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and Canada. Fish consumption is the dominant pathway for human and wildlife exposure to mercury, according to the U.S. EPA. Until now, researchers have not known the source of elevated methyl mercury levels in rain at remote lakes in the midwestern United States. Lindberg speculates that landfill emissions could help explain at least part of this puzzle. Moreover, if methylated mercury is being emitted directly to the atmosphere by way of landfill gas emissions, it could bypass the typical reaction pathway of elemental mercury being transformed by organisms before moving up the food chain, Lindberg notes.
study coauthor. He adds, however, that so far he and his colleagues have only been able to account for the fate of about 5% of the mercury in solid waste. “So even though landfill emissions may be very minor in the grand scheme of things, there’s still a large unaccounted-for piece of mercury in solid waste [95%] that’s either lost to the environment before it gets to the landfill or is more or less permanently sequestered in the landfill,” Price says. The researchers only measured mercury emissions at landfills that flare the generated methane gas, which should decompose methylated compounds back to inorganic mercury. But “even if you have a site that flares the gas, there’s still a lot of methane that seeps out at other landfills that don’t collect the gas, oozing into the atmosphere all over the place,” Lindberg says. Also, mercury emissions could be much higher at landfills where methane is vented through gooseneck pipes in the ground rather than being treated. According to EPA estimates, less than half of landfill gas generated in the United States is treated, Lindberg notes. “That means that at least half of the landfill gas is being emitted directly into the atmosphere and could potentially be a source of dimethyl mercury. Globally, less than half of landfill gas is treated.” Lindberg says he hopes to conduct a nationwide survey of landfills, quantifying mercury emissions from various landfill types. —KRIS CHRISTEN PHOTODISC
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n landfills, anaerobic bacteria reduce waste by chewing their way through garbage, generating methane. Researchers are finding, however, those same bacteria may be transforming landfills into bioreactors that produce methylated mercury compounds from mercurycontaining waste. Sampling municipal waste landfill gas in Florida, researchers from Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Frontier Geosciences, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, and the University of Central Florida found significantly elevated concentrations of dimethyl mercury in the gas and monomethyl mercury in the condensate, says ORNL’s Steve Lindberg, lead author of a paper to be published in the August issue of Atmospheric Environment on the findings (Atmos. Environ. 2001, 35 (23), 4011–4015). Lindberg and his colleagues found a mean dimethyl mercury concentration of approximately 30 nanograms per cubic meter (ng/m3) and estimated the gas phase concentration of the monomethyl mercury detected in the condensate to be approximately 6 ng/m3. Their results also show concentrations of total gaseous mercury in landfill gas in the microgram-percubic-meter range, which is comparable to mercury levels in flue gas and in immediate downwind plumes of coal-fired power plants. Dimethyl mercury is a precursor to methyl mercury, the most highly bioconcentrated form of mercury and the most common contaminant in fish in the United States
Sources of mercury in landfills include fluorescent lights, batteries, electrical switches, thermometers, and even yard waste contaminated by atmospheric mercury. Overall, the total mercury burden contributed by landfills to the environment in relation to the primary anthropogenic sources— waste-to-energy power plants, medical waste combustors, and coal-fired power plants—is probably less than 1%, says Jack Price of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY / SEPTEMBER 1, 2001
© 2001 American Chemical Society
Government Watch
Canada moves closer to adopting precautionary principle
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The summertime spraying oflaw nsw ith pesticidescould be a thing ofthe pastas the resultofa Canadian courtdecision.
The court action was triggered in 1991 when the town of Hudson, Quebec, west of Montreal, passed a law that banned the outdoor use of pesticides except on farms and in
greenhouses. Since then, 37 Quebec towns and a host of other cities across Canada have banned the cosmetic use of pesticides on lawns and gardens because of concerns that the products cause childhood cancers such as non-Hodgkins lymphoma, says Lori Stahlbrand, a pesticides specialist with the Toronto, Ontario, office of the World Wildlife Fund environmental group. As little as 1% of applied pesticides hit their intended target, with the remaining 99% drifting into the air and water, she claims. In 1992, after being charged with violating Hudson’s pesticide law, the lawn care companies Spraytech and Chemlawn asked Quebec courts to strike down the law because pesticide regulation is the responsibility of the provincial and federal, not local, governments. The Supreme Court ultimately disagreed, ruling that towns have the right to restrict activities in order to promote the health and well-being of their citizens, as long as the restrictions do not conflict with federal and provincial law, says Dianne Saxe, a Toronto-based environmental lawyer. Significantly, the court went on to say that Hudson’s law respects the precautionary principle, as defined in the 1990 Bergen Ministerial Declaration on Sustainable Development, a United Nations document signed by Canada and most European countries. “This moves the precautionary principle a big step closer to becoming part of Canadian law,” she says. Now, proponents of environmental causes that are embroiled in legal actions can cite the precautionary principle mentioned in the Hudson case to ask for stronger environmental controls, as long as
Wisconsin utilities would be the first in the nation to reduce mercury emissions under a plan approved by the governing board of the state’s Department of Natural Resources (DNR). Under the proposal approved June 27, emissions would drop in stages by 90% over the next 15 years. State-level environmental officials are concerned about mercury contamination entering the food chain through fish, and at least two other states plan to reduce mercury emissions: Massachusetts plans to propose a regulation in mid-2003, and New Jersey in the next year. Between 7 and 50% of the estimated 6000 pounds of mercury deposited annually in Wisconsin comes from in-state sources, says Lloyd Eagan, chief of DNR’s air management programs. The proposed rule leaves it up to the electric utilities to find a way to limit the mercury coming from the state’s 13 coal-burning power plants. The rule is expected to be released in final form by mid-2002.
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Because it was the first high-court decision to cite the precautionary principle, Canada’s Supreme Court ruling late last month on pesticide use is likely to have broad ramifications. The decision opens the door not only to more pesticide bans, but also to controls on a number of pollutants, say some legal experts. In a landmark decision on June 28th, the seven justices on Canada’s Supreme Court unanimously upheld the right of local governments to restrict pesticide use to protect human health and the environment. The court cited the international law known as the precautionary principle, a “better safe than sorry” approach that says protective measures can be implemented without full scientific certainty when there are threats of irreversible damage to the environment. The precautionary principle is controversial, particularly in the United States. Although countries in the European Union have formalized their use of the precautionary principle, legal experts believe that the Hudson case is the first time that the precautionary principle has been cited in a court case in North America.
Wisconsin plan clamps down on mercury
U.K. takes a second look at nuclear power Last month’s announcement by Prime Minister Tony Blair that the United Kingdom will soon release the country’s first comprehensive energy-needs review has sparked anticipation of a revival of the nuclear industry. The U.K.’s first comprehensive Continued on Page 357A
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Environmental M News they have some scientific evidence that suggests that inaction could lead to irreversible damage, Saxe says. The Supreme Court decision could come into play in battles to protect environmentally sensitive areas from development, to tighten laws governing the spreading of manure and sewage sludge, and to ban the use of dioxin-containing pulp waste to control dust on roads, she says. The Canadian Supreme Court stressed that it did not support allout bans on pesticides, says Tony DiGiovanni, executive director of the Landscape Ontario Horticultural Trade Association. Hudson’s law regulating so-called nonessential uses of pesticides is unenforceable and not based on science because careful government studies have registered these pesticides as safe to use as directed, he adds. For instance, sales of pesticides, which have not been banned from store shelves, have increased in Hudson since passage of the bylaw, suggesting that the chemicals are being applied in the dark of night, he says. The authority to regulate pesticide use will be burdensome to municipalities because they don’t have the staff resources and expertise to make decisions about pesticides that are based on scientific risk assessment, asserts Howard Mains, a public affairs consultant based in Ottawa, Ontario. He agrees with Saxe that the Hudson case may allow environmental groups to promote restrictions on substances other than pesticides, such as genetically modified foods. But giving so much power to municipalities raises troubling questions on how far federal legislative authority extends, he says. Within days of the Hudson decision, the city of Toronto began crafting legislation to ban nonessential uses of pesticides, and many more cities are expected to follow suit, says Stahlbrand. The court decision also gives a boost to efforts to insert the precautionary principle into Canada’s pesticide regulations, which are up for review this fall, she adds. —JANET PELLEY 356 A
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Estrogenic seafood Researchers at Istituto Superiore di Sanità (Italian National Institute of Health) have detected alkylphenolic compounds in seafood caught along the Italian coast of the Adriatic Sea (Environ. Sci. Technol. 2001, 35, 3109–3112). Although the levels of these estrogenic compounds are below those needed to cause endocrine-disrupting effects in laboratory animals, they contribute to the overall environmental estrogen pool and point to widespread contamination of the Adriatic Sea. Of all the alkylphenolic compounds detected—nonylphenol, octylphenol, and their ethoxylates— nonylphenol was found at the highest levels in all examined species (clams, mussels, cuttlefish, and
squids). A maximum concentration of 696 nanograms nonylphenol/ gram fresh weight was observed in squid from the central Adriatic Sea. Octylphenol concentrations were typically 30 times lower, and in all cases, nonylphenol ethoxylates were not detected. Although most chemical contamination originates in Italy’s industrialized north, where most of the country’s population lives, the circulation of the Adriatic Sea is such that the highest contamination is found in the center, says Fulvio Ferrara, lead author of the study. The results suggest that alkylphenols are not isolated around urban centers and can travel long distances. Alkylphenols and their ethoxylates are used in many applications,
Marano Lagunare Caorle
Grignano
Italy Goro Cesenatico
Rimini
Fano Civitanova Marche San Benedetto del Tronto Pescara
Adriatic Sea
Termoli Manfredonia Zapponeta
Molfetta
Mola di Bari Tyrrhenian Sea
Northern harbor Central harbor Southern harbor
Ionian Sea
Alkylphenolshave been detected in seafood collected from these sitesalong the Italian coastofthe Adriatic Sea.
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but they are probably best known as surfactants in soaps and detergents. From an environmental health standpoint, nonylphenol and its ethoxylates have generated the most concern because of their abundance. “I am not at all surprised that nonylphenol was found
at higher concentrations than octylphenol, as nonylphenol and the corresponding nonylphenol ethoxylates are far more widely used than octylphenol and octylphenol ethoxylates,” says Catherine Harris of Brunel University in the United Kingdom. “I would also expect to see nonylphenol at higher concentrations in fish tissues than the ethoxylates, as nonylphenol is more hydrophobic,” she adds. The observed level of alkylphenol contamination does not appear to be harming the molluscs examined in the study, and the risk to humans who eat the molluscs is considered low. However, the researchers caution that it is difficult to predict environmental and human health effects because there are insufficient data on the ecotoxicity and toxicity of alkylphenolic compounds. “Neither national nor international legislation has set a safe level yet, so we can’t say whether there is a concern,” says Ferrara. Low levels of nonylphenol (8.3–85.6 µg/L) have been shown to cause endocrine-disrupting effects in rainbow trout in laboratory studies (Environ. Sci. Technol. 2001, 35, 2909–2916), but epidemiological studies are unavailable to predict human health implications. “The risk [to humans] might well be low if the only route was via consump-
tion of these items of seafood, but it is hard to gauge the overall risk when combined with exposure via other routes, such as via cosmetics, pesticides, and plastics,” says Harris. Detecting alkylphenolic compounds is complicated because they occur as a series of isomers, and not all of them can be resolved chromatographically at any given time. Quantifying this isomeric distribution is complex. “We need to consider alkylphenols as mixtures, analogous to the way PCBs and their congeners are considered as a whole mixture that can cause endocrine disruption,” emphasizes Ferrara. The problem is, “there is no real agreement on what analytical approach to use for quantifying a homologous mixture of alkylphenols,” says Larry Barber of the U.S. Geological Survey in Denver, CO. There is no pure, single-compound alkylphenol standard, so you have to make assumptions on what you are quantifying, he adds. Although the levels of alkylphenols in seafood in the Adriatic Sea are relatively low, the possibility of additive effects when combined with chemicals such as estradiol that bind to the estrogen receptor via a similar mechanism could also be reason for concern. A mixture of 4-tert-nonylphenol and estradiol-17 has been shown to have a greater effect than each chemical has individually on laboratory rainbow trout (Environ. Sci. Technol. 2001, 35, 277A–278A; 35, 2476– 2481). There is a need to evaluate the total amount of all endocrinedisrupting chemicals in a sample in order to evaluate human health risks, says Ferrara. “On the same sample, we analyzed for alkylphenols, dioxins, PCBs, pesticides, and heavy metals,” he adds. Those results have not yet been published, but according to Ferrara, one can expect to find higher concentrations in larger, fatter fish because these compounds tend to bioaccumulate in fat. “In anchovies, nonylphenol concentrations were double with respect to mussels,” he says. —BRITT E. ERICKSON
Government Watch energy review in two decades will predict electricity generation needs for the next 50 years. It is expected for release by the end of the year. Prime Minister Blair has ruled out expanding nuclear energy, but power industry analysts believe the government will want to maintain generation levels, currently 25% of total capacity. British Energy, the privatized nuclear power plant owner, has warned that this requires building seven new plants. And it says it needs government support—either subsidies or a direct partnership—by next year because the planning, approval, and licensing process takes 8−12 years. The first few of the company’s aging plants are due to close in 2011. Finland is the only other country in Europe considering building more nuclear power plants. Environmental groups have promised some fierce campaigning pushing renewable energy as the best option.
EU mulls new approach to chemical testing The testing that a chemical undergoes to assess its risk to humans and the environment should be based on exposure levels and toxicological properties, not production volumes, a European Union (EU) scientific committee recommends. The EU is revamping its regulatory framework to tighten rules for roughly 100,000 chemicals in commercial use. In a proposal released earlier this year, the European Commission laid out a strategy similar to the high production volume chemical testing program underway in the United States, which would obtain basic screening information on all chemicals produced in volumes exceeding 1 metric ton annually. (Environ. Sci. Technol. 2001, 35 (9), 183A). EU leaders have called for a new chemical policy to be in place by 2004. Continued on Page 359A
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Environmental M News ling turbines in areas prone to hurricanes, such as off the southeastern U.S. coast; and West Coast waOffshore wind turbines in but three eled by the U.S. Army Corps of Enters are too deep. locations—New England, Lake Erie, gineers, which Kevin Smith says is In general, the turbines intended and off the coast of the mid-Atpresently the most comprehensive for offshore power generation are lantic states—could generate national source of wind data. One larger than the ones used on land. 10−20% of the power used annually of the challenges of siting offshore Turbines are rated on the basis of by the United States, a draft study turbines in the United States is the the maximum amount of power conducted for the National they can generate under Renewable Energy Laboraideal wind conditions, and tory (NREL) has found. The offshore installations renation’s first offshore wind quire turbines rated at turbines are likely to be in 1.5 MW and above in order Massachusetts’s Nantucket to be economical, accordSound, according to Kevin ing to the European Wind Smith, project manager Energy Association. While for Global Energy Conmost turbines used on cepts, Ltd., a coauthor of land are in the kilowatt the report. range, the largest turbines Offshore wind turbines currently being designed are growing in popularity in Thisimage w ascreated to show how the w orld'slargestw ind are 5-MW behemoths with Europe, where commercial- farm,w hich isscheduled to be erected in the North Sea off 120-m blades (Environ. Sci. Denmark nextsummer,w illlook.Itw illgenerate 600gigaw attscale turbines are already Technol. 2000, 34 (13), hoursofenergy,according to itsdevelopers. generating power in Den306A−312A). mark, Sweden, the NetherBy all accounts, Massalands, and the United Kingdom. relatively steep drop-off of the chusetts has been the most active But they are just beginning to be ocean floor around most of the in evaluating the potential of offconsidered for use in the United continent, he says, explaining that shore wind energy. James Manwell, States, according to Brian Smith, most European turbines are andirector of the University of Massateam leader for turbine research at chored in water 8−10 m deep. The chusetts–Amherst’s Renewable EnNREL’s National Wind Technology comparatively shallow depths of ergy Research Laboratory, is a maCenter. Lake Erie and the waters off the jor proponent of the technology. The NREL calculations of offEast Coast make them good candiManwell has received funding shore wind power’s potential are dates, he explains. However, the refrom Connecticut-based Northeast based on wave and wind data modport does not recommend instalUtilities. ELSAM/BIRK NIELSENS TEGNESTUE
U.S. begins to explore offshore wind energy
New technique speeds identification of toxic molds Researchers at the U.S. EPA are currently pilot-testing a new DNA-based technique for its ability to monitor dust and air for mold in homes in Cleveland, OH, as part of a U.S. Housing and Urban Development home remediation study. “The reason for developing this technology was the realization of the growing concern for the effect of indoor mold exposure and the need to have more precise identification and quantification procedures that were simple and standardized,” says Stephen Vesper, a research biologist at the EPA’s National Exposure Research Laboratory (NERL) and codeveloper of the new technique. Since the first case of mycotoxicosis due to Stachybotrys chartarum was reported in 1986, studies have indicated that indoor mold exposure can result in adverse health effects, including infant death from pulmonary hemorrhaging. The fluorescent probe-based detection of fungal spores, or conidia, in indoor dust samples using DNA polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technology produces results in as fast as a
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few hours to up to a few days—making it far faster than the existing microscopic inspection of cultured and plated fungal samples, which can take 10 days or longer. But the new DNAbased technique cannot entirely replace the existing technologies, according to Chin Yang, president and senior mycologist at P&K Microbiology, one of the two companies that has licensed the technology to date. “Since, however, the quantitative real-time PCR technique uses sequence-specific primers, the technique can only be used when looking for a known species of mold,” he explains. “Culturing methods are necessary to grow infectious fungi because DNA does not cause infection,” Yang also notes. Reagents and consumables for the new PCR technique run approximately $2−$5 per analysis, says Rich Haugland, a molecular microbiologist at NERL and codeveloper of the technique. Government and industry scientists agree that commercial tests using the DNA-based detection technologies will be available at the end of 2001. —LAURA RUTH
Sound is nonetheless a good location because its relatively protected location limits the height of waves, which can damage the turbines. Beyond Massachusetts, a nonprofit organization called Green Energy Ohio is actively investigating the possibility of installing wind turbines in Lake Erie. Kevin Smith calls the area “somewhat of a promising find”, noting that its annual freezing cycles could cause more wear on wind turbines located in the freshwater lake. Kevin Smith estimates that offshore turbines could be producing power in New England within five years. He expects the NREL report to be released by the end of the summer. KELLYN S. BETTS
Fertilizers not a source of perchlorate The vast majority of fertilizers used in the United States are not contaminated with perchlorate salts, according to a U.S. EPA report released in late June—the most comprehensive survey of perchlorate in fertilizers and fertilizer raw materials to date. The survey confirmed that fertilizers that incorporate nitrogen-rich Chilean caliche ores contain naturally occurring perchlorate. Chilean nitrate salts, however, make up only 0.14% of U.S. fertilizer applications, according to the report. Concerns about perchlorate in fertilizer heightened in the fall of 1999 when an EPA research laboratory reported that common garden fertilizers contained perchlorate concentrations up to 0.84% by weight (Environ. Sci. Technol. 1999, 33 (19), 394A–395A). This finding raised the possibility that perchlorate exposure, potentially harmful to thyroid function, could be widespread in some American agricultural areas. The new report does not challenge these earlier findings, nor similar Air Force Research Laboratory results, but describes them as an isolated incident in which the perchlorate source remains an enigma. For the new report, at least four laboratories analyzed 48 different
fertilizer products from manufacturers of major commodity chemicals. Samples were collected from representative sites around the United States during the spring of 2000. Perchlorate was detectable only in materials derived from Chilean caliche. The new report is comforting in that industrial and military operations and fireworks manufacturers, which use perchlorate as an oxidizing agent, appear to be the primary sources of contamination. However, it does not entirely lay the question of perchlorate in fertilizer to rest because it begs the issue of past practices, according to Kevin Mayer, EPA’s Region 9 coordinator for perchlorate issues. Perchlorate contamination of groundwater has generally not been found in agricultural areas. But two occurrences, one in New York and one in Nebraska, point to fertilizer as a source, says Mayer. And while potential sources exist in every part of the United States, widespread monitoring efforts have occurred in only a handful of states. As Mayer wrote in a recent EPA memo, “The distribution of perchlorate detections in the environment seems to be directly related to the effort put forth in searching for perchlorate.” —REBECCA RENNER
Government Watch If a chemical is only used to make other chemicals, the likelihood of human exposure other than in the workplace is small. Exposure risks can be high, however, if the chemical is widely used in domestic products. Environmentalists agree with the tonnage approach but want a mechanism built in to address substances of high concern produced in low volumes. The European Chemical Industry Council, on the other hand, is moving forward with a voluntary testing initiative based on tonnage.
A look at North America’s industrial pollution Electric power plants provided one-quarter of the industrial pollution released into the North American environment in 1998, according to the North American Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC). Releases from power plants are closely followed by pollution from the primary metals sector, the chemical industry, and hazardous waste management sectors, according to the CEC report Taking Stock. Overall, companies are releasing less pollution on site. But they appear to have reached a peak in transferring pollution off site for treatment or disposal. The peak may not last, however. The U.S. EPA’s Toxics Release Inventory program found that in 1999, off-site releases in the United States increased by about 10.2%, or about 45 million pounds. The Montreal-based CEC, the environmental arm of the North American Free Trade Agreement, annually analyzes data from the United States and Canada on 165 chemicals. For more information, go to (www.cec.org). No data from Mexico are available.
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PHOTODISC
In addition to compiling existing data on the topic from various government sources, including the National Weather Service and the U.S. Coast Guard, Manwell plans to install a 40-m tower to collect information about the prevailing winds in Nantucket Sound this summer. Most of the existing data do not give enough information about wind speeds at the heights at which offshore turbines operate, he explains. Extrapolating from existing data, Manwell estimates that wind speeds at 60 m (the expected height of many offshore turbines) are at least 7.9 m/s. Smith characterizes this as the minimum wind speed needed to support an offshore turbine, but he says that Nantucket
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Industrialization will threaten up to 80% of the Arctic by 2050 if current growth rates continue, finds a new study by the United Nations Environment Programme. Activities such as mining, oil and gas exploration, construction, hydroelectric power production, and timber extraction affected 15% of the fragile area in 2000. Even if industrialization grows at half the level seen between 1940 and 1990, 40% of wildlife and ecosystems will be critically disturbed by 2050, threatening the lifestyles of indigenous peoples and the habitats of animals. Many key ecosystems are poorly protected, particularly in the southern Arctic where industrialization is concentrated. The United States Army Corps of Engineers is failing to require that developers who destroy wetlands comply with the Clean Water Act and re-create them elsewhere, a National Research Council (NRC) panel concluded in a report released in June. The “no net loss” goal of the policy has not been met in part because projects are delayed or never completed. Even when projects were finished, they often failed to provide the benefits of natural wetlands, the report found. Compensating for Wetland Losses Under the Clean Water Act is available at www.nap.edu/catalog/ 10134.html. 360 A
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Intensive olive farming encouraged by European Union (EU) subsidies is causing soil erosion, water shortages, desertification, and habitat loss in Italy, Spain, Portugal, and Greece, according to a new report from the environmental organizations Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF) and BirdLife International. Large-scale plantations are replacing ancient olive groves, destroying habitats, and depleting topsoil, and are requiring more pesticides and irrigation, often in areas with water shortages. “EU subsidies for olive farming are driving the Mediterranean environment to ruin,” said Richard Perkins, WWF’s agriculture policy officer. EU Policies on Olive FarmingUnsustainable on All Counts is at www.wwf.org.
in terms of human health and economics, according to a new report by the Asia Development Bank. Asian Environment Outlook 2001 (www.adb.org/documents/books/ aeo/2001/default.asp) declares that environmental degradation is “pervasive, accelerating, and unabated.” But the report also argues that the region “still has the opportunity to follow a different economic− environmental pathway, one that builds a clean urban−industrial economy from the bottom up and avoids much of the costly, inefficient, and embattled institutional and technological experience of industrialized countries.”
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Government promotion of “carcentered urban development” must be discouraged internationally in order to control carbon emissions that contribute to global warming, according to a June report released by the nonprofit, research-based Worldwatch Institute. City Limits: Putting the Brakes on Urban Sprawl cites examples in Copenhagen, Portland, OR, and Curitiba, Brazil, which prioritized health and took bold steps to limit land for roads by emphasizing access to public transit. Bogotá, Colombia, a city of 6.8 million people, functioned normally on “carfree” day, according to the report, which can be purchased at www.worldwatch.org.
Immediate action is needed to protect the environment in the Asia Pacific region because the equivalent population of a new city 150,000 peoplewill emerge every day for the next 15 years, according to the latest State of the Environment Report, which is published every five years by the United Nations’ Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (www.unescap.org/enrd/environ/ soe.htm). Rapid globalization and increased poverty are exacerbating problems, such as water quality, land degradation, and desertification, which were first identified back in the 1990s. Ecosystems are disappearing as new cities spring up and old ones expand to cope with burgeoning populations. The people of Asia and the Pacific are paying a heavy toll for the region’s environmental degradation
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In many developing countries, more than 50% of the water coursing through leaky pipe distribution systems is often lost, exacerbating water shortage problems, and some 15−20% of drinking water in the United States is lost before it ever reaches the tap, according to water utility experts at the American Water Works Association conference in June. Aging infrastructures that are prone to leaks make the problem worse over time, increasing the potential for contamination and environmental impacts through the overdrawing of groundwater supplies, saltwater intrusion of aquifers, and degraded aquatic habitats where water is withdrawn from streams. Rather than creating environmental problems, international trade agreements create competition in environmental improvements among developing countries, according to a report from the U.S. National Manufacturers Association and the Manufacturers Alliance. U.S. Manufacturing Industry’s Impact on Ethical, Labor, and Environmental Standards in Developing Countries (www.nam.org) is a survey of 44 companies and cites more than 300 examples of good practices in 42 nations. As many as 78% of responding companies have environmental management systems in place, and nearly 70% provide training to boost environmental performance.
