Leaching of metals in buried industrial sludge,spiked with cadmium,chromium and lead. Results of a trial

Sludge resulting from industrial waste water treatment at the industrial area of Patras, Greece, was spiked with cadmium, chromium and lead and entrenched in 4 experimental trenches. Soil from the unsaturated zone and sludge from the trenches were sampled at successive time points over a period of 14 months to monitor the movement of metals. Results showed that 94% of cadmium and 80% of lead but only 32% of chromium migrated from the sludge just 14 months after the entrenchment.

At the end of this time the buried sludge could be considered stabilised, as indicated by the total nitrogen content. Cd content in underlying soil layers at 3 m depth showed an increase in the first 7 months followed by a decrease, afterwards. Soil Pb concentration at 3 and 6 m depth was significantly high, in relation to it's initial concentration 14 months after the entrenchment. Pb and Cd in the soil samples were negatively correlated. It is suggested that lead displaces cadmium in the sediments.     

Reference criteria for the identification of accident scenarios in the framework of land use planning

Land use planning (LUP) around industrial sites at risk of major accidents requires the application of sound approaches in the selection of credible accident scenarios. In fact, the ‘technical’ phase of LUP is based on the identification and assessment of relevant accident scenarios. An improper choice of scenarios may critically affect both the ‘technical’ phase of risk assessment and the following ‘policy’ phase concerning decision making on land-use restrictions and/or licensing. The present study introduces a procedure aimed at the systematic identification of reference accident scenarios to be used in the gathering of technical data on potential major accidents, which is a necessary step for LUP around Seveso sites. Possible accident scenarios are generated by an improved version of the MIMAH methodology (Methodology for the Identification of Major Accident Hazards). The accident scenarios are then assessed for LUP relevance considering severity, frequency and time scale criteria. The influence of prevention and mitigation barriers is also taken into account. Two applications are used to demonstrate the proposed procedure. In both case-studies, the proposed methodology proved successful in producing consistent sets of reference scenarios.     

Risk assessment in support to land-use planning in Europe: Towards more consistent decisions?

Recognising the importance of establishing appropriate separation distances between hazardous installations and vulnerable residential areas for mitigating the effects of industrial accidents, the European legislation for the control of major accident hazards - the so-called Seveso II Directive - calls for procedures ensuring that technical advice is taken systematically into account for land-use planning (LUP) purposes. Due to historical, administrative, cultural and other reasons, these European Union’s Member States which have consolidated procedures for addressing this issue, have employed different approaches, methods and criteria, with a potential for great divergence in the resulting land-use planning decisions. In order to address this situation and to increase consistency and ‘defendability’ of land-use planning decisions in the EU, a European Working Group has been established and is operating under the coordination of the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC). This Group, consisting of experts from the EU Member States, the industry and the academia, is trying to understand the different approaches and their implications to LUP decision-making, to develop guidelines in support to these decisions and to examine data sources and tools for consistent application of risk assessment in support to LUP. This paper presents the activities of the Group, reviews the situation with respect to LUP in Europe and discusses whether a direction towards more consistent LUP decisions is being followed in Europe.     

Mesozooplankton communities in the Aegean and Black Seas: a comparative study

An attempt was made for a comparative study of the mesozooplankton communities between the Aegean and Black Seas. These areas are in connected through the Sea of Marmara, the Bosporus and the Dardanelles straits. The comparison was mainly based on data collected both in coastal and offshore waters, by the Hellenic Centre for Marine Research (Greece), the Shirshov Institute of Oceanology (Russia), the Institute of Biology of Southern Seas (Ukraine) and the Institute of Oceanology (Bulgaria). Our data revealed important differentiation in terms of species composition and interannual fluctuations of zooplankton quantity. Among the common copepod species, those presenting an eurytherm and/or euryhaline character (e.g. Acartia clausi, Paracalanus parvus, Penilia avirostris, Podon polyphemoides) were found dominant in the Black Sea and common in the Aegean Sea. Decreased dissimilarity of species composition seems to exist between the North Aegean Sea and the Black Sea, as well as between the coastal areas of the Black Sea and those affected by pollution in the Aegean Sea. A common feature of both seas is the existence of spatial differentiation in terms of the quantity of zooplankters due to anthropogenic and/or natural influences. The pattern of this differentiation seems to vary interannually in the Black Sea, depending either on the abundance of mesozooplankton predators (indigenous or invasive species) or on global climatic changes. Although the Black Sea is generally richer in zooplankton than the Aegean Sea, the significant decrease in the quantity of zooplankton from the early 1980s to the mid-1990s, due to the above factors, resulted in quasi-similar values in both areas. Black Sea mesozooplankton has revealed strong interannual variability both quantitatively and qualitatively, whereas no significant variability was detected in the Aegean Sea. This difference could be attributed both to variant anthropogenic forcing on these ecosystems and to the sensitive character of the semi-enclosed Black Sea.Communicated by M.E. Vinogradov, Moscow     

Coastal hazard risk assessment for small islands: assessing the impact of climate change and disaster reduction measures on Ebeye (Marshall Islands)

Small island states around the world are among the areas most vulnerable to climate change and sea level rise. In this paper, we present results from an innovative methodology for a quantitative assessment of multiple hazards on coastal risks, driven by different hydro-meteorological events, and including the effects of climate change. Moreover, we take an additional step by including in the methodology the option to assess and compare the effectiveness of possible disaster risk reduction measures. The methodology is applied to a real case study at the island of Ebeye (the Republic of the Marshall Islands). An example is provided in which a rock revetment is implemented as a risk reduction measure for the island. Results show that yearly expected damages may increase, by the end of the century, by a factor of three to four, depending on the sea level rise scenario considered, while the number of yearly affected people may double. Putting a cap on the temperature increase (e.g. 1.5 vs. 2 °C) according to the Paris Agreement may reduce damages and number of affected people by about 20 and 15%, respectively. However, impacts for same warming levels can vary substantially among different emission scenarios. Disaster risk reduction measures can be useful for mitigating risks in current and future situations but should be incorporated within long-term adaptive planning for these islands.     

Construction Simplicity and Cost as Selection Criteria Between Two Types of Constructed Wetlands Treating Highway Runoff

Two free water surface (FWS) and two subsurface flow (SSF) pilot-size wetlands were constructed for the evaluation of their performance in treating highway runoff (HRO) in the heart of the Mediterranean region, the island of Crete, at the southernmost point of Greece. Detailed recordings of the resources involved during the construction allowed a thorough calculation of the cost of the systems and the requirements in materials, man-hours, and equipment. The two identical FWS systems had a surface area of 33 m² each, while the two identical SSF covered 32 m² each. One FWS and one SSF, named FWS12 and SSF12, respectively, were designed with a hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 12 h, with each one capable of treating a maximum HRO of 12.6 m³/day. The other couple, named FWS24 and SSF24, respectively, was designed with an HRT of 24 h, with each receiving a maximum HRO of 6.3 m³/days. An influent storage tank was required to hold the runoff during the common storm events and control the flow rate (and the hydraulic retention time) into the wetlands. This construction represented 25% of the total construction cost, while 5% was spent on the influent automated (and sun-powered) control and distribution system, from the storage tank to the wetlands. The respective total cost allocated to the two SSF systems (€14,676) was approximately 10% higher than that of the FWS (€13,596), mainly due to the three different-sized gravel layers used in the SSF substrate compared to the topsoil used in the FWS, which tripled the cost and placement time. The Total Annual Economic Cost (TAEC) was €1799/year and €1847/year for the FWS and SSF pair, respectively. TAEC was also used to compare the economic efficiency of the systems per cubic meter of HRO treated and kilograms of COD and TSS removed from the wetlands during their first operational year. Based on these estimations, FWS12 recorded the lowest TAEC_COD and TAEC_TSS values (€89.09/kg and €43.69/kg, respectively) compared to the other three systems, presenting a more economically favorable option.     

Use of GIS in siting stabilization pond facilities for domestic wastewater treatment

Geographic information systems (GIS) use is presented in the problem of sitting areas for construction of natural systems such as stabilization ponds (SPs) for domestic wastewater treatment. For this purpose, several variables, such as topography, land use, type of geological formation, distance to major rivers or lakes, distance to existing cities and villages, existence of environmentally protected areas, mean minimum monthly temperatures and required wastewater effluent characteristics were analyzed with the GIS, in order to accept or reject a particular area within a region. The method is applied in the region of Thrace (Northeast Greece) at the municipal level. The required area for SP systems was calculated in each of the 36 municipalities of Thrace (including two islands, Thassos and Samothraki) as a function of the population of each municipality, temperature and local wastewater effluent discharge criteria. Based on the GIS analysis, suitable locations were identified in each municipality first, and then the total required surface area of these systems was compared to the available surface area of each municipality, in order to decide whether SP systems could be a viable solution to the wastewater management problem in the particular region. In that way the present methodology offers a fast and simple method to check the suitability of new areas for construction of such systems.     

Toxic and essential trace elements in human milk from Greek lactating women: association with dietary habits and other factors

The aim of this study was to determine the concentration of some essential and toxic metals in the colostrum and transitory human milk in conjunction with various factors that may influence their concentrations i.e. diet, supplementation, place of residence, smoking, as well as socioeconomic and somatometric characteristics. Zinc, iron, copper, manganese, cadmium and lead were measured by AAS in 180 colostrum samples from healthy lactating women collected on third day postpartum. A second milk sample was collected in 95 (53%) subjects 14 days later. Dietary habits were assessed by a 7-day food frequency questionnaire and various characteristics and socio-economic factors were also recorded. The mean (+/-standard deviation) values of colostrum samples were: Zn 4905 +/- 1725 microg l(-1), Fe 544 +/- 348 microg l(-1), Mn 4.79 +/- 3.23 microg l(-1), Cu 381 +/- 132 microg l(-1), Cd 0.190 +/- 0.150 microg l(-1), Pb 0.48 +/- 0.60 microg l(-1). All metals with the exception of copper were found in lower concentrations in transitory samples. Cadmium and lead weekly intakes were found to be below the Maximum Tolerable Weekly Intakes as they have been established for infants by WHO or NRC. Our results revealed: higher Pb concentration in the samples from urban areas; effect of smoking on Cu level; dietary habits seem to play a role in metal levels in human milk as the logistic regression models revealed.     

Assessment of vulnerability of the eastern Cretan beaches (Greece) to sea level rise

Beaches are both sensitive and critical components of the coastal systems, as they are particularly vulnerable to environmental change (e.g., the sea level rise) and form valuable coastal ecosystems and economic resources. The objective of the present study has been to record the spatial characteristics and other attributes (e.g., topography, sediments and accessibility) of the 71 beaches of the E. Crete (Eastern Mediterranean) that are either already developed or have a reasonable development potential and assess their erosion risk under sea level rise. Beach retreats are predicted by ensembles of six cross-shore (1D) analytical and numerical morphodynamic models, set up/forced on the basis of collected/collated information and three sea level rise scenarios (0.26, 0.82 and 1.86 m); these retreats are then compared with the recorded maximum (dry) beach widths. Projections by the unified ensemble suggest that, in the case of a 0.26 m rise, 80 % of the examined beaches are to retreat by more than 20 and 16 % by more than 50 % of their maximum dry width. In the case of a 0.82 m rise, 72 % of the tested beaches are predicted to retreat by more than 50 % of their dry width and 21 % by a distance at least equal to their observed maximum dry widths. A sea level rise of 1.86 m represents a ‘doom’ scenario, as 75 % of the beaches are predicted to retreat by more than their maximum width. These results may be conservative, as other significant beach erosion factors (e.g., decreasing beach sediment supply) have not been considered.     

Human mortality in Cyprus: the role of temperature and particulate air pollution

Climatic change results in increased occurrence of heat waves, and the thermal stress caused by such phenomena is leading to higher levels of heat-related mortality worldwide. This study is the first to examine the effect of extreme weather on mortality in Cyprus. It investigates the individual effect of meteorological indicators on mortality, as well as the role of particulate air pollution (PM₁₀). A generalized linear model (GLM) with quasi-Poisson regression was implemented. GLM included a temperature function and was adjusted for relative humidity and seasonality. The temperature function was developed under a newly developed framework of distributed lag nonlinear models, which capture nonlinearities and delayed effects of heat simultaneously. GLM was extended to examine the confounding effect of air pollution. All the results on heat effects are presented. High temperatures had a significant effect on mortality with increased mortality rates, independent of humidity and seasonality. Mortality risk increased steeply above a temperature threshold. A direct heat effect was shown, with higher risk on the current and next day of a severe heat event. PM₁₀ was not found to have a confounding effect on the temperature–mortality relationship, since the strength of this relationship remained after the inclusion of PM₁₀ in the model. Differences existed between urban and coastal areas.