The Current Regulation of Environmental Chemicals

JOHN GARROD

Introduction

Man-made chemicals and naturally occurring chemicals used in industrial processes or in consumer products may enter the environment at any or all stages of their life cycle from the stage of production/manufacture through formulation and use and including disposal of a used product. The potential for harm to be caused to the environment or to human health via the environment will be dependent on the basic physico-chemical and toxic properties of the chemical, the amount that enters the environment and its distribution between different environmental compartments. The physical properties of a chemical will also determine whether the route of entry is likely to be via air, water or to the terrestrial environment.

The scope of this chapter is largely restricted to industrial chemicals that are not subject to a positive approval system, for example, pesticides, biocides and veterinary medicines, but these may be briefly touched on where appropriate. It will also be restricted to considering the regulation of impacts of chemicals on the environment and on human health via the environment. A consideration of the protection of humans in the work place is also not included.

It is proposed to consider both legal and other frameworks that have been put in place to prevent harm to the environment or to human health via the environment that arises out of the production, use or disposal of hazardous chemicals. Much legislation has been introduced to prevent damage occurring to the environment and human health from chemicals but other approaches including voluntary approaches from government and industry have been adopted.

2 Protection of the Water Environment

Many chemical production facilities have been located historically adjacent to rivers and estuaries frequently to allow ready extraction of water and raw materials (e.g. salt) for industrial processes and for the discharge of waste effluent to the receiving water posing a potential risk to the aquatic environment. The chemical industry has been very successful and thousands of products used in a multitude of commercial and consumer products have been developed and marketed around the world. The UK has become a major player in the international chemical industry. In the past, it was often the case that many chemical production facilities discharged poorly or even untreated waste streams to fresh or marine water bodies resulting in extensive damage to the water quality and resulting in harm to aquatic organisms. In some cases, effluents are discharged directly into the sewage system and pass through a sewage treatment works (STW) before entry into a river or the marine environment. This had the potential to cause harm to the treatment plant itself or for inadequate degradation of the chemical before entering into the receiving water body.

21 Control of Chemical Discharges to the Environment

The regulation or control of dangerous chemicals or substances to the environment, particularly to water, from industrial plants or STW has been implemented by various pieces of legislation derived from the Dangerous Substances Directive (76/464/EEC) and Daughter Directives, The Environmental Protection Act (EPA)1990 and the Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (IPPC) Directive (96/61/EEC). More recently, the Water Framework Directive (WFD) has been introduced to regulate the quality of all water resources in the European Union (EU).

Directive (76/464/EEC) was implemented to control discharges of dangerous substances to inland surface waters, territorial waters, inland coastal waters and ground water. Chemicals identified as the most hazardous to the aquatic environment are in list 1 of the Directive and the legislation requires that these chemicals be completely eliminated from discharges to water. The chemicals in this list are toxic and persist in the environment and accumulate in biological systems causing harm to aquatic life. Dangerous substances in list 2 were thought to be less hazardous than those in list 1. Chemicals in list 2 have an Environmental Quality Standard (EQS) set according to a standard methodology. EQSs represent a concentration limit that must not be exceeded in any controlled water in the UK and the dangerous substance is not believed to be harmful to the aquatic environment at concentrations below this limit.

Where there are uncertainties arising from lack of information, for instance on salt water organisms, larger safety factors are used for the derivation of the EQS. The standards apply to the receiving water and not to the discharge itself. These are statutory standards and the environment agencies (i.e. the Environment Agency, the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency and Environment and Heritage Service, Northern Ireland) have a legal obligation to ensure that they are met. Where special areas for conservation are concerned, the relevant enforcing agency should examine whether an EQS is sufficient to protect the species at the site. The adequacy of EQSs for substances in list 2 has been addressed by Grimwood and Dixon (1997).

Regulatory monitoring for EQS compliance will be carried out at sites from industrial plants and STW where there is the possibility that the discharge effluent will contain dangerous substances. All major rivers will also have background monitoring sites just upstream of their tidal limits, the so-called National Network monitoring sites in the UK.

Discharges to controlled waters from STWs and industrial sites will also be monitored for compliance with their consents to discharge dangerous substances. These consents set limits for individual substance concentrations to ensure that the concentrations in the watercourse downstream do not exceed the EQS.

In 1980 the protection of groundwater was taken out of directive 76/464/EEC and regulated under the separate Council Directive 80/68/EEC on the protection of groundwater against pollution caused by certain dangerous substances.

Broader thinking to address European water policy was addressed in 1988 at the Frankfurt Ministerial seminar on water which resulted in a series of directives after the 1976 Dangerous Substances Directive to fill gaps identified in the existing regulations. This resulted in the introduction of the Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive, the Nitrates Directive in 1991, a Directive for IPPC in 1996 and a new Drinking Water Directive in 1998.

1.2 Water Framework Directive (WFD)

Pressure from the EU Council and the European Parliament to consider water in a more holistic way led to a new European Water Policy, which was...