Environmental Science & Engineering - www.esemag.com - March 2003
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Environmental News - March, 2003

Township and chief operator fined for water quality reporting offence

The Ontario Township of Smith- Ennismore-Lakefield, and chief operator Christopher Norman, have been fined a total of $8,100, after pleading guilty to failing to meet a reporting requirement of Ontario’s Drinking Water Protection Regulation 459/00.

The Court heard that the Township failed to notify the Ministry of the Environment and the Medical Officer of Health of test results indicating low chlorine residual levels in the water treatment and distribution system for the former Village of Lakefield. This contravention of section 8 of Regulation 459/00, made under the Ontario Water Resources Act, occurred on five occasions between October 3, 2000 and March 20, 2001. The Township of Smith-Ennismore- Lakefield was fined $8,000, while Norman received a $100 fine.

BC animal waste firm fined for odours

An Okanagan animal waste processor has been ordered to pay a total of $46,000 after pleading guilty to a pollution- related charge stemming from its operation near Armstrong, BC. McLeods By-Products was fined $1,000, and ordered to pay $39,000 to the Habitat Conservation Trust Fund, and $6,000 as a victim services levy.

The company renders the carcasses of dead animals into proteins and oils that are mixed with grain and used as animal feed. Neighbours’ complaints to the Ministry of Water, Land and Air Protection about obnoxious smells from the operation escalated when McLeods began processing chickens, which intensified the odours. The company was charged in July 2002 after an investigation into its operations by the Conservation Officer Service.

Process turns wastewater into H2 fuel

Penn State environmental engineers have shown that wastewater from a confectioner, apple processor, and potato chip maker can produce hydrogen gas worth (US) $80,000 a year, or more.

In addition to hydrogen, which can be used as a fuel and industrial feedstock, methane, the main component of natural gas, can be generated from the wastewaters.

The researchers estimate that over 10 billion BTUs of energy from methane could be produced every year at a single one of these food processing plants.

In the tests, the researchers added hydrogen producing bacteria to samples of wastewater from the Pennsylvania food processors. The bacteria were obtained from ordinary soil and then heat treated to kill all bacteria except those that produce spores that contain bacteria that can produce hydrogen once they are introduced into the wastewater.

The biosolids left over from fermentation are said to be only onefourth to one-fifth the volume left by typical aerobic treatment processes.

City of Dawson sentenced for sewage discharge

Recently, the City of Dawson pleaded guilty to charges of depositing a deleterious substance into the Yukon River in contravention of the Federal Fisheries Act. The city was fined $5,000 and ordered to construct and have a fully operational secondary sewage treatment plant by September 1, 2004.

The city can be fined an additional $5,000 for each month that it fails to meet this timeline.

The charges follow an investigation by Environment Canada, Pacific and Yukon Region. Environment Canada enforcement personnel collected samples during an inspection of the City of Dawson’s municipal discharge on August 16, 2000.

BC expands its oil recycling program

British Columbia’s lubricating oil recycling program is being expanded to include used oil filters and empty oil containers, which will protect the environment and create jobs, according to the Water, Land and Air Protection Minister Joyce Murray. Product stewardship programs allow products to be collected and recycled at the end of their lifecycle. In B.C. they include programs for paint, scrap tires, leadacid batteries, oil, household wastes, pharmaceuticals and beverage containers.

The expanded oil product stewardship program will be funded by brandowners and consumers and managed by the British Columbia Used Oil Management Association, a non-profit organization led by the industry.

Through the expansion, used oil recovery is expected to increase from the current 46 million litres to 64 million litres, oil filters from two million to 5.6 million, and empty oil containers from 300,000 kilograms to 1.8 million kilograms.

Testing for radionuclides continues in NS

Results from the latest round of testing for radionuclides in the drinking water of 18 Nova Scotia schools served by private water supplies show an overall decrease in the levels of lead-210. Only one additional school was marginally above the guideline for total uranium.

Dr. Robert Strang, medical officer of health for the Capital Health District, said the drinking water at these schools does not present an immediate health risk. “It’s important to remember that these are preliminary results and that there is no health risk from continuing to drink the water from these sources during the period of the investigation,” said Dr. Strang. “There is no immediate health risk to people.”

Nova Scotia school boards have been providing bottled water to the affected schools since the testing began in the spring of 2002.

Environmental charges laid against the City of Edmonton

The City of Edmonton faces nine environmental charges stemming from the release of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) at Commonwealth Stadium during the 2001 IAAF World Championships in Athletics.

The charges include one count of releasing a substance that may cause a significant adverse effect, and eight counts of failure to report the release to Alberta Environment immediately as required. Each offence is punishable by a maximum penalty of $500,000.

It is alleged that five stadium lights failed during the games causing oil containing PCBs to drip into the seating area of four upper sections of Commonwealth Stadium. It is believed that the lights overheated and exploded due to extended use during the games.

Chinese mill chooses ADI-SBR technology

In September 2002, the Foshan Hua Feng Paper Co. in Foshan, Guandong Province, signed a contract with ADI Systems Inc. for an ADI-SBR (sequencing batch reactor system). This recycle paper mill has an existing primary treatment system but required a secondary treatment system to meet the following final effluent limits: Hua Feng Paper undertook a detailed review of secondary treatment alternatives and ultimately chose the ADI-SBR for this important project. The choice was based upon the demonstrated performance characteristics and the flexibility inherent with SBR technology to adapt the system to suit changing operating conditions.

ADI Systems will supply process design, detailed design of SBR internals, operator training, start-up, commissioning, and equipment. The equipment supply includes four ADI Model ASD decanters, a jet aeration system, instrumention, and a complete PLC system for control and monitoring. The Changsa Design Institute will undertake detailed design, and local contractors will build the plant.

The design wastewater characteristics (SBR influent) were as follows: The complete wastewater treatment system includes screening, equalization, dissolved air flotation, nutrient addition, and an ADI-SBR system comprised of two 5000 m3 reactors and centrifugal blowers to supply air to the jet aeration system.

Construction should be completed in the third quarter of 2003, with commissioning immediately thereafter.

DND selects ZENON membrane bioreactor

ZENON Environmental Inc. has been chosen to design, develop and manufacture a relocatable wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) for Canada’s Department of National Defence. This will complement the DND's existing line of mobile water treatment products manufactured by ZENON.

This technology was recently used in Kandahar, Afghanistan, where Canada's troops also provided superior quality drinking water for other allied forces.

In wastewater treatment, the Canadian forces will use the ZenoGem® system which allows the military to maintain environmentally friendly sites for wastewater treatment, no matter where they are located.

PPI publishes HDPE report and Corrugated Pipe Design Manual

The first known use of polyethylene pipe for water applications was in the 1950s and the first American Water Works Association standard for water and sewer applications was written nearly 30 years ago.

The Plastics Pipe Institute (PPI) has published a comprehensive fact sheet written in question-and-answer format. The report offers technical information about water applications for HDPE pipe and does not leave out the tough questions.

This report and all other PPI printed material is available for download at www.plasticpipe.org and clicking on the Publications link.

A CD version of the PPI’s corrugated high-density polyethylene pipe Design Manual is scheduled to be released in early 2003.

The manual is organized into eight chapters and will cover the uses, structural design and integrity, installation, and durability of corrugated HDPE pipe. Also included will be information on storm water flow conveyances, soil issues and other pertinent field information.

To order, contact LaShawn Smith at 1-888-314-6774, ext. 17.

Book Review

According to Tim O’Riordan, Associate Director, Centre for Social and Economic Research on the Global Environment, University of East Anglia, UK, The Precautionary Principle in the 20th Century is "the most authoritative summary of the evolving role of the precautionary principle in science policy and sustainable development that I have seen in print."

The Precautionary Principle in the 20th Century presents 14 detailed accounts of occupational, public and environmental hazards, such as asbestos, PCBs, the damage to the ozone layer, the collapse of fish stocks, radiation and "mad cow" disease. Each written by experts in the relevant field, they focus on the use, neglect and possible misuse of a precautionary approach to the hazard in question, and address crucial questions.

Published by Earthscan. E-mail: orders@lbsltd.co.uk or order on-line at www.earthscan.co.uk.

Cato scholar denounces Danish "secret inquisition" of scientist

Patrick J. Michaels, Cato senior fellow in environmental studies, issued a statement regarding the conclusion reached by the Danish Committee on Scientific Dishonesty that Professor Bjorn Lomborg’s book, The Skeptical Environmentalist, displays “scientific dishonesty”.

They concluded that he was guilty of "scientific dishonesty" for portraying many important issues, especially global warming, as largely exaggerated. Patrick Michaels said that, "in doing so, the Danish Research Agency, an Orwellian creation containing not one expert in climate science, cited not one specific mistake or dishonest statement made by Lomborg. Nor did they allow Lomborg any self-defense. That is because, on the subject of global warming, which is the longest and most important chapter in the book, he made no mistakes.

"Had the Danish Research Agency been current with the scientific literature, they would have found that the lead article in the prestigious journal Climate Research came to conclusions very similar to Lomborg: When climate projections are tempered with reality, the amount of expected warming in the next century falls to the low end of projections made by the UN.

"Rather, they object to the fact that Lomborg’s arguments demonstrate the futility of the Kyoto Protocol on global warming, which is enormously expensive and yet will have no demonstrable effect on climate within 100 years.

"Lomborg is charged with a crime for which no substantive evidence has been presented. This is an outrage that is not dissimilar to the Inquisition treatment of Galileo. In a way, it is worse. The Inquisition made substantive, however wrong, allegations. The Danish Research Agency did not."

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