New approaches should be considered as the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) moves rapidly to develop new beach monitoring guidelines by the end of 2012, as these guidelines serve as the basis by which states and territories with coasts along the oceans and Great Lakes can then develop and implement monitoring programs for recreational waters. We describe and illustrate one possible appr...

Over the past decade, evidence of abrupt latitudinal changes in the dynamics, structure and genetic variability of intertidal and subtidal benthic communities along central-northern Chile has been found consistently at 30-32°S. Changes in the advective and thermal environment in nearshore waters have been inferred from ecological patterns, since analyses of in situ physical data have thus far b...

1.0 Introduction The central theme of this conference is most appropriate, for today there is so much talk about adverse effects of the environment on health. Indeed one of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) is to ENSURE ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY and the target set for the year 2015 is to reduce by half the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic...

INTRODUCTION Environmental factors-such as air and water pollution, lead exposure in homes, or aspects of urban design-influence the health of a community. Monitoring these environmental health influences is a core function of public health, making it necessary to identify critical priorities and effectively target outreach and intervention efforts. This paper reviews the methods used to develo...

Intensification of land use and urbanisation in New Zealand are compromising the quality of surface waters. Managing the environmental load of microbes from diffuse sources, such as agriculture, is particularly challenging. Microbial contamination of water is a complex area of environmental management, and our understanding of the subject is incomplete. Many different stakeholders are involved ...

BACKGROUND Liao River basin in Jilin Province is the place of origin of the Dongliao River. This study gives a comprehensive analysis of the vegetation coverage in the region and provides a potential theoretical basis for ecological restoration. METHODS The seasonal variation of vegetation greenness and dynamics based on the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) in major land cover ty...

We present new mathematical and geological models to assist civil protection authorities in the mitigation of potential oil spill accidents in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea. Oil spill simulations for 19 existing offshore wells were carried out based on novel and high resolution bathymetric, meteorological, oceanographic, and geomorphological data. The simulations show a trend for east and north...

When we speak of a healthful environment, we think mainly of safe, wholesome, palatable water, of a healthful diet, of clean air, and of shelter for our families where they live, and work, and rest. The need for a healthful environment is common to all peoples: it cuts across boundaries of occupation, race, class, and politics. If it differs from neighborhood to neighborhood, and from region to...

In this data article, we evaluated the daily fluoride contents in 20 household desalinators working by reverse osmosis (RO) process in Bushehr, Iran. The concentration levels of fluoride in inlet and outlet waters were determined by the standard SPADNS method using a spectrophotometer (M501 Single Beam Scanning UV/VIS, UK). The fluoride content in outlet waters were compared with EPA and WHO gu...

Globally, drinking water resources are diminishing in both quantity and quality. This situation has renewed interest in Condensation Water From Air (CWFA) technology, which utilizes water vapor in the air to produce water for both potable and non-potable purposes. However, there are currently insufficient data available to determine the relationship between air contaminants and the rate at whic...