Patterns of Heavy Metals Contents in Urban Soils of Vasileostrovsky and Elagin Ostrov of Saint Petersburg, Russia

The study examined the total contents of heavy metals (TCHM) in urban soils of St Petersburg, Russia. Soils along areas of heavy traffic density, neighbourhoods or light industrial zones, residential areas, and recreational zones were sampled. The concentrations of cupper (Cu), lead (Pb). zinc (Zn) and manganese (Mn) in soils were significantly high -5-10 times above regional background levels. The concentration of Pb in soil samples varied from 0.6-110 mg/kg within the limits of Vasilesostrovvsky. and 0.3 -80 mg/kg in recreational zone of Elagin Ostrov, which is approximately 4 km away from Vaisileostrovsky. The presence of Cu was ubiquitous in all sampled soils and exhibited high contents ranging between 4.0-30 mg/kg. The contents of cadmium (Cd) in all tested soils were below regional background values indicating low emissions of that element from anthropogenic sources. Furthermore. the concentration of heavy metals in soils was related positively to areas of high traffic density, particularly to the central, eastern and south industrial areas or Vasilcostrovsky. Elagin Ostrov, generally, registered lower contents or total heavy metals and this might be attributed to its location and nature of land use. Appropriate land use and strategic management options that will help in reducing emissions and impacts of heavy metals in urban soils is recommended

Assessing Households’ Preparedness for Earthquakes in Gbawe, Accra

Episodic earth tremors occurrence in Gbawe signal looming earthquakes, a major threat to many households, lives and properties. One basic approach to reduce future risk and increase the resilience of communities to earthquake is for communities to create household’s preparedness plan for earthquakes. The research explored the basic issue of what preparedness for earthquake means and its relevance to people in Gbawe. The main objective of this paper is to assess the extent of households readiness for earthquake; qualitative research involving collecting and analysing non-numerical data using questionnaires and interviews were used as the basic method. Household preparedness was measured with fourteen (14) earthquake list of items deemed as basic necessities needed during emergency response to earthquake. If an individual acted on 6 of the 14 indicators, they were deemed poorly prepared. Rating was done based on the number of indicators acquired by a household. The study revealed that, no household was very well prepared; 3.3% respondents were well prepared for earthquakes, 10% were moderately prepared, 16.7% were averagely prepared, 20% were below averagely prepared, and 50% were not prepared for earthquake emergencies. About 90% respondents had less than 6 of the emergency necessities and therefore were not well prepared for earthquakes. The study recommends capacity building of households to improve upon their preparedness for earthquakes. Keywords: household, preparedness, earthquakes, Gbawe, mitigation, risk DOI: 10.7176/JEES/12-11-03 Publication date: November 30th 202

Assessing Community Coping Strategies in Sustainable Flood Management. A Case Study of Kaemibre and Walantu in Kasoa

Community based flood management has become fundamental in increasing societies’ resilience to flooding. As climate change and urbanization continue to worsen flood disaster events, it is practical to examine local adaptation to floods. To achieve this objective, multi criteria analysis, using Geographic Information System and Digital Elevation Model for flood modelling and risk mapping assessment, buttressed by questionnaires, was employed to evaluate human relationship and response to flood risks management. A landuse map of Satellite remote sensing Level 1B satellite images from Landsat ETM Plus for the month of October 2018 was created, using Environment for Visualising Images Software and Geographic Information System for estimating changes in the land cover during the modelling process. The most affected communities were defined from the overlay of the risk map on the topographic map of the same scale. It was revealed that even though flood risk map shows communities’ risk of flooding, socio-economic and cultural factors play major role in flood risk management. The coping strategies of the affected communities involved bolstering walls and increasing compound elevation above flood level, desilting drains, and changing jobs. The study recommends the integration of flood hazard maps into sustainable flood management of communities

Application of Palm Kernel Shell Granular Filter Medium for Decolourisation and COD Removal from Clarified Palm Oil Mill Effluent

Palm oil mill effluent (POME) is characterised by high colour, COD and solids. Extraction and drying of the suspended solids for reuse as solid fuel shows great promise. However, the clarified wastewater may require further treatment to meet discharge limits. This study was aimed at evaluating the efficiency and kinetics of COD and colour removal from clarified POME using palm kernel shell (PKS) granular filter media and a sand filter as reference. The wastewater was collected from a small-scale palm oil processing mill in the Abura Aseibu Kwamankese District of Ghana and clarified using a solid-liquid separation system. The filter media of particle size 1.18mm was packed into acrylic cylinders (6cm dia.) to a height of 35.4 cm. The characteristics of influent wastewater and filter media were determined prior to the experiment following standard methods. Each filter was run as a batch system under anaerobic conditions by maintaining a minimum supernatant height of 10cm. Effluents were drawn from the bottom of each filter after 0, 24, 48, 72, 96, and 120 h for analysis using standard analytical methods. The removal efficiencies for the PKS and sand filters were, respectively, 77% and 79% for COD and 69% and 62% for colour. The COD removal was consistent with first-order kinetics for both PKS and sand filters. However, colour removal in PKS and sand filters followed second- and zero-order kinetics respectively. The correlation coefficients of the selected kinetic models show a strong correlation between the experimental and predicted results. Further research is required to establish the retention time required to bring the pollutant levels below the allowable limits for discharge into the environment

Relevance of Partnering as an Alternative Approach to Management of Construction Projects in Ghana

Understandably, clients in both the public and the private sectors in Ghanaian construction industry have become increasingly dissatisfied.  What they see is unpredictability and under-performance.  What they receive is too often of poor quality, late and over-priced.  More often contractors enter the construction project focusing on achieving their objectives and maximising their profit margins, with no regard for the impacts on others. This mindset leads to conflict, litigation and often a disastrous project. In the pursuit of performance excellence, there is a need for partnering. This paper therefore, attempts to explain the need for partnering as an alternative approach to construction project delivery. The paper presents a review of partnering projects in general. Through a postal and e-mailed questionnaire survey, opinions of various parties in Ghanaian construction industry – clients, sub-contractors and contactors were sought regarding construction project delivery and the level of use of partnering. This paper also explains the importance and benefits arising from partnering implementation as reviewed by the other researchers and concluded that, partnering is one of the most innovative developments in delivering a project efficiently and reducing disputes.  It provides a sound basis for a ‘win – win’ climate and synergistic teamwork.  By changing to a ’win – win’ style the parties can reap benefits of cost saving, profit sharing, quality enhancement and time management. Keywords: Clients; Construction industry; Under-performance; Partnering; Win-win

Relevance of Partnering as an Alternative Approach to Management of Construction Projects in Ghana

Understandably, clients in both the public and the private sectors in Ghanaian construction industry have become increasingly dissatisfied.  What they see is unpredictability and under-performance. What they receive is too often of poor quality, late and over-priced. More often contractors enter the construction project focusing on achieving their objectives and maximising their profit margins, with no regard for the impacts on others. This mind set leads to conflict, litigation and often a disastrous project. In the pursuit of performance excellence, there is a need for partnering. This paper therefore, attempts to explain the need for partnering as an alternative approach to construction project delivery. The paper presents a review of partnering projects in general. Through a postal and e-mailed questionnaire survey, opinions of various parties in Ghanaian construction industry – clients, sub-contractors and contactors were sought regarding construction project delivery and the level of use of partnering. This paper also explains the importance and benefits arising from partnering implementation as reviewed by the other researchers and concluded that, partnering is one of the most innovative developments in delivering a project efficiently and reducing disputes. It provides a sound basis for a ‘win – win’ climate and synergistic teamwork. By changing to a ’win – win’ style the parties can reap benefits of cost saving, profit sharing, quality enhancement and time management.   Keywords: Clients; Construction industry; Under-performance; Partnering; Win-win

Enhancing Sustainability in Italian Water Supply Pipes through Life Cycle Analysis

The primary concern regarding the sustainability of the urban water cycle remains the performance of water supply systems. This, in turn, is determined by the functionality and sustainability of the system components, such as the pipe networks, pumps, and other appurtenances, which must be analyzed from an environmental perspective. The aim of the present study is to analyze the sustainability of two different types of water supply pipe materials that are commonly used, polyvinyl chloride and high-density polyethylene, using a comparative Life Cycle Analysis methodology. The functional unit was established in accordance with the water supply system that serves an Italian metropolitan city with a dimension of 9240 km, as one meter of water supply infrastructure, with 40 years as a life span. A cradle-to-gate analysis was conducted, starting from the production phase of the water pipelines to the maintenance phase, excluding the end of life and disposal phases. The chosen methodology was CML, justified by the fact that the results are more understandable and reproducible. Results comparison revealed a higher environmental impact during the production phase, while the maintenance phase had a very low impact. Notably, PVC pipe in comparison with HDPE material had a higher impact, except in two categories of impact: abiotic depletion and photochemical oxidation. The study contributes to the future development of alternative approaches for sustainable and eco-efficient water supply infrastructure designs and material