- Email: [email protected]
Implementing the World Bank's water resources management policy: A priority on toxic substances from nonpoint sources
8)
Pergamon
Wat ScL Tecla. Vol. 33, No. 4-5, pp. 45-51, 1996. Copyright @ 1996 IAWQ. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. Printed in Oreat Britnin. All rigbts reserved. 0273-1223196 $15-00 + 0'00
PII: 0273-1223(96)00213-2
IMPLEMENTING THE WORLD BANK'S WATER RESOURCES MANAGEMENT POLICY: A PRIORITY ON TOXIC SUBSTANCES FROM NONPOINT SOURCES A. Duda and M. Nawar* Environment Department. The World Bank. 1818 H Street. Washington. D.C. 20433. USA
NW,
ABSTRACT Compared to point source discharges, nonpoint or diffuse source contaminants cause more widespread degradation of surface and groundwater quality worldwide. While it is in the economic interest of all nations to establish programs for abatement of nonpoint source pollution, priorities must be established, and particularly dangerous contaminants that are hazardous, toxic or radioactive by nature deserve the highest priority. This paper makes the case for why these dangerous contaminants from nonpoint sources must urgently be addressed. The nature and significance of these contaminants are reviewed and the complex, multimedia sources of the releases are identified, including "donations" and export of hazardous materials to developing countries. Examples are cited from North America, Europe, the former Soviet Union and Asia of the enormous extent of contamination of soil, groundwater, surface water, fish, and wildlife from these persistent toxic chemicals. They are persistent in the environment, build up in fash through food chains, and contaminate human food. These chemicals mimic hormones and disrupt the development of offspring as they cause complex reproductive, metabolic, neurological, and behavioral changes as well as cancer risks. A new Water Resources Management Policy recently adopted by the World Bank places a priority on pollution prevention measures for industry, abatement of nonpoint source discharges, development of effective government regulatory institutions, and remediation/restoration of contaminated sites and ecosystems. Relevant elements of the policy are presented. In addition, the importance of economic instruments (polluters pays funds) for waste site cleanup and remedial action requirements being included during privatization of industrial sites are stressed. Copyright C 1996 IAWQ. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.
KEYWORDS
Ecosystem restoration; groundwater contamination; hazardous waste; human health risks; nonpoint source pollution abatement; pesticides; radionuclides; toxic substances; water quality.
* The views expressed in the paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of the World Bank. 45
A.DUDAandM.NAWAR
46
INTRODUCTION The magnitude of non point source (NPS) pollution around the world is so complex and so hard to characterize that it defies proper assessment. Despite the complexities, nonpoint sources have been recognized to be the major contributors to surface and groundwater contamination worldwide (Duda, 1993). Even in the highly industrialized U.S. with its preponderance of point sources, nonpoint sources impair many more waters than point sources as is summarized in Fig. 1. While western Europe and North America have struggled over nonpoint source control strategies the last decade, many other countries are only now beginning to focus on pollution abatement. All too often, engineers in these countries equate pollution control with municipal sewage treatment plant construction. While sewage discharges must be addressed for public health reasons, dangerous contaminants from complex non point source releases also deserve priority attention in making investment decisions, in privatization initiatives, as well as in legislative and regulatory program development. This paper provides a brief introduction why these dangerous contaminants released from nonpoint sources deserve top priority for abatement in the economic development planning of all nations that have become industrialized or are undergoing industrialization. These toxic contaminants can cause virtually irreversible contamination of surface and groundwater resources, trillions of dollars of remedial action needs, and enormous future government expenditures for health care for citizens living in contaminated areas where governments refuse to require expensive remedial cleanup actions. NATURE OF DANGEROUS CONTAMINANTS The impact of particularly dangerous contaminants that are hazardous, toxic, or radioactive by nature is only now being appreciated in North America, Europe, and the former soviet Union. Many of these dangerous contaminants are not directly discharged from sewage plants or industrial process pipes. They indirectly enter surface or groundwater supplies from industrial site runoff, spills, groundwater contamination from waste dump sites, leakage, agrochemical runoff, resuspension of contaminated bottom sediments, and deposition of pollutants emitted to the atmosphere. Even point source discharges can be transformed into non point source pollution through resuspension of contaminated bottom muds or sediments which have stored toxic substances for decades. Point source control measures are often inadequate and toxic chemicals deposited in bottom muds often cannot be traced back to specific sources and are therefore considered non point source in nature.
60 40
IJ<
Rivers/streams
Lakes/reservoirs
Figure 1. Percent of assessed waters in the U.S. impaired by certain sources of pollution (AG = agriCUlture NPS; UR =urban NPS; PS =point source; OT-NPS = other nonpoint sources). From U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 1994.
Many man-made chemicals and dangerous substances contaminate the aquatic environment, drinking water, and food. Radionuclides, Oil/petroleum compounds, heavy metals, polyaromatic hydrocarbons, pesticides, solvents. and paints are fairly well known. A new generation of odorless. tasteless chemicals have joined
Nonpoint source pollution abatement
47
these toxic substances. Some are carcinogens, some mutagens, and others are teratogens. They persist in the environment, cycle from one medium or form to another, are ingested with food, and bioaccumulate in fish, wildlife, and humans to pose complex health risks. Complex mixtures of chemicals often characterize the toxic soup of contaminants. Even individual chemicals are often classes of different compounds - like 209 different PCBs, 135 different furans, and 75 different dioxins, each with different characteristics and risks. Many of the organochlorines have been implicated in contributing to breast cancer, lack of human fertility, and prostate cancer in men (International Joint Commission, 1993). Consumed as drinking water, as residues on fruit/vegetables, and in fat of meat and fish, these dangerous chemicals pose serious health risks. Unfortunately, a new body of evidence has developed in the 1990s showing that many of these chemicals (see Table 1) mimic hormones and disrupt development of human, fish, and wildlife offspring in causing metabolic, neurological, immune system, and behavioral abnormalities (International Joint Commission, 1993). New evidence even shows that accumulations of these chemicals in food interfere with sexual development in fish and wildlife - males become feminized and sometimes females become masculinized. As Table 1 notes, these chemicals, heavy metals, commonly utilized pesticides, and synthetic products are in widespread use despite these fmdings and risks are increasing as the chemicals accumulate in food, fish, and drinking water supplies. Of particular concern is that today's pesticides and dangerous chemicals in fish and wildlife are not only harming this generation but also the next generation as the developing fetus becomes laden with chemicals in pregnant women. New epidemiological evidence in the Great Lakes basin of North America has found that women who consumed Great Lakes fish (contaminated by various chemicals) gave birth to infants with significantly more cognitive, behavioral, and physical deficits than women who did not (International Joint Commission, 1993). This has also been observed in wildlife in the Great Lakes, which serve as the "canary in the coal mine" - a canary ignored by governments. And conditions in the Great Lakes are much less contaminated than in the former Soviet Union, Eastern Europe and Asia where inadequate pollution controls have been used. Table 1. Chemicals known to disrupt endocrine systems DDT and its degradation products
Dioxins
Cadmium
DEHP (di (20 - ethyl hexyl) phthalate)
Furans
Lead
Synthetic pyrethroids
PCBs
Mercury
Triazine herbicides
HCB
Kelthane
EBDC fungicides
Methoxychlor
Kepone
Alkyl phenols (detergents and anti-oxidants)
Octochlorostyrene
Lindane
EXTENT AND SIGNIFICANCE OF CONTAMINATION An enormous environmental deficit is being incurred around the world as governments continue to allow releases of dangerous contaminants, and these chemicals continue to bioaccumulate in humans and the environment. Just as countries postpone payments to reduce national debt, payments to reduce the international environmental contamination deficit are overdue and the burden for cleanup will be borne by future generations. This international situation of contamination with toxic substances is so complex, institutional barriers so entrenched, solutions so full of economic and scientific uncertainty that a new global commitment is needed on a regional basis to eliminate the releases of these persistent toxic contaminants and to conduct remedial action cleanups where accumulations of these substances exist. In the U.S., the nonpoint source releases of these contaminants continue despite seemingly stringent pollution control regulations for point sources. Unfortunately, the regulations still allow large amounts of toxic substances to be released to the air, the ground, and the water. These substances become nonpoint source inputs as they are deposited from the atmosphere (line acid rain and toxic substances like dioxins,
48
A. DUDA and M. NAWAR
furans, mercury, lead, etc.), as they leak into groundwater and to streams, and as they become deposited in bottom sediments and are ultimately reintroduced into food chains through storm resuspension, biological action or dredging. These sources have complex pathways as noted by Duda (1989) in the Great Lakes basin and pose significant costs for remediation that may exceed $100 billion for just the Great Lakes. These toxic substances are also released from under-regulated mining complexes and continued use of toxic agrichemicals, for example, nitrate contamination and continued use of pesticides that mimic human hormones. The legacy of point source and waste site releases from 30-60 years ago also continues to pose risks to people today. The Office of Technology Assessment (1989) of the u.s. Congress estimated that ultimately $500 billion may need to be spent in the U.S. to remedy toxic waste sites ranging from spills, dumpsites, industrial impoundments, abandoned mine waste, and hazardous materials cleanup. The General Accounting Office (1994) noted that Department of Energy nuclear contamination sites might require up to $360 billion and Department of Defense sites another $120 billion for cleanup. If there is a one trillion dollar cleanup debt in the U.S. for these dangerous contaminants, imagine the multi-trillion dollar environmental deficit in the former Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, and industrialized Asia. Feshback and Friendly (1992) describe the disastrous contamination occurring in the former Soviet Union from decades of environmental neglect. Industrial regions and their associated cities have enormously complex and expensive remedial needs to protect human health and environment. Areas like Magnitogorsk, Chelyabinsk, Dnepropetrousk, Chernobyl, Yekaterinburg, Fergana Valley, Donetsk Oblast, Kola Peninsula, etc., have become infamous with radioactive and toxic contaminants coming from a combination of point sources, non point leakage, runoff, atmospheric deposition, waste piles, mined land, etc. Ingestion of these contaminants with food, in drinking water, in vegetables grown in contaminated soils pose complex, unaddressed health risks. Trillions of dollars in investments are needed when former and existing military facilities and mining areas are included. Eastern Europe also faces these challenges as noted in an assessment of pollution impacts on health and environment recently presented by the World Bank (1994). Complex, multimedia point and non-point pollution sources and health concerns are common at old factory complexes. The Northern Bohemia and Upper Silesia regions contain numerous examples and two major Polish steelworks Sendzimira in Krakow and Laziska in Katowice are among the worst. Mines and smelters also contribute to deposition of toxic air pollutants, acid rain, and groundwater contamination, such as Srednogovie in Bulgaria and the mines at Mecseki in Hungary. Whether it is the wastepile at Slavtsechim or the chemical works in Sillamae, Estonia, the PCB's associated with the factory at Michalovce in Slovakia, or the vinyl chloride plant at Botzesti in Romania, enormous remedial action needs and human health risks exist. Even dewatering of coal mines in Silesia creates complex problems as radioactive substances are discharged with the brine into the Vistula River. Groundwater contamination is particularly problematic. Livestock and agrichemicals create human health risks all across Europe, with thousands of cases of nitrate poisoning of children in Hungary, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Lituania, Romania, and other countries (World Bank, 1994). Abandoned and current military sites pose some of the greatest non point source risks. Over a thousand former Soviet military sites in the Baltic States pose problems, especially Latvia's Tukums airforce base. In Central Europe, military sites at Frenstat Radhostem in Moravia and Vysoke My to in Bohemia are problematic as are thousands of sites in Poland and in the area of the Black Sea Heet in Ukraine. Nuclear waste was dumped indiscriminately in Eastern Europe, and in the Fergana Valley of Uzbekistan, floods carry radionuclides from Kyrgyzstan from poorly designed storage areas and uranium mines. The rest of Europe also faces hundreds of billions of dollars of remedial action needs. In Germany alone, a 1994 report known as "Altlasten II" estimates up to 240,000 contaminated sites exist countrywide with a legacy of at least 5,000 military complexes dating back to World War ll. Asia has not escaped the damage. While the world has become familiar with the "Asian Economic Miracle," it is less familiar with the Asian environmental disaster that has accompanied the environmentally unsustainable development strategies that were chosen. This situation was described by the World Bank (1993a). This contamination does not just involve Japan, which recently reported widespread contamination of rivers, lakes, seas, and bottom sediments with dioxins, furans, and PCB's. China, the Philippines, India, Korea, and Indonesia all suffer from multimedia, point and nonpoint sources of chemical pollution that is as complex and dangerous as Eastern Europe. Iwata et al. (1993) show that these chemicals permeate the ocean
Nonpoint source pollution abatement
49
water and atmosphere of the North Pacific all the way to Alaska. Fresh DDT is being found and bioaccumulation of the soup of toxins in birds feeding on contaminated fish in the North Pacific is now endangering reproduction of the birds just like in polluted Lake Michigan or in the Baltic and Black Seas. Acid rain and toxic rain from huge increases in coal-fired electrical plants in Asia is also becoming a serious nonpoint source issue. Aluminum mobilized by acid rain can lead to neurological damage. WORLD BANK WATER RESOURCES POLICY The World Bank (l993b) recently adopted a comprehensive approach to managing the water environment in a new Water Resources Management Policy, which reflects several years of consultations within the Bank as well as with borrowing countries and NGOs. In this approach, the river basin, the groundwater aquifer system, or the large inland water or marine ecosystems become management units upon which to base changes in how sectoral development activities are carried out and identify where priority environmental interventions are required. Actions to combat existing water quality problems and prevent future ecosystem degradation must focus on changing the way human activities in different sectors are carried out depending on the capacity of the particular water environment to sustainably support that activity. In many instances, this capacity to support sectoral activities has already been exceeded, and action programmes to restore the functioning of ecosystems or to remedy human health risks need priority. In its new policy, the Bank has also called attention to mismanagement of surface and groundwater resources as a significant impediment towards poverty reduction and sustainable development Countries have paid little attention to human health, clean water supplies, pollution control, and surface/groundwater quality protection. As a result, serious human health risks and irreversible ecosystem impacts have occurred. The Bank policy also stresses that stakeholder participation, legal and regulatory reforms, decentralization of water service delivery, proper pricing and economic policies, and an emphasis on environmental protection and restoration are all integral to this comprehensive framework. While traditional sanitation and water supply needs for the poor have not yet been met, new concerns are arising about contamination of fish that the poor subsist on. The Bank's policy paper describes bioaccumulation of newly recognized persistent toxic substances as a serious problem. Greater emphasis of Bank-supported operations is being placed on restoration/protection of aquatic ecosystems, groundwater quality/recharge area protection, and prevention of pollution discharges to surface waters. The Bank is increasing its support of government efforts to adopt policies for building institutions to effectively address these issues and strengthening their capacity to protect the water environment This includes implementation of agricultural best management practices for preventing pollution of surface and groundwater. Economic sectors are now being asked to take full responsibility for preventing the degradation of water resources by modifying existing activities, using pollution prevention strategies and coordinating across sectors so that the water environment can be sustained.
An integral part of this policy is the adoption of suitable economic policies to provide self-financing in accordance with the polluter pays principle. Environmentally damaging subsidies need to be eliminated and polluting sources need to pay for cleanup, including restoration of natural resources damaged by the contamination. To this end, revolving funds can be established and polluting sources can pay fees. SUMMARY -lliE WAY AHEAD
An enormous amount of environmental contamination is building up around the world through releases of toxic, hazardous, and radioactive contaminants from complex sources and through multimedia pathways. These persistent toxic substances do not go away. Once releases into the air, ground or water are fmally stopped, expensive remedied actions are needed to remove or treat the accumulation of long-lived contaminants in soil, groundwater, bottom sediments, or in downriver food chains. Pollution prevention strategies are more economically and environmentally efficient Active and abandoned military sites, uranium and other mined areas, nuclear weapons/materials processing centers, industries, accidents, spills, leaking storage tanks and sewer systems, urban areas, hazardous waste dumps, emissions of chemicals into the air, dredJ;!;ed materials, and application of many aJ;!;riculturaI chemicals all have nonpoint source
so
A. DUDA and M. NAWAR
components that contribute to a worldwide multimillion dollar environmental contamination deficit of needed remedied actions, extra costs to the economy, and adverse ecosystem and human health impacts. Local contamination can be transformed into regional and international contamination through inadequately regulated transboundary export of chemicals and waste, "donations: of old pesticides", long range atmospheric transport of chemicals, volatilization of applied pesticides, and transboundary movement of contaminated fish. The sources are complex as are the exposure pathways. These dangerous contaminants build up through food chains and are ingested by humans on or in food or drinking water. Many of the chemicals mimic human hormones and can cause complex reproductive, metabolic, neurological, and behavioral changes. Alarming evidence about these problems has turned up in: (1) aquatic ecosystems from Asia and North America to Eastern Europe, (2) offspring of women with moderate fish diets in the Great Lakes, and (3) recent concerns about human cancers. The implications of these symptoms of the problem can be catastrophic in terms of human suffering, trillions of dollars for environmental cleanup world-wide, and the potential liability of generators, transporters, users and those who dispose of waste for the enormous societal costs of suffering and attendant health interventions. The World Bank's Water Resources Management Policy and its comprehensive approach for linking environmental protection to sustainable development provides a way ahead for addressing these concerns. Through implementation of best management practices for non point pollution prevention, development of strategic action programs for priority remedial actions, adoption of proper pricing, economic, and pollution prevention policies, development of institutions for dangerous contaminants, and implementation of pollution prevention/clean technology strategies, countries can begin to remedy the toxic legacy of the past and prevent new contamination. Adoption of the polluter pays and precautionary principles is a necessary first step. Funding for offsite remedial action cleanups can be generated from the enterprises responsible for releasing the toxic contamination through capitalization of remedial action funds. Asking the government or the public in general to fund cleanup just rewards the polluters and represents a "victim pays" principle that is economically and ethically inappropriate. Through mankind's pursuit of unsustainable economic development policies and projects, we now have the capacity not only to injure our surrounding environment and ourselves, but also remote environments and their inhabitants (like the Arctic) and future generations of humans through the buildup of persistent toxic substance that mimic and disrupt human hormone systems. The longer governments wait to fund priority remedial actions and institute effective pollution prevention strategies, the more expensive cleanup ultimately becomes as contamination spreads, human health is compromised, and in many cases irreversible environmental damage results. The "economic miracle" of the Far East or Latin America and the privatization of old factories without effective cleanup requirements in former centrally-planned economies just add to the existing multi-trillion dollar cleanup bill. The world community must take stock of why it is not effectively addreSSing this priority issue. Not only is it environmentally unsustainable and economically inefficient to incur this nonpoint pollution-related environmental deficit, but it is ethically and morally wrong to ask citizens and their future offsprings to shoulder the human suffering, impaired health and economic burden associated with toxic, hazardous, and radioactive contamination. REFERENCES Duda, A. M. (1989). Groundwater contamination in the Great Lakes basin: implications for multimedia remedial actions. Chicago-Kent Law Review. 65,465-478. Duda, A. M. (1993). Addressing nonpoint sources of water pollution must become an international priority. Wat. Sci. Tech.. 29, 116.
Fesbbacb. M. and Friendly. A. (1992). Eeocide in the USSR: Health and Nature Under Siege. Harper: N.Y. FBIS (Foreign Broadcast Information Services. JPRS-TEN-94 series, a U.S. Government Publication. GREENPEACE (1992). Death In Small Doses: The Effects of OrganochlOrines In Aquatic Ecosystems. N.Y. INTERNATIONAL JOINT COMMISSION. (1993). A Strategy For Virtual Elimination of Pers/Slent Toxic Substances. Volume 2. Windsor. Ontario. Canada. Iwata, H. et al. (1993). Distribution of persistent organochlorines in the ocean air and surface seawater and the role of the ocean on their global transport and fate. Envir. Sci. Technol.. 23, 1080-1098. Office of Technology Assessment (1989). Coming Clean: Superfund's Problems Can Be Solved. U.S. Government Printing Office. Washington. OTA-ITE-433.
Nonpoint source pollution abatement
51
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Managing Nonpoint Source Pollution. Officc of Water (EPA- 506/9/90), Washington, D.C. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (1994). National Water Quality Inventory: 1992 Report to Congress. EPA 841-R-94-001. WashinglDn. U.S. General Accounting Office (1994). Federal Facilities: Agencies Slow to Define the Scope and Cost of Hazardous Waste Site Cleanups. RCED-94-73. U.S. Government Printing Officc World Bank (1993a). Toward An Environmental Strategy For Asia. Washington, D.C. World Bank (1993b). Water Resources Management: A Policy Paper. Washington, D.C. World Bank (1994). Environment and Health in Central and Eastern Europe. Washington, D.C.
Pergamon
Wat ScL Tecla. Vol. 33, No. 4-5, pp. 45-51, 1996. Copyright @ 1996 IAWQ. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. Printed in Oreat Britnin. All rigbts reserved. 0273-1223196 $15-00 + 0'00
PII: 0273-1223(96)00213-2
IMPLEMENTING THE WORLD BANK'S WATER RESOURCES MANAGEMENT POLICY: A PRIORITY ON TOXIC SUBSTANCES FROM NONPOINT SOURCES A. Duda and M. Nawar* Environment Department. The World Bank. 1818 H Street. Washington. D.C. 20433. USA
NW,
ABSTRACT Compared to point source discharges, nonpoint or diffuse source contaminants cause more widespread degradation of surface and groundwater quality worldwide. While it is in the economic interest of all nations to establish programs for abatement of nonpoint source pollution, priorities must be established, and particularly dangerous contaminants that are hazardous, toxic or radioactive by nature deserve the highest priority. This paper makes the case for why these dangerous contaminants from nonpoint sources must urgently be addressed. The nature and significance of these contaminants are reviewed and the complex, multimedia sources of the releases are identified, including "donations" and export of hazardous materials to developing countries. Examples are cited from North America, Europe, the former Soviet Union and Asia of the enormous extent of contamination of soil, groundwater, surface water, fish, and wildlife from these persistent toxic chemicals. They are persistent in the environment, build up in fash through food chains, and contaminate human food. These chemicals mimic hormones and disrupt the development of offspring as they cause complex reproductive, metabolic, neurological, and behavioral changes as well as cancer risks. A new Water Resources Management Policy recently adopted by the World Bank places a priority on pollution prevention measures for industry, abatement of nonpoint source discharges, development of effective government regulatory institutions, and remediation/restoration of contaminated sites and ecosystems. Relevant elements of the policy are presented. In addition, the importance of economic instruments (polluters pays funds) for waste site cleanup and remedial action requirements being included during privatization of industrial sites are stressed. Copyright C 1996 IAWQ. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.
KEYWORDS
Ecosystem restoration; groundwater contamination; hazardous waste; human health risks; nonpoint source pollution abatement; pesticides; radionuclides; toxic substances; water quality.
* The views expressed in the paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of the World Bank. 45
A.DUDAandM.NAWAR
46
INTRODUCTION The magnitude of non point source (NPS) pollution around the world is so complex and so hard to characterize that it defies proper assessment. Despite the complexities, nonpoint sources have been recognized to be the major contributors to surface and groundwater contamination worldwide (Duda, 1993). Even in the highly industrialized U.S. with its preponderance of point sources, nonpoint sources impair many more waters than point sources as is summarized in Fig. 1. While western Europe and North America have struggled over nonpoint source control strategies the last decade, many other countries are only now beginning to focus on pollution abatement. All too often, engineers in these countries equate pollution control with municipal sewage treatment plant construction. While sewage discharges must be addressed for public health reasons, dangerous contaminants from complex non point source releases also deserve priority attention in making investment decisions, in privatization initiatives, as well as in legislative and regulatory program development. This paper provides a brief introduction why these dangerous contaminants released from nonpoint sources deserve top priority for abatement in the economic development planning of all nations that have become industrialized or are undergoing industrialization. These toxic contaminants can cause virtually irreversible contamination of surface and groundwater resources, trillions of dollars of remedial action needs, and enormous future government expenditures for health care for citizens living in contaminated areas where governments refuse to require expensive remedial cleanup actions. NATURE OF DANGEROUS CONTAMINANTS The impact of particularly dangerous contaminants that are hazardous, toxic, or radioactive by nature is only now being appreciated in North America, Europe, and the former soviet Union. Many of these dangerous contaminants are not directly discharged from sewage plants or industrial process pipes. They indirectly enter surface or groundwater supplies from industrial site runoff, spills, groundwater contamination from waste dump sites, leakage, agrochemical runoff, resuspension of contaminated bottom sediments, and deposition of pollutants emitted to the atmosphere. Even point source discharges can be transformed into non point source pollution through resuspension of contaminated bottom muds or sediments which have stored toxic substances for decades. Point source control measures are often inadequate and toxic chemicals deposited in bottom muds often cannot be traced back to specific sources and are therefore considered non point source in nature.
60 40
IJ<
Rivers/streams
Lakes/reservoirs
Figure 1. Percent of assessed waters in the U.S. impaired by certain sources of pollution (AG = agriCUlture NPS; UR =urban NPS; PS =point source; OT-NPS = other nonpoint sources). From U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 1994.
Many man-made chemicals and dangerous substances contaminate the aquatic environment, drinking water, and food. Radionuclides, Oil/petroleum compounds, heavy metals, polyaromatic hydrocarbons, pesticides, solvents. and paints are fairly well known. A new generation of odorless. tasteless chemicals have joined
Nonpoint source pollution abatement
47
these toxic substances. Some are carcinogens, some mutagens, and others are teratogens. They persist in the environment, cycle from one medium or form to another, are ingested with food, and bioaccumulate in fish, wildlife, and humans to pose complex health risks. Complex mixtures of chemicals often characterize the toxic soup of contaminants. Even individual chemicals are often classes of different compounds - like 209 different PCBs, 135 different furans, and 75 different dioxins, each with different characteristics and risks. Many of the organochlorines have been implicated in contributing to breast cancer, lack of human fertility, and prostate cancer in men (International Joint Commission, 1993). Consumed as drinking water, as residues on fruit/vegetables, and in fat of meat and fish, these dangerous chemicals pose serious health risks. Unfortunately, a new body of evidence has developed in the 1990s showing that many of these chemicals (see Table 1) mimic hormones and disrupt development of human, fish, and wildlife offspring in causing metabolic, neurological, immune system, and behavioral abnormalities (International Joint Commission, 1993). New evidence even shows that accumulations of these chemicals in food interfere with sexual development in fish and wildlife - males become feminized and sometimes females become masculinized. As Table 1 notes, these chemicals, heavy metals, commonly utilized pesticides, and synthetic products are in widespread use despite these fmdings and risks are increasing as the chemicals accumulate in food, fish, and drinking water supplies. Of particular concern is that today's pesticides and dangerous chemicals in fish and wildlife are not only harming this generation but also the next generation as the developing fetus becomes laden with chemicals in pregnant women. New epidemiological evidence in the Great Lakes basin of North America has found that women who consumed Great Lakes fish (contaminated by various chemicals) gave birth to infants with significantly more cognitive, behavioral, and physical deficits than women who did not (International Joint Commission, 1993). This has also been observed in wildlife in the Great Lakes, which serve as the "canary in the coal mine" - a canary ignored by governments. And conditions in the Great Lakes are much less contaminated than in the former Soviet Union, Eastern Europe and Asia where inadequate pollution controls have been used. Table 1. Chemicals known to disrupt endocrine systems DDT and its degradation products
Dioxins
Cadmium
DEHP (di (20 - ethyl hexyl) phthalate)
Furans
Lead
Synthetic pyrethroids
PCBs
Mercury
Triazine herbicides
HCB
Kelthane
EBDC fungicides
Methoxychlor
Kepone
Alkyl phenols (detergents and anti-oxidants)
Octochlorostyrene
Lindane
EXTENT AND SIGNIFICANCE OF CONTAMINATION An enormous environmental deficit is being incurred around the world as governments continue to allow releases of dangerous contaminants, and these chemicals continue to bioaccumulate in humans and the environment. Just as countries postpone payments to reduce national debt, payments to reduce the international environmental contamination deficit are overdue and the burden for cleanup will be borne by future generations. This international situation of contamination with toxic substances is so complex, institutional barriers so entrenched, solutions so full of economic and scientific uncertainty that a new global commitment is needed on a regional basis to eliminate the releases of these persistent toxic contaminants and to conduct remedial action cleanups where accumulations of these substances exist. In the U.S., the nonpoint source releases of these contaminants continue despite seemingly stringent pollution control regulations for point sources. Unfortunately, the regulations still allow large amounts of toxic substances to be released to the air, the ground, and the water. These substances become nonpoint source inputs as they are deposited from the atmosphere (line acid rain and toxic substances like dioxins,
48
A. DUDA and M. NAWAR
furans, mercury, lead, etc.), as they leak into groundwater and to streams, and as they become deposited in bottom sediments and are ultimately reintroduced into food chains through storm resuspension, biological action or dredging. These sources have complex pathways as noted by Duda (1989) in the Great Lakes basin and pose significant costs for remediation that may exceed $100 billion for just the Great Lakes. These toxic substances are also released from under-regulated mining complexes and continued use of toxic agrichemicals, for example, nitrate contamination and continued use of pesticides that mimic human hormones. The legacy of point source and waste site releases from 30-60 years ago also continues to pose risks to people today. The Office of Technology Assessment (1989) of the u.s. Congress estimated that ultimately $500 billion may need to be spent in the U.S. to remedy toxic waste sites ranging from spills, dumpsites, industrial impoundments, abandoned mine waste, and hazardous materials cleanup. The General Accounting Office (1994) noted that Department of Energy nuclear contamination sites might require up to $360 billion and Department of Defense sites another $120 billion for cleanup. If there is a one trillion dollar cleanup debt in the U.S. for these dangerous contaminants, imagine the multi-trillion dollar environmental deficit in the former Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, and industrialized Asia. Feshback and Friendly (1992) describe the disastrous contamination occurring in the former Soviet Union from decades of environmental neglect. Industrial regions and their associated cities have enormously complex and expensive remedial needs to protect human health and environment. Areas like Magnitogorsk, Chelyabinsk, Dnepropetrousk, Chernobyl, Yekaterinburg, Fergana Valley, Donetsk Oblast, Kola Peninsula, etc., have become infamous with radioactive and toxic contaminants coming from a combination of point sources, non point leakage, runoff, atmospheric deposition, waste piles, mined land, etc. Ingestion of these contaminants with food, in drinking water, in vegetables grown in contaminated soils pose complex, unaddressed health risks. Trillions of dollars in investments are needed when former and existing military facilities and mining areas are included. Eastern Europe also faces these challenges as noted in an assessment of pollution impacts on health and environment recently presented by the World Bank (1994). Complex, multimedia point and non-point pollution sources and health concerns are common at old factory complexes. The Northern Bohemia and Upper Silesia regions contain numerous examples and two major Polish steelworks Sendzimira in Krakow and Laziska in Katowice are among the worst. Mines and smelters also contribute to deposition of toxic air pollutants, acid rain, and groundwater contamination, such as Srednogovie in Bulgaria and the mines at Mecseki in Hungary. Whether it is the wastepile at Slavtsechim or the chemical works in Sillamae, Estonia, the PCB's associated with the factory at Michalovce in Slovakia, or the vinyl chloride plant at Botzesti in Romania, enormous remedial action needs and human health risks exist. Even dewatering of coal mines in Silesia creates complex problems as radioactive substances are discharged with the brine into the Vistula River. Groundwater contamination is particularly problematic. Livestock and agrichemicals create human health risks all across Europe, with thousands of cases of nitrate poisoning of children in Hungary, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Lituania, Romania, and other countries (World Bank, 1994). Abandoned and current military sites pose some of the greatest non point source risks. Over a thousand former Soviet military sites in the Baltic States pose problems, especially Latvia's Tukums airforce base. In Central Europe, military sites at Frenstat Radhostem in Moravia and Vysoke My to in Bohemia are problematic as are thousands of sites in Poland and in the area of the Black Sea Heet in Ukraine. Nuclear waste was dumped indiscriminately in Eastern Europe, and in the Fergana Valley of Uzbekistan, floods carry radionuclides from Kyrgyzstan from poorly designed storage areas and uranium mines. The rest of Europe also faces hundreds of billions of dollars of remedial action needs. In Germany alone, a 1994 report known as "Altlasten II" estimates up to 240,000 contaminated sites exist countrywide with a legacy of at least 5,000 military complexes dating back to World War ll. Asia has not escaped the damage. While the world has become familiar with the "Asian Economic Miracle," it is less familiar with the Asian environmental disaster that has accompanied the environmentally unsustainable development strategies that were chosen. This situation was described by the World Bank (1993a). This contamination does not just involve Japan, which recently reported widespread contamination of rivers, lakes, seas, and bottom sediments with dioxins, furans, and PCB's. China, the Philippines, India, Korea, and Indonesia all suffer from multimedia, point and nonpoint sources of chemical pollution that is as complex and dangerous as Eastern Europe. Iwata et al. (1993) show that these chemicals permeate the ocean
Nonpoint source pollution abatement
49
water and atmosphere of the North Pacific all the way to Alaska. Fresh DDT is being found and bioaccumulation of the soup of toxins in birds feeding on contaminated fish in the North Pacific is now endangering reproduction of the birds just like in polluted Lake Michigan or in the Baltic and Black Seas. Acid rain and toxic rain from huge increases in coal-fired electrical plants in Asia is also becoming a serious nonpoint source issue. Aluminum mobilized by acid rain can lead to neurological damage. WORLD BANK WATER RESOURCES POLICY The World Bank (l993b) recently adopted a comprehensive approach to managing the water environment in a new Water Resources Management Policy, which reflects several years of consultations within the Bank as well as with borrowing countries and NGOs. In this approach, the river basin, the groundwater aquifer system, or the large inland water or marine ecosystems become management units upon which to base changes in how sectoral development activities are carried out and identify where priority environmental interventions are required. Actions to combat existing water quality problems and prevent future ecosystem degradation must focus on changing the way human activities in different sectors are carried out depending on the capacity of the particular water environment to sustainably support that activity. In many instances, this capacity to support sectoral activities has already been exceeded, and action programmes to restore the functioning of ecosystems or to remedy human health risks need priority. In its new policy, the Bank has also called attention to mismanagement of surface and groundwater resources as a significant impediment towards poverty reduction and sustainable development Countries have paid little attention to human health, clean water supplies, pollution control, and surface/groundwater quality protection. As a result, serious human health risks and irreversible ecosystem impacts have occurred. The Bank policy also stresses that stakeholder participation, legal and regulatory reforms, decentralization of water service delivery, proper pricing and economic policies, and an emphasis on environmental protection and restoration are all integral to this comprehensive framework. While traditional sanitation and water supply needs for the poor have not yet been met, new concerns are arising about contamination of fish that the poor subsist on. The Bank's policy paper describes bioaccumulation of newly recognized persistent toxic substances as a serious problem. Greater emphasis of Bank-supported operations is being placed on restoration/protection of aquatic ecosystems, groundwater quality/recharge area protection, and prevention of pollution discharges to surface waters. The Bank is increasing its support of government efforts to adopt policies for building institutions to effectively address these issues and strengthening their capacity to protect the water environment This includes implementation of agricultural best management practices for preventing pollution of surface and groundwater. Economic sectors are now being asked to take full responsibility for preventing the degradation of water resources by modifying existing activities, using pollution prevention strategies and coordinating across sectors so that the water environment can be sustained.
An integral part of this policy is the adoption of suitable economic policies to provide self-financing in accordance with the polluter pays principle. Environmentally damaging subsidies need to be eliminated and polluting sources need to pay for cleanup, including restoration of natural resources damaged by the contamination. To this end, revolving funds can be established and polluting sources can pay fees. SUMMARY -lliE WAY AHEAD
An enormous amount of environmental contamination is building up around the world through releases of toxic, hazardous, and radioactive contaminants from complex sources and through multimedia pathways. These persistent toxic substances do not go away. Once releases into the air, ground or water are fmally stopped, expensive remedied actions are needed to remove or treat the accumulation of long-lived contaminants in soil, groundwater, bottom sediments, or in downriver food chains. Pollution prevention strategies are more economically and environmentally efficient Active and abandoned military sites, uranium and other mined areas, nuclear weapons/materials processing centers, industries, accidents, spills, leaking storage tanks and sewer systems, urban areas, hazardous waste dumps, emissions of chemicals into the air, dredJ;!;ed materials, and application of many aJ;!;riculturaI chemicals all have nonpoint source
so
A. DUDA and M. NAWAR
components that contribute to a worldwide multimillion dollar environmental contamination deficit of needed remedied actions, extra costs to the economy, and adverse ecosystem and human health impacts. Local contamination can be transformed into regional and international contamination through inadequately regulated transboundary export of chemicals and waste, "donations: of old pesticides", long range atmospheric transport of chemicals, volatilization of applied pesticides, and transboundary movement of contaminated fish. The sources are complex as are the exposure pathways. These dangerous contaminants build up through food chains and are ingested by humans on or in food or drinking water. Many of the chemicals mimic human hormones and can cause complex reproductive, metabolic, neurological, and behavioral changes. Alarming evidence about these problems has turned up in: (1) aquatic ecosystems from Asia and North America to Eastern Europe, (2) offspring of women with moderate fish diets in the Great Lakes, and (3) recent concerns about human cancers. The implications of these symptoms of the problem can be catastrophic in terms of human suffering, trillions of dollars for environmental cleanup world-wide, and the potential liability of generators, transporters, users and those who dispose of waste for the enormous societal costs of suffering and attendant health interventions. The World Bank's Water Resources Management Policy and its comprehensive approach for linking environmental protection to sustainable development provides a way ahead for addressing these concerns. Through implementation of best management practices for non point pollution prevention, development of strategic action programs for priority remedial actions, adoption of proper pricing, economic, and pollution prevention policies, development of institutions for dangerous contaminants, and implementation of pollution prevention/clean technology strategies, countries can begin to remedy the toxic legacy of the past and prevent new contamination. Adoption of the polluter pays and precautionary principles is a necessary first step. Funding for offsite remedial action cleanups can be generated from the enterprises responsible for releasing the toxic contamination through capitalization of remedial action funds. Asking the government or the public in general to fund cleanup just rewards the polluters and represents a "victim pays" principle that is economically and ethically inappropriate. Through mankind's pursuit of unsustainable economic development policies and projects, we now have the capacity not only to injure our surrounding environment and ourselves, but also remote environments and their inhabitants (like the Arctic) and future generations of humans through the buildup of persistent toxic substance that mimic and disrupt human hormone systems. The longer governments wait to fund priority remedial actions and institute effective pollution prevention strategies, the more expensive cleanup ultimately becomes as contamination spreads, human health is compromised, and in many cases irreversible environmental damage results. The "economic miracle" of the Far East or Latin America and the privatization of old factories without effective cleanup requirements in former centrally-planned economies just add to the existing multi-trillion dollar cleanup bill. The world community must take stock of why it is not effectively addreSSing this priority issue. Not only is it environmentally unsustainable and economically inefficient to incur this nonpoint pollution-related environmental deficit, but it is ethically and morally wrong to ask citizens and their future offsprings to shoulder the human suffering, impaired health and economic burden associated with toxic, hazardous, and radioactive contamination. REFERENCES Duda, A. M. (1989). Groundwater contamination in the Great Lakes basin: implications for multimedia remedial actions. Chicago-Kent Law Review. 65,465-478. Duda, A. M. (1993). Addressing nonpoint sources of water pollution must become an international priority. Wat. Sci. Tech.. 29, 116.
Fesbbacb. M. and Friendly. A. (1992). Eeocide in the USSR: Health and Nature Under Siege. Harper: N.Y. FBIS (Foreign Broadcast Information Services. JPRS-TEN-94 series, a U.S. Government Publication. GREENPEACE (1992). Death In Small Doses: The Effects of OrganochlOrines In Aquatic Ecosystems. N.Y. INTERNATIONAL JOINT COMMISSION. (1993). A Strategy For Virtual Elimination of Pers/Slent Toxic Substances. Volume 2. Windsor. Ontario. Canada. Iwata, H. et al. (1993). Distribution of persistent organochlorines in the ocean air and surface seawater and the role of the ocean on their global transport and fate. Envir. Sci. Technol.. 23, 1080-1098. Office of Technology Assessment (1989). Coming Clean: Superfund's Problems Can Be Solved. U.S. Government Printing Office. Washington. OTA-ITE-433.
Nonpoint source pollution abatement
51
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Managing Nonpoint Source Pollution. Officc of Water (EPA- 506/9/90), Washington, D.C. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (1994). National Water Quality Inventory: 1992 Report to Congress. EPA 841-R-94-001. WashinglDn. U.S. General Accounting Office (1994). Federal Facilities: Agencies Slow to Define the Scope and Cost of Hazardous Waste Site Cleanups. RCED-94-73. U.S. Government Printing Officc World Bank (1993a). Toward An Environmental Strategy For Asia. Washington, D.C. World Bank (1993b). Water Resources Management: A Policy Paper. Washington, D.C. World Bank (1994). Environment and Health in Central and Eastern Europe. Washington, D.C.