Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
States and Caribbean countries to reduce pollution inputs, and in
beach cleanups. In addition, the MPRSA charged the Secretary
of Commerce (delegated to NOAA, within the Department of
Commerce) with monitoring and researching ocean dumping
and conducting research on long-term effects of pollution, over-
fishing, and other human-induced changes in the ocean. NOAA
has several laboratories that study marine pollution, including
ocean acidification. NOAA scientists were heavily involved in
oil spill research after the
Exxon Valdez
and Deepwater Horizon
accidents. NOAA has had a Mussel Watch program for over
three decades, analyzing bivalves from certain sites for contami-
nants. This long-term data has enabled in-depth knowledge over
time about hot spots and seafood safety, and provides valuable
data on background levels and trends of chemicals including
about 50 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), which are
potentially cancer-causing. When cleaning up an oil spill, for
example, such long-term data provides important knowledge on
how clean the place was before the spill.
How does the European Union regulate marine pollution?
The European Union (EU) has established a community
framework for water protection and management. Member
states must identify and analyze individual river basins and
districts and then adopt management plans and measures for
each body of water. The objectives include preventing and
reducing pollution, promoting sustainable water use, environ-
mental protection, improving aquatic ecosystems, and miti-
gating effects of floods and droughts. Its ultimate objective is
to achieve good ecological and chemical status by 2015. Each
member state is expected to analyze each river basin, review
impacts of human activities, analyze the economics of water
use, develop a list of areas requiring special protection, and
survey all bodies of water used for extracting water for human
consumption and producing more than 10 m³ per day or serv-
ing more than 50 persons.
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