Inadequate solid waste management causes risks to the environment. This is exacerbated when local governments fail to conduct a relevant environmental risk assessment. The objective of this research was to evaluate the environmental risks of clandestine solid waste disposal sites on the banks of the Sicra and Opamayo rivers in the district of Lircay in the department of Huancavelica, Peru. For the collection of spatial information, the location of clandestine dumps was identified. Seventeen points were mapped in the urban area of Lircay. The estimation of severity and environmental risks was carried out according to the UNE 150008:2008 standard and the Peruvian Environmental Risk Assessment Guide proposed by the Ministry of the Environment (MINAM). Environmental risk zoning maps were then generated. Finally, the result of the environmental risk focused on 4 points of clandestine dumps in medium environmental risk zones and 5 points of clandestine dumps in high environmental risk zones within these riverbanks.
The year 2022 was marked by economic risks with potentially very sensitive impacts for countries in the Black Sea region. Given the limited capacity of Ukrainian ports, as well as the sanctions imposed on Russia, due to ongoing conflict, it was necessary to identify new destinations capable of taking over the flow of goods that normally went to the countries involved in this conflict. In addition to the risks specific to maritime transport, the risk of armed conflict comes with new challenges that can also materialize in the form of environmental impact. To analyze this potential impact, the study is being focused mainly on the analysis of the pollution risk generated by the emissions caused by the vessels calling the container terminal CSCT, located in Constanța harbor, and the emissions generated by the vehicles moving in the terminal. As estimated from the start all levels of pollution have increased, with the level of CO2 increasing from 11072.7 tons in 2021 to 11915.7 tons in 2022. The NOx emissions have a similar trend, as well as the other emission level measured and calculated.
The main objective of this study was to estimate the environmental and health risk of the Šar Mountains (Kosovo) for depleted uranium contamination. The risk assessment of the contamination is needed since, in the spring of 1999, conflict with bombarding took place in the territory of the Western Balkans, during which depleted uranium ammunition was used. In Serbia and Montenegro, such tests were performed; based on them, some territories were decontaminated. Šar Mountains is particularly important as it is one of the few water-rich areas in Kosovo. Therefore, soil and water samples were taken from characteristic places in the Šar Mountains aquatorium. Tests of the samples were performed under well-controlled conditions. The measurement uncertainty was less than 5%. Based on the obtained results, it was concluded that there was no contamination of the Šar Mountains with depleted uranium. This conclusion can be extended to the broader area around the Šar Mountains, as it is a safe area surrounded by high mountains
The study was carried out to assess ecological risks at the closed landfill in Cai Dau town, Chau Phu district, An Giang province. Soil samples were collected at six locations (S1-S6) at depths of 0-20 cm and 60-80 cm in the rainy season (November 2020) and dry season (March 2021). The soil quality was evaluated using eight heavy metals (Mn, Fe, Cu, Zn, Ni, Pb, Cr and As). The results showed that most monitoring sites had heavy metal contents within the allowable limits for agricultural land of QCVN 03-MT:2015/BTNMT. Some heavy metals have been found to migrate to the soil layer of 60-80 cm. The heavy metals accumulation (Igeo) in the two soil layers did not differ; Ni, Cr, Pb and As accumulated at non-polluting levels - moderate to high in the rainy season, while Cr and As only accumulated in the dry season. The composite pollution index (PLI) indicated that the locations around the landfill were polluted; however, the ecological risk ranged from low to moderate (potential ecological risk index (PERI) = 102-195) in the rainy season. Only about 50% of study sites during the dry season were contaminated and the risk was low (PERI = 44-68). However, the area around the landfill always poses potential risks due to the presence of heavy metals, including Ni, Cr, As and Pb. Monitoring the heavy metals in the surrounding landfill for the potential risks to human health and environment is needed.
Biochar is a product of biomass pyrolysis and has a number of environmentally beneficial uses, but it can also pose risks if not managed properly. These risks are mainly due to the chemical structure of biochar, the content of heavy metals. The aim of this study was to evaluate the mobility and environmental risk of heavy metals in biochar produced from plant biomass (BB), municipal solid waste (MSW), compost (C) and coal refuse (CR). Pollution indices were calculated: geo-accumulation index (GAI), ecological risk (Eri), the underlying ecological risk caused by the total pollution (PERI). The total heavy metal concentration is variable and depends on the type of biochar. The results indicate that there is a high risk of cadmium pollution in the environment. The underlying ecological risk caused by the total pollution values indicated that biochar from coal waste was the highest. The results obtained show the importance of mobility analysis in assessing the potential for natural use of biochar.
The relevance and scientific and methodological approaches to the use of the bioindication method for assessing environmental risks in agrocenoses contaminated with toxic substances (in particular, heavy metals) were substantiated in the article. The study is based on the use of bee honey and heavy metal transfer coefficients in the sequential chain "soil – honey plant – bee honey". This ensures control over the content of toxicants in the soil and inflorescences of honey plants. Toxicant transfer coefficients can be used in the soil-plant-beekeeping products chain as indicators for developing environmental risk management tools. Bioindication is important for contaminated agricultural landscapes that are used as raw materials and forage lands for beekeeping and other environmental objects. The use of the bioindication method makes it possible to assess the environmental risks of toxic substance pollution of agroecosystems and natural biocenoses and to outline the boundaries of toxicant pollution of a certain area for the safe placement of apiaries and obtaining high-quality bee honey.
The military actions of the Russian Federation’s aggression in Ukraine cause irreparable damage to the soil cover, realizing that its natural restoration will take decades. However, missile attacks on residential areas bring no less damage and trouble to Ukraine. The main goal of the conducted research was to determine the content of potentially toxic elements (PTE) in the soil at the site of the explosion and on its surface. Soil sampling was carried out at the explosion sites of the city of Lviv using the method of concentric circles. The soil research area is 30–50 m² (depending on the type of cruise missile), which allows assessing the distribution of PTE relative to the depth of the crater and on its surface. The soil samples were analyzed by X-ray fluorescence analyzer Expert-3L. The main studied elements were Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, and Zn. The pollution index (Pi) was estimated using the Nemerov method. The degree of soil pollution was assessed by the ecological risk factor (Er), and the potential ecological risk index (Ri). Using the Pearson correlation index (PCI), their number and the possibility of distribution of heavy metals (HM) in the soil were determined. Similarity between levels of heavy metal concentrations was determined using cluster analysis (CA). The values of the environmental risk index of each element based on the Nemerov index show a very high level of pollution (Ps=48.64), exceeding the permissible value of Ps>3 by 15 times. The highest environmental risk factor (Er) is created by cadmium (Cd). The investigated elements concerning the environmental risk factor can be arranged in the following sequence: Cd>Cu>Pb>Ni>Zn>Cr>Ti. Considering the minimum values of potential environmental risk (RI), only two elements have a low coefficient of potential environmental risk (RI<40)—titanium and chromium. All other investigated elements have significant and very high environmental risk potential.
The article outlines the current issues of environmental security in the context of the escalation of the RussianUkrainian war. The purpose of the study is to assess the risks associated with environmental hazards in the context of the escalation of the Russian-Ukrainian war. The article provides an overview of implementations of the economic mechanism of environmental risk assessment and provides quantitative characteristics of integrated threat assessments that characterize the environmental security of the regions of Ukraine. According to the results of the assessment of the integral indicator of ecological danger, the regions of Ukraine are grouped according to the level of safety. Estimated values are identified according to the proposed numerical range of environmental risk values. The obtained results indicate that the regions of Ukraine differ in terms of the integral indicator of ecological danger. To assess the danger of anthropogenic impact on human and environmental safety, the following environmental safety risk assessments were calculated.
Horizontal Directional Drilling (HDD) is a very complex technology. Although the installation of pipelines by means of this technology is often successful, examples of unsuccessful projects are also known. Due to the complexity of the technology, with the interaction of multiple processes, risks related to uncertainties in these processes play important role. These risks are related to the variability of underground strata, changing natural environment, changes in economic environment, as well as limitations of the equipment, technical disruptions and human factors. This paper describes the risk evaluation results of the FMEA and a Pareto– Lorenz analysis for 14 external risk factors (8 natural or environmental risk factors as well as 6 economic risk factors) in HDD technology. In the proposed approach not only the probability of the external risk factor occurrence was considered, but also its consequences and the ability to detect faults, which were not plainly separated and taken into account in the literature so far. Such an approach has shown the relationship between occurrence, severity and detection for the analysed external failures. Moreover, 40 detection possibilities for the external risks in HDD technology were identified. The calculated risk priority numbers enabled ranking HDD external failures and identified the most critical risks for which the suggested detection options were unsatisfactory and insufficient, and therefore other types of risk response actions need to be explored.
The article considers the problem of rationing wastewater discharge in terms of environmental risk management, caused by the pollution of waterbodies. The cases of using a simple indicator of water quality in the form of concentration of a substance, as well as a complex indicator of water quality were considered. The relevance of using a complex indicator is caused by the similar effect of various substances on the ecosystem and man. For both cases, the algorithms for determining the permissible composition of wastewater, ensuring compliance with the established standards of natural water quality in the control points of the water body with a given probability, were developed. In the case of using complex indicators in order to unambiguously solve the problem of rationing wastewater composition, permissible concentrations of substances were finally determined by solving the optimization problem. The optimization criterion is the minimum cost of water treatment. The method of ecological standardization of wastewater composition suggested in the article is applicable for the case of normal probability distribution of a substance in wastewater according to data of field measurements.
The scientifically substantiated "dose-effect" relationship suggests that air pollutants increase the risks of reducing the population lifespan, especially in the industrialized areas and urban ecosystems. A characteristic manifestation of such negative impact consequences is an increase in the level of the population incidence rate and, as a consequence, shortening the lifespan. The paper evaluates and analyzes the impact of air pollution on the Odessa population lifespan. The influence of the city priority air pollutants on the lifespan of the population in the areas of the stationary observation points was considered. Based on the results of assessing the risk of being in the polluted air conditions for three age categories for each observation point, the hazard categories of individual pollutants were determined. In general, of all the pollutants in the air basin of Odessa, the content of carbon monoxide and phenol has the greatest impact on shortening the lifespan of the population.
Problem zarządzania ryzykiem środowiskowym w firmie oznacza konieczność zapewnienia, że prowadzona działalność jest zgodna nie tylko z przepisami i wymogami prawa ochrony środowiska, lecz także z aktualnymi, zielonymi trendami dla danej branży. Zarządzanie ryzykami środowiskowymi jest kluczowe także dlatego, że obecnie brak zgodności z przepisami środowiskowymi zagrożony jest coraz wyższymi karami, nie tylko finansowymi, ale także odpowiedzialnością karną kierownictwa.
The specificity of navigation in the Baltic Sea means that intensive ship traffic occurs on the main shipping routes. Therefore, there is a high risk of a collision that will result in an oil spillage; the Baltic Sea is an area that is very sensitive to this type of accident. In addition, there are sensitive Natura 2000 areas that require special protection. A case study of a potential oil spill in the Słupska Bank area has been carried out in this paper; the results of the oil spill simulations and their analyses are presented in this article. The simulations were carried out in the PISCES II oil spill simulator. The spread of oil pollutants in typical weather conditions, the size of the threatened areas and the oil’s impact time have been analyzed. Based on the results obtained from the simulations, the most adverse weather conditions for the simulated oil pollution accident in the TSS Słupska Bank region have been determined.
The heavy metals mean serious risk in environmental pollution. Some of them are essential for many organisms in a low concentration, but the others should be toxic at low concentrations, too. The heavy metals are contacted through the food chain with living organisms. Industrial, transport and municipal waste origin effects of contaminants appear more and more in environmental pollution, and many of which earlier and nowadays got a large amount of heavy metals into the environment. Therefore, over the last few decades the trace element analytical examination of the various biological and human samples has become increasingly important. The human biological samples for trace element analysis of reliably detected many cases of occupational disease, poisoning, environmental hazards, and using the results of analyzes of health status can be characterized. This paper presents an example for the correlation of the concentration in human hair and in the environment of different heavy metals. The valley “Parád-Recsk, Hungary” has special geological capabilities. In the area of “Recsk” according to the deep drilling of mine company large amounts of copper, lead, zinc minerals have been identified. In “Parádsasvár, Hungary” worked glassworks from the early 1900s until 1995 and lead crystal glass was produced, which increased the air and soil lead content. In this area were monitored the quantities of heavy metals in soil and the human hair analysis by Flame Atomic Adsorption Spectrometry (FAAS).
PL
Metale ciężkie stanowią poważne zagrożenie jako zanieczyszczenia środowiska. Niektóre z nich są niezbędne dla wielu organizmów w niskim stężeniu, ale pozostałe mogą być toksyczne również w małych stężeniach. Metale ciężkie ulegają translokacji poprzez łańcuch pokarmowy do żywych organizmów. Zanieczyszczenia pochodzenia przemysłowego, transportowego i z odpadów komunalnych coraz częściej zanieczyszczają środowisko, a wiele z nich dostarcza dużą ilość metali ciężkich do środowiska. Dlatego w ciągu ostatnich kilku dekad coraz ważniejsze staje się badanie różnych pierwiastków w próbkach biologicznych i ludzkich. Analiza ludzkich próbek biologicznych na obecność pierwiastków śladowych pozwala również wykryć wiele przypadków chorób zawodowych, zatruć, zagrożeń środowiskowych i dokonać oceny stanu zdrowia. W artykule przedstawiono przykład korelacji stężeń różnych metali ciężkich w ludzkich włosach i w środowisku. Dolina "Parád-Recsk, Węgry" ma szczególne cechy geologiczne. W obszarze "Recsk" wzdłuż głębokich odwiertów kopalni odkryto duże ilości miedzi, ołowiu i cynku. W "Parádsasvár, Węgry" działała huta szkła od wczesnych lat XX w. do 1995 r., gdzie wytwarzano szkło ołowiowe, co zwiększało zawartość ołowiu w powietrzu i w gruncie. Na tym obszarze monitorowano ilości metali ciężkich w glebie i w ludzkich włosach za pomocą absorpcyjnej spektrometrii atomowej z atomizacją płomieniową (FAAS).
Ważnym elementem dokumentacji hydrogeologicznych, projektów robót geologicznych, raportów oddziaływania na środowisko, pozwoleń zintegrowanych i wielu innych opracowań jest określenie stopnia zagrożenia środowiska. W realizowanych opracowaniach analiza stanu środowiska rozumiana jest jako waloryzacja odnosząca się do opisu elementów środowiska. Praktycznie nie wykonywana jest spójna i skwantyfikowana ocena ryzyka środowiskowego, rozumiana jako ocena stopnia podatności na zanieczyszczenie wraz z symulacją zdarzeń wystąpienia zagrożenia i predykcją jego skutków. Ocena ryzyka środowiskowego powinna opierać się na identyfikacji ryzyka naturalnego, czyli analizie warunków geologicznych, które w bezpośredni sposób wpływają na bezpieczeństwo środowiskowe prowadzonej działalności górniczej. Ocena ryzyka naturalnego powinna uwzględniać czynniki naturalne, które warunkują określony wpływ działalności na wody podziemne, grunty czy aktywność procesów geodynamicznych. Ważnym etapem oceny ryzyka środowiskowego powinna być analiza wpływu czynników antropogenicznych. Ryzyko środowiskowe obejmuje także analizę zagrożeń geogenicznych lub geogeniczno-antropogenicznych, do których należą, między innymi, kolmatacja strefy przyotworowej, ascenzja wód głębszych poziomów wodonośnych, zmiany reżimu hydrologicznego. Ocena ryzyka środowiskowego pozwala także obniżyć koszty realizacji opracowań geologicznych, poprawiając ich wartość merytoryczną.
EN
Determination of environmental risk is an important element of hydrogeological documentation, geological work project, environmental impact report, integrated permit or any other study. Analysis of the environment state in these studies is understood as valorization referring to the description of environmental elements. A coherent and quantified environmental risk assessment, as an assessment of the degree of pollution vulnerability together with the simulation of occurrence events and the prediction of its effects, is practically not performed. The environmental risk assessment should be based on the identification of natural risk, i.e. the analysis of geological conditions that directly affect the environmental safety of mining operations. The assessment of natural risk should take into account natural factors determining a specific impact of activities on groundwater, grounds or the activity of geodynamic processes. An important step in the environmental risk assessment should be to analyze the impact of anthropogenic factors. The environmental risk also includes analysis of geogenic-anthropogenic hazard, including, among others, clogging of injection well, groundwater ascension from deeper aquifers, and changes in the hydrological regime. The environmental risk assessment also allows reducing the cost of geological projects, improving their meritorious value.
Dynamiczny rozwój nanotechnologii i zastosowanie różnorodnych nanomateriałów w wielu obszarach działalności i produktach codziennego użytku stwarza możliwość emisji niebezpiecznych „nanozanieczyszczeń” do środowiska. Nanomateriały mogą być uwalniane do środowiska na każdym etapie cyklu życia produktu. Toksyczność nanomateriałów jest związana ze szczególnymi ich właściwościami fizyczno-chemicznymi. Ocena potencjalnego zagrożenia środowiska nanomateriałami wymaga precyzyjnych i jednoznacznych danych odnośnie ich toksyczności, wielkości emisji, informacji dotyczących losów nanomateriałów w środowisku i możliwych poziomach ekspozycji.
EN
The dynamic development of nanotechnology and the use of a variety of nanomaterials in many areas of activities and daily life products creates the possibility of emissions of dangerous “nanocontaminants” to the environment. Nanomaterials can be released into the environment at every stage of the product life cycle. The toxicity of nanomaterials is related to their specific physical and chemical properties. Evaluation of the potential environmental risks requires precise and conclusive data on nanomaterial toxicity, their emissions, information on the fate of nanomaterials in the environment and possible exposure levels.
Sustained casing pressure (SCP) represents a major issue because of its large scale occurrence and risks to health, safety, and the environment. Present regulatory assessment of sustained casing pressure is mostly qualitative with implicit risk formulation. It currently holds that wells with casing head pressure that can be bled-down to zero and is followed by slow 24-hour pressure buildup are below acceptable level of risk. This study introduces new quantitative metrics of well integrity loss risk - the instant cement sheath leak rate of 15 scf/min (barrier integrity), and the total annual environmental gas discharge of 6 tons of volatile organic compounds (VOC) per year. Field data from 19 wells reportedly affected by sustained casing pressure (SCP) are examined with a SCP testing software to assess whether or not wells with pressure that is able to bleed to zero would meet the proposed criteria. Using modeling and software tools developed by Xu and Wojtanowicz (2001) and Kinik and Wojtanowicz (2011), it is determined that three of the 19 wells (15.8) examined would fail the instant leak rate criterion. On the total discharge criterion, assuming the wells' annuli above the cement top filled out with seawater, it was also found, again, that 15.8 percent of the wells would fail the total environmental discharge criterion. Moreover, for the worst-case scenario of absolute open gas flow (empty annulus above the cement top), five of 19 wells (26.3) would fail the criterion. It is shown that - statistically, the bleed-down of casing pressure to zero gives a 90-percent confidence of the well passing the proposed criteria. Furthermore, no clear correlation was observed between pressure build-up and the barrier integrity or the environmental gas discharge criteria, thus questioning the 24-hour pressure buildup relevance as a risk indicator.
Środki ochrony roślin, zwane powszechnie pestycydami, stanowią grupę preparatów stosowaną w rolnictwie, ogrodnictwie, leśnictwie, weterynarii, jak również wykorzystywanych do impregnacji materiałów tekstylnych i tworzyw sztucznych. Toksyczność pestycydów wynika z obecności składników biologicznie czynnych, emulgatorów, substancji pomocniczych i wypełniaczy mogących niekorzystnie wpływać na biocenozę środowiska. Dlatego też stosowanie pestycydów wiąże się z ryzykiem środowiskowym i zdrowotnym. W ocenie ryzyka wyróżnia się cztery główne elementy takie jak: identyfikacja ryzyka, ocena zależności dawka-odpowiedź, skala narażenia oraz ogólna charakterystyka ryzyka. Analiza i ocena ryzyka środowiskowego i zdrowotnego jest ważnym czynnikiem we wprowadzaniu preparatów pestycydowych do powszechnego stosowania, dlatego celem niniejszej pracy było przedstawienie aspektów ryzyka związanego ze stosowaniem pestycydów.
XX
Pesticides constitute the group of preparations using in farming, horticulture, forestry, veterinary science, as well as of textile materials used for the impregnation and plastics. The toxicity of pesticides, the presence of biologically active ingredients, emulsifiers, support substances and fillers circles can adversely affect the biocoenosis. Therefore applying pesticides is connected with an environmental risk and health risk. In the risk assessment four main elements are being singled out so as: the identification of the risk, the evaluation of the dose-response relationship, the scale of exposing and an overall description of the risk. Analysis and the evaluation of the environmental and health risk are the single most important factor in inserting pesticidal preparations into universal applying, therefore describing aspects of the connected risk was a purpose of this work with applying pesticides.
Hydrogen sulfide is a non-hydrocarbon component of natural gas. Natural gas containing hydrogen sulfide and / or carbon dioxide is classified as acid gas, which accounts for about one third of global conventional natural gas resources. Hydrogen sulfide in Polish hydrocarbon deposits has been found in the deposits of natural gas and oil fields with accompanying natural gas located in the Polish Lowland and in the Carpathian Foredeep. Most of the deposits containing hydrogen sulfide are located in Permian and Upper Devonian formations of the Polish Lowland. Concentrations of hydrogen sulfide are ranging from about 0.01% to 12–13% by volume. In the Carpathian Foredeep, H2S is present in hydrocarbon deposits accumulated in the Jurassic and Miocene formations, where its content ranges from 0.06% to 1.5% by volume. Hydrogen sulfide is a highly toxic gas; concentrations in a range of 7000 mg/m3 are lethal for living organisms. It is one of the gases responsible for acid rains, which have a negative impact on living organisms, soil and water. Environmental risk associated with the hydrogen sulfide is one of the most serious natural hazards occurring in the borehole mining, during both drilling and exploitation of the hydrocarbon deposits. During drilling, the greatest risk is associated with emergency situations (uncontrolled outflows or damage to the equipment). It should be noted that uncontrolled outflows of reservoir fluids or drilling fluids containing hydrogen sulfide, when H2S is released into the atmosphere, are especially dangerous to humans, living organisms and the environment. Hydrogen sulfide emissions during the exploitation can be associated with both mining and emergency situations. Hydrogen sulfide leak may occur in the following devices: production trees, pipework, pumps, valves, pipelines; in case of oil deposits these devices include gas flares, separators and oil tanks. Environmental risk was estimated for emergency situations that may arise in the course of drilling and mining of hydrocarbon deposits containing hydrogen sulfide. Based on the analysis of the impact of hydrogen sulfide on humans, living organisms and the environment, five categories of consequences of adverse outcomes, considering the impact on living organisms and the environment, have been defined.
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Burning mine waste dumps release gases of significant content of the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). The main objective of the study was to determine the PAHs concentrations in gas sampled from the burning mine waste dump located in Ruda Śląska, Upper Silesia, Poland (N 50°16′46.2″; E 18°51′02.4″). Determination of the level of PAHs content in gas released from burning mine waste dumps is essential for an assessment of its potential environmental risk to human health and the environment. Gas sampling was conducted in 2011 using fixed sorbent type polyurethane foam with a quartz fiber filter and the aspirator. Burning zones were selected based on the assessment of a thermal activity, i.e., measurements of surface and subsurface (at the depth of 1 m) temperatures and determination of the composition of gas at the depth of 1 m (CO2, CO and O2 content). The techniques of pressure-liquid extraction and liquid chromatography (HPLC) with a fluorescence detector (FLD) were applied in the analyses of the samples. The Hierarchical Clustering Analysis enabled to explore the differences between the gaseous samples collected in five burning zones. The average total sum of PAHs content was 2.22 mg/m3. Naphthalene, fluorene and phenanthrene were the main components detected in gas samples, which is associated with their high volatility, when compared to other PAHs compounds. The heaviest PAHs (benzo[a]anthracene, chrysene, benzo[b]fluoranthene, benzo[k]fluoranthene, benzo[a]pyrene,dibenzo[a,h]anthracene, benzo[g,h,i]perylene and indeno[1,2,3-cd]pyrene) In all tested samples were not detected which may be attributed to decreasing evaporation with increasing molecular mass.
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