Part 1 - Types of Monitoring

Electronic Tools Side Event UNECE Aarhus Convention

1st Meeting of the Parties Lucca, Italy

October 21-23, 2002

Frances Stanley-JonesInternational Campaign for Responsible Technology GIS Research Group

Why monitor?

Community-based monitoring programs are a powerful tool to bring a community together.

To gather information about an environmental problem or injustice to convince decision-makers to do something about it.

To protect the health and well being of communities and their environment.

We monitor a source or an effect

Monitoring a “source” Chemical releases Chemicals in products Chemicals in food Hazardous incident

Monitoring an “effect” Environmental concentrations Chemicals in food Biological effects Human health effects Ecological effects

Chemical or pollutant releases

Definition: Direct measurement of chemicals or

pollutants in the environment– includes direct releases or emissions– includes environmental concentrations– releases are not the same as environmental

concentrations

Chemical or pollutant releases

Advantages: – powerful and convincing direct measure of contamination– useful for modeling – Easy to understand and communicate

Disadvantages:– often difficult and/or costly– sometime have to estimate the release– Does not give information about effects

Examples:– measuring concentration in air, water, soil– tons of pesticides sold (is a surrogate for usage)

Chemical or pollutant releases

Case Study: Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition shellfish program

– http://www.svtc.org/sust_water/cscb/index.html

Measure concentration of mercury and PCBs in shellfish deployed in contaminated streams streams.

– School kids deployed and collected shellfish.– Kids learn about pollution and do something

about it.– Shellfish accumulate these pollutants.

Chemical or pollutant releases

Case Study: Bucket Brigade in South Africa and Swaziland elsewhere.

– http://www.gcmonitor.org/ Use simple capture device (special

bucket) to sample the air and detect air toxins.

– Very effective way of measuring air quality in neighborhoods or near pollution sources

– Great for community participation.– Buckets built by participants.– Bucket cost ~ $150, lab analysis in US is

$450 (is analysis available everywhere?).

Schools, hospitals and parks shown in relation to chemical sites...

Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition Eco-Maps Serieshttp://www.svtc.org/ecomaps/svtc_ecomaps/index.html

Ecological/Biological Effects

Definition: – Measurement of environmental conditions and their

effects on organisms or ecosystems. Advantages:

– directly measures an impact of contaminants in the environment

Disadvantages:– Does not, by itself, tell the cause.– Requires some expertise

Examples:– measuring failed to hatch bird eggs– Along with chemical concentrations in egg

Ecological/Biological Effects

Case Study: Measuring benthic macroinvertebrates in a stream to assess stream condition. Benthic organisms are those that live on the bottom of lakes, rivers, streams, ponds and wetlands.– http://plasma.ycas.yorku.ca/mapref/

Benthic organisms are good indicators because1. They are abundant, do not move fast, and are localized due to their

restricted mobility and habitat preferences. 2. They are continuously subjected to the full rigor of the local

environment. 3. They show range of tolerances to various degrees and types of

pollution4. They integrate the effects of all pollutants and environmental

conditions over time. 5. They are collected with relatively inexpensive and easy-to-use

equipment. 6. They are readily identified by community members to the order/family

level which is useful for interpretation of environmental conditions.

Human Health/Body Burden

Toxins from industry, products, and food

Lead to human exposure and possible disease

Body Burden Monitoring

Measurement of human health or the measurement of chemicals or pollutants in the human organism.

Body Burden refers to naturally occurring or man-made chemicals measured in an individual that serve no useful health or nutritional purposes, and that may be harmful to human health.

Human Health/Body Burden

Advantages: – Direct measurement of cumulative exposure– Very powerful evidence for use in campaigns

Disadvantages:– Difficult to interpret meaning of results– Difficult to link to disease (lack of toxicology data)

Examples:– Measuring contaminants in blood, hair, urine– Chemicals can accumulate in body and can often be

measured. Case Study:

– PHTHALATES: http://comeclean.org/body_burden/page7.htm

Hazardous Incidents/Emergencies

Definition:– An acutely hazardous incident poses an immediate threat to

human or ecological health. Advantages:

– Direct and powerful evidence of a threat to human health and well-being.

Disadvantages:– Could be dangerous or difficult (timing) to measure.– What do we measure? And how?– What is the impact on health?

Examples:– Chemical fire, explosion, chemical spill

Chemicals in food/products

Definition:– Investigations into known or suspected toxic chemical

substances contained in commercial products or of hazards associated with the use of commercial products.

Advantages:– Can be helpful in preventing exposure– Useful information for campaigns against certain products

Disadvantages:– difficult to interpret results– Need to combine with exposure information

Examples:– Pesticide residues in food, lead in paint

Chemicals in food/products

Case Study: Detecting Pesticide Residues in Food– Texas Dept. and United States Dept. of Agriculture– http://www.texascenter.org/almanac/Land/PESTICIDESP4.HTML

Findings:– residues in violation were found in 63 samples. – Of 63 violative samples, 10 exceeded the tolerance level and

the other 53 had residues where no tolerance was established.

– Residues of 49 different pesticides were detected in approximately 60 percent of all samples.

– Many samples contained multiple residues, with as many as eight found in one sample.

Regulatory performance/watchdog

Definition:– The monitoring of the performance of organizations both

public and private assigned responsibility for a public regulation designed to protect health or the environment.

Advantages:– This is a way to get those people who are supposed to be

protecting us to do their jobs Disadvantages:

– It may not work because of apathy, corruption, workload, priorities, power of polluters

Examples:– Publication of agency enforcement statistics– Publication of poor regulatory performance

Share your experiences!

What sorts of projects are you doing in these areas?– What have been the successes?– What were the challenges?

Are there other categories of monitoring not mentioned here in this workshop?

What additional information or technical resources would be helpful to make your projects more successful?