Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
countries (like India and Thailand) due to the continuing efforts of dedicated
working-level professionals who persistently push for establishing meaningful
monitoring and enforcement. Meaningful monitoring/enforcement is expected to
be introduced in many developing countries within the next few decades, and the
lessons learned in India should be valuable in helping guide for such introduction.
HAZARDOUS WASTES MANAGEMENT
Background
Attention to management of hazardous wastes/substances in the DCs has been
woefully lacking. The main problems have been (1) lack of adequate point
source control at factories that produce these wastes, including both wastewaters
and solid wastes, and (2) inadequate attention to this problem in the design of
wastewaters management systems (insufficient attention to excluding intakes of
these materials), (3) use of open dumps for solid waste disposal that accept deliv-
ery of anything and everything, and (4) inattention to management of hazardous
substances that enter the country.
The first three problems are discussed in the sections on “Urban Sewage and
Excreta Management” and “Urban Solid Waste Management.” Especially serious
is the common practice of accepting used batteries and electronic gear, which
include plentiful amounts of toxic metals/substances that will be released sooner
or later to contaminate groundwaters — for example, the use of such a landfill
in Tonga located above the groundwater, which is the country's only freshwater
source
48
.
A typical example of the fourth problem is the experience in Thailand
in the 1990s, when dangerous radioactive cobalt materials were found
along public streets
21
. Investigation of this problem showed that the Thai
government's agency responsible for keeping track of imports of radioactive
materials had a very inadequate budget, with staff not sufficiently trained for
their jobs.
The answer is that the IAAs who guide the DCs need to get a much bet-
ter handle on this problem. Moreover, the attention must be “DC-oriented,”
not the publication and distribution to the DCs of manuals for control, which
are essentially IC-oriented (as has often been the general practice of UNIDO).
The manuals must suit the guidelines shown in Figure 4.2 of the section on
“Introduction.”
Guidelines Manual for DCs
An ADB project for strengthening EIA practice in Thailand
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produced a
series of guideline manuals, including one on management of hazardous
wastes/substances
12
. Boxes 4.4 and 4.5 give the table of contents and the text
for this manual, without its numerous annexes.
