River Basin Community Research Articles

Dioxin in the Elbe river basin: policy and science under the water framework directive 2000–2015 and toward 2021

A critical review of the last 25 years of dioxin policy in the Elbe river catchment is presented along seven main theses of the River Basin Community (RBC)-Elbe background document “Pollutants” for the Management Plan 2016–2021. In this period, polychlorinated dibenzodioxins/-furans (PCDD/Fs) and dioxin-like polychlorinated biphenyls (dl-PCBs) will play a major role: (i) as new priority substances for which environmental quality standards (EQSs) need to be derived (Directive 2013/39/EC); (ii) in the search for innovative solutions in sediment remediation (i.e., respecting the influence of mechanical processes; Flood Risk Directive 2007/60/EC); and (iii) as indicators at the land–sea interface (Marine Strategy Framework Directive 2008/56/EC). In the Elbe river catchment, aspects of policy and science are closely connected, which became particularly obvious in a classic example of dioxin hot spot contamination, the case of the Spittelwasser creek. Here, the “source-first principle” of the first cycle of the European Water Framework Directive (WFD) had to be confirmed in a controversy on the dioxin hot spots with Saxony-Anhalt’s Agency for Contaminated Sites (LAF). At the Spittelwasser site, the move from “inside the creek” to “along the river banks” goes parallel to a general paradigm shift in retrospective risk assessment frameworks and remediation techniques for organic chemicals (Ortega-Calvo et al. 2015). With respect to dioxin, large-scale stabilization applying activated carbon additions is particularly promising. Another important aspect is the assessment of the ecotoxicology of dioxins and dl- PCBs in context of sediment mobility and flood risk assessment, which has been studied in the project framework FloodSearch. Currently, the quality goals of the WFD to reach a “good chemical status” are not met in many catchment areas because substances such as mercury do and others probably will (PCDD/Fs and dl-PCB) exceed biota-EQS values catchment area-wide. So far, relating biota-EQS values to sediment-EQSs is not possible. To overcome these limitations, the DioRAMA project was initiated, which has led to improved approaches for the assessment of dioxin-contaminated sediment using in vitro bioassays and to a robust dataset on the interrelation between dioxins and dioxin-like compounds in sediments and biota.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12302-016-0075-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Flood-event based metal distribution patterns in water as approach for source apportionment of pollution on catchment scale: Examples from the River Elbe

Summary With the implementation of European Water Frame Work Directive (EU-WFD), the pollution sources in the River Elbe were assessed by the River Basin Community Elbe (RBC Elbe). Contaminated old sediments played the most significant role for inorganic and organic pollution. In terms of further improvement of the water quality in the river system, a prioritization of the known pollution sources is necessary, with respect to the expected effect in the case of their remediation. This requires information on mobility of contaminated sediments. To create a tool that allows the assessment of pollution trends in the catchment area, event based flood investigations were carried out at a sampling site in the Middle Elbe. The investigations were based on a comparable, discharge related sampling strategy. Four campaigns were performed between 1995 and 2006. The majority of the investigated 16 elements (>80%) studied more intensively in 2006 reached its maximum concentration during the first five days of the event. Only the concentrations of B, Cl − , and U declined with increasing discharge during the flood. The aim of the study was to verify that each flood event is characterized by an internal structure of the water quality. This structure is formed by the appearance of maximum values of water quality parameters at different times during the event. It could be detected by descriptive and multivariate statistical methods. As a result, internal structure of the water quality during the flood was influenced primarily by the source of the metals in the catchment area and its distance from the sampling point. The transport of metals in dissolved, colloidal or particulate form and changes of their ratios during the flood were however, not decisive for the formation of the structure. Our results show that the comparison of the structures obtained from events in different years is indicative of the pollution trend in the catchment area. Exemplarily the trend of the metal pollution in the River Elbe will be discussed.

Sediments and the EU-Water Framework Directive: revisiting the Elbe 2015 River Basin Management Plan

According to Forstner (2002), p. 54 “The [EU] WFD aims at achieving a good ecological potential and good surface water chemical status in European river basins until the year 2015 by a combined approach using emission and pollutant standards. These consider priority pollutants from diffuse and point sources, but neglect the role of sediments as a longterm secondary source of contaminants. Such a lack of information may easily lead to unreliable risk analyses with respect to the – pretended – ‘good status’”. Now, with the Actualized River Basin Management Plan (RBMP) of the Elbe (RBC Elbe 2014), it is official that “without goaloriented measures for the reduction of primary and secondary pollution sources, the objectives of a good chemical and ecological quality in surface waters until the end of the second management period (of the WFD) and a good environmental state according to the [EU] Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) until 2020 will be strongly endangered”. Which raises the important question: why not point directly to the basic reasons for this failure? The River Basin Community (RBC) of the Elbe has exemplarily developed an understanding of “historical contaminated sediments” e.g. (RBC Elbe 2009). On the other hand, the typical Elbe issue of “dioxins” was neglected during the first WFD phase. In the period 2016–2021, dioxins/furans+dl-PCB will play a major role: (i) as new priority substances in the list of biotaenvironmental quality standards (EQS), (ii) as indicator substances at the land–sea interface (i.e. the interface between WFD and MSFD), and (iii) for solutions to advanced technical problems (Forstner 2015a). At first, the Actualized RBMP for the Elbe declared that none of the water bodies in the German part of the Elbe River basin will reach the level of a “good chemical state”—mainly due to the catchment-wide exceedance of the EQS of mercury in biota (RBC Elbe 2014). Directive 2013/39/EC (from August 24, 2013) reflects the latest development referring to newly identified priority substances such as dioxins and dioxin-like PCB compounds; here too, the relevance of the biota-EQS criterion for a target achievement is high, as has been proven from the study of environmental specimen bank organisms (e.g. fish, molluscs and crustaceans), where the EQS value of 0.0065 μg TEQ kg for dioxin was exceeded by >50 % of the tested specimens (Mohaupt et al. no date). The MSFD 2008/56/EC (from June 17, 2008) is similar to the WFD, in its stepwise implementation mode and with its main objective in the achievement of good environmental status (GES) in the marine environment by 2020. The MSFD also takes account of land-based and fluvial aspects and ensures comparable approaches and methodologies as in WFD. All of these should be indications for a mandate to the RBC Elbe; however, no activities at the land–sea interface are reported in the Actualized RBMP (RBC Elbe 2014). It seems that the situation has even worsened. For example, SaxonyAnhalt’s Agency for Contaminated Sites has banned the term “dioxin” from various documents (Forstner 2015b), and Hamburg together with the other German North Sea Laender (or States) renewed the exclusion of dioxin from the list of pollutants to be considered in the handling of dredged materials in coastal waters (Anon 2009/2013). * Ulrich Forstner u.foerstner@tu-harburg.de

Mercury levels assessment in hair of riverside inhabitants of the Tapajós River, Pará State, Amazon, Brazil: Fish consumption as a possible route of exposure

The study present evaluated the levels of mercury (Hg) and methylmercury (MeHg) in hair samples of people from Barreiras community, riverside inhabitants of the Tapajós River (Pará, Brazil), an area impacted by clandestine gold mining, as well as we analyzed the levels of Hg and Se (selenium) in nine fish species (carnivores and non-carnivorous) from the Tapajós River, which stand out as the main species consumed by riverside inhabitants, to evaluate a relationship between frequency of fish consumption and Hg concentration, and also to evaluate possible mechanisms of fish protection (or non-protection) to Hg exposure by Se. Furthermore we analyze the water quality to evaluate the environmental trophic state, fact responsible by creating conditions that can potentiate the effects of toxic mercury. Concentrations of Hg and MeHg were analyzed in hair samples of 141 volunteers in different age band. Of those, 84.40% of samples present values above the threshold for biological tolerance, which is 6.00μgg−1 of total Hg in hair. Total Hg, in men there was a variation of 2.07–24.93μgg−1, while for women the variation was 4.84–27.02μgg−1. Consequently, the level of MeHg in men presented a variation of 1.49–19.57μgg−1, with an average of 11.68μgg−1, while with women the variation was from 3.73 to 22.35μgg−1, with an average of 10.38μgg−1. In fish species, Hg concentrations in carnivorous species had an average of 0.66μgg−1, higher than that permitted by current legislation, ranging from 0.30 to 0.98μgg−1, while the non-carnivorous species have values below the recommended by the legislation averaging 0.09μgg−1, ranging between 0.02 and 0.44μgg−1. For Se in fish, show that among carnivores, the contents of Se ranged between 0.18 and 0.54μgg−1 with a mean of 0.34μgg−1, while for non-carnivores these values were of the order of 0.16–0.56μgg−1, with an average of 0.32μgg−1. In surface water quality variables at the sampling points all showed values in accordance with the range established by current legislation. In this regard, the results provided by this study, while not conclusive, are strong indicators that despite not having been shown the relationship between the concentration of mercury in hair and feeding habits along the Tapajós River basin communities showed that a plausible correlation exists between levels of mercury and selenium in fish. This fact may serve as a subsidy to research human health, because in the Amazon, there is still a lot to examine with regards to the full understanding of the Se cycle.

Scenario analysis: An integrative and effective method for bridging disciplines and achieving a thriving Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River basin

The Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River basin community is challenged in achieving a basin that thrives ecologically, economically and socially. Although natural science, social science, policy, and law literatures offer insight into understanding and developing policies for the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River basin, these literatures are constructed in disciplinary silos. Scenario analysis supports an approach that transcends disciplines and embraces uncertainty. It facilitates dialogue among stakeholders and adds depth and diversity to the science-policy interface. We provide evidence for why scenario analysis is effective, why it was used in the Great Lakes Futures Project, and how its results can be used to complement and strengthen interdisciplinary scholarship and current management within the basin.

Assessment of the Opportunities and Threats of Maggaia-Lamido River Basin Communities in Sokoto, Nigeria

This paper investigates the environmental challenges associated with the management and utilization of Maggaia-Lamido River Basin, Sokoto State, Nigeria. It also identified the spatial distribution of communities whose means of livelihood depends heavily on the river basin under study. The paper identified that the most important environmental challenge is how to maintain the land base resource on which the economies of the local people are founded. The land base itself is challenged by desertification and behind this ecological problem stands increasing human pressures, such as, overgrazing, felling of trees for fuel, over cultivation of marginal lands etc. The results are escalating tension and conflict between villages and communities and increasing poverty, which further undermine the prospects for addressing the problems. Without significant change, environmental degradation will continue to step up within the communities like Kalmalo, Gidan Kaura and Tajaye- huchi and the natural resource base on which people’s livelihood depend on will continue to decline. Equally, this paper identified the prospects of Maggaia-Lamido river basin and proposed a paradigm shift to an innovative community based Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM) strategy to serve as a catalyst for poverty reduction and increase societal resilience to the impact of climate change.

Community Participation Tourism Management Model of Tapee Plain Community

Problem statement: Cultural tourism plays an important role in the economy system of Thailand. This study, therefore, aims to investigate the following: (1) The tourism conditions in the community of Taa-Pee River Basin and also; (2) The possible guideline of organizing the cultural tourism, by all means, seeking active cooperation among the Taa-Pee River Basin community people who subsist or have been subject to the river basin and the surrounding conditions. Approach: This research was conducted in Surat-Thani Province. The sample consisted of 370 subjects obtained by Specified Random Sampling. The instruments used in data collection included the interview form and the observation forms constructed by the researcher. The data were also gathered by means of the Focus Group Discussion and the Participatory Workshop. The data obtained were then examined by the Qualitative Analysis. Then, the examined data were presented in Descriptive Analysis. Results: The results obtained and examined indicated the following: (1) The Taa-Pee River Basin community had long been the international trade/commercial center into which the transactions between the Arabian nations and China had entered into from the time before the seventh B.E. Most of the community people were of Sino-Thai, Semang and Malayan. They earned their living by doing agricultural farms or fishery. The community had their own outstanding unique, typical identity, advantageous for tourism. (2) The important problems of tourism management included the following: the tourist attractions were not fascinatingly attractive; There were few tourism activities; The tourism attractions were scarcely pioneered, renovated, improved and developed; Lack of exact personnel in charge who could be consecutively on duty; Lack the central sector to do the work related to management and providing massive wholeheartedly support. In brief, such deficiency accounted for the imperfect tourism management. (3) The form of managing cultural tourism focusing on/providing the Taa-Pee River Basin community people with a great extent of full participation. The actual/significant elements of managing the community’s participation-based cultural tourism. The focal factors of management included vision, mission, strategy, tour activities, objectives/goals and the conditions of achievement which accounted for tourism being managed to meet the tourists’ needs on the principal basis of maintaining and keeping up with the natural resources and environment. The crucial point to be aware of was the strong determination to further inherit/pass on the Taa-Pee River Basin’s folks’ wisdom and ways of living Consequently, every part/person in the community was required to share a cooperative task. Conclusion: As part of the encouragement of cultural tourism there should be a proctoring measure to help control, look after and supervise the tourism resources and as well partially share all of its benefits. Last but not least, precisely determine to keep up with their sustainable advantages.

Differences in policy response to similar scientific findings—examples from sediment contamination issues in River Basin Management Plans

Just recently, on June 4, 2008, the Parliament, Council and Commission, have met a second agreement to specify the former Council proposal of 21 June 2007 for amending WFD (Water Framework Directive), which suggested that Member States may opt to apply environmental quality standards (EQS) for sediment and/or biota instead of those for water (Forstner 2007). The agreed compromise text of Amendment D, Recital 13 (new text passage in bold) reads “Furthermore, Member States should be able to establish EQS for sediment and/or biota at national level and apply those EQS instead of the EQS for water set out in this Directive. Such EQS should be established through a transparent procedure involving notifications to the Commission and other Member States so as to ensure a level of protection equivalent to the EQS for water set up at Community level. The Commission should summarise these notifications in its reports on the implementation of Directive 2000/60/EC. Moreover, sediment and biota remain important matrices for the monitoring of certain substances with significant accumulation potential. In order to assess long-term impacts of anthropogenic activity and trends, Member States should take measures, subject to Article 4 of Directive 2000/60/EC, with the aim of ensuring that existing levels of contamination in biota and sediments will not significantly increase”. This commentary has two objectives: (1) the status of the WFD–sediment relationship, and (2) the treatment of sediment issues by river basin communities that form the central institutions to promote the development of RBMPs (river basin management plans), including the program of measures, in their respective river basins. Examples of publications on river basis management in this journal are: Owens (2005), Owens and Petticrew (2006), Panagopoulos et al. (2007), Quevauviller (2006a, b; 2007), Salomons (2008), Schwartz et al. (2006).

Two Renowned Nigerian Scholars: Ikenna Nzimiro and Victor Chikesie Uchendu

The article honors two Nigerian anthropologists of Igbo background who recently passed away. Both scholars made major contributions to a broad range of scholarly thought in anthropology and in general social science to crucial issues in Nigerian politics, society and life. Nzimiro is considered in terms of his traditional anthropological training in Germany and England, through which he investigated four Niger River basin communities, and then his emergence as a Marxist anthropologist for the rest of his life in Nigeria, where he consistently critiqued neocolonialism in Nigeria. He explored issues of ethnicity, the Nigerian civil war, militarism, the state of the social sciences, the environment, Oguta culture, where he was born, ethnic conflicts, conditions at Nigerian universities, and other issues. Nzimiro generally rejected the post-colonial world, arguing that it was not revolutionary enough. Uchendu dealt with many of the same issues, but in contrast to Nzimiro he did so by accepting the existence of post-colonial Nigeria, though suggesting many ways to improve education, the environment, cultural and national transition, dependency theory, and to study urbanization and ethnicity, while also writing a major work on Igbo culture. Both authors are honored for their critiques of Nigerian society, as well as their contributions to Igbo ethnology.