Rserumsviken Project – Decontamination
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TION AMINA DECONT – THE RSERUMSVIKEN PROJECT Ö 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.