Nature and nurture: Environmental isotope story of the River Rhine

The total dissolved load of the Rhine river increases downstream due to the combined impact of natural and pollution loads. The natural background, controlled by geology, is soon swamped by pollution, particularly from salt and coal mining activities in Alsace and the Ruhr area. The Rhine is also a net source of CO₂ from oxidation of excess organic productivity that is fuelled by nutrient pollution, a problem even more serious for some of its tributaries.Also Derry/Rust Research Group, Ottawa-Carleton Geoscience Center, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada KIN 6N5     

Polychlorinated naphthalenes in sediments from the industrial region of Bitterfeld

Bitterfeld (Germany) was a major site of chemical production in the former German Democratic Republic with chloralkali electrolysis as the basic process. Effluents were dumped via the creek Spittelwasser into the rivers Mulde and Elbe. Despite the fact that the chloralkali industry is known as a possible source of polychlorinated naphthalenes (PCNs), to date no data about PCN pollution in the region of Bitterfeld and downstream regions are available. Therefore, sediments of the creek Spittelwasser were isomer-specifically analysed for penta-, hexa- and heptachlorinated naphthalenes using GC/MS. Concentrations of 880, 543 and 1120 ng/g dry weight were found, respectively. The isomer pattern suggests chloralkali industry as the major source of PCN contamination. Because of their toxicological relevance we suggest to include PCNs into monitoring and risk assessment programs of the rivers Mulde and Elbe downstream of Bitterfeld.     

BAT and BEP as instruments for reducing emissions of unintentionally produced POPs and development of guidelines under the stockholm convention

The 6th Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC 6), under the Stockholm Convention on POPs, gave an expert group the mandate to develop guidelines for the application and implementation of best available techniques (BAT) and best environmental practices (BEP) for the prevention and reduction of unintentionally produced and emitted POPs, including polychlorinated dibenzodioxins/-furans (PCDD/Fs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and hexachlorobenzene (HCB). Measures to reduce or eliminate the release of these POPs to the environment can be found in Article 5 of the Convention. BAT and BEP are already being applied as emission reduction instruments in a number of industrialised countries and are elements of other major international treaties, e.g. the UN ECE Protocol on POPs and the Marine Convention's OSPAR and HELCOM, and of the EU Directive for Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (IPPC Directive). Existing concepts are presented and compared with the requirements of the Stockholm Convention. Consequences, perspectives and questions for the future intersessional work of the above-mentioned Expert Group are discussed.