Brixham Environmental Laboratory Environmental Protection of European Marine Sites Prepared by: Ross Brown

Brixham Environmental Laboratory A chemical industry perspective? Site operation Consent to discharge Site development Planning consent PPC Planning regs Environmental Impact H1 PPG Environmental baseline

Brixham Environmental Laboratory Environmental quality status Environmental quality status & ecosystem health? & ecosystem health? Combined impact vs environmental susceptibility? and sustainability? A stakeholder approach

Brixham Environmental Laboratory SOLUTIONS SOLUTIONS Characterisation of river basin – Review of activities impacting on water status Sub-basin plans River basin management plan (WFD) River basin management plan (WFD) Ecosystem approach Ecosystem approach Biodiversity Action Plan Biodiversity Action Plan Conservation management plans eg. SES, ASERA, MBMS HAPs, SAPs Managing the activities & demands that humans make on the environment, not managing ecosystems themselves.

Brixham Environmental Laboratory Monitoring in the Severn estuary NMMP site 615 Clients: CCW, EN, chemical & steel industries

Brixham Environmental Laboratory CategoryFeaturesSPA Ramsar pSAC Birds Bewicks swan, Migratory birds, >20,000 wintering waterfowl Fish Allis & Twaite shad River & Sea lampreys Migratory eels, trout & salmon Estuary Large well mixed estuary Unusual communities Migratory birds and fish Habitats Atlantic saltmeadow Mudflats & sandflats Reefs (Sabellaria) Sandbanks Severn estuary European Marine Site Major interest features

Brixham Environmental Laboratory Conservation value vs. status? CategoryInformation sourcesBaselineReference or target Birds BRERC, Avon Bird reports WeBS BTO - Fish GQA UK BAP English Nature CEMS SEP ? ? Estuary + Invertebrates OSPAR QSR AZ surveys, barrage reports NMMP report Local BAP ? + ? X - UK ? Solway X Habitats MNCR (more surveys in progress) JNCC favourable condition tables Saltmarsh HAP Sabellaria reef HAP ? ?-

Brixham Environmental Laboratory What about primary production?

Brixham Environmental Laboratory Characterisation of SW European Marine Sites reports Nutrients, BOD, Metals, PAHs, PCBs, pesticides EQS, sediment guidelines, trends? Pollutants Pollutants Activities Activities Discharges : industrial, municipal, diffuse agricultural? Migratory fish, demersal fish, inverts & birds Sediment dwellers, biomagnification? Impacts (targets) Impacts (targets)

Brixham Environmental Laboratory Conclusions – what is needed? A complete local BAP Provide guidance on ecological / conservation status ie departure from reference or target conditions? Consider all activities with a potential to impact Involve stakeholders Advertise ASERA (400 visitors since Feb 2003) Distil exisiting information Consider existing EIAs, IPPC and COMAH documents Identify acute then chronic toxicity (DTA) Combine & focus monitoring – spatial vs temporal Update GQA for estuaries

Brixham Environmental Laboratory Declining Cd concentrations in sediment

Brixham Environmental Laboratory Declining Cd concentrations in biota Carcinus maenas Fucus vesiculosus

Brixham Environmental Laboratory Long-term trend in mudflat fauna

Brixham Environmental Laboratory Mudflat fauna relative abundance indivs or 1-30 grams per 0.1 m 2

Brixham Environmental Laboratory Distance from outfall (m) Number of taxa Upstream (-) Downstream (+) Outfall Low water invertebrate fauna diversity

Brixham Environmental Laboratory Saltmarsh NVC community types Pioneer SM6-8 Puccinellia SM13 Elymus SM24

Brixham Environmental Laboratory Effluent dispersion: Neap LW +4hrs

Brixham Environmental Laboratory Effluent dispersion: Neap LW +10hrs

Brixham Environmental Laboratory Effluent dispersion: Neap LW +13.5hrs

Brixham Environmental Laboratory Effluent dispersion: Neap LW +19.5hrs

Brixham Environmental Laboratory AstraZeneca whole effluent testing Ecotoxicity expressed as % of untreated 2004 effluent Test organism ParameterSample 1Sample 2Sample 3Sample 4 Algae Skeletonema 72h EC50 72h NOEC 1.8 – – – – Zoo- Plankton Tisbe 48h EC50 48h NOEC <3.2 Fish Turbot 24h LC50 24h NOEC

Brixham Environmental Laboratory Direct Toxicity Assessment EA policy “elimination of acute toxicity from receiving waters” EA target EA manage 20 existing toxicity based consents. Target is to achieve 85% reduction in no. of complex chemical effluents causing acute toxicity ie a further 25 discharges will be targeted

Brixham Environmental Laboratory PPC : HI Guidance for DTA Tiered Risk-based Approach Tier 1. Require DTA screening data if direct discharge + estimate of worst-case dilution & dispersion - unless low impact installation or case made to show inappropriate Tier 2. Require full DTA characterisation 3 trophic levels (algae, invert + fish) + dilution and dispersion modelling Tier 3. Toxicity Tracking & Identification