Storms, Floods, and Debris Flows in Southern California and Arizona, 1978 and 1980: Proceedings of a Symposium, September 17-18,1980

Following the floods of 1978 and 1980 in southern California and Arizona a symposium was convened at the California Institute of Technology in September 1980 to document the significant events of these floods and to exchange information and evaluations. The symposium laid the groundwork for a volume of proceedings, which serves as a compact permanent source of information on these floods for not only local readers but national readers as well. Special attention is given in the proceedings to documenting problems--some engineering, some institutional--and to drawing conclusions and making recommendations for research. The papers included are not intended to be research papers or to replace the much more detailed reports of individual agencies. The emphasis was on preparing and presenting the papers soon after the event in such a way as to emphasize the regional nature of floods and flood control problems. The proceedings are organized into several sections, with 35 papers altogether. Following the overview and summary, Section 2, STORM METEOROLOGY, which consists of four papers, describes the long-range weather patterns that affect the southwestern United States; the relationship of these patterns to sea surface temperatures in the North Pacific Ocean; the short-term synoptic meteorology of the storms under consideration, showing the importance of multiple storm sequences; and statistical analyses of return periods, based on historical data, for precipitation at a point. Section 3, DOWNSTREAM RIVER FLOODING, consisting of nine papers, gives an overview of the floods on the larger rivers, how the flood control works responded, and what damages occurred. Section 4, UPLAND FLOODS AND SEDIMENT TRANSPORT (five papers), focuses on the unique aspects of sedimentation in regional floods. Section 5, LANDSLIDES, with four papers, explains the problems of landslides, both large and small, that were triggered by the prolonged periods of heavy rainfall. Section 6, CASE STUDIES OF ENGINEERING PROBLEMS (four papers), gives detailed analyses of three particular engineering problems: the failure of levees on the San Jacinto River, the uncontrolled filling of Lake Elsinore to damaging stages, and the severe streambed scour threatening to undermine the Interstate 10 highway bridge over the Salt River at Phoenix, Arizona. The experiences and analyses described in these papers should be useful to engineers who deal with similar structures and situations in the future. Section 7, EFFECTS ON THE SHORELINE, consisting of two papers, illustrates the damaging effects of the high storm waves and high tides that occurred in 1978 and 1980. Beach profiles shifted very rapidly, with sand being moved temporarily offshore, which exposed many shoreline structures to direct wave attack, causing severe damages. Section 8, POLICIES FOR FLOOD CONTROL AND HAZARD MITIGATION (six papers),focuses on institutional issues. Four of these papers advocate a strong new emphasis on hazard mitigation, better flood warning systems, and other nonstructural approaches as part of the mix of society's activities to deal with floods. About 300 people participated in the symposium, and many contributed to the questions and discussion. In the closing session there was a panel discussion by Russell Campbell, Engineering Geologist with the U.S. Geological Survey; John F. Kennedy, Director of the Iowa Institute on Hydraulic Research at the University of Iowa and member of the Committee on Natural Disasters of the National Research Council; Dale Peterson, Director of Community Services with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in San Francisco; and Richard Wainer, Los Angeles City Engineer's Office in Van Nuys. The writer served as moderator. Since it was not feasible to digest and record all of these discussions, I am attempting in this summary to capture the main conclusions and issues.* Nonetheless, the following conclusions and recommendations are solely the responsibility of the author and do not necessarily represent a consensus by the participants at the symposium. For the record it should be noted that the following papers included in the proceedings were not presented at the symposium: "Geotechnical Origin and Repair of the Bluebird Canyon Landslide, Laguna Beach, California" by Beach Leighton and "Levee Failures and Distress, San Jacinto River Levee and Bautista Creek Channel, Riverside County, Santa Ana River Basin, California" by Joe Sciandrone, Ted Albrecht, Jr., Richard Davidson, Jacob Douma, Dave Bamer, Charles Hooppaw, and A1 Robles, Jr. The latter paper is a shortened version of the official Corps of Engineers report on the San Jacinto River levee failure , which was not available in time for presentation at the conference. Numerous brief discussions at the symposium are gratefully acknowledged, although very few are included in the proceedings

Storms, Floods, and Debris Flows in Southern California and Arizona, 1978 and 1980: Proceedings of a Symposium, September 17-18,1980

Following the floods of 1978 and 1980 in southern California and Arizona a symposium was convened at the California Institute of Technology in September 1980 to document the significant events of these floods and to exchange information and evaluations. The symposium laid the groundwork for a volume of proceedings, which serves as a compact permanent source of information on these floods for not only local readers but national readers as well. Special attention is given in the proceedings to documenting problems--some engineering, some institutional--and to drawing conclusions and making recommendations for research. The papers included are not intended to be research papers or to replace the much more detailed reports of individual agencies. The emphasis was on preparing and presenting the papers soon after the event in such a way as to emphasize the regional nature of floods and flood control problems. The proceedings are organized into several sections, with 35 papers altogether. Following the overview and summary, Section 2, STORM METEOROLOGY, which consists of four papers, describes the long-range weather patterns that affect the southwestern United States; the relationship of these patterns to sea surface temperatures in the North Pacific Ocean; the short-term synoptic meteorology of the storms under consideration, showing the importance of multiple storm sequences; and statistical analyses of return periods, based on historical data, for precipitation at a point. Section 3, DOWNSTREAM RIVER FLOODING, consisting of nine papers, gives an overview of the floods on the larger rivers, how the flood control works responded, and what damages occurred. Section 4, UPLAND FLOODS AND SEDIMENT TRANSPORT (five papers), focuses on the unique aspects of sedimentation in regional floods. Section 5, LANDSLIDES, with four papers, explains the problems of landslides, both large and small, that were triggered by the prolonged periods of heavy rainfall. Section 6, CASE STUDIES OF ENGINEERING PROBLEMS (four papers), gives detailed analyses of three particular engineering problems: the failure of levees on the San Jacinto River, the uncontrolled filling of Lake Elsinore to damaging stages, and the severe streambed scour threatening to undermine the Interstate 10 highway bridge over the Salt River at Phoenix, Arizona. The experiences and analyses described in these papers should be useful to engineers who deal with similar structures and situations in the future. Section 7, EFFECTS ON THE SHORELINE, consisting of two papers, illustrates the damaging effects of the high storm waves and high tides that occurred in 1978 and 1980. Beach profiles shifted very rapidly, with sand being moved temporarily offshore, which exposed many shoreline structures to direct wave attack, causing severe damages. Section 8, POLICIES FOR FLOOD CONTROL AND HAZARD MITIGATION (six papers),focuses on institutional issues. Four of these papers advocate a strong new emphasis on hazard mitigation, better flood warning systems, and other nonstructural approaches as part of the mix of society's activities to deal with floods. About 300 people participated in the symposium, and many contributed to the questions and discussion. In the closing session there was a panel discussion by Russell Campbell, Engineering Geologist with the U.S. Geological Survey; John F. Kennedy, Director of the Iowa Institute on Hydraulic Research at the University of Iowa and member of the Committee on Natural Disasters of the National Research Council; Dale Peterson, Director of Community Services with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in San Francisco; and Richard Wainer, Los Angeles City Engineer's Office in Van Nuys. The writer served as moderator. Since it was not feasible to digest and record all of these discussions, I am attempting in this summary to capture the main conclusions and issues.* Nonetheless, the following conclusions and recommendations are solely the responsibility of the author and do not necessarily represent a consensus by the participants at the symposium. For the record it should be noted that the following papers included in the proceedings were not presented at the symposium: "Geotechnical Origin and Repair of the Bluebird Canyon Landslide, Laguna Beach, California" by Beach Leighton and "Levee Failures and Distress, San Jacinto River Levee and Bautista Creek Channel, Riverside County, Santa Ana River Basin, California" by Joe Sciandrone, Ted Albrecht, Jr., Richard Davidson, Jacob Douma, Dave Bamer, Charles Hooppaw, and A1 Robles, Jr. The latter paper is a shortened version of the official Corps of Engineers report on the San Jacinto River levee failure , which was not available in time for presentation at the conference. Numerous brief discussions at the symposium are gratefully acknowledged, although very few are included in the proceedings

Recovery Through Retrofit

This report describes recommendations for federal action to address barriers to retrofitting home residences for energy efficiency

Integrating Human Health into Environmental Impact Assessment: An Unrealized Opportunity for Environmental Health and Justice

The National Environmental Policy Act and related state laws require many public agencies to analyze and disclose potentially significant environmental effects of agency actions, including effects on human health. In this paper we review the purpose and procedures of environmental impact assessment (EIA), existing regulatory requirements for health effects analysis, and potential barriers to and opportunities for improving integration of human health concerns within the EIA process. We use statutes, regulations, guidelines, court opinions, and empirical research on EIA along with recent case examples of integrated health impact assessment (HIA)/EIA at both the state and federal level. We extract lessons and recommendations for integrated HIA/EIA practice from both existing practices as well as case studies. The case studies demonstrate the adequacy, scope, and power of existing statutory requirements for health analysis within EIA. The following support the success of integrated HIA/EIA: a proponent recognizing EIA as an available regulatory strategy for public health; the openness of the agency conducting the EIA; involvement of public health institutions; and complementary objectives among community stakeholders and health practitioners. We recommend greater collaboration among institutions responsible for EIA, public health institutions, and affected stakeholders along with guidance, resources, and training for integrated HIA/EIA practice

Environmental Justice and the Role of Criminology: An Analytical Review of 33 Years of Environmental Justice Research

An increasing number of scholars and activists have begun to tackle a variety of issues relevant to environmental justice studies. This study attempts to address the role of criminologists in this domain. The authors examine 425 environmental justice articles in 204 academic journals, representing 18 programs/departments between 1970 and 2003. First, they measure the environmental justice contributions in the literature by academic department or activist affiliation. Second, they identify the major themes in the literature as they have developed and reveal the current and future directions of environmental justice studies. Such themes include the spatial distribution of hazards, social movements, law and public policy, and environmental discrimination. Finally, the authors seek to call attention to the evident linkages between accepted areas of criminological scholarship and environmental justice. From this latter objective, the authors seek to demonstrate how criminology and criminal justice can advance this critical dialogue and social movement

Mercury toxicity in livers of northern pike (Esox lucius) from Isle Royale, USA

Author Posting. © Elsevier B.V., 2007. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of Elsevier B.V. for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology Part C: Toxicology & Pharmacology 147 (2008): 331-338, doi:10.1016/j.cbpc.2007.12.003.Many laboratory studies have documented that mercury can be toxic to fish, but it is largely unknown if mercury is toxic to fish in their natural environments. The objective of our study was to investigate the toxic effects of mercury on northern pike (Esox lucius) at Isle Royale, Michigan. In 124 northern pike from eight inland lakes, concentrations of total mercury in skin-on fillets ranged from 0.069 to 0.622 µg/g wet wt. Concentrations of total mercury in livers increased exponentially compared with concentrations in fillets, to a maximum of 3.1 µg/g wet wt. Methylmercury constituted a majority of the mercury in livers with total mercury concentrations <0.5 µg/g wet wt, but declined to 28-51% of the mercury in livers with total mercury concentrations >0.5 µg/g wet wt. Liver color (absorbance at 400 nm) varied among northern pike and was positively related to liver total mercury concentration. The pigment causing variation in liver color was identified as lipofuscin, which results from lipid peroxidation of membranous organelles. An analysis of covariance revealed lipofuscin accumulation was primarily associated with mercury exposure, and this association obscured any normal accumulation from aging. We also documented decreased lipid reserves in livers and poor condition factors of northern pike with high liver total mercury concentrations. Our results suggest (i) northern pike at Isle Royale are experiencing toxicity at concentrations of total mercury common for northern pike and other piscivorous fish elsewhere in North America and (ii) liver color may be useful for indicating mercury exposure and effects in northern pike at Isle Royale and possibly other aquatic ecosystems and other fish species.Financial support was provided by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency STAR Graduate Fellowship Program to P.E.D

Natural ventilation potential for residential buildings in a densely built-up and highly polluted environment. A case study

The application of Natural Ventilation (NV) as a measure to improve comfort conditions in transition and summer periods has been a topic of research on the spotlight for years. However, there is a lack of knowledge about how the combined effect of a dense urban layout with high pollutant concentrations may affect its potential. This paper addresses this gap by running detailed thermal simulations for a typical apartment flat located in the Yuzhong district of Chongqing city (China) using a holistic approach that makes use of: i) wind pressure coefficients on building facades from urban-scale CFD simulations, ii) hourly measured values of PM2.5 concentrations and weather variables and iii) indoor environment measurements for validation purposes. Scenario analysis revealed the average amount of air change rates achievable in a year varies from 8 to 15 ACH according to the windows orientation. These figures drop down to around 2 ACH when taking into account reduced windows opening time when outdoor PM2.5 concentrations are too high. The resulting natural ventilation potential of the case study decreases from 4234 h when outdoor pollution is neglected to 2707 and 529 h when considering the exposure thresholds set by the Chinese government and the WHO respectively

Refinement of arsenic attributable health risks in rural Pakistan using population specific dietary intake values

Background: Previous risk assessment studies have often utilised generic consumption or intake values when evaluating ingestion exposure pathways. If these values do not accurately reflect the country or scenario in question, the resulting risk assessment will not provide a meaningful representation of cancer risks in that particular country/scenario. Objectives: This study sought to determine water and food intake parameters for one region in South Asia, rural Pakistan, and assess the role population specific intake parameters play in cancer risk assessment. Methods: A questionnaire was developed to collect data on sociodemographic features and 24-hour water and food consumption patterns from a rural community. The impact of dietary differences on cancer susceptibility linked to arsenic exposure was evaluated by calculating cancer risks using the data collected in the current study against standard water and food intake levels for the USA, Europe and Asia. A probabilistic cancer risk was performed for each set of intake values of this study. Results: Average daily total water intake based on drinking direct plain water and indirect water from food and beverages was found to be 3.5 L day-1 (95% CI: 3.38, 3.57) exceeding the US Environmental Protection Agency’s default (2.5 L day-1) and World Health Organization’s recommended intake value (2 L day-1). Average daily rice intake (469 g day-1) was found to be lower than in India and Bangladesh whereas wheat intake (402 g day−1) was higher than intake reported for USA, Europe and Asian sub-regions. Consequently, arsenic-associated cumulative cancer risks determined for daily water intake was found to be 17 in children of 3-6 years (95% CI: 0.0014, 0.0017), 14 in children of age 6-16 years (95% CI: 0.001, 0.0011) and 6 in adults of 16-67 years (95% CI: 0.0006, 0.0006) in a population size of 10000. This is higher than the risks estimated using the US Environmental Protection Agency and World Health Organization’s default recommended water intake levels. Rice intake data showed early life cumulative cancer risks of 15 in 10000 for children of 3-6 years (95% CI: 0.0012, 0.0015), 14 in children of 6-16 years (95% CI: 0.0011, 0.0014) and later life risk of 8 in adults (95% CI: 0.0008, 0.0008) in a population of 10000. This is lower than cancer risks in countries with higher rice intake and elevated arsenic levels (Bangladesh and India). Cumulative cancer risk from arsenic exposure showed the relative risk contribution from total water to be51%, from rice to be44% and wheat intake 5%. Conclusions: The study demonstrates the need to use population specific dietary information for risk assessment and risk management studies. Probabilistic risk assessment concluded the importance of dietary intake in estimating cancer risk, along with arsenic concentrations in water or food and age of exposed rural population

Integrating ecosystem services into conservation strategies for freshwater and marine habitats: a review

Over the last two decades, there has been increasing public and political recognition of society's dependency upon natural habitat complexity and ecological processes to sustain provision of crucial ecosystem services, ranging from supplying potable water through to climate regulation. How has the ecosystem-services perspective been integrated into strategies for aquatic habitat conservation? Literature on conservation of diverse freshwater and marine habitats was reviewed to assess the extent to which past and current strategies specifically targeted ecosystem services, and considered ecosystem functions, potential trade-offs and social issues when formulating protection measures for conserving aquatic habitats. Surprisingly few published examples exist where comprehensive assessment of ecosystem services supported development of conservation plans. Seldom were aquatic habitat conservation objectives framed in terms of balancing trade-offs, assessing social values and evaluating suites of ecosystem services under different strategies. Time frames for achieving these objectives were also rarely specified. There was no evidence for fundamental differences between marine and freshwater habitats with respect to their ecosystem services that should be considered when setting targets for their conservation. When an ecosystem-service perspective is used for setting objectives in aquatic habitat conservation, the following actions are recommended: (1) explicitly listing and evaluating full suites of ecosystem services to be conserved; (2) identifying current and future potential trade-offs arising from conservation; (3) specifying time frames within which particular strategies might protect or enhance desired services; and (4) predicting how different proposed strategies might affect each ecosystem function, service flow and public benefit. This approach will help ensure that less-apparent ecosystem services (e.g. regulating, supporting) and their associated ecosystem functions receive adequate recognition and protection in aquatic conservation of freshwater and marine habitats. However, conservation objectives should not focus solely on protecting or enhancing ecosystem services but complement current strategies targeting biodiversity and other conservation goals.Peer Reviewe