Ch5 - Ecology and Sustainable Development - Environmental Pollution

The major secondary air pollutants are:

ozone - ammonium sulfate particles - ammonium nitrate particles

Major sources for PM10 in ambient air in Europe:

road traffic and road dust - small scale heating - industry - shipping - regional transport of secondary particles

The major health effects caused by air pollution are digestion problems, bronchial irritations, multiple sclerosis, asthma, yellow fever, allergies, or the fatigue syndrome.

bronchial irritations - asthma - allergies

The primary air pollutants forming the secondary pollutant ozone are NOx, SO2, CFCs, VOCs, benz-a-pyrene, dioxin, DDT.

NOx - VOCs

The major source for the emission of NOx are road traffic, small scale household heating, nuclear power plants, shipping, railways.

road traffic - shipping

Emissions of air pollutants are measured as … (tons/Year)

amounts or emissions

Air quality is measured as … (micrograms/m3)

immission concentrations

The major primary air pollutants are:

SO2 - NOx - particulate matter - volatile organic compounds

PM2,5, NOx, SO2 or ozone is the air pollutant which affects the largest number of European urban inhabitants with concentrations above immission limit values.

ozone

Roughly 10, 30, 50 or 75% of the European urban population suffer from exposure to concentrations of the air pollutant ozone above immission limit values (2020).

10%

Very important air pollutants are ozone, hydrochloric acid, nitrogen, oxygen, particulate matter, pesticides, sulfur, NOx, polymers, agro-pharmaceuticals, CFCs.

ozone - particulate matter - NOx - CFCs

Major air pollutants are: agropharmaceuticals, chlorophyll, nitrogen, ozone (O3), ammonium phosphate, nitrogen dioxide (NO2), sulphur dioxide (SO2), tributyl tin, water vapour.

ozone - nitrogen dioxide - sulphur dioxide

The air pollutant ozone is formed by reaction of VOCs with..

nitrogen oxides or NOx

The air pollutant ... is formed from VOCs and NOx in presence of UV radiation.

ozone

Major sources for SO2 in ambient air of Europe:

coal and oil fired power stations - shipping

Major sources for the elevated concentrations of SO2 in the ambient air of Europe are airplanes, automobiles, trains, coal fired power plants, ships, fertilisation in agriculture.

coal fired power plants - ships

Major sources for PM2,5 in ambient air in Europe:

road vehicles - small scale household heating - industry - regional transport

Major sources for the elevated concentrations of NO2 in the ambient air of Europe are small scale heating, airplanes, automobiles, trains, coal fired power plants, ships, fertilisation in agriculture.

automobile - ships

Major sources for the elevated concentrations of PM in the ambient air of Europe are small scale heating, airplanes, road traffic, railroads, industry, ships, regional transport of air pollutants, fertilisation in agriculture.

small scale heating - road traffic - industry - ships - regional transport

The major source for the emission of PM10 are road traffic, small scale household heating, nuclear power plants, shipping, railways, industry.

road traffic - small scale household heating - industry

The major source for the emission of PM2,5 are road vehicles, nuclear power plants, regional transport, shipping, railways, small scale household heating, industry.

road vehicles - regional transport - small scale household heating - industry

The major reason for high immission concentrations of ozone are road vehicle and ship emissions, nuclear power plants, regional transport, high UV-radiation, railways, small scale household heating.

road vehicle and ship emmissions - high UV radiation

Major reasons for elevated ozone levels in ambient air of Europe:

NOx and VOC emissions from road vehicles and ships - high UV radiation in summer

Major reasons for elevated concentrations of ozone in the ambient air of Europe are emissions from road vehicles, high infrared intensity from the sun, solar wind, strong trade winds, high UV-radiation, small scale heating, low pressure weather systems, emissions from ships.

emissions from road vehicles - high UV radiation - emissions from ships

Major EU legislation on air pollution:

euro emission standards for road vehicles - air quality directives - national emission ceilings directive

The main measures for the reduction of SO2-pollution of ambient air in Europe were:

flue gas cleaning in power plants and industry - elimination of sulfur from diesel and gasoline

The main measures for the reduction of pollution of ambient air in Europe with Particulate Matter were:

industrial filters - particle filters for diesel cars - improved road management - reduction of small scale heating - fuel switch from coal to gas

The NEC-Directive applies to the EU Member States and limits the immision concentration of air pollutants, limits the emission of the green house gas CO2, limits the emission of several air pollutants like NOx, SO2, or defines minimal expenditure for environmental protection measures.

limits emission of NOx, SO2 and other pollutants

The most effective instrument for the reduction of emissions of NOx and PM from road traffic is the NEC-Directive, the Euro Standards (…4,5,6), the Air Quality Directives, or the Convention on Long Range Transport of Air Pollution.

Euro Standards 4, 5 and 6

The air pollutant which has been reduced most in the last decades is NOx, NMVOCs, SO2/SO3 or PM.

SO2 and SO3

The emission standard for small vehicles Euro6 applicable since 2018 reduces emissions of NOx for diesel cars by 10%, 25%, 70% or 100% compared to Euro4 (introduced 2005).

70%

The emission standard for small vehicles Euro6 applicable since 2018 reduces emissions of PM for diesel cars by 10%, 25%, 80% or 100% compared to Euro4 (introduced 2005).

80%

Important pieces of EU legislation to limit air pollution are the Water Framework Diorective, the Euro Emission Standards for Road Vehicles, the Thematic Strategy for Soil and the National Emission Ceilings Directive.

Euro Emission Standards for Road Vehicles - National Emission Ceilings Directive

Major mitigation measures for air pollutions from road traffic are the EU Directives (EURO 5, EURO 6, ….); the Emission Trading System, catalysts for combustion engines; the establishment of the Global Atmospheric Watch network or the Montreal Convention to ban the use of CFCs.

EU Directives EURO 5 and EURO 6 - catalysts for combustion engines

The massive reduction of pollution by SO2 has been achieved by improved road management, elimination of sulfur from diesel and gasoline, particle filters in waste incineration plants, cleaning of the flue gas of power plants, improved motor management for diesel cars.

elimination of sulfur from diesel and gasoline - cleaning of flue gas of power plants

NOx reacts in the presence of UV-radiation with ... in the atmosphere to form the air pollutant ozone.

hydrocarbons or VOCs

The Global Atmospheric Watch (GAW) network of the WMO serves mainly to control industrial emissions in the region, monitor background concentrations of air pollutants, provide warnings from extreme weather situations or to observe changes in intercontinental air streams.

monitor background concentrations of air pollutants

Major causes/sources for biological and chemical water pollution:

industrial wastewater - agricultural effluents - human wastewater - oil discharges - manure and bacterial contamination

The most important anthropogenic pressures on coastal zones in Europe are eutrophication, bacterial contamination of bathing water, pollution of sea water with PAHs, growing number of tourists, spill from oil refineries, fueling of ships in the harbors, fish and shellfish farming.

eutrophication - bacterial contamination of bathing water - PAHs - tourists and settlements - oil spills - fish and shellfish farming

Industrial wastewater discharges contain ozone, heavy metals, agro-pharmaceuticals, organic toxins, fertilisers, oxygen, oils.

heavy metals - organic toxins - oils

… is the main source of nutrients (and other chemicals) to surface waters leading to eutrophication and groundwater pollution

agriculture or agricultural effluents

An … lake is a lake with high primary productivity, the result of an excessive nutrient content.

eutophic

An … lake is a lake with low primary productivity, the result of low nutrient content.

oligotrophic

A widely-used measure of eutrophication is the determination algal and cyanobacterial biomass from the … concentration

chlorophyll

Important diseases caused by bacterial contamination of water are gastritis, legionellosis, influenza, typhus, polio, cholera, tuberculosis.

gastitis - legionellosis - typhus - polio - cholera

Major contaminants of water are: oxygen, agropharmaceuticals, calcium carbonate, ethanol, chemical solvents, copper, ozone, pesticides, detergents, sulphur dioxide, dioxin, freons, sodium chloride.

agropharmaceuticals - chemical solvents - copper - pesticides - detergents - dioxin

Key functions of soil:

growth medium for plants and crops - storage, filtering and transformation of substances - protection of water and regulation of greenhouse gases - habitat and gene pool - source of raw materials and cultural landscape

The most common chemicals involved in the contamination of soil are ozone, petroleum hydrocarbons, hydrochloric acid, nitrogen, dioxins, polymers, pesticides, sulphur, PVC, heavy metals, CFCs.

petroleum hydrocarbons - dioxins - pesticides - heavy metals

Major soil problems in Europe are erosion by water and by wind, high salt content in central Europe, pollution with lead from leaded gasoline, a massive extinction of soil bacteria due to global warming, reduced organic carbon content.

erosion by water and wind - lead from leaded gasoline - reduced organic carbon content

Mitigation of soil contamination arising from waste depostion („landfilling“):

waste reduction and recycling - incineration and pyrolysis - composting - mechanical biological treatment - ban on untreated waste in landfills

Unpolluted rain water has a pH of 5,6 since it is saturated with the acid gas..

CO2

European water problems: There is a widespread acidification of lakes in..

Scandinavia