Qiong Su - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Qiong Su

Science of The Total Environment, 2014

Reclaimed water and seawater schemes are used to improve estuary water quality. • The two schemes... more Reclaimed water and seawater schemes are used to improve estuary water quality. • The two schemes require similar flow rates to achieve water quality targets. • Reclaimed water scheme decreases salinity and has little impact on mangrove growth. • Seawater scheme increases salinity and has significant impact on mangrove growth. • We provide a holistic view on water quality and ecological impacts of the schemes.

Science of The Total Environment, 2018

Litter decomposed faster in vegetable farmland than previously studied ecosystems. • Roots decomp... more Litter decomposed faster in vegetable farmland than previously studied ecosystems. • Roots decomposed faster than leaves for studied vegetables. • As, Cu, Fe, Hg, Mn, and Pb possibly accumulated in the litters after 180 d.

Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems

ACS Earth and Space Chemistry

More than half of the drinking water supply in the United States originates from forest watershed... more More than half of the drinking water supply in the United States originates from forest watersheds, where terrestrial dissolved organic matter (DOM) is known as an important disinfection byproduct (DBP) precursor. Throughfall-derived DOM, a significant portion of terrestrial DOM, has seldom been evaluated for its formation potential of DBPs. Here, we collected throughfall and leaf extracts of an evergreen (loblolly pine, Pinus taeda L.) and a deciduous tree species (turkey oak, Quercus cerris L.) in South Carolina to explore their seasonal DOM quantity, optical properties, and DBP formation potential. Elevated dissolved organic carbon (DOC) from rainwater (1.2 ± 0.4 mg/L) to pine (26.0 ± 19.7 mg/L) and oak throughfall (38.8 ± 37.8 mg/L) indicated canopy can be a significant DOM source. DOM aromaticity (indicated by specific ultraviolet absorbance at 254 nm) was higher in oak than pine throughfall and higher in throughfall than leaf extracts. The throughfall DOM characteristics were seasonally more stable ...

Environmental Science & Technology

Carbon mitigation strategies have been developed without sufficient consideration of their impact... more Carbon mitigation strategies have been developed without sufficient consideration of their impacts on the water system. Here, our study evaluates whether carbon mitigation strategies would decrease or increase local industrial water use and water-related pollutants discharge by using a computable general equilibrium (CGE) model coupled with a water withdrawals and pollutants discharge module in Shenzhen, the fourth largest city in China. To fulfill China's Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) targets, Shenzhen's GDP and welfare losses are projected to be 1.6% and 5.6% in 2030, respectively. The carbon abatement cost will increase from 56 USD/t CO2 in 2020 to 274 USD/t CO2 in 2030. The results reveal that carbon mitigation accelerates local industrial structure upgrading by restricting carbon-, energy-, and water-intensive industries, e.g., natural gas mining, nonmetal, agriculture, food production, and textile sectors. Accordingly, carbon mitigation improves energy use efficiency and decreases 55% of primary energy use in 2030. Meanwhile, it reduces 4% of total industrial water use and 2.2-2.4% of two major pollutants discharge, i.e., CODCr and NH3-N. Carbon mitigation can also decrease petroleum (2.2%) and V-ArOH (0.8%) discharge but has negative impacts on most heavy metal(loid)s pollutants discharge (increased by -0.01% to 4.6%). These negative impacts are evaluated to be negligible on the environment. This study highlights the importance of considering the energy-water nexus for better-coordinated energy and water resources management at local and national levels.

Journal of environmental management, 2018

Energy and water systems are interdependent and have complex dynamic interactions with the socio-... more Energy and water systems are interdependent and have complex dynamic interactions with the socio-economic system and climate change. Few tools exist to aid decision-making regarding the management of water and energy resources at a watershed level. In this study, a Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) model and System Dynamics and Water Environmental Model (SyDWEM) were integrated (CGE-SyDWEM) to predict future energy use, CO emissions, economic growth, water resource stress, and water quality change in a rapidly urbanizing catchment in China. The effects of both the CO mitigation strategies and water engineering measures were evaluated. CO mitigation strategies have the potential to reduce 46% CO emissions and 41% energy use in 2025 compared with reference scenario. CO mitigation strategies are also found to be effective in promoting industrial structure adjustment by decreasing the output of energy- and water-intensive industries. Accordingly, it can alleviate local water stress a...

Zhongguo Huanjing Kexue/China Environmental Science

ABSTRACT

Journal of Environmental Management, 2013

Integrated water environmental management in a rapidly urbanizing area often requires combining s... more Integrated water environmental management in a rapidly urbanizing area often requires combining social, economic and engineering measures in order to be effective. However, in reality, these measures are often considered independently by different planners, and decisions are made in a hierarchical manner; this has led to problems in environmental pollution control and also an inability to devise innovative solutions due to technological lock-in. In this paper, we use a novel coupled system dynamics and water environmental model (SyDWEM) to simulate the dynamic interactions between the socio-economic system, water infrastructure and receiving water in a rapidly urbanizing catchment in Shenzhen, China. The model is then applied to assess the effects of proposed socio-economic or engineering measures on environmental and development indicators in the catchment for 2011-2020. The results indicate that 1) measures to adjust industry structures have a positive effect on both water quantity and quality in the catchment; 2) measures to increase the labor productivity, the water use efficiency, the water transfer quota or the reclaimed wastewater reuse can alleviate the water shortage, but cannot improve water quality in the river; 3) measures to increase the wastewater treatment rate or the pollutant removal rate can improve water quality in the river, but have no effect on water shortage. Based on the effectiveness of the individual measures, a combination of socio-economic and engineering measures is proposed, which can achieve water environmental sustainability in the study area. Thus, we demonstrate that SyDWEM has the capacity to evaluate the effects of both socio-economic and engineering measures; it also provides a tool for integrated decision making by socio-economic and water infrastructure planners.

Environmental Modelling & Software, 2011

Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 2010

Aerosol mass spectrometry has proved to be a powerful tool to measure submicron particulate compo... more Aerosol mass spectrometry has proved to be a powerful tool to measure submicron particulate composition with high time resolution. Factor analysis of mass spectra (MS) collected worldwide by aerosol mass spectrometer (AMS) demonstrates that submicron organic aerosol (OA) is usually composed of several major components, such as oxygenated (OOA), hydrocarbon-like (HOA), biomass burning (BBOA), and other primary OA. In order