The Economics of Efficient Phosphorus Abatement in a Watershed

This study presents a method to determine efficient environmental targets at a watershed level. Efficient targets are devised by estimating abatement cost and cost of environmental damages and minimizing their sum. The method was applied to a case study of phosphorus pollution in a watershed in Oklahoma. Several cumulative scenarios with alternative abatement options were simulated and efficient targets were determined. As the number of abatement options at disposal to agricultural sources increased, their optimal abatement expanded relative to the abatement at the point source. Efficient targets were found to be dependent on the choice of policy that stimulates abatement.efficiency, environmental targets, phosphorus pollution, watershed, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

OPTIMAL SPATIAL ALLOCATION OF WASTE MANAGEMENT PRACTICES TO REDUCE PHOSPHORUS POLLUTION IN A WATERSHED

Phosphorus pollution from excessive litter application and municipal discharges causes eutorphication of lakes in the Eucha-Spavinaw watershed in eastern Oklahoma and western Arkansas. Consequent algae blooms impair the taste of drinking water supply drawn from the watershed and reduce the recreational values of the lakes. The paper shows how GIS data based biophysical modeling can be used to derive spatially optimal, least-cost allocation of agricultural management practices to be combined with optimal wastewater treatment activity from the point source in order to achieve socially optimal phosphorus load in the watershed. The optimal level of phosphorus load is determined by equating marginal abatement with marginal damage cost. Transportation activities in the model allow for transportation of litter within and out of the watershed. Results show uniform regulation of litter application is excessively costly relative to measures that encourage adoption of management practices that equate marginal abatement costs across pollution sources. The results also show that change in the land use patterns in a long-run and using alum based litter additives in short-run are economically efficient management options.Environmental Economics and Policy,

Economic Analysis of Management Practices to Reduce Phosphorus Load to Lake Eucha and Spavinaw

Changes in management practices are often proposed to reduce phosphorus loading from a watershed due to over application of poultry litter. This study determines the choice, location, and level of each best management practice in the watershed to meet a Total Maximum Daily Load and margins of safety at least cost.best management practice, phosphorus runoff, poultry litter, Target MOTAD, Environmental Economics and Policy,

Geology of the Strang area, Mayes County, Oklahoma

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Oklahoma, 1951.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 86-89)One folded map in pocket

Estimating surface runoff in the Illinois River Basin for the management of nonpoint-source phosphorus loads

With the growing concern about elevated phosphorus (P) concentrations in regional lakes, rivers, and streams, it is essential to investigate factors contributing to P transport from the landscape. Phosphorus fluxes from nonpoint sources, particularly land applications of poultry litter and other animal manures, are closely related to the amount and production of surface runoff. Daily stream discharge and the software program, Base Flow Index (BFI), were used to estimate the amount and temporal patterns of surface runoff at different locations within the Illinois River Basin, including selected tributaries in northwest Arkansas and northeast Oklahoma. Daily streamflow data from nine U.S. Geological Survey discharge stations were imported into the BFI program to estimate base flow, where surface runoff was the difference between total streamflow and base flow. Surface runoff was found to be greatest during spring and winter (November-June), and least during the summer and early fall (July-October). Land on which poultry litter and other animal manures are applied during the summer and early fall when runoff is less could pose less risk of P transport, likely helping to minimize nonpoint source P loads introduced into the Illinois River

Water Resources Planning Study for Arkansas and Oklahoma

The purpose of this study is to make an appraisal of the local water resources in the Arkansas River Basin common to the two States of Arkansas and Oklahoma as defined by the Arkansas-Oklahoma Compact Committee (hereinafter referred to as the Compact Committee ). A review, analysis, and correlation has been made of hydrologic data previously collected by others. Consideration is given to the evaluation at selected sites of the storage and potential use of existing water sources

Adaptive Tolerance to Zinc in Freshwater Snails (Physa acuta) Across a Contamination Gradient

The Tri-State-Mining district is an area of northeast Oklahoma, southwest Missouri, and southeast Kansas in which zinc and lead mines operated for over 100 years. Metal contamination from wastes left behind by these historic mining operations has polluted the Neosho and Spring Rivers, the Grand Lake o' the Cherokees, and resulted in the EPA designating Tar Creek a superfund site in 1983. The receiving watershed has a gradient of contamination from likely toxic concentrations of zinc to background concentrations. The purpose of this study was to determine if native populations of freshwater snails have developed tolerance to environmental metal concentrations and, if present, the extent of the metals tolerance across a downstream gradient from the metals-contaminated area. Snails (Physa acuta) were collected from sites representing the gradient of metals contamination and field sediment and water samples were analyzed for zinc. These populations were cultured in the lab and zinc toxicity tests were conducted with F1+ juveniles collected from those cultures. Snails cultured from populations collected from contaminated, upstream sites were more tolerant to zinc exposure than snails cultured from populations collected from clean, downstream sites. Additionally, zinc tolerance was found in snails collected from a site that represented a midpoint geographically, although environmental zinc levels were below levels likely to cause toxicity. My results suggest that, despite past studies showing sediments from Grand Lake to be relatively nontoxic to sediment-dwelling organisms due to low bioavailability; aquatic organisms may still be experiencing physiological stress and selective pressures because of metals contamination

Big Chicken: Pollution and Industrial Poultry Production in America

Describes how the consolidation of the poultry industry raises concerns about treatment and disposal of waste, especially in the Chesapeake Bay area. Policy recommendations include caps on animal density and shared responsibility for waste management

Stratigraphic Variations in the Carboniferous Section Across the Arkansas-Oklahoma State Line Arch

The State Line Arch is represented by a structural high that trends through the study area in a loose alignment with the Arkansas-Oklahoma state line. Evidence of the arch extending further to the north includes a structural high and stratigraphic variation at an outcrop on Highway 59 near Evansville Mountain in Crawford County, Arkansas. The exact timing of the formation of the arch remains undetermined, but upper Devonian thinning at the top of the arch indicates the structure is pre-Mississippian. The reason for the development of the arch is poorly understood, but evidence linking Mississippian-aged Waulsortian mounds to Precambrian Spavinaw granite structures of northeastern Oklahoma and southwestern Missouri suggests Precambrian basement structures may extend into the study area. The structural nature of the arch provided an environment favorable to carbonate build-up during deposition of the Mississippian interval. A previously unidentified limestone unit measuring 175 feet thick likely represents the transgressive phase of a transgressive-regressive sequence responsible for the deposition of the Mayes Group of northeastern Oklahoma. Growth on the downthrown side of the Muldrow-Mulberry Fault system may indicate earlier movement than previous studies have suggested on the east-west trending normal faults of the Arkoma Basin. A possible roll-over anticline structure may exist to the south of the Muldrow-Mulberry fault system

A Geochemical Investigation and Comparison between Organic-rich Black Shales and Mississippi Valley-Type Pb-Zn Ores in the Southern Ozarks Region

Mississippi Valley-type (MVT) deposits are base metal sulfide deposits that are important economic sources of both Pb and Zn, accounting for 24% of the global Pb and Zn reserves. They are found all over the world, often hosted in platform carbonates on the flanks of sedimentary basins, and often in proximity to hydrocarbons. They are epigenetic, not related to igneous activity, and thought to be sourced from low temperature, highly saline basinal brines that are expelled from sedimentary basins during compaction and/or in conjunction with an orogenic event. The basinal lithologies responsible for providing the metals for the ores are still a matter of debate. The ores are highly enriched in radiogenic Pb and thus potential sources must also share this same isotopic signature. Shales have been hypothesized to represent the original source of the metals due to their radioactive nature, the large volumes of connate fluid associated with their sediments before compaction, and their association with hydrocarbons. The Pb isotopic compositions of 20 sphalerite samples from the Northern Arkansas and the Tri-State MVT mining districts, 23 shales from the Chattanooga and Fayetteville formations, and 2 granitic basement rocks from the southern Ozarks have been analyzed and compared in order to evaluate the potential source(s) of the metals. The granites and most of the shales do not match the isotopic signature of the ores and thus may not represent a viable metal source. However, one sample taken from the base of the Chattanooga shale has similar Pb isotopic ratios to the ores, suggesting that the shale may have provided the metals. The depositional environment of the aforementioned shale sample explains the isotopic signature and sheds some light on the origin of the ore deposits