Dalälven River Code 4-4 Category DEC Agenda Item 4 - Matters Arising from the HELCOM Groups Submission Date 21.05.2018 Submitted by Sweden Reference

Baltic Marine Environment Protection Commission Heads of Delegation HOD 54-2018 Helsinki, Finland 14-15 June 2018 Document title Deletion of the HELCOM Hot Spot No. 6 – Dalälven River Code 4-4 Category DEC Agenda Item 4 - Matters arising from the HELCOM Groups Submission date 21.05.2018 Submitted by Sweden Reference Background The Dalälven River (Hot Spot No. 6) was added to the HELCOM list of hot spots in 1992 due to high levels of heavy metals originating from the mining industry, specifically of cadmium, copper and zinc, which polluted the river at large and by extension the Baltic Sea. Since the late 1980s, comprehensive action has been taken to reduce the pollution from the main polluting area around Falun, which was found to account for approximately 90% of the abovementioned metals. Effective pumping measures for mining water have been installed in the mining facility in Falun, an old tailings depository has been covered and the Falu Mine, the enrichment plant and the sulfuric acid factory have all been closed. In addition, as part of a major operation coined the Falu Project, a pyrite cinder disposal site was in situ flushed and covered, a tailings pond was covered and acid rock drainage (ARD) from the mining area was collected and treated. Taken together, these undertakings have resulted in a sharp reduction of metal pollution. The Falu Project sites are today regulated under the Swedish Environmental Code (SFS 1998:808) or, as is the case with the Falu Mine, protected as a UNESCO World Heritage site. PRESSURE 8-2018, in accordance with the mandate, considered the information on the reduction results and compliance with relevant HELCOM recommendations provided by Sweden and welcomed its progress in reducing the negative environmental impact of the site. The meeting recommended that the Dalälven River be deleted from the list of HELCOM hot spots and for an application to be submitted to the HOD 54-2018. Action requested The Meeting is invited to consider and decide upon the deletion of the hot spot no 6. Dalälven River from the HELCOM hot spot list. Page 1 of 16 HOD 54-2018, 4-4 Deletion of hot spot No 6. Dalälven River Background The Dalälven River is located in the middle part of Sweden, with a catchment area that extends for 542 km.2 It has its outlet to the Baltic Sea in the Bothnian Sea close to Skutskär (see figure 2).1 The river runs through an area called Bergslagen, which has seen extensive mining activities for many centuries with hundreds of mining sites. The discharge from these sites to the Dalälven River has been substantial. As a result, the river has been polluted with high levels of heavy metals, the origin of which is dominated by the Falu Mine in the city of Falun located in the county of Dalarna. With mining activities going back for more than a millennium, the Falu Mine is estimated to have extracted and produced 3.5 million tonnes of sulphur and hundreds of thousands of tonnes of zinc, copper, and lead. Moreover, the ore that was mined in Falun was a complex sulphidic ore. Due to its composition, the mine waste was also rich in sulphides and is highly prone to form acid rock drainage and to leach metals.2 Mining activity declined during the 20th century and the mine was eventually closed in 1992. The area around the Falun copper mine and parts of the city of Falun was declared a UNESCO World 3 Heritage site in 2001. Figure 1: Dalälvens catchment area (outlined in red) in relation to the whole Baltic Sea catchment (from HELCOM Map and Data Service http://maps.helcom.fi/website/mapservice/index .html) 38. Älvkarleby monitoring station Figure 2: Map of the running water monitoring stations in the Dalälven River, including the Slussen station (26). The River discharges into the Bothnian Sea next to the monitoring station Älvkarleby (38). Source: Tröjbom, M and Lindeström, L. (2016). Samordnad recipientkontroll i Dalälven 2015. Vattenkemi, växtplankton och metaller i fisk, p. 107. 1 The Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute (SMHI, 2010), Faktablad Nr 44-2010, Sveriges vattendrag, pp. 3-4. 2 Hanæus, Å. and Ledin, B. (2010). In situ tvättning av kisbränderdeponin i Falun. Åtgärder vid f.d. svavelsyrafabriken. 3 Haglund, P. and Hanæus, Å. (2010). Historisk bakgrund och genomförandet av Faluprojektet, pp. 13-16. 2 HOD 54-2018, 4-4 Reason for inclusion of Hot Spot The Dalälven River (HELCOM Hot spot No. 6) was included into the Helsinki Commission (HELCOM) list in 1992 due to high levels of heavy metals, specifically cadmium, copper and zinc, which originate from mining waste predominantly from the area around the city of Falun.4 The waste is comprised of slag, waste rock, red pigment raw material and tailings, which are products from various mining-, weathering- and enrichment activities that took place around the mining area.5 Significant amounts of mining waste were also used as fill material in large segments of Falun’s urban parts as well as in surrounding areas. The historical discharge of heavy metals to the Dalälven River has been considerable. Early monitoring in 1982/83 found that the annual discharge to Lake Runn from Slussen – a monitoring station in the south part of Falun (see figure 3) - was 700 tonnes zinc (Zn), 29 tonnes copper (Cu) and around 0,9 tonnes cadmium (Cd).6 Acid Mine/Rock Drainage (AMD/ARD7) treatment of the mine water started at the Främby municipal water treatment plan in 1987. This halved the metal pollution at Faluån (see figure 3), but pollution levels remained high. Figure 3: Waterways in connection to Falu Mine. A more extensive study conducted in 1989/1990 as part of the Source: Haglund and Hanæus (2010). Historisk Dalälven Commission’s8 Mine Waste Project found that the primary bakgrund och genomförandet av Faluprojektet, p. annual metal discharge to the river from mining areas was 27. approximately 325 tonnes zinc, 16 tonnes copper and 0,49 tonnes cadmium. Of this, the urban areas around Falun was found to account for 87% of the copper, 95% of zinc and 90% of cadmium. The remaining discharge originated from Garpenberg (1% copper; 2% zinc; and 2% cadmium) as well as from 213 more obscure areas outside of the urban areas of Falun and Garpenberg.9 Heavy metal pollution resulted from metal leakages from the abovementioned waste products and from pumped mine water from the Falu Mine.10 The latter was discharged into Lake Tisken, which is linked to Lake Runn and the greater Dalälven River area. The second identified mining area with significant polluting levels, Garpenberg, is located to the south-east of Falun and in the vicinity of the monitoring station 34 (see figure 2). While significant, the pollution of heavy metals to the Dalälven River was a fraction to that of Falun and there have not been any significant interventions at Garpenberg to date.11 Instead, major remedial efforts have been concentrated to the much larger pollution area of Falun. Reasons for deletion of Hot Spot Sweden has devoted significant resources during recent decades to address the problem of metal pollution in the Falun area and the discharge to the Dalälven River. Starting in 1968, the first mapping of the metal leakage in Falun, primarily through mine water, was conducted by the mining company Stora Kopparbergs Bergslags 4 HELCOM documentation on the motivation behind the addition of the Dalälven River as a hot spot is limited. However, two national suggestion documents for inclusion by Sweden in 1991 highlights the Dalälven River and the need to address the metal pollution of zinc, copper and cadmium the waterway. Swedish Environmental Protection Agency, Kingdom of Sweden, 1991. National Plan for the Swedish Marine Environment. Annexes 1_6. Report 3880. 141 pp; Swedish Environmental Protection Agency, Kingdom of Sweden, 1991. National Plan for the Swedish Marine Environment. Annex A_K. Report 3881. 5 Haglund, P. and Hanæus, Å. (2010). Historisk bakgrund och genomförandet av Faluprojektet, pp. 18-21. 6 Haglund, P. and Hanæus, Å. (2010). Historisk bakgrund och genomförandet av Faluprojektet, p. 27. 7 Drainage related to exposure of sulphidic rock in a mine context is sometimes called acid mine drainage (AMD). But drainage of sulphidic rock is not limited to mines, it can occur any time sulphidic rock is exposed to air and water e.g. road construction. The term used in this report is the generic term acid rock drainage (ARD). 8 For information about the Dalälven Commission, see the section “Reasons for deletion of Hot spot”. 9 Lundgren and Hartlén, 1990, Gruvavfall i Dalälvens avrinningsområde. The Swedish Geotechnical Institute, p. 14. 10 Haglund, P. and Hanæus, Å. (2010). Historisk bakgrund och genomförandet av Faluprojektet, pp. 18-21. 11 Personal communication with Marit Jobs, Environmental Policy Officer at the County administrative board in Dalarna, 2018-01- 30. 3 HOD 54-2018, 4-4 AB (STORA).12 Between 1974 and 1982, STORA and the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) negotiated how best to deal with the pumped mine water from the Falu Mine. This resulted in the joint ‘Project Falu Mine’ to attain better assessment- and monitoring data as well as information on possible interventions. Mine water purification operation started in 1987 with the polluted water diverted to the Främby treatment plant. The same year, the Swedish Government established the Dalälven Commission and allocated 100 MSEK (approximately 10 M€) to compose an action programme to lower the metal concentrations in the Dalälven River within 10 years. The commission explored different intervention options. Evaluating the pollution level in the river and the commission’s work led to the launch of the so called ‘Falu Project’ in 1992 (see below).

Load more