2m: Monitoring regulatory effectiveness

The risks cartography is a primordial step for the valuation and management of desertification phenomenon but it is a complicated spot, which necessitate a big amount of spatial and statistics data. The use of GIS permits to manage and use these data efficiency.

The objective of our study is the realization of the sensitivity to the desertification map of south of the Aurs region by means of Geographical information system in accordance with the MEDALUS method (Mediterranean Desertification and Land Use), which use the qualitative indices to define the sensitive environment zones to the desertification.

The creation of the database consist of four information layer (soil quality, vegetation quality, climate quality and the socioeconomic state) when the articulation in the space and in the time is submit to the validation on ground.

Once the database has corrected it help to the elaboration of the sensitivity to the desertification map with calculation of the indices of the sensitivity to the desertification (ISD).

The wreck site of the World War II submarine U-864 is located at 160m depth near the island of Fedje on the west coast of Norway. The submarine carried 67 tons of metallic mercury. The sediment surrounding the wreck is heavily contaminated, and steel containers holding the cargo is still considered to be present inside the wreck. In 2015 it was decided to place a counter fill in front of the bow section which has been found to rest on a slope with unstable sediments. The Norwegian institute for water research (NIVA) was assigned to be responsible for implementation of the monitoring program required during the operations in May-June 2016, where objectives were to minimize spreading of mercury during installation of the counter fill material and to estimate the total amount of mercury transported out of the working area.

The counter fill covered a 200m by 60m area immediately north of the bow section of the wreck. Five landers measuring turbidity at 1,5m and 10m above sea floor surrounded the area. Data values were transmitted every five minutes through a connected buoy and Iridium satellite, presented visually on a website, and used to generate automatic alarms (when turbidity was >10 NTU). Alarms enforced water sampling from the designated Environmental Monitoring Vessel (EMV, Siddis Mariner), and the content of mercury was analyzed at the onboard laboratory within 30 minutes to a detection limit of 0.5 ng/L. Mercury levels above the threshold would trigger construction stop and mitigation actions. Daily routine sampling was done using hydrographic instruments for salinity, temperature, and turbidity (CTD) and LISST which measures particle size distribution. Analyses of mercury and grain size was performed on particles collected in sediment traps and vibrocore samples.

Mercury concentrations in the water samples never exceeded 1.3 ng/L, much less than the predetermined limit of 50 ng/l for initiation of mitigating actions. Operations were never stopped due to risk of mercury spreading. Estimated total flux of 34 g of mercury for the entire operation was two orders of magnitude less than the predetermined acceptance criterion of 3 kg. All the data collected through mercury analyses, CTD, LISST and the online monitoring provided information contributing to a more complete understanding of the mechanisms controlling the spreading of mercury during such operations. All relevant data consistently confirmed that the particle clouds observed was dust from the counter fill material with negligible contributions from resuspended sediments.

Mercury (Hg), emitted through various fuel combustion, incineration, and industrial processes, primarily reaches sensitive ecosystems and built-up land via deposition. Since the 1990s, there have been numerous efforts to monitor Hg deposition in New York State, USA across a range of land uses and elevations. In this poster we summarize measurements of wet, dry, throughfall, and litterfall deposition across the state, including short-term intensive monitoring as well as long-term routine surveillance. Such measurements have provided a reference deposition baseline in New York, and continued monitoring will be needed to track emissions changes due to environmental policy at the Federal and regional levels.

A spatial survey was conducted to examine the current status of mercury in fish in lakes across New York State, compare values with a previous survey conducted by New York State and identify trends in fish mercury concentrations that might be consistent with reductions in national emissions. In New York State alone, there are over 100 fish consumption advisories due to mercury contamination and elevated fish mercury concentrations remain a critical environmental issue. Human exposure to mercury largely occurs through the consumption of contaminated fish. The previous state wide survey completed in the early 2000s revealed high mercury concentrations in large piscivorous fish across the state, with the highest concentrations and most of the fish consumption advisories occurring in the Adirondack and Catskill regions. With recent decreases in U.S. mercury emissions, an effort to re-survey many of these lakes in New York State is nearing completion. This resurvey will focus on biophysical characteristics that were identified as important for mercury concentrations in the previous survey and to identify temporal trends and spatial patterns within New York state.

Large Combustion Plants as e.g. coal and lignite fired power plants and cement kilns are worldwide one of the biggest mercury sources with emissions of more than 1.000 tons per year. As more and more countries sign the Minamata Convention there is an increasing request to reduce the mercury emissions of such plants. In the US were already published and were getting into force the US-regulations as e.g. the final National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP) from the Portland Cement Manufacturing Industry the Mercury Air Toxic Standards (MATS) for combustion plants. Both rules have high demands on mercury emission control and continuous emission monitoring including very low emission limit values (ELVs) of approx. 1.5 µg/Nm³. In the European Union (EU) the revision of the BREF-document (Best Available Technology Reference document) for Large Combustion Plants is almost finished. The final document will be published in 2017. In the conclusions of the final draft is requested for e.g. coal fired power plants (with > 300 MWth) a continuous monitoring of the mercury emissions, with so called Annual Emission Levels (AELs) of 1 – 4 µg/Nm³.

In the US and also in the coming European regulations the continuous emission monitoring can be realized by Hg-CEMs or continuous sampling systems as Sorbent Trap Monitoring Systems (STMS). In the US the used sampling method is described in Performance Specification 12 B (PS 12B).In Europe will be published in 2017 a standard as CEN/TS, which describes the sampling method and the minimum requirements for the quality control.

This paper will give an overview of this coming CEN/TS. It will describe the method and the minimum and quality control requirements to assure reliable results. The paper will also show examples of flue gas conditions, under which the sampling method was modified to realize a possible sampling. Why and in which way such modifications can have influences on the measurement results are discussed in this paper. Additional it will show examples of realized applications on different industrial sites with the AMESA M STMS, including the description of the challenges which needed to be solved to realize successful monitoring.

Because mercury is a good conductor of electricity and has unique characteristics, it has been utilized in a wide variety of products, including barometers, thermometers and other measuring devices; switches and relays in commercial and industrial equipment; thermostats; button-cell batteries; dental amalgam; formulated products; energy-efficient light bulbs; and such novelty items as games and jewelry. Although overall use has declined in the U.S., mercury is still used in many applications, especially fluorescent and other lighting and dental amalgam. These mercury-added products are used in residential, commercial, as well as industrial environments.

Since 2001, the Interstate Mercury Education and Reduction Clearinghouse (IMERC) has collected information on mercury-added products sold in the U.S. This information is submitted by hundreds of manufacturers to satisfy notification requirements of the states of Connecticut, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island, and Vermont. The notification reports are submitted every three years through IMERCs online system.

This poster shows mercury use in products every three years from 2001-2013, including data and graphs. IMERCs analysis of the 2016 data is not yet complete, but the poster does include general observations for the most recent information available at this time.