THE ÖRSERUMSVIKEN PROJECT – DECONTAMINATION

Contents

3 Örserumsviken transformed 4–5 Unprocessed effluent 5 Foetal injuries from water in the bay 6–7 The old clean-up ... 7 ... and the model for the new one 8–9 Ecotoxin collection technically complicated 9 Many problems along the way 10–11 Eco-monitoring continues 11 National environmental objectives demanded rehabilitation of Örserumsviken 12–13 Cleansing a national asset 14–15 Kalmar County – an ecological big spender

P UBLISHED BY: Chief Executive’s Department, Municipality of Västervik TEXT, PHOTOGRAPHY AND GRAPHICS: Thorsten Jansson/Miljöreportage, Färjestaden ENGLISH TRANSLATION: Roger Tanner, Ordväxlingen AB DESIGN AND EDITING: Karl-Eric Persson Media, Färjestaden PRINTING: AB C O Ekblad & Co, Västervik, 2004

2 · The Örserumsviken Project

Örserumsviken transformed

his publication tells the story of how Ör- which began in 1915 and continued until strait linking the bay with the Baltic, at a repository, and one of the most heavily pol- Tserumsviken, the bay outside Västervik, 1980. Eventually the emissions formed a rate of some 200 g mercury and 400 g PCB luted bays on the east coast of Sweden has was transformed from a badly polluted arm bottom layer which, together with the paper- annually. Given the amounts remaining on been radically decontaminated and elimi- of the sea to a reborn, pristine habitat as part mill’s old fibre depot at the head of the bay, the seabed, Örserumsviken could go on pol- nated as a source of Baltic pollution. of the national campaign for a non-toxic was estimated to include 750 kg mercury, luting the Baltic for hundreds of years to Why was the clean-up undertaken? Was environment. 1,400 kg PCB and hundreds of kilos of other come. the MSEK 115 price tag justifiable? There are One of Sweden’s biggest-ever clean-ups pollutants, polycyclic aromatic hydrocar- But most of the near-incomprehensible several answers to these questions. has rid the bay of 65 years’ ecotoxic emis- bons (PAHs) among them. quantities of ecotoxins from the area have The Västervik archipelago is designated an sions from the Westervik papermill. The comprehensive environmental studies now been sealed beneath a protective layer area of national interest in Sweden on ac- Work began in 1994, with the Västervik (2001-2003) preceding the clean-up showed of several different materials inside a stout count of its natural beauty, its scientific Environment and Health Protection Office that the ecotoxins from the papermaking retaining bank. PCB, mercury and PAHs, in interest and its importance for outdoor rec- commissioning a pilot study concerning period had slowly leeched out through the other words, have been moved to a safer reation. Next to it, moreover, is the five-star possible after-treatment of the bay. The gi- Lysingbadet camping site, an oasis for gantic clean-up ended in the spring of 2004 thousands of summertime holidaymakers with the planting of trees and shrubs up on from near and far. the newly constructed retaining bank by But above all we are talking about the which the ecotoxins of the industrial past future. Sweden’s Riksdag (parliament) has will be kept under lock and key. resolved, as one of 15 national environmen- So there it lies, all the detritus which it tal quality objectives, that our common en- took so many years to extract from off the vironment is not to be polluted by toxic seabed - relics of an industrial undertaking substances.

The Örserumsviken Project · 3

For a long time Westerviks Pappersbruk AB was one of Västervik’s biggest employers. The mill produced paper and cardboard from scrap paper brought in by rail. The goods trains passing through Västervik loaded with bales of paper were a familiar image of the 20th century’s unqualified belief in the fu- ture. But there was an environmental price tag attached. Unprocessed effluent

Wastepaper collecting was a regularly recurring and popular item on Västervik school timetables in the 1950s. Newspapers and magazines were proudly delivered to the papermill in Örserumsviken, and the school classes were then paid a few pence for every kilo collected. Few people, apart from the workers them- selves, had ever been inside the factory pe- rimeter. Otherwise they could have seen how raw effluent from the mill was being discharged straight into the bay. But few people in those days spared a thought for the environment. The effluent contained paper fibres, and clear their piping and machinery of algae active history were not very demanding by This 1960s air photo shows the papermill area and with the passing years these formed progres- and other contaminants which might other- present-day standards. Only in 1954 was the inner part of the heavily polluted Örserums- viken. Insert: a picture of the scrap paper depot. sively thicker layers on the seabed. But the wise cause breakdowns. PCB entered the mill temporary purification of the mill’s effluent PHOTO COURTESY OF RIKETS ALLMÄNNA KARTVERK fibres also contained substances destined to with recycled paper. For a long time it was introduced, with the construction of a primi- (THE GEOGRAPHICAL SURVEY OFFICE OF SWEDEN). be classified among the worst ecotoxins of used, for example, in printing inks and self- tive retaining wall, and even this had an our age - mercury and PCB, the latter deno- copy paper (aka carbonless copy paper). opening through which, when the pond was coming. A water court judgement in 1970 ting a group of chlorinated substances called With one or two brief intermissions, the full up, effluent could escape into the bay; allowed the papermill to go on discharging polychlorinated biphenyls. papermill remained in operation till 1980, by the pond filled up in about ten years. This effluent into the bay “during a three-year It was not known at first how hazardous which time Örserumsviken, in terms of eco- untenable situation eventually led to the trial period”, but by 1976 there could be no these substances were. They were simply part toxin quantities, was one of the most heavily papermill being ordered to clean up the more stalling. A new water court judgement of the papermaking process. For a couple of polluted bays on the east coast of Sweden. badly polluted bay. ordered the papermill to clean up the inner decades, many papermills used mercury to Environmental stipulations during the mill’s The clean-up, however, was a long time part of the bay, and work began in 1978.

4·The Örserumsviken Project

PCB and mercury in the bottom sediment of Örserumsviken 70 60 1500 Bay water 50 Mercury PCB* 40 1000 damaged fish fry 30 PCB and mercury were not the whole 20 500 legacy of the papermill in Örserums- 10 viken. The studies also revealed large quantities of substances belonging to a 0 0 group of chemical compounds collect- 1700 1750 1800 1850 1900 1950 2000 ively known as PAHs. This is one of the latest and most important environmen- Industrialisation triggered an accumulation of ecotoxins in the environment. tal research findings. The PCB and mercury concentrations in the above diagram are given in nanograms per gram of total solids, but with different scales for the two substances. The visible growth of concentrations already from the 1920s PAHs is short for polycyclic aromatic hy- onwards, is due to a certain remixing in the sediments. drocarbons. These substances are formed, for * The study included five types of PCB, which means that concentrations example, through incomplete combustion of of all known types taken together are roughly four times greater. fossil fuels like oil and coal, inefficient wood Laboratory experiments showed water from firing and smelting of aluminium. Diesel- Örserumsviken to cause deformities and increased powered traffic and wood firing are the main mortality among fish fry. This picture shows fry PCB with spinal deformities. Kvicksilver emission sources. Creosote, which for a long PHOTO COURTESY OF AQUATIC TOXICOLOGY LABORATORY, time was used for impregnating wood, also STOCKHOLM UNIVERSITY. PCB is the collective name for a large group of Mercury is an element which was widely used, e.g. chlorinated substances (about 200 in all) formerly as a chemical pesticide. Farmers in the 1950s used contains large quantities of PAHs. used in many branches of industry and technology, seed which had been mercury-treated to make it Not all PAHs are toxic, but a considerable which can only mean that the papermill was e.g. in glue, jointing compound, oils, glazing putty, resistant to fungus and insect pests. In the 1960s number of them contain benzene, which is responsible for at least part of the wide- paints and certain kinds of paper. Although PCB had the mercury content of dressed seed was found to carcinogenic. spread propagation of PAHs. been used industrially ever since the 1930s, as a be the cause of widespread death, due to mercury When fish fry in a laboratory environment These relatively large quantities may be pollutant it went unnoticed till 1970. poisoning, among wild birds. Salvage paper was used in Västervik throughout Phenyl mercury was used in the paper and pulp were exposed to water from Örserumsviken, due to ash from a coal-fired central heating the papermill’s lifetime, but the fact of its contain- industry to prevent algal growth in piping and deformities and increased mortality resulted. plant at the papermill, and perhaps also to ing PCB was only discovered in the 1980s. machinery, and mercury was used as a pulp preser- Studies in the Emån river and elsewhere non-recyclable asphalt paper, but a great deal Detailed investigations have shown PCB to be a vative. Mercury began to be used at the Westervik have yielded similar results, and PAHs are emanates from outside sources. Concentra- highly potent ecotoxin, and it has been given much papermill in the 1950s, and the practice probably of the blame for the severe decline in otter and seal lasted until the end of the 1960s. suspected as part of the reason for some fish tions are often just as high in the waters reproduction rates in the Baltic during the 1980s. Mercury, being an element, cannot be destroyed species having difficulty in reproducing in round big towns and cities. Use of PCB was already banned in 1972, but most but has to be isolated to prevent it spreading fur- certain areas along the east coast of Sweden. The Institute of Applied Environmental of the 1.5 million tonnes of it manufactured world- ther. One serious problem is that mercury can be How did Örserumsviken come to contain Research, Stockholm University, analysed a wide are still loose in the environment or in the turned into methyl mercury. This happens when ox- such large amounts of PAH, probably some- total of 18 different PAH compounds in components made with it. International surveys, ygen is lacking where the mercury has accumulated, however, have indicated diminishing PCB concen- e.g. in fibre banks on the seabed. thing like 550 kilos? Studies of the bay and Örserumsviken, but a lot of research still trations in the Baltic Sea, thanks no doubt to the of the archipelago beyond revealed much remains to be done where PAHs and their banning of the substance. heavier PAH concentrations in the bay, environmental effects are concerned.

The Örserumsviken Project · 5

A – by the standards of its time – com- prehensive decontamination of the inner part of Örserumsviken began in 1978, the State having obtained a water court The old clean-up... judgement ordering the new owner, PLM, to clean up the bay after it had been made clear that the fibre banks contained heavy concentrations of mercury. Apart from the important environ- mental objective of collecting the mer- cury, another aim was if possible to recover the paper fibres.

The clean-up carried out in 1978 was similar in certain respects to the major and defini- tive decontamination of Örserumsviken completed in 2004. The technique employed on the earlier occasion involved dredging 200,000 cu. m. of fibre banks from the inner part of the bay and pumping it onto dry land, where it went through several process- ing stages. The water was centrifuged off and the fibres deposited inside the enclosure constructed in the 1950s. This technique was successful in several re- spects: the fibres and mud pumped ashore proved to retain more than 90 per cent of the mercury, thus achieving the environmental target inscribed in the water court judgement. In addition, more than 600 kg PCB were trap- ped as well, though nobody knew it at the time – this environmental problem only be- came known a couple of years later. Alto- gether, dredging operations in the bay during 1978 and 1979 covered 15 hectares out of a total of 37. The first step had thus been taken towards a full reinstatement of the whole bay, but it would take until 2001 for a new fibres in the dredging spoil, but in 1980 the peared under a pine and birch wood which The old tank at the papermill contained a morass, generation of decontamination equipment to company decided to close the plant down. could evidently flourish in the midst of the several metres thick, of paper fibres from the be wheeled onto the site of the old papermill. The fibres, and their ecotoxic contents, re- pollutants. Slowly but surely, however, large whole of the papermill’s productive career and from the 1978-1979 clean-up. PLM, the papermill’s last owner, had ad- mained on the shore of the bay. Years passed, quantities of fibres slid into the old pond, vanced plans for trying to recycle the “used” and the fibre depot was forgotten as it disap- aggravating the problem of leeching toxins.

6·The Örserumsviken Project

...and the model Sequence of operations Örserumsviken in a decontamination project project year

for the new one PILOT STUDY Studies of maps and records A clean-up project the size of vik filed its application with the En- General field studies, with risk classification 1994 Örserumsviken is much more vironmental Court in Växjö, on 13th Investigation of responsibilities and funding than just a clean-up. The prepa- March 2000 in the form of a massive rations are every bit as time- volume containing detailed accounts of the quantities of ecotoxins to be consuming. Under the new En- disposed of and the decontamination vironmental Code which entered procedure to be followed. Schedules MAIN STUDY into force in 1999, a dredging to the application contained an envi- Detailed fields studies project on this scale has to be ronmental impact assessment and Simplified or in-depth risk assessment examined by an environmental accounts of control programmes, de- Investigation of responsibilities and funding court and rules of conduct laid scribing the environmental monitor- Investigation of measures and options 1995-1998 ing procedure to be followed as work Risk evaluation, with overarching objectives and down for it. The Code also re- action requirements. quires information to be sup- progressed. Altogether the applica- Investigation with a view to planning/detailed planning. plied to everyone affected. tion ran to over a hundred pages. On Revision of action requirements, if needed. 20th November 2000 the Environ- A public hearing about the clean-up mental Court in Växjö, in its capaci- plans took place in Västervik on ty as Water Court, delivered judge- 11th October 1999, to meet the stat- ment and defined the terms to which utory requirement of everyone af- the clean-up would be subject. Brief- PREPARATION fected being kept informed by means ly, the judgement permitted the Mu- Planning Thus far but no further. Entering the fibre tank at Application for permits etc 1998-2000 of “extended consultation”. Accord- nicipality of Västervik to dredge the papermill could have fatal consequences. Award of contracts ingly, a number of public authorities 200,000 cu. m. sediment and deposit and NGOs (Non-Governmental Or- the spoil on the old papermill site in- ganisations) were among those invi- side a new, reinforced retaining wall. ted to attend the Västervik meeting. The judgement also required the bay They included such central authori- to be blocked with a special textile IMPLEMENTATION ties as the National Board of Fish- screen at the point where it debou- Actions and ongoing 2001-2004 eries, the Swedish Environmental ched into the archipelago. The screen environmental surveillance Protection Agency, the Swedish serves as a filter, trapping the parti- Maritime Administration and the cles in the water. National Heritage Board. Local orga- Simultaneously with the Water nisations such as yachting and boat Court’s judgement, a general con- FOLLOW-UP clubs, fishing associations, birdwatch- tractor was appointed for the clean- ing clubs and archipelago associa- up. The contract went to Vägverket Surveillance programme Evaluation of work 2004- tions were also invited to attend. Produktion Syd, which in turn enga- Experience feedback Some of the equipment used for the first clean-up It was not until after this consulta- ged a number of subcontractors for operation was still lying around in 1998. tion that the Municipality of Väster- different parts of the work.

The Örserumsviken Project · 7

VŠstervik GrŠnsš Ecotoxin collection Lysings- badet technically complicated … rseru msv iken

Westervik pappermill

Retaining wall Landfill Safety screen Infill during operations

DredgedMuddrad area yta

The clean-up operation which started in Västervik in the summer of 2001 was the biggest Sweden had ever seen. Work began with the construction of a stout new retaining wall, five metres high and completely impervious, out towards The landfill site built up for the new Örserumsviken, at the same time as the clean-up operation was covered with bentonite, plastic film, sand and gravel. bay was cordoned off with a textile screen to trap the particles present in the water. A control station was also from on shore and its position monitored with thickener and cement to a suitable con- was something like 500 cu. m. hourly. To established outside the screen, to ensure with GPS satellite navigation equipment. sistency before being driven to its terminal maintain a consistently high dredging rate, a that no ecotoxins escaped into the bay. From the dredger the slurry was pumped landfill repository inside the newly construc- sedimentation tank was constructed ashore ashore through a floating pipeline and put ted retaining wall. Admixture of a small pro- to receive the spoil whenever the belt filter The Örserumsviken clean-up was based on through several processing stages, in which it portion of cement created a more stable land- presses malfunctioned or became overloaded. removing the uppermost stratum of the bay’s was dewatered with the aid of cyclones and fill site with less risk of subsidence. benthic sediment. This meant extracting an belt filter presses. Finally the water passed In this way, during the years that followed, Turbidity warning 0.8 metre thick layer of mud and fibres with a through a purifying plant and was assayed kilo upon kilo of ecotoxins from the bay was All the time work was in progress, a check dredger armed with a helical suction nozzle. before being released back into the bay. The successively put under lock and key. At peak was maintained in case the turbidity of the The dredger was held in position by hawsers dewatered dredging spoil in turn was mixed efficiency, the benthic slurry removal rate water became so high that ecotoxins might

8·The Örserumsviken Project

Many problems along the way

The Örserumsviken clean-up operation presented many technical problems which had to be solved as and when they arose. The main difficulty was the inadequate capac- ity, or inefficiency, of various parts of the decontamina- tion equipment. In October 2002, therefore, the Municipality of Väster- vik applied to the Government for an extension of the project period. Even so, the clean-up turned into a race against time. The difficulties of coping with pollution in the bay be- gan early on. The Swiss company chosen as subcontractor for the dredging operation suffered constant reverses in the matter of getting personnel and plant to the bay on time. Among other things, a host of permits had to be ob- tained for transporting heavy plant across Europe. The equipment itself, when finally in position, either broke down or proved to have insufficient capacity. These prob- lems led the general contractor to appoint a new sub- contractor for the dredging. From beginning to end, the project was beset with nu- The dredger (above, left) in action in the bay. Below it is a sedimentation tank for the merous technical problems. The first dredger had too little dredging spoil. The picture above shows the dewatered screenings being laid up inside capacity. The belt filter presses for dewatering the spoil the newly constructed retaining wall. were also affected by repeated malfunctions and were found to have insufficient capacity. More and more machines were therefore successively deployed. Progressively greater resources were mobilised as it became clear that time margins for the operation were Explanatory sketch of the dredging technique employed in …rserumsviken diminishing. Necessity being the mother of invention, in- novative solutions were found to many problems. For ex- ample, a piste machine was rented from a ski slope in the Dewatering autumn of 2002, after several days monsoon rain had inbelt filter press made it impossible for the dewatered dredging spoil to be moved out with ordinary dumpers and wheel loaders. Dredger Sedimentation Landfill tank Other solutions included dredging the shores with a spe- cially equipped, shallow-draught working boat from Flat- holmen in the archipelago. A long-reach excavator with an 18-metre arm became another conspicuous ingredient of the Örserumsviken plant line-up. Sediment

Purification plant be escaping from the bay. All data were Dredging was not confined to the bottom of successfully concluded in the summer of stored at a special gauging station which the bay. Special shallow-draught machines 2003, by which time almost 200,000 cu. m. was always directly accessible from the mu- were used to clear the shores of reeds and contaminated benthic sediment had been re- nicipal environment protection office. The contaminated sediment, and a small channel moved from the bay. Later, in the autumn, station had an in-built warning system was excavated to reinstate the little island, the inlet screen was removed and work con- which sounded the alarm if dredging was Karins Holme, off the southern shore of the centrated on properly covering over the causing excessive turbidity. All the time bay. dredging spoil. The whole operation ended dredging was in progress, water samples The project suffered serious delays, for in spring 2004 with the planting of trees and A special shallow-draught boat was used for in- were taken and analysed for toxin content. many reasons, but dredging operations were shrubs on top of the new retaining wall. shore operations.

The Örserumsviken Project · 9

The rehabilitation of Örserumsviken is being followed by a comprehensive mo- nitoring programme. Kalmar University Eco-monitoring continues will be studying the recovery of life in the bay following the dredging opera- tions, and the landfill side containing the dredging spoil will be kept under close surveillance for several years to come. The dredging operations in Örserumsviken meant the removal of several hundred kilos of ecotoxins in the old, fibrous sediments. But how will Nature respond to this clean- up? Will mercury concentrations in pike decline rapidly or slowly, and what will hap- pen to all the different small creatures? Kalmar University already had divers in position to examine the bay when dredging operations ended in the autumn of 2003. Sev- eral algal species were found to be ”moving in” on the newly remediated beds. Small perch and various other small creatures were also present. But the fish population was con- siderably smaller than before the clean-up. Natural conditions in Örserumsviken made it a highly productive fishing ground. Histor- ical documents show that fishing rights in the 18th century belonged to the Crown, sug- Many field trips occurred during the project. gesting that the fishing here was important. Here visitors are being shown over the gauging The University will be studying the bay for station for monitoring the bay’s turbidity. 6 or 7 years after the clean-up. Two other bays in the municipality are being studied at the same time, for purposes of comparison. neighbourhood will be investigated. Figures cury or PCB. These checks will also continue Groundwater control from these studies can then be compared until 2008. The environmental quality objec- The large fibre landfill site will also be kept with samples taken before the clean-up. tives defined in the water court judgement under close observation. Given the impor- Up on the actual landfill site, where the for the clean-up require transport of PCB tance of preventing any contaminant leak- ecotoxins are now shrouded in bentonite, and mercury from the bay to the coast out- age, a special monitoring programme has plastic film, sand and other covering layers, side to diminish by 90 and 70 per cent re- been designed for this purpose. For the period a number of pipes project from the ground. spectively. The judgement also requires at- ending in 2008, the groundwater will be These can be used for studying what is going mospheric immissions of these substances to Developments down among the paper fibres can be studied through a well and checked in five different places on and on down inside the landfill site, whether wa- be reduced by no less than 99 per cent. The through a number of pipes in the land- around the site of the former papermill. In ter is seeping in and whether the gas which checks carried out in the next few years will fill site. Items for measurement include addition, several drinking water wells in the will form beneath the cover contains mer- show whether or not the target is achieved. gaseous emissions and subsidence.

10 · The Örserumsviken Project

National environmental objectives demanded rehabilitation

The reinstatement of Örserumsviken is a further step towards achieving Sweden’s The national environ- environmental quality objectives. In mental quality objectives 1999 the Swedish Riksdag (parliament) adopted 15 such national quality objec- At least five of Sweden’s 15 national environmental quality objectives (un- tives for environmental quality. The de- derscored below) are touched on by contamination of Örserumsviken touches clean-up operations in the county. Brie- on several of these, and above all on the fly, the environmental quality objectives creation of a non-toxic environment. are as follows. 1. Reduced Climate Impact The spending of taxation revenue on envi- 2. Clean Air The Jungnerholmarna islands in the Municipality of Mönsterås were transformed from contaminated industrial land to beau- ronmental remediation often comes in for 3. Natural Acidification Only tiful walking country. criticism, one widespread view being that 4. A Non-Toxic Environment toxins are “best left alone”. But this is out of 5. A Protective Ozone Layer keeping with the 15 national environmental 6. A Safe Radiation Environment Christer Ramström, sub-project leader for quality objectives resolved on by the Riks- 7. Zero Eutrophication environmental control, sounds the depth of dag, which in turn form part of a wider 8. Flourishing Lakes and Streams the water after dredging operations in the European perspective. 9. Good-Quality Groundwater inner bay. All three of the environmental clean-ups 10. A Balanced Marine Environment, so far undertaken in the county have virtu- 11. Thriving Wetlands ally halted the spread of ecotoxins into the 12. Sustainable Forests Baltic Sea from the sources concerned. Every 13. A Varied Agricultural Landscape year, between 3 and 5 kg PCB – containing, 14. A Magnificent Mountain Landscape moreover, the extremely hazardous sub- 15. A Good Built Environment stance dioxin – was escaping from Järnsjön The environmental quality objectives are concerned with qual- ity of life. lake in the Municipality of Hultsfred. Decon- tamination of the Jungnerholmarna islands Hammar, the County Administrative Board’s remain in large quantities in limited areas, has curbed seepage of cadmium, lead and expert adviser on decontamination opera- like Örserumsviken, is a race against time. nickel into Kalmarsund. And the Örserums- tions, with reference to the long-term return “Time will show the big clean-ups to have viken clean-up has ended escapes of mer- on expenditure. been money well spent. cury and PCB, as well as a large number of “We know today that, with every day that “At the end of the day, we’re talking about PAHs (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons). Kalmar University will be studying the recove- passes, toxic substances are being dissipated creating the sustainable society, which ry of flora and fauna in the bay following the “Environmental clean-ups have to be in our habitat and are also reaching humans. means the achievement of quality of life for clean-up. viewed in the longer term,” says Tommy “So catching hold of the toxins while they our own and future generations.”

The Örserumsviken Project · 11

The rehabilitation of Örserumsviken constitutes a new step towards a cleaner environment in an area classed among places of national interest for natural beauty/scientific interest, culture and recreation. Lysingsbadet and the Korpa- holmarna islands, with one of Sweden’s biggest five-star camping sites, are right next to Örserumsviken.

In the County Administrative Board’s con- spectus of areas of outstanding scientific interest and natural beauty, the Västervik archipelago comes among the highest-classi- fied (class 1) areas in the County of Kalmar. The publication Natur i östra Småland con- tains the following description of the archi- pelago: “The archipelago is extremely manifold and varied, blessed with natural beauty and attraction and offering excellent op- portunities for boating, bathing, canoeing, fishing and studies of the natural and man-made environment. Every year the archipelago is visited by boat tourists in their tens of thousands, especially along the very busy shipping lane off the east The decontamination of Örserumsviken serves to enhance the water quality of an archipelago area with Lysingebadet at its centre. coast. There are also many suitable places for land-based outdoor recreation.” Geologically, too, the Västervik archipe- lago is of outstanding interest because of its mixture of younger and very old rocks, the Cleansing a national asset oldest being quartzites which have existed for nearly 2.5 billion years. The archipelago coastal population. The oldest signs of hu- The whitewashed beacon at Spårösund still The worst century also bears distinct traces of the retreating ice man presence date from the Stone Age, guards this ancient shipping lane. For a long time, however, the quality of the cap, in the form of smooth slabs of rock and when people lived by hunting and fishing. Right down to the second half of the 20th water in this archipelago has been gradually glacial striations. And in past millennia the To this day, the archipelago and inlets of the century, the archipelago still had a large per- deteriorating, owing to large-scale changes sea has formed remarkable end moraines and Tjust area remain dotted with Bronze Age manent population living by archipelagic of human lifestyle - more specifically, to in- shingle fields. burial cairns. farming and fishing. Many islands have been dustrialisation, migration to the towns and The Västervik archipelago has been travers- continuously inhabited since the 16th cen- cities, agricultural mechanisation and the Hunting and fishing ed by important shipping routes ever since tury and, with their archipelago villages, growth of motorism in the countries sur- The archipelago is also of great antiquity as medieval times. Spårö is mentioned in a ship- rank today among the jewels of the east rounding the Baltic Sea. a settlement and source of livelihood for the ping route description from the 13th century. coast heritage.

12 · The Örserumsviken Project

The rare narrow-leaved helleborine orchid grows on several of the ar- chipelago islands.

Purple loose-strife and white sticky catchfly (Silene viscosa) flourish in Stora Betskäret, one of the outposts of the Västervik archipelago.

The Västervik archipelago was already traversed by The Västervik shipping lanes archipelago in medieval is a geology times. Spårö textbook Beacon over- come to life. looks a ship- PICTURE: ping lane dat- veined gneiss ing from the in the outer Örserumsviken has an abundance of birdlife. The great 13th century. archipelago. crested grebe, for example, is very much at home here.

The Örserumsviken Project · 13

Decontamination projects in the County of Kalmar Kalmar County The situation in August 2004 1 Hulingen Lead, mercury 2 Hultsfred Arsenic, lead, creosote 3 Silverdalen Oil, PCB – an ecological 4 Svartsjöarna lakes Mercury 5 Järnsjön Mercury, PCB Västervik 6 Jungnerholmarna islands Cadmium, nickel, zinc Vimmerby 13 14 7 Ruda Arsenic, Cadmium 8 8 Glassworks Arsenik, antimony, lead, big spender cadmium 9 Rasslebygd PCB Kalmar County is going through a purg- the next major decontamination 3 10 Emmaboda In-house investigation by ITT Flygt AB ing bath on the grand scale. The envi- project, starting in 1999. On the 2 ronmental situation has been improved Jungnerholmarna islands in Flise- 1 11 Söderåkra Mercury 4 through a succession of major clean-up ryd, production of battery paste for 12 Emnabo Phenoxy acids 5 projects of which Örserumsviken is the rechargeable accumulators and the 13 Gladhammars mines Copper, cobalt melting-down of old lead batteries Hultsfred Oskarshamn 14 Örserumsviken Mercury, PCB, PAHs latest to have been accomplished. But had left its mark on the environ- 15 15 Oskarshamns harbour Cadmium, copper, zinc, the map of buried ecotoxins shows how ment. Environmental surveys indi- nickel and aother metals much remains to be done in an old in- cated above all the presence of very 16 Nötöfjärden Mercury 17 dustrial county. Thirty of the most heav- large quantities of cadmium, nickel Högsby 16 17 Emsfors Substances not charted ily contaminated areas will together cost and lead, both in the river and on 7 6 18 Hagbygärde industrial site Lead, cadmium,copper, 8 between MSEK 2,000 and 3,000 to de- the factory site. Mönsterås nickel, zinc, oil contaminate. As a result of the clean-up opera- 8 19 Degerhamn Cadmium One of Sweden’s first big clean-up projects tion, more than 90 per cent of the 35 began in 1993-1994, when Järnsjön lake in tonnes of cadmium and 900 tonnes the Municipality of Hultsfred was cleansed of lead in the area were disposed of. 8 8 8 of 400 kg PCB from the Nyboholm papermill This was a technically demanding Borgholm in the County of Jönköping. This was done operation, due among other things 8 8 by means of suction dredging, and the con- to all the old and heavily contam- 8 taminated spoil was deposited on a landfill inated industrial buildings on the 8 Nybro site near the lake. site being classed as environmen- 9 Decontamination complete The results of the clean-up quickly became tally hazardous waste. 18 10 Kalmar noticeable. Two years afterwards, PCB con- Today the islands make beautiful Decontamination in progress Emmaboda centrations in fish from the lake had fallen walking country. Planning in progress by half. Järnsjön being part of the great 8 Mörbylånga Emån river network, the clean-up also help- Arsenic and mercury Main study in progress ed to reduce emissions of mercury and PCB A big decontamination operation Torsås 11 Pilot study in progress or completed into the coastal waters of Kalmarsund. started in Ruda, in the Municipality 12 Project without national government funding Another big step towards decontaminating of Högsby, in 2004, aimed at saving 19 the Emån river and Kalmarsund was taken in a municipal water source from arse- Glassworks – general sampling

14 · The Örserumsviken Project

Production at the Westervik papermill started in 1915 and continued until 1980. This air photo, taken in 1963, shows the mill’s location on Örserumsviken. PHOTO COURTESY OF KULBACKEN MUSEUM ARCHIVES.

Industrial emissions from the Pauliström papermill have contaminated the Upper Hulingen, near Hultsfred, is a well-known lake for bird-watching, but there is mercury present here, e.g. from papermills further and Lower Svartsjöarna lakes in the Municipality of Hultsfred. upstream in the Emån river network. AIR PHOTO COURTESY OF MUNICIPALITY OF HULTSFRED. nic, a highly toxic element. Arsenic is present papermill, which used mercury in its produc- Ships entering and leaving the harbour are Kalmar is more polluted than other count- in the ground as a legacy from an impregnat- tion processes. As a result, two small lakes helping to spread these metals out to sea. ies,” says Tommy Hammar of the Kalmar ing plant and a glassworks. Here again, some downstream, Svartsjöarna (“the Black Lakes”), County Administrative Board, “but we have of the toxic substances were able to seep out have received about 250,000 cu. m. mercury- Race against time a longer coastline and our watercourses pick into the Emån river through a smaller water- contaminated paper fibre, and the mercury Each county has been tasked by the Environ- up pollutants from inland.” course. has slowly migrated further to the Emån river. mental Protection Agency with listing the 30 “Then again, we were early starters at Further upstream in the Emån system is a There are also many areas along the coun- areas which it considers most urgently in identifying our environmental problems.” tributary called Pauliströmsån. This passes ty coast which have been heavily polluted by need of remediation. The cost of the clean- “Our county has made quite considerable through a stretch of unspoiled Småland industrial activity. Örserumsviken was one ups hitherto accomplished and planned in headway, because we started with really countryside but has nevertheless been heavily of them. Things were even worse in the pool the County of Kalmar is now estimated at heavy assignments like Järnsjön lake, the polluted by emissions. The emissions came of Oskarshamn harbour, which contains near- between MSEK 2,000 and 3,000. Jungnerholmarna islands, Örserumsviken from further upstream, from the Pauliström ly all of the most notorious heavy metals. “This is not to say that the County of and the Ruda industrial site.”

The Örserumsviken Project · 15

Many steps to be taken

• In 1994 the Västervik Municipal Environment and Health Protection Office carried out a pilot study of possible meth- ods for after-treatment of the benthic sediment of Örse- rumsviken. The pilot study was sent to the County Adminis- trative Board, which in turn gave priority to Örserumsviken in the conspectus it forwarded to the Environmental Protection Agency concerning important after-treatment projects in the County of Kalmar. • In 1995 the Kalmar County Administrative Board received a grant of MSEK 3 from the Environmental Protection Agency, partly for an investigation of responsibility for the pollution and an assessment of the risk of PCB and mercury spreading into the surroundings. The County Administrative Board in- vited the Municipality of Västervik to take over the grant from the Environmental Protection Agency and run the project. The Municipal Executive Board appointed a steering committee and project group whose members included representatives of the Environmental Protection Agency and the County Admin- istrative Board as well as the Municipality. A succession of reports and surveys was compiled between 1996 and 1998. Summer evening in the Västervik archipelago. Stora Björkskär. VIK • In the autumn of 1998 the Municipality of Västervik ap- plied to the Ministry of the Environment for a State grant under the local investment programme. The Municipality’s request for MSEK 68 in State aid towards the clean-up was granted by the Government on 8th April 1999. VÄSTER • On 31st May 1999 the Municipal Executive Board resolved to go ahead with the Örserumsviken project and appointed a

OF steering group to decide how the project was to be organised and to allocate the necessary resources. A host of surveys were inaugurated in the autumn of 1999, aimed at charting the environmental situation in the bay, and a comprehensive progress of planning and investigation was started. The 1999 ALITY studies showed the ecotoxins to be more widely distributed than had previously been known, and the project also proved more expensive than anticipated. An additional grant of MSEK 40 was therefore made by the Environmental Protection Agency. • Dredging and landfill contracts were awarded in the sum- MUNICIP mer of 2000. The main contract was signed in November 2000. • The practical task of decontamination began in the spring of 2001 and was completed in the autumn of 2003. Certain supplementary works were undertaken in the spring of 2004. These included the planting of trees and shrubs on the land- fill site. www.vastervik.se/miljo/orserum