Evan K. Paleologos

The Lost Value of Groundwater and its Influence on Environmental Decision Making

A critical aspect in establishing environmental policies lies in the proper assessment of the value of the resource being affected. Standard risk assessment analyses calculate the cost of pollution as consisting, solely, of the cost to remediate a site. This traditional definition is extended here to include the lost value of groundwater. These concepts and their impact on decision-making analyses are illustrated through the case of municipal waste landfills. Based on data from existing polluting sites, a simple cost-benefit probabilistic analysis is conducted first, which equates, as is the practice, the cost of pollution to that of remediation. This leads rationally to selection of the lowest-protection technology. Using plausible arguments the reduction in value of groundwater from potable high-quality water to irrigation water, which is what is returned after remediation, is argued. The arguments consist of: (a) the ratio of the subsidized prices of drinking to irrigation water reflects the relative value of the use of water; (b) the amount paid for remediation, in each case, represents, at a minimum, the value of the water recovered; and (c) the lost value of groundwater equals the value of drinking water minus the value of irrigation water. Incorporation of this lost value of groundwater is sufficient to drastically alter the conclusions of the decision-making analysis and make the highest level technology the most rational and profitable alternative. The broader point of this article lies in that proper accounting of environmental costs is necessary in order to alter environmental policies and practices.

Electrical Properties of Soils

This chapter discusses the electric and electromagnetic methods that are used to evaluate the electrical properties of soils. Electric techniques exploit the flow of a steady-state current in the subsurface, while electromagnetic methods rely on the phenomenon of electromagnetic induction and the wave character of the electromagnetic field.

Stability and Safety of Engineered Barrier Systems for Waste Containment

Abstract The current chapter analyzes different engineered measures that are put in place in landfills to safeguard the environment and the population health from release of wastes. The functions and types of covering systems are initially presented. Subsequently, the basic components of the covering systems are discussed providing details about the physical, chemical, and environmental parameters that need to be attended in different climatic and geologic conditions. The engineered barriers in the mining waste industry are further presented together with the dry, water, and organic barrier concepts that are employed for various wastes. The different types of lining systems are analyzed with emphasis on the design and construction requirements, and the properties and potential problems of clay liners, owing to the widespread use of clay as a landfill barrier. Newer types of liners, such as soil-cement and sulfur-polymer cement and concrete are detailed in terms of their capacity to absorb and retain certain chemicals from the environment, as well as their behavior under harsh conditions. Finally, the flexible membrane liners are expounded in terms of their type and performance, and the chapter concludes by presenting the control and monitoring requirements of landfills in the United States and the European Union.

International Museums and Transcultural Impact on Gulf States: The Louvre Abu Dhabi as a Case Study

The study of emerging contemporary museums in the United Arab Emirates suggests that new forms of architecture are emerging that deal with the past and present at the same time. The opening of the Louvre Abu Dhabi in 2017 and the number of visitors that visited the museum highlights the emergence of new spaces of gathering in Al-Saadiyat Island as a new cultural hub in Abu Dhabi. Traditional Museums in the United Arab Emirates are mostly heritage forts that have been restored and are conservative in their exhibitions. The Louvre Abu Dhabi on the other hand represents an experimental trans-disciplinary design that includes continuity and discontinuity from tradition. This paper studies the Louvre Abu Dhabi, and we simulate the complex flow pattern around the Louvre using the 2D-hydrodynamic Finite Element Surface Water Modeling System.

Bayesian Analysis of Air Emission Violations from Waste Incineration and Coincineration Plants: Bayesian Analysis of Air Emission Violations

Waste incineration and coincineration plants in most European countries have frequently updated their flue gas cleaning systems, surpassing in most cases E.U. air emission standards. At the same time, in most developing countries, cement and other coincineration facilities follow less stringent emission regulations and have a mixed record of protecting air quality. The European Union, the United States, and Canada have established penalties for air emission violations that account for the harm done to the environment and to human health and aiming to remove the economic benefit reaped as a result of noncompliance. Despite their legal completeness, these regulations do not adequately address the probabilistic nature of air pollution. This article recasts the issue of air pollution penalties in a Bayesian decision-making framework with the aspiration that the assessment of penalties on a rigorous mathematical framework can assist in alleviating the mistrust by sections of the public on the effectiveness of air pollution regulations. Integration of economic analyses into risk assessments of emission violations can help clarify to policymakers the effect of environmental policies. Our analysis indicates that the penalty structure of the United States appears to favor the update of emission systems more often than the corresponding European Commissions penalties. Our study advances the use of the loss function as a risk analysis tool that can be used as a public policy instrument to promote environmentally friendlier air emission choices. A parabolic, compared to a linear, loss function was seen to justify higher expenses in gas cleaning systems.

Dielectric Permittivity and Moisture Content

This chapter discusses the concept of soil dielectrics, available techniques for the determination of soil dielectric permittivity and soil moisture content, and the associated theoretical background for a better understanding of the measured soil dielectric property and the moisture content.

Advances in the Determination of Soil Moisture Content

This chapter discusses some advanced methods that are used to extract information from electrical signals, and how this could be used to predict soil moisture content. A brief explanation of what is meant by signal and various signal processing techniques, either by summation of elemental signals (synthesis) or by decomposition into elemental signals (analysis), is discussed. To demonstrate the synthesis methods, pulse and sinusoid signals are applied; whereas, for decomposition analysis, both time domain and frequency domain analyses are discussed. In frequency domain analysis of signals the use of the Time Domain Reflectometry (TDR) and Fourier spectral analysis to predict soil moisture content and salt concentration is demonstrated. Unlike Fourier decomposition, which partitions signals based on harmonic frequencies by using parametric sines and cosines, eigen-decomposition analysis, separates signal components by differences in their power. These methods are applied in several case studies for the determination of soil moisture content, soil density, clay content, salt concentration, and organic fluid content.

Soil-Water Interaction

This chapter begins by discussing the main functional groups, the atoms and bonds, that determine the characteristic chemical reactions between molecules and hence, the accumulation, persistence, and fate of compounds in the soil-water system. It continues by providing a detailed exposition of the forces between molecules, which include intermolecular forces, inner-sphere and outer-sphere surface complexes, and the diffuse double layer of clay platelets. The theory of interaction energy based on the diffuse double layer and the Derjaguin, Landau, Verwey, and Overbeek models is presented for the three principal modes of clay particle interaction (face-to-face, edge-to-edge, and face-to-edge). Subsequently, the potential theory as it relates to subsurface water is presented, which includes a mathematical exposition of the gravitational potential, the pressure potential, and the osmotic potential. The discussion on capillary pressure, soil-moisture characteristic curve, and hysteresis provides a solid introduction in the study of flow and contaminant transport in unsaturated soils. The chapter concludes by discussing the basic unsaturated flow equations and the movement of moisture in unsaturated soils that results from thermal gradients.

Sources and Characteristics of Wastes

The technological, industrial, agricultural, and medical discoveries of the 20th century and their massive application to daily life products have created a historically unprecedented economic prosperity to large segments of the human population. The negative by-product of all modern economic activities is the generation of huge volumes of waste. Fertilizers and pesticides that helped trigger the agricultural revolution and the steady supply of food to societies, at the same time have become responsible for the significant deterioration of the environment. Extraction of natural resources, industrial processing, and utilization of those resources have led to serious environmental pollution problems in all phases of their economic life. Thus rock materials, for housing purposes; metals, on which many of our daily products are based on; and petroleum products, which span a wide range of products, from toothpaste to clothing to gasoline have generated, during processing and disposal, pollution problems to air, soil, and water. The magnitude of these problems, be it the ever-increasing volume of waste, or the effect on ecosystems and human health surpasses the scientific and technological capabilities of current societies.

The Soil System

Soil is a multicomponent system consisting of solid, liquid, and gaseous phases, and living organisms. The solid phase of soils consists of both inorganic and organic components. Inorganic components exert a tremendous effect on the physical and chemical properties, such as cation exchange capacity and surface area, and on the overall suitability of soil as a barrier for waste containment. The organic components, although normally present in much smaller quantities than inorganic components, may significantly alter the soil properties.