VCE Environmental Science

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More than 300 children in northern China have been diagnosed with lead poisoning, which may be linked to a lead and zinc smelter in the Changquing industrial park in Fengxiang county. The children were found to have up to twice the safe level of lead in their blood, according to China Daily. 

A child who ingests large amounts of lead may develop anemia, muscle weakness and brain damage. Where poisoning occurs, it is usually gradual. The children seemed to sleep more than usual, cannot concentrate and have slowed reaction times.

Washington Post article: “Lead poisoning hits 300 children near China factory“.

NPI fact sheets: Lead and compounds

Water discharge from Portland Aluminium

By now you should have all your information, including relevant data, about fluoride as a pollutant at Portland Aluminium. Your report should include the characteristics of fluoride, including strategies that reduce the risk of pollutants affecting human health and the environment as well as the direct and indirect effects on the health of humans and the environment.

“On completion of this unit the student should be able to describe the characteristics of pollutants and evaluate the management options for reducing the risk of a pollutant affecting the health of the environment and humans.”

It is important that you make an attempt to evaluate the management options that Portland Aluminium have implemented to reduce fluoride emissions at the smelter. Have they been successful? Could they  be improved? Compare emissions from Portland to other aluminium smelters – how do they measure up?

The Portland Aluminium smelter is situated on 600 hectares of land, 500 of which form “Smelter in the Park”, a once-barren area that has been revegetated with a large variety of indigenous plants. This area forms a buffer zone, that protects surrounding residents from the full impact of gaseous emissions from the smelter. There are five monitoring stations at different locations around the smelter that provide data on fluoride and sulfur emissions on a regular basis. Portland Aluminium also routinely test their workers, using urine and blood tests, as well as exposure badges, which monitor the levels of fluoride that staff have been subjected to.

Environmental scientists also do water testing and take tail-bone samples of the local kangaroos and teeth, bone and horn samples of the beef cattle , to test for long-term fluoride exposure. An international botanist expert visits annually to check for signs that toxic emissions may be affecting local vegetation. Signs of fluoride exposure include yellowing and curling of leaves and tissue death.

Portland Aluminium use several methods to prevent excessive fluoride emissions, including the A398 fluoride recovery system, in which fluoride emissions are captured from the hooded aluminium pots and forced through a conveyor of alumina, to form reacted or fluoride-enriched alumina. This is then added to the pots, which reduces the temperature (and therefor the energy required) to obtain the pure aluminium. The particulate and gaseous emissions are filtered through huge canvas bags, also coated with alumina, which traps 98% of fluoride.

In the potrooms, the major point source of fluoride emissions, Portland Aluminium have laser air monitoring of gaseous fluoride, with a traffic light system – green, amber and red. Between 045ppb and 600ppb, the lights are green; between 600ppb and 800ppb the lights are amber and above 800ppb the lights are red, which indicates an error in the process – too many hoods open at the same time.

The Victorian governmetn has produced this site, “Fluoride in the air environment“, which describes the sources of fluoride in Victoria and how it is monitored, including EPA limits.

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Electric and electronic waste, including computers, monitors, keyboards, mobile phones and games consoles, are an increasing problem, in many parts of the world. This article, “Where computers go to die — and kill” describes the situation in a province of south-eastern China, where tonnes of toxic waste continue to be dumped, threatening the health of workers and residents. There is another article here: “Poison PC’s“. Find out what pollutants are contained in e-waste. How are these pollutants transported through the environment and how persistent are they? What are some of the human and environmental health effects of these chemicals? How can this type of contamination be minimised or prevented?

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Yesterday in class we looked at the properties of fluoride compounds – thier appearance, properties, uses, natural, diffuse and point sources, sinks and human and environmental health effects. The National Pollutant Inventory gives fluoride compounds a total hazard score of 3.3 and a ranking of 31 for their effect on human and environmental health.

As the aluminium industry is one of the major users of fluoride for production and therefor both a point and diffuse source of this pollutant, we will be using Portland Aluminium “Smelter in the Park” in our case study of this pollutant. Fluoride has also recently been added to Warrnambool’s water supply, amid much community concern and controversy. The Alcoa site has some good information about the production of aluminium, including student notes as a pdf file.

student-notes-aluminium-production

portland-aluminium-eip

Thier 2003/04 Environmental Improvement Plan may also be useful, although more recent data should be quoted in your report. They have published a 2008 Sustainability report on-line, which may also be useful.

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Since Rachel Carson’s “Silent Spring”, scientists and many consumers have become more aware of the dangers of pesticides such as DDT and dieldrin. Farmer’s markets and organic suppliers advocate for products that have been grown without the use of herbicides, pesticides and artificial fertilizers.  ”Recent scientific evidence points to the harmful effects of pesticides on people’s health, especially that of children and other vulnerable groups. Relatively low doses of hazardous pesticides can seriously affect human health, have long-term effects and may be a factor in the occurrence of various diseases including cancer, neurodevelopmental disorders, Parkinson’s and respiratory problems. Substantial legislative measures are therefore needed to protect human health and to address the special vulnerability of children, women of child-bearing age and pregnant women and to prevent their exposure to hazardous pesticides.” (From the “Health and Environment Alliance” website.)

 ”How Stuff Works” has a short, but informative video about bioaccumulation and biomagnification.

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Over the two week study break and before you return to school on Monday 13th July, you need to have read Chapters 1 and 2 from the “Issues of Sustainability” textbook. This is an introduction to human health and the environmental effects of pollution in the air, water and soil. Try this worksheet to match various terms with their definitions: environmental-pollutants-worksheet.

Use the following to write notes about mercury, sulphur dioxide and fluoride: unit-4-pollutants-table

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Pollution isn’t always so picturesque! Pollution in the air, water and soil is our Area of Study 1 topic, starting in term 3. We will do case studies of mercury (a heavy metal), suphur dioxide (gas) and fluoride. The Environmental Protection Authority of Victoria , National Pollutants Inventory , the CSIRO and the World Health Organisation are the best resources for this unit.

Check out this interesting article about the “Seldom-seen devastation of climate change“.

I hope you all studied hard and found the exam a fair test of your understanding of Unit 3. I will see you in Melbourne during your first week of work experience and look forward to visiting some of you in your work places. Have a great June holiday!

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After the worst floods in decades and the serious threat of a major cyclone, Queensland has been struck with an unprecedented environmental disaster. A cargo ship, which lost containers during the cyclone, had it’s hull damaged by the containers and a significant quantity of diesel fuel (about 1,000 tonnes of oil) leaked from the ship. Moreton Island has been most severely affected, with oil washing ashore over 50 km of beach.

Martin Taylor from WWF said everything from fish and crabs to waterbirds, dugongs and dolphins, would feel the effects – in fact, every level of the food chain.

Nine MSN report here: http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/770634/oil-spill-clean-up-begins-in-qld

The Age Video here: http://media.theage.com.au/national/national-news/queenslands-oil-spill-clean-up-416195.html

Cosmos magazine article here: http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/news/2619/birds-and-turtles-risk-queensland-oil-spill

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“Worldmapper – the world like you’ve never seen it before!” has hundreds of world maps that show the size of each country relative to statistics such as pollution produced, types of fuel used, food consumption, infant deaths, income levels and many more. The map above shows carbon dioxide produced per person in the northern hemisphere is much greater than in the southern hemisphere.