On Saturday, Beijing’s municipal government began publishing hourly measures of what are known as PM2.5 pollutants, or pollutants that measure less than 2.5 micrometers in diameter. But already the data (in Chinese) are showing discrepancies with another measure released hourly by the U.S. embassy in Beijing, long the favored source for air-pollution data for those able to circumvent the Chinese’s government’s Internet censorship efforts.

On Monday morning around 10 a.m., Beijing said PM2.5. levels were measured at about 30 micrograms per cubic meter, which the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency classifies as a “moderate” level of pollution. At roughly the same time Monday morning, the U.S. embassy measured PM2.5 levels of 66 micrograms per cubic meter, which is considered “unhealthy” by U.S. measurements.

Several reasons could help explain the discrepancy. U.S. and Chinese pollution monitoring locations are located across the city from one another. The U.S. measures PM2.5 levels from equipment at the embassy in eastern Beijing, near the heavily trafficked Third Ring Road. Meanwhile, Beijing’s government releases measurements from a monitoring site in the western Xicheng district, according to state media.

At least one environmental analyst has already begun raising questions about the data, in particular readings from Saturday that measured PM2.5 levels at an extremely low level of three micrograms per cubic meter.

“In all of 2010 and 2011, the U.S. embassy reported values at or below that level only 18 times out of over 15,000 hourly values,” said Steven Andrews, an environmental consultant who studies Beijing’s pollution data, according to the Associated Press. “PM2.5 concentrations vary by area so a direct comparison between sites isn’t possible, but the numbers being reported during some hours seem surprisingly low.”

Beijing has long worried about discrepancies between its data and U.S. pollution data raising suspicion among the Chinese public, and cables released by WikiLeaks have revealed at least one testy conversations between the embassy and Chinese officials, who lamented the U.S. data could confuse Chinese citizens.

State-run media have celebrated Beijing’s new data release as a sign of government openness and responsiveness to citizen demands. Nonetheless, the reliability of the Chinese data remains a question. Local and national officials have historically been accused of manipulating data on everything from food stockpiles to the country’s economic health.

The Chinese government had previously published PM10 pollution levels — that is, pollutants measuring between 2.5 and 10 micrometers in diameters. However, they didn’t previously release data for smaller PM2.5 pollutants, which are smaller and seen by some experts as more harmful to human health.

China hasn’t yet released targets for average annual PM2.5 levels, though the state-run Xinhua news agency in an article on Saturday said the the national standard could be set at 35 micrograms per cubic meter on average per year, citing hearings at the environment ministry from earlier this month.

Strong winds during the weekend blew off much of last week’s especially thick smog in Beijing, leaving behind a relatively rare stretch of consecutive blue sky days to welcome the new PM2.5 readings. It remains to be seen how the Chinese and U.S. data will compare when pollution levels pick up again — something that seems likely to happen before too long.

Both the U.S. Embassy and the Beijing monitoring station showed a massive spike in PM2.5 levels around midnight on Sunday. While it’s not entirely clear what caused the spike, Chinese Internet users speculated it could have something to do with city-wide launching of fireworks to ring in the Lunar New Year.

Source: http://blogs.wsj.com/

And although the process, which uses high-pressure liquid pumped deep underground to fracture shale rock and release gas, caused two earthquakes in Lancashire last year, they were too small to cause damage, they said.

Campaigners have called for a moratorium on fracking in the UK in the face of the earthquakes and amid fears it could lead to pollution of drinking water by methane gas or chemicals in the liquid used in the process.

Fracking has proved controversial in the US, where shale gas is already being exploited on a large scale and where footage has been captured of people able to set fire to the water coming out of their taps as a result of gas contamination.

But Professor Mike Stephenson, of the British Geological Survey, said most geologists thought it was a “pretty safe activity” and the risks associated with it were low. He said the distance between groundwater supplies around 40-50 metres below the surface and the deep sources of gas in the shale a mile or two underground, made it unlikely methane would leak into water as a result of fracking.

“Most geologists are pretty convinced that it is extremely unlikely contamination would occur,” he said.

There was no evidence in peer-reviewed literature of pollution of water by methane as a result of fracking, he said.

He also added that the presence of the gas in US water supplies was likely to be natural.

But a survey was currently being conducted in the UK, to establish a baseline of any gas naturally found in groundwater before drilling took place.

Canadian scientists probing ancient chemical deposits on the shores of a High Arc-tic lake have shed new light on the greatest mass extinction in Earth history – the “Great Dying” that wiped out about 90 per cent of the planet’s species 250 million years ago.

Sampling layers of sediment on Nunavut’s Axel Heiberg Island that contain fallout from a series of colossal volcanic eruptions in Siberia during that time, researchers with the University of Calgary and Geological Survey of Canada found evidence of enough mercury pollution to have “over-whelmed” marine ecosystems and contributed to the massive global die-off at the end the Permian age.

“No one had ever looked to see if mercury was a potential culprit. This was a time of the greatest volcanic activity in Earth’s history and we know today that the largest source of mercury comes from volcanic eruptions,” said federal geologist Steve Grasby, also a University of Calgary researcher and co-author of a paper on the Canadian discovery published in the latest issue of the journal Geology.

“We estimate that the mercury released then could have been up to 30 times greater than today’s volcanic activity,” Grasby added in a summary of the study, calling the event “truly catastrophic” on a planetary scale.

Fellow University of Calgary and GSC scientist Hamed Sanei, lead author of the Geology paper, told Postmedia News on Tuesday that the team’s findings at Axel Heiberg’s Buchanan Lake “complement” rather than contradict recent studies by Canadian and other research teams suggesting sudden and pro-found climate change caused the great Permian extinction event, which occurred about 20 million years before dinosaurs evolved.

“We don’t say mercury was the only culprit,” Sanei said. “It was a chain of events – various things happened.”

But the massive pulses of mercury and other chemical discharges from the Siberian volcanoes had a “massive effect” on organisms around the world, he said.

The continents formed a single mass, called Pangea, during the Permian era. At the time of the greatest volcanic activity, the area of ancient seabed that today forms the Buchanan Lake out-crop was “directly downwind” of the eruptions in present-day Siberia and “in the path of the destruction,” Sanei noted.

Mercury would have been deposited in the ocean via rain or snow, gradually accumulating in a marine environment that was also experiencing other severe chemical and climatic disturbances, he added.

The mercury would “get into the organic cycle, form toxic compounds, get into the food chain and actually kill living cells,” said Sanei.

Sanei, Grasby and study co-author Benoit Beauchamp collaborated on a paper last year that first identified coal ash deposits at Buchanan Lake as direct evidence of the volcanic catastrophe underlying the Great Dying.

And in November, a study in the journal Science showed how the mass extinction unfolded as part of a “runaway greenhouse event” marked by widespread wildfires, ocean acidification and soaring temperatures.

Source: http://www.vancouversun.com

“Too much pollution is concealed underground. In Israel, as in the rest of the world, there is widespread pollution resulting from the use of fuels and chemical pollutants. This is the same industry that for decades has been using natural resources that belong to the public as if they were its private property, without obeying regulations for the disposal of hazardous materials at licensed waste treatment sites.”

At the start of the conference, Israel Institute of Energy and Environment chairman Amir Makov said, “The cost of decontaminating soil will cost billions of shekels, which is an astronomic figure in terms of the Israeli economy. We need to decide whether the environmental benefits justify this financial burden. It is legitimate to ask whether it would be better to invest this money in the health system for those who need medications, instead of burying money underground.”

Erdan responded to these comments, saying, “I do not agree with the claim of the Institute and industrialists that the law is forcing them to take upon themselves an economic burden that doesn’t pay, and that the money should just be added to the medicine basket. I was taught that prevention is better than treatment after the fact. So instead of suggesting that the medicine basket be expanded, I suggest reducing the chance that we will need those drugs in the first place by decontaminating the soil. We prefer that fewer children be born with birth defects, and fewer people suffer from respiratory problems.”

Erdan continued, “Land is Israel’s most precious resource, and I am not referring to its economic value, because the economic price of land in Tel Aviv is completely different than prices in the periphery. The State of Israel, which covers 22,000 square kilometers, not including Judea and Samaria, is the smallest country in the western world. It is already the most densely populated western country in the OECD.

“We received a clear reminder of this in the summer, when the social protests began, and it is clear that when there is less land in supply, partly due to contamination, this affects how much land is available for sale. When supply increases, prices fall. The soil decontamination should be carried out for the sake of environmental justice as well as social justice. It shouldn’t be carried out only in Tel Aviv and central Israel, where real estate values make it more economically viable, but also in the periphery.”

Montana Department of Environmental Quality Director Richard Opper said that under the state plan, most major polluters still would have to make changes to meet Montana’s flexible standard for two pollutants – nitrogen and phosphorus.

But the approved plan includes variances for cities and companies that would allow them to meet the new federal standards over two decades. That means polluters could avoid huge costs they otherwise would have faced to upgrade pollution control equipment more immediately.

Nitrogen and phosphorus are naturally-occurring elements that water plants need to survive. But at high concentrations the two nutrients cause algae blooms that suck oxygen from the water as the algae decomposes, killing fish and other water life.

The Environmental Protection Agency last year raised concerns about the state’s phased-in approach because it does not require individual polluters to prove economic harm before they are given more time to meet federal standards.

But the federal agency backed down after the state in recent months presented studies that said the cost of meeting the standard would be significant. Although precise costs were not provided, some municipalities have said they would be forced to spend tens of millions of dollars to meet the federal rules using current technologies.

“After careful review … the EPA concludes that the issuance of the variances would be consistent with the Clean Water Act and its implementing regulations,” EPA regional administrator James Martin wrote in a recent letter to Opper.

The phased-in approach was authorized in by the Montana Legislature last year.

Under that legislation, the state would revisit its requirements for polluters every three years and adjust them as more cost-effective and efficient water treatment technologies emerged.

“It’s not a get out of jail free card by any stretch. It buys some time for technologies to mature,” Opper said Monday. Currently, he added, “the only kind of technology that would stand a chance of meeting the standard at this point was too expensive.”

The EPA’s approval got a cold reception from Jim Jensen with the Montana Environmental Information Center. Jensen, who participated in a state-appointed nutrient working group that was set up to address the issue, said the group put too much emphasis on treating fouled water rather than keeping it clean in the first place.

“From the beginning, the committee’s objective has been to figure out how to allow pollution rather than how to prevent it,” Jensen said. “This just puts it off to another day. When streams are already flowing at lower flows in the summer, this is not the time to be issuing variance or adopting schemes to allow pollution to continue.”

But John Rundquist, public works director in the City of Helena, said the federal standards for nitrogen and phosphorus threatened to “bust the bank” of municipalities that would have to buy expensive pollution control equipment.

And that still would have not solved the water quality problem, Rundquist said, because it would leave unaddressed smaller but more numerous pollution sources such as leaking septic tanks and runoff from farms that use nutrient-based fertilizers.

The state’s plan to control nutrient pollution will next go before the Board of Environmental Review, for adoption possibly sometime this coming summer or fall, said DEQ spokeswoman Lisa Peterson. After that, the DEQ will issue a formal rule setting the nutrient standard and allowing the variances, Peterson said.

The group said they were in breach of EU targets designed to protect health.

The Scottish government said it was working to improve travel choices and promote a low carbon economy.

Dr Dan Barlow, head of policy at WWF Scotland, said: “It is totally unacceptable that Scotland has breached European air pollution targets for the second year in a row.

“As a result of a complacent approach thousands of people are exposed to dangerous levels of air pollution in Scotland’s major cities.

“Scotland has had plenty of time to take preventative action, so it is shocking that we have failed to put in place the measures needed to meet air quality targets and protect human health.

“This situation is a direct result of the failure of successive governments to produce a sensible strategy that adequately addresses air pollution and climate emissions from road traffic.”

The Scottish government said it had set out a vision to make the country’s roads as efficient as possible in its Infrastructure Investment Plan, while work was also under way to develop low carbon vehicle technology, promote “active travel choices” and encourage a shift towards public transport.

A spokesman added: “We are also making considerable investment in inter-urban connectivity across road and rail, illustrated through the recently completed  M74 extension and Airdrie-Bathgate rail link.

“These types of investment are making a real difference to travel choices and journey times.”

About 20 years ago, this stretch had turned black due to effluents released by yarn processing firm, South India Viscose (SIV) Industries Limited, in Sirumugai. Although SIV was established in 1962 on the banks of the Bhavani and releasing effluents into the river for years, its ill-effects on the groundwater and surrounding farmlands started showing only during the 1980s when the firm beefed up production.

The locals, most of them employed in the firm and paid much better than workers in other factories, were more focused on their own and their village’s fortunes than the decaying river.

But reality struck these folks sometime during the early ‘80s when the river started to stink and its colour changed. “At least 32 tmcft of water stored in the dam had become so polluted that all the fish died one fine morning. When 30,000 tonnes of fish died and floated in the dam, the villagers in Erode, Sathy and the surrounding areas woke up to the effects of indiscriminate release of effluents,” says Mr N. Sundandran (70), who spearheaded the campaign against the polluting firm.

The small group of environmentalists was joined by students, activists and farmers who formed the Bhavani River Protection Committee. Though their case in the Madras HC in 1994 was dismissed, they forced the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board to file a case against SIV, said Mr Jayachandran of the Tamil Nadu Green Movement. After a sustained legal battle and series of protests, the locals forced SIV to close down in 2001.

Ten years have passed; the factory has changed hands and the river has sprung back to life with lush green banana plantations on both sides. Sirumugai has prospered along with the Bhavani river.

Source: http://www.deccanchronicle.com

The EPA has also defended its Beach Report website, which this morning wrongly listed water quality at all 36 bayside beaches as “good” or suitable for swimming.

That rating was revised at 10.30am today so that water quality at 13 beaches close to the city was rated “poor”, and the remainder were rated “fair”.

The EPA says swimming is not recommended at beaches rated “poor”. Those rated “fair” may be affected by stormwater but were generally expected to be suitable for swimming.

The beaches rated poor today are among Melbourne’s most popular.

They are Port Melbourne, St Kilda, Elwood, Middle Park, Sandridge, Williamstown, Altona, Werribee South, Mentone, Mordialloc, Aspendale North, Frankston Life Saving Club and Frankston Coast Guard.

An EPA spokesman said rain from Sunday’s fierce storms washed pollutants — including debris, rubbish, cigarette butts, topsoil and dog droppings — off the streets and into drains and local waterways, which eventually drained into the bay.

Exposure to bacteria in contaminated beach water has been associated with gastroenteritis, respiratory illness, eye infections and ear-nose-throat infections.

The EPA spokesman said the Beach Report website, which claims it has the “latest information on water quality at 36 beaches around Port Phillip Bay in summer”, was usually updated twice a day on weekdays, based on weather forecasts.

However its staff were not working on the Christmas Day and Boxing Day public holidays, and as a result old forecast information was being fed automatically into the website from Saturday until today.

Those forecasts were made on Friday afternoon, and while they did predict a storm would occur, they did not take into account the ferociousness of the Christmas Day storms, which delivered floods that in some areas submerged cars and roads.

The spokesman said that as a result of those forecasts on Friday, all beaches were rated “fair” on Christmas Day and Boxing Day, with a mixture of fair and good at beaches yesterday.

The long-range forecast predicted water quality would be good today, however staff revised that when they returned to work today.

Tweets from the official EPA Vic Beach Report Twitter account, which were sent out on Christmas Day and yesterday, were also based on the forecasts from Friday.

The spokesman said it usually took 24 to 48 hours for contaminated water to flow into the bay, and the contamination lasted a few days.

The spokesman said this week was unusual in that staff were not working over the public holidays.

“That information (about good water quality across all bayside beaches today) went on the website automatically at midnight last night. As soon as people were back on deck this morning, we updated the forecast,” he said.

He also said beachgoers should use their own judgment in deciding whether to go swimming after a storm event like the one that hit Melbourne on Christmas Day.

“Check out the water and pay particular attention to discolouration or murky sections — they’re best avoided,” he said.

“Beachgoers should also avoid swimming near stormwater drain outflows or the mouths of tributaries after a large storm.

“Generally the water quality impacts are only short-term. After 24-48 hours of fine weather and sunlight the water quality will improve.

“Given the hot, dry weather predicted for later in the week and over the weekend, we would expect the water quality to return to normal.”

He said staff would not work on the New Year’s Day public holiday on Monday, and the website would once again be updated with forecasts from the previous week.

The spokesman said EPA staff physically tested water quality at bayside beaches once a week, on Mondays.

Source: http://www.smh.com.au

As you keep the lights ready this Diwali, perhaps it’s time to pause and reconsider your plans. For years, we’ve known that Diwali, as celebrated today, is not the easiest time for people with or without specific health challenges. However, we often overlook the suffering we inflict on other life forms.

Let there be less light

Govind Singh, director, Delhi Greens, an NGO, and PhD scholar, environmental department, University of Delhi, says, “Light pollution is an aspect of deepawali that often goes unnoticed.” For centuries, diyas (oil lamps) were the only lights set up on Diwali. These were also kinder to other living things.

Now, these range from candles to electric garlands of fairy lights (“tuni” lamps), strings of electric bulbs and even harsh spotlights. Many of these are strung on, or near, trees and plants.

Says Mumbai-based Deepa Katyal Engineer, veterinarian and trustee, People for Animals, an animal welfare non-profit, “Can you imagine how hot it must be getting for the tree and for the creatures living in it?” Harsh lights also disorient nocturnal creatures such as bats and owls. Daylight-loving birds, too, can’t sleep. The diurnal cycle of plants is disturbed too.

Don’t fan the flames

Both lighting and fireworks can damage plants. Ajay Mahajan, founder member of the Pune-based environmental organization Kalpavriksh, has seen many plants getting scorched during Diwali. “Plants register the presence or proximity to fire and they actually try to move away from the source of fire,” he says.

Since Diwali comes at the end of the peak growing season for most plants, leaf burn can set the plant back by months. Plus, if you peg fireworks to a tree, it injures the inner bark, a living part of the tree. “That’s where the nutrients and water move,” says Mahajan. “Stop treating trees like lamp posts or an inanimate trellis.” Fireworks performing aerial pyrotechnics can also singe insects, birds and arboreal animals such as squirrels.

Don’t raise a stink

Then there’s the more palpable air pollution. During Diwali, most of us are thankful for the plants, those great carbon sinks. They take in a lot of air pollution at a terrible price. Few new leaves sprout and existing leaves get caked with pollution. “I have noticed a black liquid drip from leaves around this time from pollution,” says Mahajan. “Unlike dust that just sits on the leaf, this sticks to it. It is also tougher to wash off.”

Fire crackers are made of potassium nitrate, sulphur and charcoal. When burnt, noxious fumes are released, including sulphur dioxide, carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide. These gases irritate the air passage of humans and animals. “If higher species like humans and dogs get respiratory allergies due to the pollution caused by crackers, do insects and birds stand a chance?” asks Dr Katyal Engineer.

In plants, these harmful chemicals are absorbed through the stomata (pores) and choke them. Vidya Subramanian, project manager, Delhi Greens, says, “Particulate matter like cement dust, magnesium dust and carbon soot on trees can inhibit the normal respiration and photosynthesis mechanisms within the leaf.” With the stomata choked, plants can’t breathe or feed. This can also lead to the death of the leaf tissue.

What doesn’t coat or choke the leaves falls on the soil or floats in the air. If there is rainfall soon after Diwali, this pollution may come down as acid rain, corroding plants, altering soil composition and upsetting water ecosystems. Says Mahajan, “We don’t much look at soil contamination, although it is much more difficult to rectify than air or water pollution.” If animals ingest the chemicals in fire crackers, these poison them.

Too big a bang

Animals, especially birds, are affected more than humans by the noise pollution. Says Dr Katyal Engineer: “The average animal has better hearing than humans. Dogs can hear seven times louder than humans. So if the fire cracker burst during Diwali deafens you, you can imagine its effect on them.” Often, they flee, which is why it’s common for pets to get lost during Diwali.

All in all, your Diwali celebration makes for a less than bright outlook for the neighbourhood’s flora and fauna.

This form of pollution dates back to antiquity, but widespread industrial pollution accelerated rapidly in the 1800s, with the start of the Industrial Revolution. The Industrial Revolution mechanized means of production, allowing for a much greater volume of production, and generating a corresponding increase in pollution. The problem was compounded by the use of fuels like coal, which is notoriously unclean, and a poor understanding of the causes and consequences of pollution.

Causes of Industrial Pollution

The primary causes of industrial pollution are as follows
a) Prevalence of outdated- inefficient technologies that generate a large amount of waste
b) Large unplanned industrial conglomeration that have encroached upon and severely polluted their environs
c) The existence of large number of small scale industries that escape land use and some time even environmental regulations
d) Poor enforcement of Pollution control laws and
e) Lack of resources for implementing Pollution Control programmes

Effects of Industrial Pollution

Pollutants given off by various industries and factories are often considered to be one of the prime factors contributing to air, water and soil pollution. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), it has been estimated that industrial pollution is responsible for almost 50 percent of the pollution present in the United States. There are various wide-ranging effects, as well as serious consequences, of industrial pollution on the ecological balance of the atmosphere.
a) Global Warming
b) Air Pollution
c) Water Pollution
d) Soil Pollution

Solutions of Industrial Pollution

Cleaner production is one of the most promising win-win solutions to deal with industrial pollution. It involves a wide range of market-based practices from pollution prevention, environmental management systems, and waste minimization, to clean technology.

Cleaner production aims to use natural resources more efficiently, minimize waste, and reduce pollution and risks to human health. In practice, cleaner production modifies manufacturing processes to reduce inefficiencies to cut back on waste and discharge, leading to better product quality and cheaper products.