design of an estimation model for environmental liability insurance [ELIS]

Pricing for an insurance policy can be described as the process of calculation of expected compensation to be paid to property losers as well as associated costs of potential risks. Loss forecast is accurate if the risks will be identified appropriately in order to calculate the frequency and expected severity of losses.This is particularly important about environmental risks since most of them appear in the long run. Environmental risk assessment model is both able to estimate the environmental liability premium for environmental pollution and degradation, and it can play a valuable role in promoting this industry. ELIS [Environmental Liability Insurance] software calculates the environmental risk number in industry sector and insurance charges for events resulting in environmental pollution. This paper deals with designing the model and outputs of the software. The user selects the type of project, and input the descriptive information concerning the occurrence of possible environmental pollutions. The model calculates risk numbers, the type of accidents, classification and weighting of severity of environmental impacts, risk priority numbers [RPN]; pollutant volume and environmental sensitivity, environmental cost of contaminates, and finally Net premium for Possible Accidents. The case study indicated the applicability of then model. For this case an oil refinery in Iran was selected with a capacity of 85,000.barrels of refined oil per day. The calculated premium on the basis of losses arising from air pollution was evaluated to be equivalent to 70,000$ US. The same procedure can be applied to evaluate the amount of premium for soil and water pollution

Effects of sludge from wastewater treatment plants on heavy metals transport to soils and groundwater

Heavy metals accumulation in soils under the application of sewage sludge and effluent from wastewater treatment plants is a major environmental concern. Transport of heavy metals through the soils may eventually lead to the groundwater contamination and their accumulation in soils and crops. Silt loam soils covered by sludge and effluent of Tehran wastewater treatment plant were used in this study. The vertical and horizontal distributions of sludge-borne Cd, Cr, Zn, Pb, Fe, Cu and Ni were studied within four plots. Measured loadings of heavy metals to the plots from the sludge application were Fe, 284.75, Pb, 90.28, Zn, 109.5, Ni, 60.28, Cu, 27.76 Cr, 28.58 and Cd, 4.5 mg/kg. Two hundred and forty soil samples were taken from areas within the plots and up to 100 cm depth on each side of the plots. Leachate water from the plots which contaminates groundwater was collected and the concentrations of heavy metals were measured. The determined concentration of sludge-borne in leachate Cr, Ni, Zn, Fe, Pb, Cu and Cd were 0.803, 0.785, 0.532, 0.439, 0.110, 0.180 and 0.019 mg/l respectively. The results of this study can be used for the management of effluent and sewage application in agricultural lands and crop production. The groundwater quality can be monitored and improved as well

Developing a spatio-temporal model of risk management for earthquake life detection rescue team

Crisis management is a time-critical and collaborative activity that requires rapid assessment and decision- making. This study aims to develop a framework to increase teamwork efficiency by spatio-temporal modeling of human group activities in geospatial information systems. For this purpose, time geography framework was extended with round-robin scheduling and then was integrated in geographic information system environment to manage human activities in a spatio-temporal framework. The proposed framework enjoys the graphical presentation of the tasks to be executed, as well as mathematical modeling of the complex interactions to be managed. To validate the proposed model, activities of an earthquake life-detection team in normal and suggested framework were simulated and assessed. An average improvement of 18.69% [in time and the number of rescuers] was observed using the proposed framework. The suggested framework helps to resolve multidimensional problems in risk management

Effects of noise pollution on traffic policemen

Noise pollution can be considered as the most important problem of urban environmental management in mega metropolises and urban transportation is the main source of the mentioned problem. The study aims to investigate the amount of traffic noise dose received by traffic policemen in Tehran; District 1 Municipality. The investigation was conducted during three consecutive months in 2007 in 282 locations of the main streets of studied district which are known for its heavy traffic, as well as population flow. In order to measure the noise volume, pre-calibrated Cell- 450 and Quest- 2900 sound level meters were used. Regarding to noise dosimeter, 158 cases were measured using a dosimeter Cell-320. For this purpose, L[eq], L[10], L[max] and L[min] indicators were used. The results showed that the L[eq] average during peak traffic load hours and in the least traffic conditions was 77.2 +/- 2.1 and 64.5 +/- 2.2 dB, respectively which were higher than the acceptable levels [55dB]. Moreover, the statistical results showed the significant differences between light and heavy traffic conditions and also the direct effect of heavy traffic on noise pollution, also it was shown that vehicles traffic is the main source of the produced noise pollution. The study created a related questionnaire which evaluated the traffic policemen behavior from them and their relative's point of views. The results showed that noise pollution has damaging effects on their behavioral conditions and also, on their personal assessment. The policemen believed their psychological disorders and their relative had also the same opinion. This study attempted to show that noise pollution in metropolises such as Tehran is a serious problem and it should be treated as a top priority in the urban environmental management in order to reduce noise pollution

Removal of heavy metals from paint industry's wastewater using Leca as an available adsorbent

The ability of light expanded clay aggregate to remove Pb++ and Cd++ from paint industry's effluents was studied at different levels of adsorbent, contact time and pH in April 2008. For this purpose, Pb and Cd removal from paint industry effluents were studied in batch reactors. Pb and Cd measurements have been taken with non-flame atomic absorption techniques and test methods were adapted from 19 th edition of standard methods for the examination of water and wastewater. In this study, different amounts of Leca [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 g/L] were investigated. The amount of adsorbed Pb [II] and Cd [II] exposure to Leca increased from 1.41 to 3 mg/g and 0.22 to 0.75 mg/g, respectively. The maximum removal efficiency for Pb was 93.75% at pH = 7 and exposure to 10 g/L of Leca, while for Cd, it was nearly 89.7% at the same condition. In this study, adsorption process of lead and cadmium was fitted with Freundlich adsorption isotherm [R2Pb = 0.97 and R2Cd = 0.98]. The sufficient contact time was deemed 1-2 h for Cd and Pb. According to the results, Leca is recommended as a low cost and available adsorbent to remove lead and cadmium from industrial wastewater

[Investigation of heavy metals concentration in the water wells close to Zanjan zinc and lead smelting plant]

Heavy metals processing industry has always been a major cause of concern which affects soils, surface waters, ground waters and river sediments contaminations. Thus, the Zanjan Zinc and Lead Smelting Plant has been considered as a potential source of contamination. This cross-sectional study has been conducted in February 2008 in the site region .The concentrations of Lead, Zinc and Cadmium have been assessed. The samples have been taken from 17 wells and atomic absorption spectrophotometeric method has been used to assess the samples. In order to find out and locate the exact situation of the wells under study, Global Positioning System instrument has been used. The correlation between the concentration of each metal and the distance of studied well from the plant has been assessed too. The findings of this study showed that lead and cadmium concentrations were 53% and 59% respectively out of the guideline values of World Health Organization. The concentration of Zinc was lower than both national and international values in all samples. As the heavy metal concentration is very important for human health status, the other fields of study like heavy metal air pollution effects and related diseases and conditions should be studied and assessed

Strategic management of municipal debris aftermath of an earthquake

Earthquakes in urban areas leave behind a considerable amount of debris, which delays the relief services and the reconstruction activities. The relief work would be impossible without the removal of debris from the main access roads to the devastated areas. The proper implementation of this endeavor requires a long-term management of debris. This article discusses development of strategic management for earthquake debris in the city of Tehran. Thus, the pertinent strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and challenges are identified in order to assess the actual and potential debris management capacity of Tehran. The Personal judgments are used in a Quantitative Strategic Planning Matrix [QSPM] in order to prioritize the strategies. The results of this research show that the sum of attractiveness numbers for the Internal Factors Evaluation [IFE] matrix is 2.3, which is less than 2.5. It indicates that weaknesses are more dominant than the strengths. Moreover, the sum of attractiveness numbers for External Factors Evaluation [EFE] matrix is 3.3, which indicates more potential opportunities than potential challenges. The analysis of results points out that the most important strategies in regard to the development of debris management plan are the accurate estimation of volume, weight and type of earthquake debris; reinforcement of the present structures; proper design of structures under construction; utilization of experiences from other earthquake prone countries; recycling and reuse of debris and construction wastes; and identification of the temporary debris depot sites within Tehran

Environmental management of coastal regions in the Caspian Sea

Considering rapid population growth and migration, higher accumulation of communities is noticed in coastal areas. This is especially true with the coastal areas of the Caspian Sea. In the present investigation coastal areas between Jouybar to Behshahr region is selected for their special geographical and ecological locations. Further, adverse impacts of human, agriculture and industrial activities was examined along side the above mentioned coasts. It should be pointed out that protected Miankaleh Wildlife zone which is an internationally recognized wetland, falls within area of study. In the present study strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats method is used for the evaluation of environmental management status. In this regard, internal and external factors gained 2.28 and 2.58 scores. This is indicative of the abundance of weaknesses over strengths and it also shows that opportunities are more than threats. Subsequently 27 strategies were developed and quantitative strategic planning matrix method was also used to score each strategies. The results of quantitative strategic planning matrix method analysis was programmed in strategic position and action evaluation matrix. The present situation falls within "competitive" classification. This is indicative of weakness in coordinating development and environmental strategic plans. The result of present investigation strongly emphasis on compilation of strategic environmental plans for the control of population, pollution emission and land use planning changes. The most important strategies include development of environmental regulations and better supervision on enforcement of laws

[Monitoring of environmental aspects and impacts in research/educational laboratories]

The purpose of this study was to determine the types of waste produced by the research laboratories of the Department of Environmental Engineering at Tehran University of Medical Sciences and to assess the environmental impact of these waste products. In order to determine the environmental impact, parameters such as wastewater quantity and quality, solid waste production, noise, particulate matter [PM₁, PM₁₀, PM₂₅], heat, light as well as the probability of occurrence and significance of impact were monitored in 2006. These parameters were selected for monitoring and analysis of various laboratory types such as chemical, microbiologic and pilot laboratories and those dealing with air pollution. We first classified the environmental effects as those of very high, high, moderate, and low significance. It then emerged that overall, chemical and sewage laboratories were posing a greater environmental danger because they produced three waste materials that have very significant environmental effects. We suggest that the chemical laboratory should be monitored constantly due to its higher rate of hazardous waste production and safety precautions should be put in place to protect staff and students

Integrated health, safety, environment and ergonomic management systems for industry

Conventional health, safety and environment [HSE] are a widely used approach to enhance availability and efficiency of complex systems. The integrated HSEE system is defined however as integration of conventional HSE with ergonomics approach. The presented HSEE system introduces a unique, effective and systemic mechanism, which integrates the structure of the human and organizational systems with conventional HSE system. It is utilized to enhance reliability, availability, maintainability and safety through the proposed integrated framework of this study. The integrated HSEE is developed by integration of conventional HSE with job systems by re-engineering organizational structures and teamwork through electronic data interchange [EDI]. To show the need for and superiority of HSEE over conventional HSE to gas Treatment Company was studied and questionnaires were collected and examined with respect to distinct components of HSEE. The main result of this study is a framework for development of integrated intelligent human engineering environment in complex critical systems. The presented HSEE system introduces a unique, effective and systemic mechanism, which integrates the structure of the human and organizational systems with conventional HSE system

Resources consumption management at the national library of Iran

This paper studies the various resources [water, energy, paper] as well as other wastes consumption management at the National Library of Iran in Tehran. After setting the targets and specifying the correct management framework of resources consumption through the green management schedule, the resources analysis in consumption pattern in National Library of Iran was set up. Some attempt plans were performed to find out management solutions to the related issues. For the achievement of this aim, the first step was considered the study of general conditions of the Library through several visits, completing the checklists and questionnaires and then gathering the necessary information and analyzing them. The results of the fuel consumption in transportations related to the National Library showed that the major pollutants produced by the transportation were CO[2], CO, NOx, and hydrocarbons. The rate of CO2 had a maximum level of 904 Kg and CO was 6Kg, NOx was 2 Kg and hydrocarbons were 0.58Kg. Among the equipments, which use energy in the Library, refrigerators produce the levels of CO2, SO2 and NOx. The total level of CO[2], SO[2] and NOx produced by all the equipments were 1140.32 kg, 3.9072 kg and 2.886 Kg respectively. The results of water investigations showed that the total water consumption was 45459 L/year and the greater part of it was related to irrigation of the garden in the courtyard which was equal to 32471 L/year. Regarding to the wastes, the results of 30 times sampling showed the highest level to be related to aluminum and paper and a computer analysis revealed these results in the rates of 19745 Kg/year of CO[2], 77.54 Kg/year, SO[2] 57.4 Kg/year NOx and particulate matter was 2.92 Kg/year. Following the investigations carried out in management, executive solutions were suggested which led to the conclusion that the Green Management System should be established at this organization which should result in optimum consumption of resources such as water, power and paper in the National Library of Iran with considerable cost reduction

Study of the efficiency of electrolysis process in phosphorus removal from the wastewater effluent of treatment plants

Although primary and secondary treatment processes when completed by disinfection can remove 85% of both BOD, SS and inactivate nearly all of the pathogenic microorganisms, few pollutants such as soluble COD, nitrogen, phosphorus, and heavy metals are not completely removed from effluent. This may be regarded as a cause of trouble when larger volumes of these effluents are discharged into a small flow or a sensitive ecosystem. The aim of this study was to determine the efficiency of electrolysis process in removal of phosphorus from the wastewater effluent of treatment plants. This was an experimental study carried out by establishing a pilot reactor in the laboratory of water and wastewater microbiology of the school of public health [TUMS]. The capacity of this reactor was 20 liters. The reactor was put into operation under different conditions of influent flows, electrical potentials and pollutants concentrations. In all of these experiments, flow was continuous. All plates embedded in anode pole as a flocculating agent, revealed a 90% removal of phosphorous. The future of electrolysis process for removal of phosphorous and other similar pollutants from effluents will be promising. Application of this technology can lead to a much more perfect and economical wastewater treatment with no [or less] sludge production and a favorable environmental health condition

Improvement of NOM removal from water resources by modifying the coagulation process

As a result of the regulations on DBPs, interest in NOM removal is increasing and many water treatment plants in developed countries have started to measure the concentration of TOC in their finished waters. Promulgation of the rules will substantially increase these efforts in other countries too. Since the cost of TOC [and DBPs] determination was high, it was decided to study the traditional analysis of COD as a surrogate measure to detect the organic constituents in raw water and the extent to which optimized coagulation with ferric chloride can increase COD removal. The two water samples studied belonged to Karaj and Jajrood Rivers. For both samples the observed values of COD removal by coagulation at lower pH [about 1-1.5 pH values less than the regular pH] were about 85-95 percent without making water turbidity unacceptable. In order to determine the effects of organic content on coagulation, synthetic samples were also prepared with much higher COD values. Again, considerable increases in COD removal have been observed for most of these samples only by decreasing 0.5-2 pH value. The results indicated that a modified coagulation process without need to much increasing the amount of coagulant can be developed for these water samples

Impacts of Macroergonomics on environmental protection and human performance in power plants

Human and his performance is a vital factor in protection of asset including environmental properties. The objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of total system design factors [TSD] on human performance in a power plant. The TSD factors are defined as design factors, which have impact on overall performance of the power plants in context of total human engineering or macroergonomics. The systems being studied are the control rooms and maintenance departments of a 2000 MW thermal power plant. To achieve the above objective, the TSD factors were addressed and assessed through a detailed questionnaire. The relationships between TSD factors and human performance were then ex-amined through non-parametric correlation analysis [Kramer's Phi] and Kruskal-Wallis test of means. The results of this study show that the macroergonomic factors such as organizational and safety pro-cedures, teamwork, self-organization, job design and information exchange, influence human per-formance in the power plant. The findings also suggest that the selected macroergonomic factors are correlated to human performance and must be considered, designed and tested concurrently with the engineering factors at the design phase of the system developmental cycle. Consequently, total system's faults and organizational errors are reduced to an acceptable level and human performance is signifi-cantly increased. The main goal in such program is customer's satisfaction [Internal customers]. How-ever, more elaboration on the scientific tools for implementation of TDS factors in context of human performance is also under investigation

Agricultural activities impact on groundwater nitrate pollution

Concern over agricultural diffuse pollution sources in integrated water quality management has been growing recently. High nitrogen fertilizers application rates may increase the potential groundwater pollution. These effects were investigated in Andimeshk and Susa plains that cover an area of 1100 km2 between the Dez and Karkhe rivers in north of Khozestan-Iran. This region divided to 4 sub-regions A, B, C, and D. Additionally 168 groundwater samples were collected from 42 water wells during the months April, May, August, and September of 2004. The Hack-spectrophotometer nitrate test was used to measure the NO3- concentration in water samples. Information about further nitrate data was obtained. A questionnaire procedure was used for collection N-fertilizers application rate data in studied area. The results demonstrated that all of the groundwater samples have NO3- concentration below the EPA MCL [44.27 mg/l] and WHO guideline [50 mg/l]. The mean nitrate concentrations are 16.1, 19.5, 13.3, and 7.9 mg/l in sub-regions A, B, C, and D respectively. There are different amount of N-fertilizers applied in sub-regions A, B, C, and D. Correlation between NO3- concentrations and N-fertilizers rate suggests a inverse correlation between N-fertilizers application rate and ground waters nitrate concentrations in studied area [r=-0.69]

Biodegradation of MTBE by a microorganism consortium

Methyl Tert-Butyl Ether [MTBE] is one of the ether oxygenates which its use has been increased within the last twenty years. This compound is produced from isobutylene and methanol reaction that is used as octane index enhancer and also increases dissolved oxygen in gasoline and decreases carbon monoxide emission in four phased motors because of better combustion of gasoline. High solubility in water [52 g/L], high vapor pressure [0.54 kg/cm3], low absorption to organic carbon of soil and presence of MTBE in the list of potentially-carcinogens of U.S EPA has made its use of great concern. The culture media used in this study was Mineral Salt Medium [MSM]. The study lasted for 236 days and in three different concentrations of MTBE of 200, 5 and 0.8 mg/L. A control sample was also used to compare the results. This research studied the isolation methods of microbial consortium in the MTBE polluted soils in Tehran and Abadan petroleum refinery besides MTBE degradation. The results showed the capability of bacteria in consuming MTBE as carbon source. Final microbial isolation was performed with several microbial passages as well as keeping consortium in a certain amount of MTBE as the carbon source

Ecological capability evaluation of rural development by means of GIS

Execution of development and creation of appropriate points for rural development without considering ecological capability will result in the appearance of several environmental, economic and social problems. This research is done in an analysis approach frame of a system with the aim of choosing the most suitable location for rural development in Abadeh with an area of 22,000 km2. in 2002 by applying geographic information system [GIS] precious tools. Based on the above objective, ecological resources of concerned area were recognized and surveyed. The obtained data changed into digital figures and together with the other descriptive data were shifted to Arc/Info and Arcview systems for the purpose of creation of data base. Based on specific ecological models of Iran and special conditions of the area and by using structured query language [SQL] in Arcview, the ecological capability of concerned area for rural development was determined. By considering current natural limitations, such as limited severe earthquake danger in central areas, limitation of flood danger in some of the central and western areas, development of evaporating deposits and salt domes in east and precipitation under 500mm in the studied area, no suitable place for the first grade rural development was found. However, it showed capability for second-grade rural development aspect. This area includes 3.8% of total area of the studied place. For improving present management in the studied region, it is recommended that in future development of the region, offered appropriated points while emphasizing on the land having low production capability to be considered

Envrionmental impact assessment of urban development plan by vulnerability model application

Urban development plans have significant potential impacts on affected environment according to the various activities and due to their different construction and operation phases. Establishment and development of the new-established Municipality of Tehran District-22, with about 10,000 hectares area has been planned as the last limit of continuous extension of Great Tehran and as the largest urban city of the country. It is based on the general lay out of Tehran master development plan, ratified in 1970 and 1991. In terms of current facilities, it has been anticipated necessary spaces to establish various activities including residential, commercial and urban services, establishing green spaces, man-made lake and other necessary infrastructures of urban development. Griding method was used in order to determine the environment vulnerability of the development plan of the region. In this method, the studied district has been divided into 1 to 10 square kilometers grids. To improve the accuracy of the study, the grids dimension is smaller than the common size. After griding, the most appropriate layers out of the required layers have been used to determine the vulnerability. These layers are, land slope, geographical aspect, pedology, geology, plant density and ground water vulnerability. The limited codes of each layer have also been defined. Summary of the above-mentioned layers results have been analyzed in the map form 1:50,000 scale by Arc-View software in GIS system in order to determine the specification of impact units. After the determination of limitation, the most prevailing limited code of each grid was selected. The obtained results were transferred to excel program and the final amount of vulnerability were then calculated by using equation E= Sigma [a-b]/4. The final vulnerability was substitute by each grid code as a new data and the last map of vulnerability was set. Regarding to this map at the studied region affected by current limitation of environmental condition, the north part of the district especially A[9], B[10], B[11], B[12], C[9], C[11], C[18], D[12] and E[14] showed the highest amount of vulnerability. According to the final vulnerability map, it is distinguished that the north parts of the district mainly in parts 1 or 2 vulnerability codes have had high vulnerability

Application of environmental management system - ISO 14001: 1996, in urban environment and municipalities

Application of environmental management system [EMS] in urban environment provides a city with orderliness, regularity, quietness and freshness environment. Besides, it contributes sustainable development and optimization in life level index of the city. If the whole urban districts design and establish an environmental management system ISO 14001, the development will be faster and more sustainable. Municipality of Tehran, District- 22 has been found and started an activity under the command of Sterling Council of Iran Urbanization and Architecture in order to regenerate the urbanization concealed concepts and also to control and organize the excessive constructions in west and northwest of Tehran since 2000. As a result of human undergoing development activities, the process of urbanization during many years has caused various environmental impacts. Thus, decision makers and managers considered urban sustainable development as a main strategy. District-22, has taken the required steps in providing sustainable development, safety and health of the organization and citizens in the related district. Environmental policy and commitment of top management [Mayor of the District-22] are to keep environmental conservation, in a well organized manner. In this study, dominant environmental aspects, impacts and legal requirements of the related activities and services are identified. Subsequently, environmental objectives and targets and also environmental management programs have been determined. Besides, training, internal and external communication, operational control, emergency preparedness and responsibility, obligations to follow environmental rules and achieving certification of ISO 14001; 1996 standard are the most important highlights at this study. The planning process, establishing and the method of operation has also been studied

Development of particulate matter and heavy metal emission factors for kerman copper industries

An emission factor is a tool that is used to estimate air pollutant emissions to the atmosphere. It relates the quantity of pollutants released from a source to some activities associated with those emissions. To determine the quantity of pollutant released from copper and its alloys smelting furnaces, 63 samples from emission gases were collected on cellulose ester membrane filters in three 8-hour-shifts within 24 hours during a week at three locations. Samples were weighed and analyzed to measure the heavy metal content by flame atomic absorption spectrometry. The emission factors for location 1, without control equipment, for total particulate matter [TPM], Cu, Zn, Pb, Cr, Ni, and Cd were 87.689, 2.076, 37.071, 0.917, 0.023, 0.074, and 0.021 g/Mg of products respectively. Emission factors for location 3, with dedusting unit as control equipment, were 8.139, 0.152, 3.921, 0.055, 0.003, 0.008, and 0.007 g/Mg for the above-mentioned parameters respectively. Finally those were 95.828, 2.228, 40.992, 0.972, 0.026, 0.082, and 0.028 g/Mg as a whole set respectively. Samples of location 2 were collected from inlet of dedusting unit and their results were used only for dedusting unit efficiency calculation