Journal of Environmental Studies
Year:2011 | Volume:36 | Issue:56|Papers Count:17

Introduction: Increasing the rate of biodiversity loss due to several reasons have raised concerns about the remaining elements of biodiversity. On one hand it is impossible to allocate vast areas to conservation in competition with other land uses and on other hand it is not clear which parts of the land is of more biodiversity values and deserves conservation. In this situation the using better substitutes such as vegetation cover is inevitable. Vegetation types have been considered as suitable substitutes in many studies. Materials and Methods: The study area is Kohgiluye & Boir-Ahmad province located in southwest of Iran, neighboring from north and east to Chaharmahal & Bakhtiary and Isfahan provinces, from south to Fars and Booshehr and from west to Khuzestan (Figure 1). The study area with 1609979 ha area (around 1% of Iran) has a mountainous landscape. More than 80% of the area is covered with mountains and hills. The lowest part is of an altitude of 170 m above sea level and the point with maximum elevation is Dena peak with 4409 m above sea level. This indicates a sharp elevation gradient. Other physical and biological characteristic of the study area such as climate (temperature and humidity), soil, biodiversity (floral and faunal) are functions of this gradient. At present about 12% of the study area is under protection which consists of 6 protected areas named Dena, Dena-ye Sharghi, Tang-e Soolak, Kooh-e Dill, Kooh-e Khamin and Kooh-e Khiz & Sorkh.

Introduction: Social health and community safety problems are increasing with population density rising. These sorts of problems are not limited to a specific social group; it means that people of all ages are affected by safety problems. However, children are of a critical condition among the other social groups. According to the United Nations and World Health Organization, cities approaches have important role in human health. Surely, kids’ safety is known as one of the prominent elements among these approaches. Undoubtedly, making a healthy city needs some valid and reliable planning in terms of community safety. Also vulnerable social groups such as children need specific considerations. The places related to kids such as parks and playgrounds should be assessed from the view point of safety considerations. Each year 10 to 30 million children and adolescents suffer from some kinds of disorders and injuries. The major part of these events includes unintentional injuries which cause 830000 deaths for children under the age of 18. Unintentional injuries are known as the main cause of death for children aged more than 9 years. According to WHO (2005) 95% of injured children live in low-moderate income countries, and every death case for children leads to many discomforts, disabilities and other related injuries.

Introduction: The concept of assessing environmental risks indicates that in occurrence of tensions how sever human & natural environments are threatened by dangers. So, environmental risk assessment is known as a legal requirement for activities with potential damage to environment and/or human health. Multi-Attribute decision making (MADM) is a conceptual frame-work and an applicable solution for assessing and selecting land and water resources Management systems (LWRMS).Balarood dam with a height of 77.5 m and a crest length of 1070 m in Khuzestan province is a border between cities of Andimeshk and Husseinieh. It is located between 48°15’ to 48°20’ at east and 32°38’ to 32°45’ at north and about 25 km away from the city. The dam is built over Balarood River, one of head branches of Dez River. Surface water resources existing in the study area are Dez and Balarood rivers. This dam with the goal of flood control, decreasing flood hazards in Dez River and supplying water required for about 6990 hectares of agricultural lands is now under construction. Figure 1 shows the geographical location of the study area.

Introduction: Pesticides are widely used and large quantities of them are dispersed in the environment and are subsequently found in air, water, soil and food sources. According to previous surveys, Over 27,000 tones of pesticides were used in Iran during 2000-01. Beside the legal usage of some pesticides, other active ingredients are imported illegally some of which are banned in Iran including Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) which are carcinogenic and extremely harmful to humans and the environment. In addition, pregnant women exposure to pesticides in the environment is a major public health concern, since a majority of pesticides contain neurotoxicants. So fetus is subjected to a greater risk compared to adults, by toxic effects of these chemicals due to rapid state of growth and development of its brain. It is likely most of the maternal exposures to environmental pesticides are subtle and result in little or no recognizable effects in pregnant women. Yet, serious concerns have been raised about their adverse effects on the fetus and their potential role in subsequent developmental, learning and behavioral difficulties in children. Moreover, chromosomal abnormalities and DNA damages have been observed in infants whose mothers have had antenatal exposure to pesticides. Nowadays body fluids and tissues are commonly used to evaluate human exposure to some chemicals. However, all of them have some limitations. In this way hair has been identified as a suitable alternative and indicator of short (current) and long-term exposure to organochlorine compounds. The relatively high percentage of lipids in the hair (3.5-4%) and similar concentrations of persistent organic pollutants (reported relative to the amount of lipid) makes it a suitable matrix for analysis of persistent organic pollutants.

Introduction: Mercury (Hg) toxicity, its ability to be accumulated in organism’s tissues and its stabilization throughout the natural food chain for a long period has already been proven. Mercury pollution in the environment could occur via natural physico-chemical reactions on earth crust or due to human activities which cause mercury volatilization. Both organic and inorganic components of mercury could be found in the nature. In a natural aquatic reservoir, mercury initially observed and accumulated in the members of lower trophic levels. Then it will be magnified in the tissues of top consumers. This is called biomagnification. Mercury causes disorders in respiration and blood circulation, neurotic problems, and declines the reproduction abilities in fish. Fish are known as suitable bio-indicators to detect and track heavy metals, particularly mercury in aquatic ecosystems. Accumulated mercury has been measured in different tissues of a fish. Muscle tissue, as the most consumed part of a fish body is the most important tissue to determine the level of accumulated mercury in fish. Previous studies showed that the level of mercury in Sanandaj Gheshlagh Reservoir was higher than limits established by the World Health Organization and Iranian Standard Center (i.e., 1 mg/L). Field observations verified that intensive agricultural activities and other pollutant sources such as industrial activities were not developed in Sanandaj Gheshlagh Reservoir watersheds and its upper areas. In addition, previous studies on the geological structures and soil types of the region reported high levels of mercury in the bed rock and soil texture. Therefore, it seems Sanandaj Gheshlagh Reservoir mercury pollution has a natural source. The most favorite and consumed fish in the region are Common carp and Silver carp due to their abundance and relatively low price. Therefore, the present study was designed to track and determine and compare the level of total accumulated mercury (THg) in muscle tissues of Common carp (Cyprinus carpio) and Silver carp (Hypophthalmichtys molitrix) from Sanandaj Gheshlagh Reservoir during July to December 2009.

Introduction: The evaluation of natural radioactivity dose from natural sources is of particular importance because natural radiation is the largest contributor to the external dose of the world population. These dose rates vary from place to place depending on the concentration of natural radionuclides like 226Ra, 232Th and their progeny and the activity of singly occurring radionuclides like 40K present in soil, sediment and rocks. Granitoid rocks are more abundant terrestrial rock sources for gamma radiation. They occur in great batholiths and stocks that may occupy thousands of square kilometers. Their composition usually ranges from granite, granodiorite, monzonite, quartz-diorite, diorite to gabbro-diorite. Meanwhile, all of igneous rocks used as building materials in the stone market are named granites. Granitic rocks mainly consist of coarse grains of quartz, Kfeldspar, and plagioclase. Mafic common minerals in granites include biotite and amphibole. Zircon, sphene, apatite and allanite are other common accessory minerals in granites. This paper is dealing with the natural radioactivity of granites used as building materials in order to understand the relationship between natural radioactivity and the radioactive minerals present. We also carried out an assessment of dose exposure based on the activities of studied granites.

Introduction: Sawdust as the most expensive and the most abundant adsorbent has the capacity of adsorbing heavy metals in water and wastewater. Recently, some agricultural wastes such as fern leaves, sawdust, wheat bran, wood, corn and so on have widely been used to remove heavy metals from aqueous solutions. Sawdust is produced daily in industries related to wood processing. Several studies have done on the capability of sawdust to remove heavy metals from industrial wastewater. In this study, determination of equilibrium time and major parameters of adsorption isotherms on the basic equations are considered. On one hand, adsorption isotherms were achieved by changing the mass concentration but the temperature was considered constant. On the other hand, in both methods, equilibrium time was presumed stable, but the concentrations (adsorbent mass) were considered variable. Therefore, the main purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of changing mass balance of adsorbent on adsorption equilibrium time. Another objective of this study is to achieve a mathematical definition for the relationship between initial concentration and absorption efficiency.

Introduction: Alcohol production from molasses can lead to large amounts of wastewater that cause serious environmental concern. It is characterized with extremely high chemical oxygen demand (COD), biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) and dark brown color. This wastewater is poorly decolorized by the normal biological treatments such as activated sludge systems, aerated lagoons and anaerobic ponds. Various physicochemical treatments are also explored, such as activated carbon absorption process. But the high cast makes these methods hard to be applied. Therefore, it is significant to find a suitable way to treat this wastewater.Other providers are looking for other methods to convert this kind of dense wastewater into fertilizers with higher economic and social value. Composting this kind of wastewater is a biothermal aerobic process. During composting heat generated by the composition of the organic materials reduces the moisture content of the pile.

Introduction: Alcohol production from molasses can lead to large amounts of wastewater that cause serious environmental concern. It is characterized with extremely high chemical oxygen demand (COD), biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) and dark brown color. This wastewater is poorly decolorized by the normal biological treatments such as activated sludge systems, aerated lagoons and anaerobic ponds. Various physicochemical treatments are also explored, such as activated carbon absorption process. But the high cast makes these methods hard to be applied. Therefore, it is significant to find a suitable way to treat this wastewater.Other providers are looking for other methods to convert this kind of dense wastewater into fertilizers with higher economic and social value. Composting this kind of wastewater is a biothermal aerobic process. During composting heat generated by the composition of the organic materials reduces the moisture content of the pile.

Introduction: Heavy metals pollution is an environmental problem of worldwide concern because most of them can be toxic even at low concentrations. Industrialized societies are responsible for increasing environmental contamination by trace metals produced as wastes from industrial and agricultural processes and household activities. Low concentrations of certain transition metals such as cobalt, copper, nickel and zinc are essential. However, higher concentrations of these metals are often cytotoxic. Other heavy metals, including lead, cadmium, mercury, silver and chromium have no known beneficial effects to bacterial cells and are toxic even at low concentrations. Generally, heavy metals are not biodegradableand tend to accumulate in living organisms causing various diseases and disorders. In assessments of risk associated with metal contaminated sites, metal absorption by food chain is one of the major problems. Thus, it is really important to assess and control the metal concentration in industrial wastewater before releasing to the natural environments.

This study deals with the variations of Cd, As, Pb and NO3- levels in the groundwater of Anar Plain. Anar plain is located in southeast part of Iran (west of Rafsanjan plain) between 55°,10’ to 56°eastern longitude and 30°, 30’ to 30°, 58’ northern latitude. This plain, stretching in a northwest- southeast direction, resembles a rectangle about 42 km in width and 82 km in length and is bounded by Badbakht- Kuh Mountain from the north and Dahaj-Sarduieh Mountain from the south (figure 1). About half of the plain in the north and west parts is occupied by barren salt playas. In addition to Anar and Koshkuieh towns, there are tens of villages in the plain which are mainly located in the medial part, where the Qantas supplying them with water emerge at the surface. Also, there are several asphalt roads in the plain, the main one connecting Kerman via Yazd to Tehran. Geologically, the Anar plain separates two zones of central Iran, namely Urimieh- Dokhtar in the south and flysh zone in the north. Badbakht- Kuh in the north is composed mainly of upper Cretaceous flyshes which are strongly tectonized and as a result of being low and narrow, has negligible role in recharging the alluvial aquifer of Anar plain. In contrast, the high and broad southern mountains which are mainly composed of volcanic rocks play a key role in recharging the aquifer.

Introduction: Perception of groundwater vulnerability level to pollutant is considerably essential in urban areas to facilitate groundwater planning and management. Because of the health and economic impacts associated with groundwater contamination, groundwater pollution assessment must be taken into consideration for sustainable groundwater protection. In this research, the concentrations of some heavy metals (Cd, Cr, Cu, Mn, Pb and Zn), major ions (Na+, Ca2+, Mg2+, Cl- , SO42- and HCO3-, NO32-), electrical conductivity, total dissolved solids, total hardness and pH were measured to evaluate the degree of groundwater pollution in Kerman urban area.

Introduction: Mankind is increasingly being submitted to an unnatural life style in an environment harmful to his health. The result is not only illness and stress but also socio-economic problems. Urban areas, by their nature as centers of population and economic activity are subject to a wide range of pollutants. The health effects of these pollutants among which are carcinogens include respiratory diseases and eye and skin irritation. In addition, they erode man-made environments and damage natural environments. Most air pollutants stem from three sources: industry, motor vehicles and the burning fossil fuels for heat or electricity generation. The contribution of industrial sources to air pollution varies considerably from one town to another, depending on the accumulation and type of industries in an area.