Indicators and Indices of Environmental Quality - Term Paper Example

Environmental Sustainably Report This Report offers recommendations for sustainable development in the EU Mediterranean island that is the of this study. This Report presents (a) an assessment of the existing research in the area of sustainability assessment and (b) the basis for developing an appropriate methodology for the local Authority to employ in preparing a plan for sustainable development in the area. Introduction: The island in question, which is the subject of this study, measures 240 kilometres in latitude and 100 km in longitude. The population of the island is 850,000 and the Gross Domestic Product per capital is 15,000 pounds. The climate on the island is typically Mediterranean, i.e., hot, dry summers and cool winters; as a result, the primary industries are agriculture and tourism. Since there is a shortage of fresh water available, despite the high levels of availability of salt water from the surrounding sea, the sewage is reused for irrigation purposes. The island lies with the zone of the European Trade Union and as a result, will be subject to existing EU Directives in the environment. In the case of public plans that are made on environmental impact assessment, the EIA Directive, or the Directive 85/337EC. The purpose of this Directive is to ensure that during the implementation of any public plans, programs and projects, the design of the plans should be such that they have a minimal impact upon the environment. This Directive also contains provisions for the public to participate in the decision making process and thereby ensures that the quality of decisions taken are improved (www.ec.europa.eu). The significant legislation in this context, which also uses the “polluter pays” principle is the Directive 2004/EC/35. This Directive sets out a common framework wherein liability for damage to the environment will be evaluated, in order to ensure that those parties responsible for damaging the environment are duly made to pay. Factors in the external environment: In deriving an appropriate assessment framework, it is necessary to take into account, the consequences and results arising out of the Mediterranean Trade free zone. The Euro-Mediterranean Partnership is a joint socio-economic program with the objective of increasing political, economic and cultural ties between the countries on either side of the Mediterranean. This area has been demarcated as a zone of shared prosperity and a free trade zone, but as Katz (1999) points out, the increase in high profile international trade disputes, such as genetically modified organisms, there is an increasing association between trade and the environment. In order to promote sustainable development, it may be necessary to develop win-win situations, such as those allowing for increased trade and environmental protection simultaneously, or by decreasing wasteful subsidies and increasing the levels of access to environmental technologies and promoting the use of ecologically friendly products. In a study carried out by Cendrero et al (2003), certain indicators and indices reflecting environmental quality were used as the basis to develop a procedure for sustainability assessment. There were three dimensions of environmental quality which were taken into account, namely- functions, interactions and components. As these authors have pointed out, coastal evolution used to be determined earlier by natural processes such as changes in the sea levels and variations in erosion and/or sedimentation. In recent times however, human activities have altered the coastline, including the flora and fauna, soils, land cover and landscape, which in many instances have caused irreversible degradation. Thus, any plan to incorporate sustainability into coastal area development must also design and apply procedures to determine and monitor environmental quality in coastal areas, so that an assessment can be made about the extent to which evolution is either approaching or moving away from sustainability. A definition for environmental quality is derived on the basis of quantitative and qualitative parameters, some of which can be measured objectively while others are measured subjectively. Condrero et al (2003) suggest that the imprecise nature of environmental quality can be tackled by using the Human Development Index that is applied by the United Nations. In order to obtain a numerical index of environmental quality, various dimensions have been considered, which are (a) the criteria for environmental quality (b) the nature of interactions between people and the environment and (c) the components of the environment which can be independently represented through the use of specific indicators. Among the three dimensions of environmental quality that were taken into account, functions were considered by these authors from two points of view, namely the ecocentric or naturalness point of view and the anthropocentric point of view wherein the elements taken into account include the source of the resources, the sink for wastes, the supporter of activities and the provider of services (Condredo et al, 2003). The next dimension, i.e., human-environment interaction is represented through pressure, state and response indicators. The environmental dimension includes elements such as air, water, biota, soil, geomorphic characteristics and processes. Numerical indices were used by these authors in order to measure the integrated environmental quality as well as specific components of this quality. Metadata and databases were created for four different coastal areas, namely northern Spain, northwest Mexico and northeast Argentina, to derive a combined environmental quality index, which incorporated all of the three dimensions included above. Waste water management: In exploring sewage design to ensure lower environmental impact and achieve eco-efficiency, several requirements have been set , which require that a general sewer plan needs to be formulated, which must also specify the location and nature of the plants.( www.ecy.wa.gov). Such a report must also specify the present and expected future quantity and quality of wastewater. Methods of sludge disposal must also be specified. Guarino et al looked into the environmental, operational and economical characteristics of non traditional methods to manage sludge in Philadelphia. They concluded that disposing of the digested solids in the ocean offered the best alternative. In carrying out such disposal however, it is also important to assess the impact upon the environment through the quality and quantity of effluent that is released into it. With a view to protect the environment, there are now much stricter new requirements on the ammonia nitrogen component of effluents and the EC Directive 85/337EC will also be applicable in this instance. In meeting this objective, the use of anoxic selectors in controlling activated sludge bulking and foaming were examined by Mangrum (1998). He carried out experiments using the experimental pilot plant which was a three stage anoxic selector that preceded a complete mix system and the control unit which was a complete mix system. His study showed that in order to ensure that the selectors worked efficiently to reduce the quantity of effluent through a reduction in the foaming of sludge requires two conflicting aspects to be satisfied. Firstly, a high substrate concentration must be achieved in the selector while at the same time, achieving high substrate removal efficiency. This produces a high metabolic rate of digestion of the sludge and reduces foaming. Heath (1980) has cited several studies which have been carried out on the relative advantages of centralized versus decentralized sewage. These studies show that the disposal of effluent and the sewage can be assessed from four perspectives – direct environmental impact, secondary environmental impact, economic efficiency and political constraints. The most important out of all these is the direct environmental impact, because the ultimate objective of any sewage system is to reduce the environmental impact to acceptable levels. Decentralized systems may function better in this context, because the advantages they have are as follows: (a) a wider dispersal of the wasteloads into the receiving waters of a region because of their many outfalls (b) for any given level, reducing the ecological level of the affluent. When the affluent is allowed to accumulate, the process is inherently inefficient because some stream segments collect too much material while others may face a condition of deficit. In those cases where large volumes of effluent are discharged into the ocean, the ground water table is lowered, so that there is a danger that water supplies could be contaminated due to salt water leaching into the supplies. Methodology: One of the most important aspects that needs to be taken into consideration in developing the appropriate methodology is the fact that sewage from the island is not diverted into the sea but is used for irrigation purposes. Another important aspect to be considered is the fact that there are a large number of people on the island, i.e, 850,000 people inhabiting an area of just 24,000 km. This equates to a population density of 35 persons. This is quite a high density of population and provides a clear indication that because the area is highly populated, there will be a generation of high levels of sewage. Moreover, since the sewage is used for irrigation, it is even more important that the quality of the effluent is monitored and this is the most important aspect that needs to be monitored and developed through the methodology. The appropriate methodology to be followed to prepare a sustainable development plan that would also comply with the requirements of minimum impact upon the environment. The proper disposal of the effluent from sewage is one of the most important aspects that must be taken into consideration and the selection of the right selector will play an important role. The proposed methodology is therefore to carry out an experimental analysis of various selectors for use in selected sludge treatment plants in Europe. At the outset, it is proposed to carry out a study where three to four waste water treatment plans will be selected and observed, to assess the efficacy of the sewage disposal plans that are currently in use. The extent to which these plants are able to comply with the environmental requirements of the EC Directives mentioned earlier in this report will also be assessed. It is then proposed to and on the basis of the observations, recommendations will be provided to determine which selector would provide optimum disposal of sewage. The operation of different selector systems will be examined, such as anoxic selectors for foaming control, the use of aerobic selectors for filament control, among others and the nitrification that has been achieved in other selector systems. It is proposed to evaluate the merits and drawbacks of each of the selector systems, so that either an appropriate sewage system can be designed and built up from scratch, or the existing systems can be modified in order to improve upon the existing procedures for the treatment of sewage in order to improve the quality of the effluent. The methodology used will be primarily a quantitative one, because it will be based upon certain measurements. Some of the measurements proposed to be taken include (a) wastewater temperature (b) the peak flow factor (c) the BOD (d0 TKN values (e) the mass of the inter suspended solids and the ph values. The MLSS concentrations would also need to be taken into account. The quantitative method is appropriate for this study because the objective is to measure how the substrate concentrations are affected by the use of different selectors and thereby differing actions of the flocs within the sewage. The findings from the study will be evaluated to determine the nest selector system to use which is likely to be the most effective in ensuring that the sewage is properly treated. The design of the sewage plant will be derived on the basis of the observations that have been carried out above. In arriving at the design specifications, it would also be necessary to incorporate the perspectives that Condredo et al (2003) have pointed out in order to ensure environmental sustainability, especially the human interactions. The engineering design and specifications that will be developed would largely be focused upon the effective treatment of the sewage, so that the improvement in the quality of the effluent would also ensure that the fertilizing material is most effective. Conclusions: On the basis of the literature review, it would appear that the findings from the literature review which have suggested that the effluent is best directed into the sea may not be relevant in the context of this particular Mediterranean island. In the context of the current island, one of the significant factors that needs to be taken into account is the fact that sewage is used for irrigation purposes, rather than being diverted into the sea. It may be noted that in the preparation of a sustainability report for the Mediterranean island, the most important issue that must therefore be dealt with is the sewage treatment. The methodology above is likely to be quite effective in developing an effective method of treating the sewage through the design of the appropriate selector systems. The system that is developed will also have to be costed out in order to determine whether the development of a new system would be less expensive or whether a redesigning and revamping of the existing systems are likely to be more relevant. Once the sewage system has been effectively designed or revamped, it will then be possible to in corporate other environmental issues into the report. For instance, it may be necessary to ensure that land use in the coastal areas are also regulated so that any construction activity in the area, or any other kind of activity that is carried out in the area is not of the kind that is polluting or causes damage to flora and fauns of the region. This appears indicated especially in the context of the high density of the population and the primary industry which is tourism. Any activities supporting tourism that could damage the delicate balance of the ecosystem of the region would need to be linked up to the EC Directives and punitive action taken against the parties that flaunt them. The Report that is prepared will be derived on the basis of the results of the study which would shed some light on the relative benefits of the selector systems, so that the one that achieves the maximum balance between the cost of the selector system and the efficacy of effluent treatment can be incorporated. References: Cendrero, Antonio, Frances, Enrique, Del Corral, David, Ferman, Jose Luis, Fischer, David, Del Rio , Luis, Camino, Mariana and Lopez, Adriana, 2003. “Indicators and indices of environmental quality for sustainability assessment in coastal areas; application to case studies in Europe and the Americas”, Journal of Coastal research, 19(4): 919-933 “Criteria for sewage works design”, Retrieved June 21, 2010 from: http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/wq/reclaim/advisorycommittee/Orange%20Book.pdf “Environmental Assessment”, Retrieved June 23, 2010 from: http://www.scirus.com/srsapp/ Heath, Douglas E, 1980. “Relationship of design capacity to effluent quality”, Journal (Water Pollution Control federation), 52(8):2270-2275 Katz, David, 1999. “The Mediterranean free trade zone: duty free environmental degradation”, Middle East report, 213: 46-48 Mangrum, Robert L, 1998. “The effect of anoxic selectors on the control of activated sludge bulking and foaming”, retrieved June 22, 2010 from: http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-10198-1456/unrestricted/etd.pdf Scott, Joanne, 2002. “Law and environmental governance in the EU”, The International and Comparative Law Quarterly, 51(4): 996-1005 Read More