil spills.Practical Applications: The phenoxy‐alkyl maleates gelators present in the MS show gelation ability in various edible oils at low minimum gelation concentration. These molecules also form efficient phase selective gelation with edible oils. Both oil and gelator can be recovered through vacuum distillation and gelator can be reused multiple times. Thus, all these advantages strongly point that out their bright future, in particular in edible oil spill recovery, could aid in reducing the environmental impacts from oil spills.Herein, the synthesized phenoxy alkyl maleate derivatives are reported as separators of edible oil from the oil‐water biphasic mixture. Initially, the gelator is solubilized in the biphasic mixture by heating. Later, gelation ability is observed by tube inversion method. From the phase selective gel, oil and gelator are separated through a distillation method. The recovered gelator can be reused in oil recovery process. This application may find use in oil recovery from waste plant of edible oil industries.

From Collaborative to Hegemonic Water Resource Governance through Dualism and Jeong: Lessons Learned from the Daegu-Gumi Water Intake Source Conflict in Korea

Recently, water supplies have been insufficient in some areas. In South Korea, using dualism and Jeongish citizenship, we will demonstrate why collaborative governance of the Daegu–Gumi Water Commission has not worked and how it has been mismanaged by its stakeholders. We discuss the conflict between the Daegu Metropolitan City (hereafter referred to as City of Daegu) and the City of Gumi regarding the relocation of the water intake source. In response to many water pollution accidents, the City of Daegu decided to move the water intake source to near the City of Gumi. Due to a conflict between the cities on this issue, the city established a collaborative governance entity, the Daegu–Gumi Water Commission. However, this form of governance was not successful, and eventually, the Daegu–Gumi Water Commission moved from collaborative governance to hegemonic governance. This was due to dualism and Jeongish citizenship with weak membership, participation, experience, and social capital on the local level as South Korean civil societies tend to have insufficient power and experience to fulfill their intentions or negotiate successfully. The Daegu–Gumi Water Commission failed to reach a consensus and to realize a truly collaborative governance process.

Research of risk assessment system on water function areas

Accidents that lead to water pollution are frequent and have seriously affected the aqueous environments of water function areas in recent years. Risk assessments of water function areas at the appropriate scale could provide a useful tool for addressing such accidents. Serious damage is caused to water function areas by water pollution accidents, and an accurate early warning management system for such accidents in water function areas has not been developed. Thus, this study proposes a new method of conducting risk assessments for water pollution accidents in water function areas based on an index system of environmental risk to resolve these problems. Using the analytical hierarchy process and expert scoring, a quantitative index system was constructed using a one-dimensional steady mixed decay model and GIS spatial analysis tools. The method was applied to the water function area of the mainstream in the Taizi River Basin. The results of the risk map show that risk increases along with the direction of flow affected by the upstream industrial point sources. Risk regionalization was performed for water pollution accidents in the water function area of the Taizi River Basin, and five high-risk regions and three moderate-risk regions and three low-risk regions were identified. The results objectively reveal the spatial distribution of the risk of water pollution accidents in the water function area of the Taizi River Basin.

Application of Cloud Computing in the Early Warning Management of Chemical Water Pollution Accidents

To study the application of cloud computing technology in the early warning management of chemical water pollution accidents, the early warning management platform of chemical water pollution accidents is built based on the cloud computing technology, modern information technology and communication technology. The platform combines the cloud and terminal and then analyzes the application of cloud computing in the early warning management of chemical water pollution accidents. The early warning management of chemical water pollution accidents designed in this paper can timely collect, process and transmit the information of chemical water pollution accidents and can timely feedback the information to relevant departments. This system can save the development cost of chemical enterprises and improve the efficiency and quality of the early warning management of chemical water pollution accidents, which is of certain application value.

Risk scenario prediction for sudden water pollution accidents based on Bayesian networks

Predicting and analyzing the future possible scenario of the sudden water pollution accident can help emergency managers to get know the possible future of the accident and make response. In this paper, the Bayesian Network (BN) is extended to support emergency decision for sudden water pollution accidents. Three types of node variables for BN are built according to the characteristics of sudden water pollution accident. Then, the directed acyclic graph (DAG) is constructed to connect the variables. Through Estimating of the conditional probability of BN, the possible scenario of sudden water pollution accident can be formed based DAG and BN. Finally, the Longjiang River cadmium pollution in Guangxi Province is given to illustrate the feasibility and validity of the proposed method. The results show that the BN can give the possible scenario of the sudden pollution accident and can help emergency managers to make detailed alternatives further to minimize the losses.