LIFE shows value of artificial wetlands in mitigating pesticide pollution

03 August 2010The French LIFE Environment project (ArtWET – LIFE06 ENV/F/000133) has tested prototype artificial wetlands – an potentially important new technology in the struggle to reduce non-point source pesticide pollution across Europe. Contamination caused by pesticides used in agriculture is a cause of concern because of the potential impacts on the environment, wildlife and human health. Without treatment or targeted mitigation, this pollution is diffused in the environment, affecting water quality.

Biomass beds most effective

The LIFE ArtWET project tested various bioremediation methods at full-scale experimental sites in France, Germany and Italy. Biomass beds were found to be the most effective mitigation technology, with 99.8% efficiency. They are particularly suitable for dealing with point source pollution and concentrations of insecticides and fungicides. Detention ponds were found to reduce pesticide concentrations in runoff water by 87% during a 30 mm rainfall, whilst vegetated ditches reduced concentrations in runoff water by 52% during a 3-20 mm rainfall; Storm basins achieved a mitigation efficiency of 73% of the total load.

A key finding of the project was that, in order to produce effective results, the use of artificial wetlands must be accompanied by other strategies (such as reduced agro-pharmaceutical use).

Demonstration value

It is hoped that the results of ArtWET could lead to the implementation of new environmental mitigation techniques that meet the demands of the Water Framework Directive (WFD - 2002/60/EC) and the Directive on the Sustainable Use of Pesticides (2009/128/EC). Aeiforia, a spin-off company of the University Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, is working to disseminate and further develop the systems developed by the LIFE project within Italy, whilst a Franco-German spin-off that will introduce the prototypes in other European countries is under discussion.

For more information about this LIFE+ Environment project visit their website.

LIFE project provides mercury storage solution

18 August 2010 The LIFE project MERSADE (LIFE06 PREP/E/000003) recently presented its newly developed prototype storage facility for surplus mercury. This innovative solution is one of the principal outputs of the project, which aims to help the EU meet its 2005 strategy for dealing with this poisonous metal.

The storage facility, developed by the project beneficiary, the Mines of Almaden (Mayasa), consists of stainless steel spheres of 625m3. Each sphere is more than two metres in diameter and can hold up to 50 tons of mercury. Tests of the storage spheres, and the 300m around them, demonstrated that they successfully prevented mercury emissions.

Eduardo Martínez, President of Mayasa, was confident that “despite the doom mongers, there are no risks to either people or the surroundings” from storing mercury in the spheres. The prototype includes a system of remote monitoring with software, alarms and electrical isolation. The project has also examined the more permanent solution of chemically solidifying and stabilising mercury into blocks. For Mr Martinez, the storage solution is preferable because it has the benefit of allowing easy access to the mercury if “new uses are found for the metal in future decades and society decides to use it again”.

The commercialisation and exportation of mercury will be banned in the EU from 15th March 2011. Speaking at the presentation, María Jesús Rodríguez of the Spanish Ministry of the Environment highlighted that the ongoing political debate on how to dispose of the resulting 8 500 tons of surplus mercury “should take this project into account” given its “encouraging” results.

For more information on the prototype solution to surplus mercury proposed by LIFE- MERSADE, please visit the project website. Or read more about the European Commission’s 2005 mercury strategy.

Brackish Marsh symposium helps knowledge exchange

23 August 2010 The LIFE Nature Brackish Marsh project (LIFE 06 NAT/NL/000071) held a well-attended symposium at the Zeeland Provincial Hall in Middelburg, Netherlands on 25 June 2010. The event, chaired by Erik Jan van der Meer, attracted managers, conservationists, policymakers and other specialists in the field from South-Holland, Brabant and Belgium, as well as Zeeland. The participants met to exchange knowledge and discuss management and restoration practices for salt marshes and flora and fauna typical of this threatened habitat - silt vegatation, coastal breeding bird species and the root vole (Microtus oeconomus) - on Schouwen-Duiveland, an island in the southwestern Netherlands.

The morning session of the symposium was taken up by six lectures looking at the Brackish Marsh project and other similar restoration and conservation efforts.

Anton van Haperen from the University of Utrecht gave the opening presentation, which was on the Netherlands delta area (“Brackish values of the Delta”). John Beijersbergen, ecologist and coordinator of nature development for Zeeland province, spoke on the topic “The restoration of the south coast of Schouwen: a question of choice”. The subject of the lecture by Wouter van Steenis, an ecologist with Natuurmonumenten in South-Holland and Zeeland, was “Tiengementen, a LIFE project for estuarine nature and the root vole”. Maurice Hoffman, an ecologist with INBO, carrying out research on nature and forestry policy for the Flemish government, gave a presentation with the topic “Potential for inner dike silt grasslands, the example of the IJzermonding”. Eric Stienen, an expert on seabirds at the INBO in Brussels, spoke about “Ecological preconditions for the sustainable conservation of our coastal breeding birds: Growing need for dynamic management”. Finally, Richard Witte, an ecologist specialising in the root vole, gave a lecture on “Preconditions for the sustainable future of the root vole in silt marshes”.

The afternoon session consisted of a field trip to see the LIFE Brackish Marsh project areas on Schouwen-Duiveland, including the artificial breeding places for target bird species.

One of the key questions of the symposium was which ecological preconditions must salt marsh areas meet for the different target species? The assembled experts made a number of recommendations, including: creating artificial breeding islets for coastal breeding birds; optimising future water levels and prohibiting grazing in fields favoured by the root vole; restricting seasonal mowing to once every five years, to allow the regrowth of typical vegetation; establishing a 'root vole policy commission', consisting of experts on the species and habitat managers; and engaging in a comprehensive monitoring programme with the success of coastal breeding birds and the development of the root vole as important parameters.