Lebanon Post-Conflict Environmental Assessment - UNEP

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LEBANONPOST-CONFLICT ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENTDutch ValuesThe standards according to which soil and water samples are evaluated are amatter of international debate between experts and authorities. There are severallists worldwide for Verification Values, Precaution Values, Action Values andIntervention Values.For its environmental assessment in Lebanon, UNEP used the Dutch InterventionValues and Environmental Screening or Target Values, for the following reasons:1) Dutch standards have been used around the world for more than two decades;there is hence substantial knowledge of their application within the internationalscientific community;2) Dutch standards are comprehensive in terms of the number and range ofparameters for which standards have been set; and3) Whenever soil or groundwater assessments lead to a need for intervention,Dutch Values can further provide target values for clean-up activities.In the context of water quality, Dutch Environmental Screening or Target Valuesindicate concentrations above which there may potentially be adverse risks toaquatic life in the long term. They also suggest values that would need to be achievedto rehabilitate water quality to the natural range; although this should be examinedon a case-by-case basis, to control for natural metal background levels.It should be noted, however, that it is not sufficient simply to compare numbersbased on Dutch Values to decide on remediation measures. Rather, the need forremedial action should be considered in the local context, taking into accountfactors such as land use. For example, an elevated PAH soil concentration thatwould not cause any concern within an industrial location would most certainlyrequire remediation if found within a children’s playground or a vegetable patch.Further, the Dutch list and others – such as the German Soil Protection Act’slists – are designed to evaluate local soil under local conditions. Given thatDutch or German soil is different from Lebanese soil, its comparison to DutchValues must be viewed as a guideline only.The Dutch Values used in the assessment can be accessed at:http://lebanonreport.unep.ch34 • United Nations Environment Programme • United Nations Environment Programme • United Nations Environment Programme •
ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENTSolid and hazardous wasteHazardous waste, whose properties render itharmful to human health and/or the environment,may exhibit one or more of the followingcharacteristics: ignitability; corrosiveness; reactivity (explosiveness); and toxicity.The Basel Convention 2 defines hazardous waste asany waste or material that poses a threat to humanhealth and/or the environment. This typicallycovers chemicals and oil by-products that haveno useful purpose and that pose a threat whenimproperly disposed of.The types of hazardous waste that could be expectedas a result of the conflict in Lebanon includedhydrocarbons and industrial chemicals (due to thetargeting of industrial plants and equipment), wastefrom oil spill clean-up operations, asbestos fibres(from the demolition of buildings), hazardoushealthcare waste (as a result of deaths and injuriesfrom the conflict), agrochemicals and wastewater.To evaluate the impact of the 2006 conflictwith regard to waste issues, the assessment teamundertook a variety of activities, including: Visiting existing waste disposal facilities; Visiting targeted areas that could provide anindication of the types of waste materials to bedisposed of post-conflict (e.g. housing areas,schools, hospitals, industrial and commerciallocations); and Reviewing relevant documentation, bothdomestic and international, to compilebackground information on the solid wastemanagement sector in Lebanon 3 .The assessment of risks linked to asbestos wascarried out in accordance with standard UKpractice and legislation: Walk-round surveys were undertaken at eachsite and supplemented with local knowledgeregarding potential areas of concern andsuitable sampling locations; Samples were collected for analysis frommaterials suspected to contain asbestos. Wherereasonable, materials visually similar to asbestoswere presumed to have the same asbestoscontent as the sampled materials. Where theappearance of materials was consistent withknown non-asbestos containing materials (e.g.man-made mineral fibres and fibreglass-basedmaterials), these were presumed to be nonasbestosin nature; and Photographic records of building materialswere taken at each site.Marine and coastal contaminationThe marine and coastal assessment was carriedout from small boats, using scuba-diving gear,cameras, and oceanographic sampling equipment.A general underwater survey was conducted atmost sites. Where the location was too deep fordiving, water samples only were taken. Landbasedsources of marine and coastal degradationwere also inspected.Three types of underwater sampling wereperformed:UNEP expert extracting groundwater sample atJiyeh power plant using a portable bailer Surface sediment (0-2 cm) was collected fromthe sea floor at depths ranging from 2 to 25 m,in 200 ml glass containers. Care was taken not• United Nations Environment Programme • United Nations Environment Programme • United Nations Environment Programme •35
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