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Bermudan caves used as oil dump by Royal Navy
Volume M/Number 9/September 1997 discover end-user requirements for timely information, The project will use SAR imagery from the Canadian Radarsat satellite and process the data with the Oil Spill Detection Workstation (OSDWS) located at the receiving station in West Freugh, Scotland in order to execute a real-time service. This will offer a realistic user-driven approach to the demonstration of an oil spill information service, coupling data providers to the
old and dirty, can be used to make bitumen for roads. Shell Bermuda have also offered assistance if needed.
real customers.
No environmental assessment appears to have been made of Karachi Harbour, Pakistan in spite of the apparently high levels of pollution present according to a recent report from Environmental News Service
ALAIN FEBVRE
Radioactive Contamination at
La Hague Access to the area around the French reprocessing plant discharge-pipe at La Hague is to be restricted following the results of an independent analysis on samples from the area conducted by the Department of Labour, Health and Social Services of the Federal State of Hamburg. The analysis confirmed that the effluent and sediment samples are radioactive waste. According to the analysis of the German Institute, the effluent contains up to 160 becquerel of tritium per litre. The plutonium levels also classify the sediment as 'waste containing nuclear fuel' and German law prohibits such discharge into the sea. La Hague's permission to discharge effluent into the sea is being re-assessed, with French authorities making a decision by September of this year. Greenpeace have welcomed the restrictions but have also asked that a full public environmental impact assessment of all the operations of La Hague should be carried out.
The
Black
narbour
Waters
Of Karachi
(ENS). An
unnamed official leaked the information to ENS indicating his considerable concern over the state of the harbour. According to the official, there is frequent spillage of oil from ships in the harbour when it is pumped through pipelines in the oil installation into the storage tanks and again when the stored oil is pumped into the road based oil tankers for transport into the country. There is a constant strong smell of oil from the harbour water. As yet there appears to be no data available on pollutants in the water or sediment in the 120 km 2 harbour area. Pollution other than oil is believed to be present as well. There are dredgers which remove the sediment but according to the official it is redumped so close to the harbour area that it soon returns. He did not believe that the dredgers had been chosen for reasons of environmental concern and hence were not completing a satisfactory removal of sediment. Karachi can handle ships of 75 000 dead weight t and yet has no boom pipes to deal with oil spillage. Most ports have had these booms in operation since the early 1980s but the boom purchased for Karachi last year still had not arrived by July this year.
Bermudan Caves used as Oil Dump by Royal Navy
Mangroves Under Threat
An estimated one million gallons of waste oil found in caves near the old HMS Malabar in Bermuda is to be cleaned up. The oil was discovered in 1995, when an environ-mental consultant did a study for the Navy base. The dumped oil, some of which may be as old as the early 1900s, has formed a thick black oil sludge on the cave floors and extends quite some distance. There appears however to be no leakage of oil into the surrounding sea from the caves. The oil has accumulated after being dumped in the area from Royal Navy ships for decades and the U K Ministry of Defence is to pay for the clean up. The work was due to start in August and is expected to take three years to complete on account of the massive quantity o f oil involved, However, once underway it should not be labour intensive, just time-consuming. The free oil will be cleared first, drawn up by pumps as a water/oil mix and transported to the US for disposal where, if it is not too
One of the world's largest mangrove forests is being threatened by the lowering of flow and increasing pollution of the Indus River according to a recent report by Ahmar Mustikhan of ENS. Apparently, discharge of freshwater from the Indus River into the delta stood at some 150 million acre feet some decades back, but this has been reduced to only 10 million acre feet on the basis of the Indus Water Accord among the four provinces of Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan and Frontier. The reduced water flow has resulted in increased salinity which appears to be killing mangrove species that are unable to tolerate high levels of salt. Four species have already been wiped out and a number of other species are believed to be severely threatened. Fortunately the most salt tolerant species, Avicennia marina is also the most abundant making up 95% of the forest. However, increasing salinity is only one of the 683
old and dirty, can be used to make bitumen for roads. Shell Bermuda have also offered assistance if needed.
real customers.
No environmental assessment appears to have been made of Karachi Harbour, Pakistan in spite of the apparently high levels of pollution present according to a recent report from Environmental News Service
ALAIN FEBVRE
Radioactive Contamination at
La Hague Access to the area around the French reprocessing plant discharge-pipe at La Hague is to be restricted following the results of an independent analysis on samples from the area conducted by the Department of Labour, Health and Social Services of the Federal State of Hamburg. The analysis confirmed that the effluent and sediment samples are radioactive waste. According to the analysis of the German Institute, the effluent contains up to 160 becquerel of tritium per litre. The plutonium levels also classify the sediment as 'waste containing nuclear fuel' and German law prohibits such discharge into the sea. La Hague's permission to discharge effluent into the sea is being re-assessed, with French authorities making a decision by September of this year. Greenpeace have welcomed the restrictions but have also asked that a full public environmental impact assessment of all the operations of La Hague should be carried out.
The
Black
narbour
Waters
Of Karachi
(ENS). An
unnamed official leaked the information to ENS indicating his considerable concern over the state of the harbour. According to the official, there is frequent spillage of oil from ships in the harbour when it is pumped through pipelines in the oil installation into the storage tanks and again when the stored oil is pumped into the road based oil tankers for transport into the country. There is a constant strong smell of oil from the harbour water. As yet there appears to be no data available on pollutants in the water or sediment in the 120 km 2 harbour area. Pollution other than oil is believed to be present as well. There are dredgers which remove the sediment but according to the official it is redumped so close to the harbour area that it soon returns. He did not believe that the dredgers had been chosen for reasons of environmental concern and hence were not completing a satisfactory removal of sediment. Karachi can handle ships of 75 000 dead weight t and yet has no boom pipes to deal with oil spillage. Most ports have had these booms in operation since the early 1980s but the boom purchased for Karachi last year still had not arrived by July this year.
Bermudan Caves used as Oil Dump by Royal Navy
Mangroves Under Threat
An estimated one million gallons of waste oil found in caves near the old HMS Malabar in Bermuda is to be cleaned up. The oil was discovered in 1995, when an environ-mental consultant did a study for the Navy base. The dumped oil, some of which may be as old as the early 1900s, has formed a thick black oil sludge on the cave floors and extends quite some distance. There appears however to be no leakage of oil into the surrounding sea from the caves. The oil has accumulated after being dumped in the area from Royal Navy ships for decades and the U K Ministry of Defence is to pay for the clean up. The work was due to start in August and is expected to take three years to complete on account of the massive quantity o f oil involved, However, once underway it should not be labour intensive, just time-consuming. The free oil will be cleared first, drawn up by pumps as a water/oil mix and transported to the US for disposal where, if it is not too
One of the world's largest mangrove forests is being threatened by the lowering of flow and increasing pollution of the Indus River according to a recent report by Ahmar Mustikhan of ENS. Apparently, discharge of freshwater from the Indus River into the delta stood at some 150 million acre feet some decades back, but this has been reduced to only 10 million acre feet on the basis of the Indus Water Accord among the four provinces of Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan and Frontier. The reduced water flow has resulted in increased salinity which appears to be killing mangrove species that are unable to tolerate high levels of salt. Four species have already been wiped out and a number of other species are believed to be severely threatened. Fortunately the most salt tolerant species, Avicennia marina is also the most abundant making up 95% of the forest. However, increasing salinity is only one of the 683