فصلنامه محیط شناسی
سال چهل و نهم شماره 4 (پیاپی 108، زمستان 1402)

The water of Persian Gulf, which is currently used as the water in the cooling tower for Bandar Abbas power plant has high alkalinity, conductivity and salinity. The examination of microbial tests for the cooling tower indicates the high concentrations of all kinds of microbial species which is related to the high level of fluoride, sulfate ions and sediments. The TBC shows 104 cfu/ml which is considered a high value.  On the other hand, the presence of magnesium and calcium ions in carbonate form is a reason for the huge amount of hardness. The high level of ions concentration especially chloride and magnesium in the cooling water increase the growth of microbial parameters. Furthermore, the reason of such a huge growth of sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB) is the high concentration of sulfate. Therefore, the solution of reducing the general concentration of ions using methods such as reverse osmosis and ion exchange resins is suggested as the first priority to prevent microbial corrosion. Additionally, chlorination methods are proposed as the second priority due to economic efficiency and high-performance capability. Finally, ozonation method is presented as the third priority due to the higher cost compared to chlorination, high power and the absence of side products. Also, the high concentration of sulfate leads to the activity of SRB bacteria and causes various types of corrosion, and therefore, the use of methods for reducing the concentration and selective removal of sulfate as an effective and priority solution should be considered.

Since the emergence of the concept of urban resilience, this concept has mostly been concerned with urban planning, and resilient urban design approaches have been a less developed field. The current research is of applied type and uses descriptive-analytical methods. This research deals with urban resilience in urban design and focuses on how urban forms affect urban resilience against floods and inundation. In this regard, indicators for evaluating the resilience of urban forms against floods and urban runoff have been explained and these indicators have been measured and evaluated within the scope of the study area of Noor City at the level of neighborhoods and urban blocks to determine the level of resilience of each of them, that should be determined from the research indicators at the level of urban cells. The TOPSIS technique was used for data analysis. The results show that the study area of Noor City is in an unfavorable situation regarding resilience. Based on the evaluation done at the block level, the results indicated that 27.7 hectares of the study area have very low resilience, 62.6 hectares have low resilience, 48.4 hectares have medium resilience, 53 hectares have high resilience, and 16.8 hectares have very resilience. The largest area is related to the low resilience level with 62.6 hectares. In total, 90.3 hectares of the study area have low and very low resilience, which is about 43% of the total studied area.

Thermal power plants are one of the most important sources of mercury emissions. Mercury deposition in nature has a negative implication on human health. According to Article 8 of the Minamata Convention, all parties are obliged to estimate mercury emissions from anthropogenic sources and provide the best available control technologies. In this research, the analysis of mercury emissions from Iran’s power sector has been illustrated using the UNEP toolkit and the STIRPAT model for the period from 2011 to 2021. The average amount of mercury emissions and mercury emission factor were estimated as 505.6 kg and 1.85 kg/TWh respectively. The average emission factor of mercury for natural gas, heavy oil and gas oil combustion was calculated as 0.05 kg/TWh, 14 kg/TWh, and 1.29 kg/TWh respectively. The average amount of the external cost of electricity generation due to mercury emissions was calculated as 2,616.67 US$/TWh and 5,931.11 US$/TWh in two scenarios with and without the minimum exposure threshold respectively. The results of the STIRPAT model, it was indicated that a one-percent increase in factors including population, the share of electricity generation from natural-gas consumption, and the share of electricity generation from liquid fuels consumption led to an increase of 14.83, 0.3 and 1.49 percent respectively in mercury emissions. In addition, as a result of a one-percent increase in factors including gross national product per capita, intensity of electric energy generation and the share of electricity generation using non-fossil sources led to a decrease of 4.8, 4.74 and 0.15 percent respectively in mercury emissions.

This research was conducted with the aim of investigating the effect of urban land use on the amount of biological pollution of urban runoff, the possibility of its reuse, and finding the amount of pollution in the quality of urban runoff in District 6 of Tehran. To carry out this study, first, urban sub-basins with different dominant land uses (residential, green space and office-commercial) in a geographical area with the same temperature change conditions in the 6th district of Tehran were determined and the land use distribution in each sub-basin was analyzed. Then, the sampling points at the exit positions of the runoff caused by the rainfall in the defined sub-basins were identified and the instantaneous sampling of the urban basin exit runoff after the rainfall in the spring season and field and laboratory measurements of the parameters and variables Qualitative (chemical and biological) and quantitative (flow rate and flow depth) were done. The quality relationship of urban runoff was measured based on biological variables in May.Pearson statistical methods and one-way analysis of variance were used to identify the relationship between land use and the results of laboratory measurements. In linear regression methods, total coliform was used as an independent variable to investigate the relationship and interaction with other parameters. The results showed the effect of green, residential, and office land use in increasing the amount of total coliform as an indicator of microbial pollution in urban runoff, respectively. The highest level of coliform in green space land use was 14 MPM, which is due to the use of chemical fertilizers. Also, EC with a value of 889 us, and TDS with a value of 640 mg/l, in green space usage was higher than other land uses, which could be attributed to soil washing by runoff. Based on the analytical results, the effective variables on the number of microbial pollutants were identified, and the relations of estimation and prediction of its amount based on the effective variables were introduced in the form of total coliform estimation equations.

Forest parks are one of the most important natural ecosystems of any country, which provide various functions and services for mankind. Therefore, their preservation is considered as one of the main goals of human activities. Nowadays, due to the role of forest park ecosystems in attracting tourists, the evaluation of their visual quality has become very important. Aesthetic quality is defined as the relative beauty of the landscape, which depends on the visual features including physical, biological and man-made elements present in a place. Knowing the effective factors and criteria in the visual quality of the image of the land, as a suitable tool for evaluating and locating areas with aesthetic-cognitive value, can help managers and planners in the selection and effective management of images with visual value. Therefore, the goal of this study is assessing the visual quality of the landscape of Chaldereh forest park of Tonkaben city located in Mazandaran province. In this research, the visual quality classification method (Q-Sort) was used to evaluate the visual quality of the forest park. The research data was gathered in the form of a field survey, random sampling and the completion of the Q-Sort questionnaire by 60 visitors to the forest park. The finding of assessing the visual quality of the landscape of Chaldereh-Tenkabon forest park with the method of visual quality classification showed that the main criteria for improving the visual quality of Chaldereh-Tonekabon forest park include the existence of natural features (mountains and hills), the relaxing atmosphere, open and panoramic views of the surrounding landscapes, and criteria like the lack of integration of buildings and vegetation and the lack of balance, visual disturbance, and man-made elements are the main reasons for decreased landscape quality of this park.

Since the 70s and especially the 90s, social and communicative dimensions have been emphasized in both procedural planning approaches and sustainable development studies. Despite the emphasis on the importance of linking the social-communicative dimensions of planning and the components of sustainable development, there is no attention to the way of linking these issues in the planning literature. As a result, it seems, the gap between the substantive and procedural aspects of planning can be resolved by the interaction between the procedural aspects of new planning approaches on the one hand and the substantive goals of sustainable development on the other hand.The main question in this study is: what relationship can be established between the social-communicative dimensions in the new planning approaches and sustainable development criteria? In order to answer this question, first, the basics of new planning approaches have been collected, and then, using the qualitative content analysis method, the social and communicative dimensions of these approaches have been understood. In the next step, the content analysis of the key components of sustainable development theories and guidelines was done, and finally, the explanation of the conceptual relationship and interaction of the results of the first and second steps was deduced using the qualitative meta-synthesis method. The findings show that the new planning approaches, with the essence of communication, participation, and Pragmatism as a procedure, have a good capacity to implement the criteria of sustainable development as the substantive goal of urban planning.

The presence of numerous cultural, geographical, economic and social differences leads to different consumption of resources and as a result different pressure on the environment. Ecological Footprint (EF) is one of the tools that tries to quantify human pressure on the environment. One of the main demographic components that can affect the trend and spatial pattern of the ecological footprint is migration. Identifying and analyzing the flow and spatial patterns of the ecological footprint of migration can help to identify the dynamics of the country's ecological footprint caused by migrations. Considering the important role of inter-provincial migration in the country's population dynamics, this study aims to analyze this importance and its effect on the overall flow and spatial pattern of the Iran's ecological footprint. To this end, secondary data was used to investigate the spatial flows and pattern of migration including first origin, first destination, as well as the spatial flows and pattern of the ecological footprint of migrants in the geographic information system. The obtained results showed that there was a specific spatial pattern regarding the first origin, the first destination and the spatial pattern of the ecological footprint of migration in the country. A spatial pattern that shows the polarity and role of the two industrial and developed provinces of the country (Tehran and Isfahan). In addition to having a high ecological footprint compared to the national average, the two provinces also attract migrants from other provinces.