Contamination and restoration of groundwater aquifers.

Humans are exposed to chemicals in contaminated groundwaters that are used as sources of drinking water. Chemicals contaminate groundwater resources as a result of waste disposal methods for toxic chemicals, overuse of agricultural chemicals, and leakage of chemicals into the subsurface from buried tanks used to hold fluid chemicals and fuels. In the process, both the solid portions of the subsurface and the groundwaters that flow through these porous structures have become contaminated. Restoring these aquifers and minimizing human exposure to the parent chemicals and their degradation products will require the identification of suitable biomarkers of human exposure; better understandings of how exposure can be related to disease outcome; better understandings of mechanisms of transport of pollutants in the heterogeneous structures of the subsurface; and field testing and evaluation of methods proposed to restore and cleanup contaminated aquifers. In this review, progress in these many different but related activities is presented

Global atmospheric changes.

Increasing concentrations of CO2 and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere can be directly related to global warming. In terms of human health, because a major cause of increasing atmospheric concentrations of CO2 is the increased combustion of fossil fuels, global warming also may result in increases in air pollutants, acid deposition, and exposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation. To understand better the impacts of global warming phenomena on human health, this review emphasizes the processes that are responsible for the greenhouse effect, air pollution, acid deposition, and increased exposure to UV radiation

Methods proposed to achieve air quality standards for mobile sources and technology surveillance.

The methods proposed to meet the 1975 Standards of the Clean Air Act for mobile sources are alternative antiknocks, exhaust emission control devices, and alternative engine designs. Technology surveillance analysis applied to this situation is an attempt to anticipate potential public and environmental health problems from these methods, before they happen. Components of this analysis are exhaust emission characterization, environmental transport and transformation, levels of public and environmental exposure, and the influence of economics on the selection of alternative methods. The purpose of this presentation is to show trends as a result of the interaction of these different components. In no manner can these trends be interpreted explicitly as to what will really happen. Such an analysis is necessary so that public and environmental health officials have the opportunity to act on potential problems before they become manifest

Emission control devices, fuel additive, and fuel composition changes.

Emission control devices are installed to meet the exhaust standards of the Clean Air Act for carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons, and it is necessary to know, from a public health point of view, how exhaust emissions may be affected by changes in fuel additives and fuel composition. Since these topics are concerned with developing technologies, the available literature on exhaust emission characteristics and the limited information on health effects, is reviewed

Environmental transport and transformation of automotive-emitted lead.

The use of a mass balance equation assists in clarifying the contribution of automotive-emitted lead to the regional and global problems of the distribution of this element, by taking into account the physicochemical transformation processes operating on the lead during its transport along the various environmental pathways. The technical factors which govern the emission of such lead from automobile engines and which affect its subsequent dispersion through the environment are described

Agricultural chemical utilization and human health.

The public is justifiably concerned about the human health effects of agricultural chemicals. The many gaps in information about the mechanisms of toxic action, human exposures, and the nature and extent of human health effects are large. Very few older pesticides, in particular, have been tested for human health effects. Workers who produce, harvest, store, transport, process, and prepare food and fibers are exposed to many chemicals that are potentially hazardous and that are used in agriculture. The occupational health of these workers has not been adequately studied, and protective efforts have sometimes been minimal. Valid and accurate risk assessment is best based on sound information about how chemicals, in this case agricultural chemicals, are involved in toxic events--their mechanisms of action. These health effects include tumor promotion, chronic and acute neurotoxicity, immunotoxicity, and reproductive and developmental toxicity. Another key part of risk assessment is exposure assessment. Fundamental studies of the toxicology of target organisms and nontarget organisms exposed to agricultural chemicals are needed to discover and develop better solutions to the problems of agricultural pest control, including better formulations, optimal application rates and public education in safety and alternative agricultural practices. The large number of pesticides that have never been adequately tested for effects on human health is particularly worrisome in light of emerging information about delayed nervous system effects

A mathematical model for the transport and fate of organic chemicals in unsaturated/saturated soils.

A mathematical model, simulating the transport and fate of nonionizable organic compounds in unsaturated/saturated porous media (soils) in a terrestrial microcosm has been developed. Using the principles of water mass, momentum, heat energy and chemical mass balance, the three fields: moisture, temperature, and liquid phase chemical concentration are solved for simultaneously by coupling the soil slab to an environmentally realistic air-soil interface (a dynamic free boundary) conditions and a prescribed height water table. The environmental conditions at the soil surface-air chamber interface are easily changed, via geometric scaling factors, to simulate either an open agricultural field or a landfill type of situation. Illustrative simulation runs examine the effects of different soil-chemical characteristics on hydrological and chemical concentration profiles

Waste disposal technologies for polychlorinated biphenyls.

Improper practices in the disposal of polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) wastes by land burial, chemical means and incineration distribute these chemicals and related compounds such as polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs) and polychlorinated dibenzodioxins (PCDDs) throughout the environment. The complete range of methods for disposal that have been proposed and are in use are examined and analyzed, with emphasis given to the two most commonly used methods: land burial and incineration. The understanding of aquifer contamination caused by migration of PCBs from subsurface burial sites requires a description of the physical, chemical and biological processes governing transport in unsaturated and saturated soils. For this purpose, a model is developed and solved for different soil conditions and external driving functions. The model couples together the fundamental transport phenomena for heat, mass, and moisture flow within the soil. To rehabilitate a contaminated aquifer, contaminated groundwaters are withdrawn through drainage wells, PCBs are extracted with solvents or activated carbon and treated by chemical, photochemical or thermal methods. The chemical and photochemical methods are reviewed, but primary emphasis is devoted to the use of incineration as the preferred method of disposal. After discussing the formation of PCDFs and PCDDs during combustion from chloroaromatic, chloroaliphatic, as well as organic and inorganic chloride precursors, performance characteristics of different thermal destructors are presented and analyzed. To understand how this information can be used, basic design equations are developed from governing heat and mass balances that can be applied to the construction of incinerators capable of more than 99.99% destruction with minimal to nondetectable levels of PCDFs and PCDDs

Metallic elements in fossil fuel combustion products: amounts and form of emissions and evaluation of carcinogenicity and mutagenicity.

Metallic elements contained in coal, oil and gasoline are mobilized by combustion processes and may be emitted into the atmosphere, mainly as components of submicron particles. The information about the amounts, composition and form of metal compounds is reviewed for some fuels and combustion processes. Since metal compounds are always contained in urban air pollutants, they have to be considered whenever an evaluation of biological impact of air pollutants is made. The value of currently used bioassays for the evaluation of the role of trace metal compounds, either as major biologically active components or as modifiers of biological effects of organic compounds is assessed. The whole animal bioassays for carcinogenicity do not seem to be an appropriate approach. They are costly, time-consuming and not easily amenable to the testing of complex mixtures. Some problems related to the application and interpretation of short-term bioassays are considered, and the usefulness of such bioassays for the evaluation of trace metal components contained in complex air pollution mixtures is examined