Distribution and availability of heavy metals in soils near electroplating factories.

Comprehensive understanding of the influence of soil properties on the potential availability of heavy metals could facilitate soil environment management. This study investigated the distribution of heavy metals and their potential availability in paddy and vegetable fields around electroplating factory outlets and irrigated with its wastewater. The potential availability was assessed using secondary phase fraction (SPF) of heavy metals, including acid-soluble, reducible, and oxidizable fractions resulting from BCR sequential extraction procedure.

Exploration of severities of rainfall and runoff extremes in ungauged catchments: A case study of Lai Chi Wo in Hong Kong, China.

Exploration for estimating rainfall and runoff extremes in ungauged catchments is challenging since there are no field measurements of rainfall and streamflow for confirming study results. This study proposed a systematic approach to tackle the challenge, and the approach includes field survey, rainfall data collection, frequency analysis, installation of equipment in the study area, and numerical modeling. The approach was then applied to the Lai Chi Wo (LCW) catchment in Hong Kong, China, in order to evaluate the severity of a rainstorm and flood event occurred on 11 May 2014.