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The Local Agenda 21 Planning Guide the Guapeva tributary river and more than 70 percent of the direct pollution loading into the Jundiaí had been eliminated. The intensive communication and coordination among the six municipalities, local industries, and community organizations has stimulated the development of a regional pollution control and long-term environmental planning system. Contact Departamento de Aguas e Esgotos (DAE) Autarquia Municipal, Mod. DAM 010 08/88 Rua Zacaria de Góes no. 550 Caixa Postal 55, Jundiaí, São Paulo, Brazil Tel.: + 55 11/434-1700,10,20,30 5.5.2 CASE #14 STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN MUNICIPAL FACILITATION OF PRODUCT REDESIGN Program Name Measures at the Source Background Sweden’s capital, Stockholm, has a population of 1,000,000 people and covers an area of 320 square kilometers. The city is located on the east coast of Sweden, where Lake Malaren empties into the Baltic Sea. Because of the city’s many waterways, it ranks first in coastal traffic among Swedish cities. Stockholm’s largest employers are the metalworking, engineering, publishing, food processing, chemical, textile, and clothing industries. Stockholm Water Ltd. (Vatten) is a municipally owned company responsible for producing and distributing drinking water and for treating wastewater in the greater Stockholm area. For the past three years, Vatten has carried out an intensive program aimed at reducing discharges of hazardous substances into the sewer system, particularly metals such as lead, cadmium, and mercury. The wastewater from households, small industries, municipal activities, and urban storm drains undergoes primary and secondary biological treatment processes before it is used as fertilizer on arable land or is discharged into the Stockholm archipelago and the Baltic Sea. The use of municipal wastewater sludge as a soil enhancer on farmland was stopped by the Swedish Farmers’ Federation in 1989 because of fear over its toxic constituents, especially heavy metals. Since modern sewage treatment facilities are not capable of eliminating metals from wastewater, Vatten embarked on a program that is based on preventing the entry of these nonbiodegradable substances into the water system in the first place. Vatten’s multi-sectoral approach involved the city government, the neighboring municipalities, small businesses, professional associations, and local households. Vatten divided its efforts into four major groups based on the source of the pollutants, namely: small industry generators, wastewater from municipal activities, household wastewater, and storm water. To change small generator behaviors, Vatten used a consistent strategy of coupling new discharge standards and operational requirements with cooperative research, product development, marketing, and education programs to encourage voluntary improvements in wastewater handling. Appropriate methods for preventing or minimizing pollution discharges at each source were developed and implemented in cooperation with the various parties. Stockholm Water Ltd. carried out the analysis of pollution levels, prescribed limits, conducted information campaigns, evaluated products for environmental friendliness, and developed treatment technologies in cooperation with industries. Local businesses and small industries cooperated with Stockholm Water to create less polluting products and to develop treatment technologies. For example, the Swedish Dental Federation cooperated with Stockholm Water to address the problem of mercury discharges from dental practices. The city of Stockholm imposed the pollution limits determined to be appropriate, coordinated with neighboring municipalities in the purchase of preferred products, purchased environmentally friendly products endorsed by Stockholm Water for its own use, and http://www.idrc.ca/openebooks/448-2/ (120 of 180)18/10/2010 12:47:23 AM
The Local Agenda 21 Planning Guide provided stations for the collection of household hazardous wastes. For their part, local households switched to products that have been determined to be environmentally superior, reduced usage of household products containing polluting substances, and disposed of household hazardous wastes at collection points instead of directly into the sewer system. Reducing Mercury Discharges Vatten’s efforts to reduce mercury discharges provide an example of this combined regulatory and cooperative approach. In Stockholm, the sludge produced at the Henriksdal waste-water treatment plant, the largest of Vatten’s three sewage treatment facilities, had a particularly high mercury concentration. The concentration was so high that, if left unabated, it would exceed limits set by new national standards coming into force in 1995. In 1987,Vatten initiated investigations into the sources of mercury in wastewater, and the reasons why mercury loads in Henriksdal were higher than in other treatment plants. The investigation process involved identifying all of the possible sources of mercury in Stockholm. An inventory was taken of smalland medium-sized companies that used mercury in some way in their production or trade, such as companies manufacturing fluorescent tubes, laboratory devices and instruments, and dental materials. Heavy industries were ruled out as potential sources of mercury discharges because these industries were not connected to Stockholm’s sewerage and drainage network. The inventory identified 18 companies, which were then contacted and visited. The investigation concluded that the processes used by these companies were dealt with in such a way that either no contamination of the wastewater could occur or that accidental mercury discharges were highly unlikely. Thus, small industries connected to the sewage system were eliminated as possible sources of mercury. Analyses conducted during the investigation showed that about 20 percent of the total mercury load in the Henriksdal plant came from storm drains. These loadings were largely traced to the smoke fumes emitted by crematoria. Tests conducted in the two crematoria located in the Stockholm area had shown that crematoria smoke emissions contained some 50 kilograms of mercury each year. These emissions were presumed to find their way to treatment plants via storm water drains. Samplings of household wastewater indicated that about 15 percent of the total mercury levels entered the sewerage system through the use of mercury thermometers in the home and from small amounts of mercury in food and in amalgam fillings in teeth. Samplings of discharges from hospitals, which use instruments and chemicals containing mercury, demonstrated that these institutions emit some 6 percent of the mercury loading in the Henriksdal plant system. Reduction in mercury discharges from hospitals was expected due to efforts to minimize the use of instruments and chemicals containing mercury in these institutions. Based upon these findings, which accounted for only a portion of the mercury levels found in the wastewaters entering the Henriksdal plant,Vatten hypothesized that remaining discharges came from the more than 1,100 dentists in the Henriksdal area. The number of dentists in the Henriksdal area was three times the number of dentists connected to Vatten’s other treatment plants. An investigation showed that sewage from the dental clinics had a mercury concentration 150 to 1,300 times higher than levels found in sewage from households. A 1988 investigation found that the amalgam separators used in dental offices as a measure to reduce mercury discharges functioned poorly due to bad construction and poor maintenance. This accounted for the presence of amalgam in the water traps of sinks installed in these clinics. To address this situation, Vatten, in cooperation with the local environmental protection authority, developed standards for dental clinics connected to the municipal sewer system that exceeded Swedish national standards. These local standards, jointly implemented by the cities of Stockholm, Malmo, and Gothenburg, require that by January 1, 1994, all dentists must use amalgam separators that have passed the German or Danish national standards for amalgam separators. In addition, the local standards require that water that comes into contact with amalgam should be treated by an amalgam separator before discharge into the sewer system. This means that clinics must connect their washing machines, sinks, and dental chair drains to the amalgam separators. Requirements for the maintenance of these separators are also part of these new local standards. Using the new standards as a minimum practice requirement, Vatten has initiated cooperative efforts with the Swedish Dental Federation to address the dual problem of low separator efficiency and the continual leakage of mercury from the amalgam accumulated in the pipes. An information campaign has been conducted to increase awareness of the problem as well as to promote the proper handling of amalgam by dental personnel. http://www.idrc.ca/openebooks/448-2/ (121 of 180)18/10/2010 12:47:23 AM
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