Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
TABLE 18.5
Water Policy in European Union and International Cooperation on Water Management
Year
Water Policy/International Commissions
1980 Groundwater protection under the Water Framework Directive
2003 New directive on groundwater protection
1976 Directive on pollution caused by certain dangerous substances discharged into the aquatic
environment of the Community (also under the Water Framework Directive)
1991 Directive on Urban Waste Water Treatment
1976 Directive on Bathing Water Quality in rivers, lakes, and coastal waters
2006 New directive on bathing water quality
1998 Drinking Water Directive
1998 International Commission or the Protection of the Danube River (ICPDR; http://www.icpdr.org/pls
/danubis/DANUBIS.navigator)
1996 International Commission for the Protection of the River Oder
1997
International Commission for the Protection of the River Daugava
Source:
http://ec.europa.eu/environment/water.
As an example, Table 18.5 summarizes water policy in the European Union on water
management during 1976-2006. These policies can be effective on the EKC turning point
(http://ec.europa.eu/environment/water).
18.3.3 Technology Role
Emergence of new technologies affects the EKC turning point by two mechanisms. First,
technology will provide new solutions for environment remediation and waste manage-
ment. Second, technology transition in the manufacturing sector from dirty to clean can
make a tunnel through the EKC. Taking emerging and advanced technologies can help
leapfrog the need for a high level of income for reducing environmental degradation, but
this is not an unconditional process. We will discuss these conditions in Section 18.4 with
a particular focus on the need for alignment between policy tools and technology means.
According to a 2004 US EPA report, it is estimated that using traditional methods, it will
take 30-35 years and cost up to $250 billion to clean up the nation's hazardous waste sites (US
EPA Report, 2004). There are new emerging technologies that can result in better, cheaper, and
faster site cleanup; eliminate the need for treatment and disposal of contaminated dredged
soil; reduce some contaminant concentrations to near zero; and can be done
in situ
. This seems
to be the only way to reduce the cost and shorten the time to reach the mentioned goal.
We continue investigating the role of technology by focusing on the effect of nanotechnol-
ogy in tunneling the EKC considering the environmental medium of water in the next section.
18.3.4 Role of Nanotechnology in Tunneling the EKC: Case of Water
Among emerging technologies, nanotechnology has the fastest diffusion into the industry
during the past 30 years. Nanotechnology and nanoscience involve studying and working
with matter on an ultraine scale. One nanometer is one-millionth of a millimeter, and a
single human hair is around 80,000 nm in width.
Materials at the nanoscale often have different chemical and physical properties from
the same material at the micro- or macroscale. For example, n-TiO
2
is a more effective
catalyst than microscale TiO
2
, and it can be used in water treatment to degrade organic
pollution.
