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Nebraska Public Water Supply Program Summary Report 2017

Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality: Reports

The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) established the Public Water System Supervision (PWSS) Program under the authority of the 1974 Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA). Under the SDWA and the 1986 Amendments, EPA sets national limits on contaminant levels in drinking water to ensure that the water is safe for human consumption. These limits are known as Maximum Contaminant Levels (MCLs) and Maximum Residual Disinfectant Levels (MRDLs). For some regulations, EPA establishes treatment techniques in lieu of an MCL to control unacceptable levels of contaminants in water.

2017 Nebraska Groundwater Quality Monitoring Report

Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality: Reports

The 2001 Nebraska Legislature passed LB329 (Neb. Rev. Stat. §46-1304) which, in part, directed the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality (NDEQ) to report on groundwater quality monitoring in Nebraska. Reports have been issued annually since December 2001. The text of the statute applicable to this report follows: “The Department of Environmental Quality shall prepare a report outlining the extent of ground water quality monitoring conducted by natural resources districts during the preceding calendar year. The department shall analyze the data collected for the purpose of determining whether or not ground water quality is degrading or improving and shall present the …

Weight Of Evidence Evaluation Of A Network Of Adverse Outcome Pathways Linking Activation Of The Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptor In Honey Bees To Colony Death, Carlie A. Lalone, Daniel L. Villeneuve, Judy Wu-Smart, Rebecca Y. Milsk, Keith Sappington, Kristina V. Garber, Justin Housenger, Gerald T. Ankley

United States Environmental Protection Agency: Publications

Ongoing honey bee (Apis mellifera) colony losses are of significant international concern because of the essential role these insects play in pollinating crops. Both chemical and non-chemical stressors have been implicated as possible contributors to colony failure; however, the potential role(s) of commonly-used neonicotinoid insecticides has emerged as particularly concerning. Neonicotinoids act on the nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) in the central nervous system to eliminate pest insects. However, mounting evidence indicates that neonicotinoids also may adversely affect beneficial pollinators, such as the honey bee, via impairments on learning and memory, and ultimately foraging success. The specificmechanisms linking activation …

Atp Binding Cassette Sub-Family Member 2 (Abcg2) And Xenobiotic Exposure During Early Mouse Embryonic Stem Cell Differentiation, Mitchell B. Rosen, Susan C. Jeffay, Harriette P. Nichols, Maria R. Hoopes, E. Sidney Hunter Iii

United States Environmental Protection Agency: Publications

Background: ATP binding cassette sub-family member 2 (ABCG2) is a welldefined efflux transporter found in a variety of tissues. The role of ABCG2 during early embryonic development, however, is not established. Previous work which compared data from the ToxCast screening program with that from in-house studies suggested an association exists between exposure to xenobiotics that regulate Abcg2 transcription and differentiation of mouse embryonic stem cells (mESC), a relationship potentially related to redox homeostasis.

Methods: mESC were grown for up to 9 days. Pharmacological inhibitors were used to assess transporter function with and without xenobiotic exposure. Proliferation and differentiation were …

Coral Gardening: Issues And Challenges, Michelle Z. Reyes, Darwin J. C. Raymundo, Sameen J. Rizwan, Wilfredo Y. Licuanan

Angelo King Institute for Economic and Business Studies (AKI)

Coral gardening is the process of restoring cover of a damaged reef by affixing live coral fragments. This method of reef rehabilitation has been gaining popularity in the Philippines, and while it has its applications, it should be the last option for bringing a reef back to a healthy state. Proper management of reef resources through marine protected areas, removal of stressors, and easing of fishing pressure provides a broader and more holistic approach while allowing the reef to recover by itself. If coral gardening is the only viable option available for rehabilitating a certain reef, careful consideration must be …

Posthurricane Environment's Impact On Childhood Cancer Rates In Louisiana, 2004-2010, Lenora M. Robinson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Childhood cancer is the second leading cause of death in children aged 0-19 years. Research efforts to identify factors associated with or influencing this growing health problem are limited. The purpose of this research study was to examine, in reference to Louisiana during the period 2004-2010, the annual number of children diagnosed with cancer; the types of cancers; the possible effects of the environmental aftermath resulting from Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Gustav; and any correlation between environmental contaminants following these hurricanes with the number of children diagnosed with cancer. This study employed correlational quantitative methodology using archival data from the …

Addressing Antibiotic Resistance From Farm-Raised Fish Imported To The United States, Nicholas Ali

Bard Center for Environmental Policy

Misuse of medically important antibiotics in animal production threatens the effectiveness of drugs that are vital in combating disease and infections. Recently, the FDA implemented regulations to limit the use of and access to veterinary drugs. However, these regulations only affect domestic production operations. Because over 90% of seafood consumed in the U.S. is imported from countries with different regulatory standards and because the U.S. has an import inspection rate of less than 1%, antibiotic resistance stemming from imported aquaculture is still a risk that is not sufficiently accounted for. This research investigates how the U.S. has reacted to the …

Assessing Riparian Ecosystem Condition And Monitoring Recovery From Natural And Anthropogenic Disturbance, Rachel Powers

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Riparian ecosystems are the transition zones between river systems and uplands. They provide many valuable ecological functions including creating habitat for wildlife, stabilizing banks from erosion and providing a buffer that prevents excess nutrients from entering streams. Fires and other disturbances alter the function of these ecosystems. Currently, there is a lack of broadly used standardized assessments and monitoring methods in riparian areas within our current water policy framework. This study aims to examine this gap in riparian ecosystem protection by reviewing the assessment methods currently in use, selecting one method for field testing, and analyzing the effort involved in …

A Mechanistic Study Of Micro Rna 21 Induced Hepatic Fibrosis And Use Of Sparstolonin B In Remediation Of Environmental Nafld, Diptadip Dattaroy

Theses and Dissertations

Due to the increased prevalence of obesity, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) has become a major public health problem in the Western world and Asian countries. Approximately a third of the general population in the US has NAFLD. NAFLD includes a spectrum of histological characteristics ranging from simple steatosis to steatohepatitis, fibrosis and cirrhosis and can be characterized into to two major phenotypes: nonalcoholic fatty liver (NAFL) and nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). Water disinfection byproducts like trihalomethanes can act as crucial risk factors for NAFLD progression. Here I have studied the molecular mechanisms of a water disinfection byproduct, Bromodichloromethane, in induction …

Antibiotics And Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria In Coastal Plain Streams, Jason Duff

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Streams across the United States and globally are influenced by environmental contamination, including antibiotics, which enter streams due to widespread use and multiple pathways into the environment. Antibiotics are also likely to enter streams in mixture with other contaminants that alter the effects on aquatic organisms. Furthermore, antibiotic-resistant bacteria enter streams through similar pathways as antibiotics with implications for natural microbial communities. Therefore, understanding the presence and effects of antibiotic-contaminant mixtures and antibiotic-resistant bacteria in streams is important for resource management.

Chapter one describes an experiment that tested the hypothesis that the antibiotic tetracycline (TC) alone influences phytoplankton communities differently …

Urban Dwellers Experiences Regarding Loss Of Natural Environments Due To Rapid Urbanization, Erica Montanye

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Little is known about how residents of rapidly growing cities are impacted by the loss of natural environments. Large cities are expanding at an exponential rate, reducing the presence of, and access to, natural environments for urban dwellers. Many benefits to human health regarding the presence of natural environments near where people live and work are known, but impacts of the loss of natural environments for urban dwellers are unknown. The purpose of this qualitative investigation was to understand residents' experiences regarding the loss of natural environments and related impacts. Attention restoration theory and place attachment were the theoretical lenses …

A Study Of Hippocampal Microglia Distribution In Pre-Adolescent Mice Chronically Exposed To Lead, Salvador Dominguez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Background: Lead is a major unresolved child health hazard. Children are uniquely vulnerable to the effects of lead exposure, which include disruption of brain development and brain function. How lead exposure alters brain development and brain function is not currently known. Our laboratory has been developing a mouse model to understand effects of low-level lead exposure in the developing brain. In previous studies, we have shown that early chronic low level lead exposure diminished the number of microglia in the dentate gyrus region of the hippocampus, an area responsible for learning and memory. Building on the results of the previous …

The Impact Of New York State's 2016 Mold Licensing Requirement On Indoor Air Quality Assessments, Angelo Lampousis, Mark Drozdov

Publications and Research

As of January 2016, New York joined a select number of states in regulating mold. The New York State Department of Labor has approved mold-related training courses in three levels, ranging from two to four days. These include the mold abatement worker, mold remediation contractor, and mold assessor courses. In this presentation we share the experience obtained to date from delivering the above referenced courses and challenges as an approved training provider. We also evaluate the relative effectiveness of the mode of delivery as it relates to different audiences.

Environmental And Climate Justice Along The Brahmaputra River In Northeast India, Costanza Rampini

Faculty Publications, Environmental Studies

The glaciers of the Himalayas are the source of all of Asia’s major rivers and are crucial to Asia’s water supply, economies, and livelihoods. The Himalayan region is uniquely vulnerable to the impacts of anthropogenic climate change, while also becoming one of the most dammed regions in the world. This case study explores the unequal distribution of the impacts of climate change and dam building along the Brahmaputra River in Northeast India. It examines how the combined impacts of these two processes negatively affect local communities and explores environmental and climate justice issues. In discussing climate change impacts and hydropower …

Developing A Hydrological Monitoring Program For Ponds In Wapusk National Park, Manitoba, Using Water Isotope Tracers, Stephanie Roy

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Northern lake-rich landscapes are vulnerable to increases in surface air temperatures and are changing in dynamic ways. Current meteorological records indicate that some of the greatest warming in the past century has occurred in the Hudson Bay Lowlands (HBL). As the HBL is an extensive wetland consisting of hundreds of thousands of shallow lakes and ponds, it is difficult to anticipate the long-term implications that climate change will have on pond water balance. To develop and implement long-term monitoring of hydrological conditions, sampling of pond water isotope composition has occurred during the past six years in Wapusk National Park (WNP), …

Understanding Community Character As A Socio-Ecological Framework To Enhance Local-Scale Adaptation: An Interdisciplinary Case Study From Rural Northwest Connecticut, Joanna Wozniak-Brown

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Around the world, municipalities are facing new challenges, not the least of which is climate change. This is especially true for rural communities that, for a variety of reasons, will be disproportionately affected by the climatic changes and accompanying policies or programs.

This dissertation, written in manuscript-style, integrates climate change and social-ecological scholarship to address the unique character of rural communities, to communicate the complexity of rural identity through the term "rural character"; and to empower rural communities to incorporate adaptation strategies into their daily municipal operations and planning.

Specifically, this dissertation seeks to answer the following questions: What is …

Accumulating Risk: Environmental Justice And The History Of Capitalism In Detroit, 1880-2015, Josiah John Rector

Wayne State University Dissertations

This dissertation is an environmental history of Detroit, Michigan from the 19th century to the present. Recent scholarship on the history of capitalism has largely ignored the problem of environmental inequality, and the negative externalities of economic growth. In contrast, studies of the environmental justice movement have richly documented race, class, and gender inequalities in environmental risk exposure. However, they have neglected the relationship between the development of the environmental justice movement and the restructuring of American capitalism since the 1970s, including deindustrialization and the shift to neoliberalism. Bringing these fields together, this dissertation connects Detroit’s long-term economic transformation to …

Assessment Of Surface Water Contamination From Coalbed Methane Fracturing-Derived Volatile Contaminants In Sullivan County, Indiana, Usa, Nicholas Meszaros, Bikram Subedi, Tristan Stamets, Naima Shifa

Faculty & Staff Research and Creative Activity

There is a growing concern over the contamination of surface water and the associated environmental and public health consequences from the recent proliferation in hydraulic fracturing in the USA. Petroleum hydrocarbon-derived contaminants of concern [benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylene (BTEX)] and various dissolved cations and anions were spatially determined in surface waters around 14 coalbed methane fracking wells in Sullivan County, IN, USA. At least one BTEX was detected in 69% of sampling sites (n=13) and 23% of sampling sites were found to be contaminated with all of the BTEX. Toluene was the most common BTEX compound detected across all …

A Review Of The Occurrence Of Pharmaceuticals And Personal Care Products In Indian Water Bodies, Keshava Balakrishna, Amlan Rath, Yerabham Praveenkumarreddy, Keerthi Siri Guruge, Bikram Subedi

Faculty & Staff Research and Creative Activity

Little information exists on the occurrence and the ultimate fate of pharmaceuticals in the water bodies in India despite being one of the world leaders in pharmaceutical production and consumption. This paper has reviewed 19 published reports of pharmaceutical occurrence in the aquatic environment in India [conventional activated sludge wastewater treatment plants (WTPs), hospital WTPs, rivers, and groundwater]. Carbamazepine (antipsychoactive), atenolol (antihypertensive), triclocarban and triclosan (antimicrobials), trimethoprim and sulfamethoxazole (antibacterials), ibuprofen and acetaminophen (analgesics), and caffeine (stimulant) are the most commonly detected at higher concentrations in Indian WTPs that treat predominantly the domestic sewage. The concentration of ciprofloxacin, sulfamethoxazole, amoxicillin, …

Wellness Education And Job-Related Injuries And Illnesses For Federal Employees, Eunice Scott

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Work-related injuries and illnesses may lead to absenteeism, which affects the level of productivity. The purpose of this study was to determine the success of an employee workplace training program on work-related injury and illness rates at selected federal districts within a federal organization. Newman's model, which describes internal and external factors that may have an effect on an individual's health, was the framework that guided this project. A pre-post design was used to compare data from 2 publically available data sets, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration Illness and Injury and the Voice of the Employee Survey, for the …

The Last Best Hope: Are Voluntary Conservation Agreements Effective Tools For Protecting Imperiled Species?, Sophie B. Tsairis

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Candidate Conservation Agreements with Assurances, or CCAAs, are little known, voluntary conservation agreements that protect imperiled wildlife on private lands. These agreements have emerged over the past decade and have had mixed results in providing adequate protections for candidate species.

Landowners, private industries, state and federal agencies, and environmental nonprofits, are using CCAAs as tools to eliminate the need for an endangered species listing. An Endangered Species Act listing can lead to land-use uncertainty for private landowners and this threat is the main incentive to enroll in a CCAA. When landowners enroll in CCAAs they are agreeing to provide specific …

Social Justice In Social-Ecological Systems: Resilience Through Stakeholder Engagement, Frederick I. Lauer

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Successful management of social-ecological systems (SES) is predicated on quality collaborative exchanges between project stakeholders and management. The Southwest Crown of the Continent Collaborative (SWCC) Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program (CFLRP) provided an opportunity to explore landscape scale collaborative management and SES outcomes. Global change and future uncertainty of landscapes prompted the SWCC to employ restoration treatment alternatives throughout 1.4 million acres of forests, most of which are publicly held. The SWCC currently monitors environmental and economic variables, with plans to monitor social variables. This thesis formalizes a proposed framework to investigate SES resilience, and explores public engagement as an …

Does Timing Of Herbicide Use Influence Rates Of Germination Or Seedling Biomass Of Native Plants Used For Restoration?, Christine Mcmanamen

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Invasive plants can negatively impact native grasslands by changing their species composition, productivity, and function. Managers commonly use herbicides as a control method; however, this practice can lead to secondary invasion by other non-native invasive plants, unless measures are taken to promote natives. Because of this, managers often seed native plants after spraying herbicides. There is evidence, however, that chemical control of invasive plants may reduce the effectiveness of subsequent seed-addition treatments, but there is currently little quantitative information on optimal timing between spraying and seeding or on variation in herbicide sensitivity among native plants commonly used in seed mixes. …

Studies Of Air Pollutants And Their Impact On Respiratory And Cardiovascular Diseases In The El Paso Del Norte Region With Emphasis On Mobile Emissions, Juan Gustavo Arias Ugarte

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Air pollution may cause different diseases, such as cardiovascular and lung diseases. Traffic is a major source of mobile emissions causing air pollution. Exhaust emissions from mobile sources (Emissions of Carbon Monoxide, Nitrogen Oxides and Hydrocarbons) and Non-exhaust (Brake and Tire) are complex mixtures of gases and dust, including a large number of ultrafine particles, especially in areas with high traffic density. Recent studies have shown high rates of morbidity and mortality in people exposed to these types of emissions because the fine and ultrafine particles can be transported from the respiratory airways to the organs, thus contributing to increase …

Utilizing Historical Mosquito Surveillance Data To Investigate The Efficacy Of Municipal Fogging In Controlling Mosquito Population Density, Andrea Betina Carzoli

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Background: Mosquito borne diseases are the cause of many different disease syndromes and deaths in animals, both wild and domesticated, and humans of all ages and ethnicities. Though El Paso, TX is located in an arid region, mosquito populations are still rapidly growing in urban and agricultural communities and so are the mosquito borne illnesses. The most common vectors associated with mosquito borne illnesses in El Paso County are Culex quinquefasciatus, Culex tarsalis, and Aedes aegypti. Vector management is often the primary option to prevent and control outbreaks of mosquito borne illnesses and very often utilize fogging as the primary …