Air Pollution, Acid Rain and the Environment: Report Number 18 PDF
Preview Air Pollution, Acid Rain and the Environment: Report Number 18
Air Pollution, Acid Rain and the Environment Watt Committee Report Number 18 The Watt Committee on Energy AIR POLLUTION, ACID RAIN AND THE ENVIRONMENT MEMBERS OF WORKING GROUP AND SUB-GROUPS Dr Helen ApSimon, Imperial College of Science and Dr G.D. Howells, Central Electricity Generating Technology, London Board, Leatherhead Dr W.V.e. Batstone, Milton Keynes Dr J.B. Johnson, Corrosion and Protection Centre, Dr. R.W. Battarbee, University College, London University of Manchester, Institute of Science and Dr J.N.B. Bell, Imperial College of Science and Technology Technology, London P. Jones, Institute of Petroleum, London J. Bernie, Paint Research Association, Teddington A.S. Kallend, Central Electricity Research Labora Dr W.O. Binns, Forestry Commission, Farnham tories, Leatherhead Dr R.N. Butlin, Building Research Establishment, Dr A.W.e. Keddie, Department of Trade and Garston Industry, London T. Carrick, Freshwater Biological Association, Amb Dr J.A. Lee, Victoria University of Manchester leside Dr G. Lloyd, National Physical Laboratory Dr M.J. Chadwick, University of York Dr P.S. Maitland, North of Scotland Hydro Electric A.J. Clarke, Central Electricity Generating Board, Board, Sloy London Dr M.l. Manning, Central Electricity Research Lab Dr Alan Cocks, Central Electricity Research Lab oratories, Leatherhead oratories, Leatherhead Prof. T. Mansfield, University of Lancaster Dr M.J. Cooke, Coal Research Establishment, Stoke A.R. Marsh, Central Electricity Research Laborato- Orchard ries, Leatherhead Prof. R.U. Cooke, University College, London e. Martin, L.G. Mouchel and Partners, Bath Dr David Cope, UK Centre for Economic and En Prof. K. Mellanby, Cambridge vironmental Development, London Dr H.G. Miller, Macaulay Institute for Soil Dr E. Cowell, BP, London Research, Aberdeen D.H. Crawshaw, North West Water Authority, B. Mould, Department of Energy, London Warrington Dr Clifford Price, Historic Buildings and e.J. Davies, National Coal Board, Harrow Monuments Commission, London Dr G. Dollard, Atomic Energy Research Establish Dr P. Roberts, International Flame Research ment, Harwell Foundation, Ijmuiden Dr W.M. Edmunds, British Geological Survey, Wal Dr J. Skea, Science Policy Research Unit, University lingford of Sussex Dr B. Fisher, Central Electricity Research Laborato Dr R. Skeffington, Central Electricity Research ries, Leatherhead Laboratories, Leatherhead M.J. Flux, Imperial Chemical Industries pic, London Dr F.B. Smith, Meteorological Office, Bracknell Dr G.B. Gibbs, Central Electricity Research Lab Dr J.H. Stoner, Welsh Water Authority, Haverford oratories, Leatherhead west D. Hammerton, Clyde River Purification Board, Dr M.H. Unsworth, Institute of Terrestrial Ecology, East Kilbride Penicuik Dr R. Harriman, Department of Agriculture and Dr S. Warren, Water Research Centre, Medmenham Fisheries for Scotland, Pitlochry P.F. Weatherill, British Gas Corporation, London Dr J.E. Harris, Berkeley Nuclear Laboratories, Dr J.H. Weaving, Solihull CEGB Dr M.L. Williams, Warren Spring Laboratory, Dr N.H. Highton, Monopolies and Mergers Com Stevenage mission, London M. Woodfield, Warren Spring Laboratory, A.V. Holden, Pitlochry Stevenage Air Pollution, Acid Rain and the Environment Edited by KENNETH MELLANBY CBE, SeD (Cantab.), FIBiol Chairman of a Working Group appointed by The Watt Committee on Energy Report Number 18 Published on behalf of THE WATT COMMITTEE ON ENERGY by ELSEVIER APPLIED SCIENCE LONDON and NEW YORK ELSEVIER SCIENCE PUBLISHERS LTD Crown House, Linton Road, Barking, Essex IG11 8JU, England Sole Distributor in the USA and Canada ELSEVIER SCIENCE PUBLISHING CO., INC. 655 Avenue of the Americas, New York. NY 10010, USA WITH 26 TABLES AND 64 ILLUSTRATIONS © 1988 THE WAIT COMMIITEE ON ENERGY Savoy Hill House. Savoy Hill. London WC2R OBU First Edition 1988 Reprinted 1989 Reprinted 1991 British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Air pollution, acid rain and the environment. 1. Environment. Pollution by acid rain. I. Mellanby. Kenneth, 1908- II. Watt Committee on Energy III. Series 363.7'386 ISBN-13: 978-94-010-7727-9 e-ISBN-13: 978-94-009-2735-3 001: 10.1007/978-94-009-2735-3 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Air pollution. acid rain. and the environment/edited by Kenneth Mellanby. p. cm. - (Watt Committee report; no. 18) Bibliography: p. Includes index. 1. Acid deposition-Environmental aspects-Great Britain. 2.Air Pollution-Environmental aspects-Great Britain. 3. Sulphur dioxide-Environmental aspects-Great Britain. 4. Environmental protection-Great Britain. I. Mellanby. Kenneth. II. Series. TD196.A25A366 1988 363.7'386'0941-dc 19 88-7178 CIP The views expressed in this Report are those of the authors of the papers and contributors to the discussion individually and not necessarily those of their institutions or companies or of The Watt Committee on Energy. No responsibility is assumed by the Publisher for any injury and/or damage to persons or property as a matter of products liability. negligence or otherwise. or from any use or operation of any methods. products. instructions or ideas contained in the matenal herein. Special regulations for readers in the USA This publication has been registered with the Copyright Clearance Center Inc. (CCC). Salem. ecc Massachusetts. Information can be obtained from the about conditions under which photocopies of parts of this publication may be made in the USA. All other copyright questions. including photocopying outside the USA, should be referred to the publisher. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced. stored in a retrieval system. or transmitted in any form or by any means. electronic, mechanical. photocopying. recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Foreword The Watt Committee on Energy became active in of the effects on buildings, for instance. Proposals the study of Acid Rain during 1982. Perhaps the for action should therefore concentrate on measures only aspect of the subject that has become more that promise a real improvement as a result of certain during the subsequent five years is that the expenditure. expression 'Acid Rain' is used loosely in public The Watt Committee's study of this subject has debate for a complex of industrial and environ been in two phases. The first dealt with the nature mental phenomena. Among these, Acid Rain in the of the problem, and culminated in the publication straightforward meaning of the words-rain and of Watt Committee Report No. 14 in 1984. That perhaps snow having a significantly high level of Report was divided into four sections, each of acidity-is of only limited importance. To represent which was prepared by a sub-group of the working this perspective, therefore, the Watt Committee Ex group: they dealt respectively with the fate of air ecutive decided that the study leading to the present borne pollution, vegetation and soils, fresh water Report should be entitled 'Air Pollution, Acid Rain and remedial strategy. In the second phase, these and the Environment'. sub-groups have brought their sections up-to-date The Watt Committee's interest in Acid Rain and a fifth sub-group was appointed to study arises from the fact that, among its causes, the buildings and non-living materials. The Watt Com man-made ones arise from energy generation and mittee on Energy is grateful to the Chairman of the use. The culpability of power station emissions working group, Professor Kenneth Mellanby, and remains a matter of dispute; stricter standards for his team of volunteers, some of whom have had to the cleaning of emissions have recently been make quite unreasonable inroads into their work adopted in Britain. A key role may be played by ing-time in order to make their contributions to this ozone levels, increases in which seem to be affected Report. by aerosols and by the design and efficiency of The Watt Committee working group on Acid motor vehicle engines. Whatever the sources, the Rain had almost completed this Report when the damage done by emissions depends very largely on Government announced its proposals for the priva climatic factors; geological factors are also impor tisation of the electricity supply industry in the tant in some areas. Because it represents all the United Kingdom. As this Report goes to press, it is relevant disciplines, the Watt Committee is well too early to predict their impact on environmental placed to consider the relationship between the issues, but it is noteworthy that the new generating natural and the man-made factors and the effects of companies' responsibility for the environment does possible remedial strategies. not yet seem to figure in the case as presented by The effects of Air Pollution in its various forms spokesmen for Government and the industry. It is -rain and snow, particulates, mists and so on-are apparent that there will be commercial pressures on widespread, and sometimes very noticeable, but the companies to concentrate on development work scientific examination shows that popular accounts that would bring early improvement in their finan of them are liable to be exaggerated. In many cial performance, and it remains to be seen how the advanced countries, including the United Kingdom, Government intends that the environmental issues levels of atmospheric pollution over large areas are be dealt with. certainly.lower than a century ago. Some of the The conclusions reached by the working group effects are so long-term that they cannot now be appear in their place and I will not anticipate them. reversed by remedial measures. This is true of some My role is to emphasise that the objective of the v vi Foreword Watt Committee is to improve the quality of public understanding of the options that are open for debate. To complex questions, such as Acid Rain, national and international decision-making. simple answers are unlikely to be reliable. It will be a real achievement if the reader of our Report on G.K.C. PARDOE this emotive subject has a clearer factually based Chairman, The Watt Committee on Energy Contents Members of The Watt Committee on Energy Working Group and Sub-Groups on Air Pollution, Acid Rain and the Environ ment ... ii Foreword. v G.K.C. PARDOE Introduction. . . ix KENNETH MELLANBY Section 1 Production and deposition of airborne pollu- 1 tion . .................. . BARRY SMITH Section 2 Vegetation and soils 13 WILLIAM BINNS Section 3 Freshwater . . . . . . . . 23 DESMOND HAMMERTON Section 4 Corrosion of building materials due to atmos- pheric pollution in the United Kingdom 37 MICHAEL MANNING Section 5 Control and remedial strategies 67 CYRIL DAVIES Appendix 1 Nineteenth Consultative Conference of The Watt Committee on Energy. . . . . . . . . 119 The Watt Committee on Energy: Objectives, Historical Background and Current Programme . . . . . . . 121 Member Institutions of The Watt Committee on 123 Energy . ...... . Watt Committee Reports 124 Index. . . . . . . . . . . 125 vii Introduction The Watt Committee on Energy first set up its and diseases, and by pollution. In our woods it is working group on Acid Rain in 1982, and the always possible to find some unhealthy trees, and to working group's first report (Report No. 14 of the observe premature leaf-fall, particularly after a dry Watt Committee) appeared in 1984. This is the spell. But we can find no evidence that there is second report of the working group, in which we serious damage to our woods and forests today that attempt to give an up-to-date account of the effects can be clearly attributed to air pollution or 'acid of air pollution on our environment, particularly in rain'. All the evidence available suggests that our the United Kingdom. We have given this Report the woods are 'normal'. There are, for instance, cases of new title Air Pollution, Acid Rain and the Environ damage by drought which have been observed in ment, in recognition of the fact that the problem is one year, where the trees appear healthy in the next. much wider than the expression 'acid rain' alone However, we agree that continued monitoring to suggests. look for pollution damage, if damage does occur, is It is clear that there is still public concern about important. damage by pollution to freshwater ecosystems, The situation is very different from that which growing crops, trees, animals, building and metals. occurred in the Pennines in the past, when conifers Those of us in this working group concerned with died from what was clearly the effect of sulphur freshwater ecosystems consider that here the dioxide, and when many species of trees which evidence is sufficient to show that man-made flourish today could not be grown in our cities. Less emissions, particularly of sulphur dioxide, are the welcome is the return of fungus diseases like black most important cause of acidification and of the spot on roses and tar spot on sycamores to urban elimination of fish and other organisms from many parks; these diseases were previously kept in check lakes and rivers. This had been identified as a by high levels of air pollution. serious problem in several areas in Britain. For We cannot confirm some alarming reports which freshwater, therefore, there is good reason to believe have appeared in the press and on television con that a reduction of emissions of sulphur dioxide cerning widespread damage to trees in Britain. would be beneficial, both in Britain and Scandina Reports from other countries also seem often to via, though we still cannot foretell just how any have been exaggerated. Serious damage to trees has reduction in emissions would affect deposition rates occurred in several European countries, particularly at a distance, nor can we be certain of the effect of in the German Black Forest and in Switzerland any reduction in deposition on the acidity of par (and, though perhaps not as well known, most ticular lakes and rivers, and on their fauna and strikingly in Czechoslovakia), and this has been flora. Nevertheless, as evidence by the recent ann studied by scientists. However, several observant ouncement of a limited flue-gas desulphurisation naturalists confirm my own observation that for the (FGD) retrofit programme for British power most part the beauty of European forests is largely stations, there is now general agreement that it is unimpaired, though serious local damage does exist desirable to maintain a downward trend in sulphur and can be found when looked for. dioxide emissions. When we were preparing our previous report, it With regard to trees and forests, the situation is was generally accepted that, with the reduction of quite different. Surveys in Britain show that today, ground-level concentrations of sulphur dioxide in as in the past, trees may be affected by climatic our urban areas, damage to buildings was no longer factors including drought and cold winters, by pests a serious problem. However, various reports, in- ix x Introduction cluding that of the Environment Committee of the group, or the Watt Committee itself, I am reason House of Commons (1984), have suggested that ably optimistic about the future. I believe that when damage to cathedrals and other historic buildings is we understand the problems more completely, we still serious and may even be increasing. This will take the appropriate steps to solve them. Also problem has been studied by a new sub-group, I think that it is probable that many of the forecasts whose findings are included in this Report. The of doom and destruction being made by some 'en problem is clearly complicated. With living vironmentalists' will prove as inaccurate as those organisms, damage from pollution is generally rec made on other environmental topics 15 or 20 years ognizable at the time of exposure or soon after. ago. We were told in 1969 by Professor Paul Ehrlich With buildings, nothing may appear to be happen that before 1980 the world's oceans would be dead, ing for many years, and then, perhaps when pol and that the Chinese and Japanese would suffer lution is no longer at a high level, stone surfaces starvation from the disappearance of fish and other may begin to disintegrate. While it is clear that high sea food from their diet. In 1972 the publication levels of sulphur dioxide are a serious cause of 'Blueprint for Survival' forecast that global supplies damage, and that their reduction has been benefi of silver, gold, mercury, lead and zinc would be cial, we cannot yet be certain whether or not oxides exhausted, or at least nearing exhaustion, by 1987. of nitrogen cause comparable damage. This is It also said that food shortages would occur as clearly a subject where more research is needed. Britain's farms would soon suffer substantial de Although there may still be uncertainties regard creases in productivity-when in fact in the next ten ing the effects of different levels of air pollution on years there was the greatest increase in yields ever our environment, we believe that we should known in any ten-year period in our history. When, evaluate the various possible methods of reducing at the time, I queried these gloomy forecasts, I was emissions and ameliorating their effects. In this accused of 'complacency'. I shall be happy to be so Report the section on 'remedial strategies' deals denigrated again today. I believe that, if we behave with this subject. reasonably sensibly, our descendants will still see It is important that, if emissions are to be con the beautiful forests and productive rivers and lakes trolled, the most effective techniques should be that have existed for so many hundreds of years, available. Also the beneficial effects must outweigh and that their quality will, in time, be improved and any harmful side effects. Thus, even though the not destroyed. Nevertheless, pressure for improve limestone requirement for FGD at one 2000 MW(e) ment must be kept up, but this must be based on station is a fraction of one per cent of the national facts and not fiction. Without this pressure, there is limestone production, concern has been expressed always the risk that the relentless drive for economy that the specific quarries used should not be ones and profit, with the corner-cutting to which this where important features of the landscape might be often leads, could result in future losses outweighing destroyed. A possible requirement to dispose of the gains that are clearly obtainable. some of the product material to landfill sites and the treatment of other eftluents are also questions of KENNETH MEllANBY some environmental concern. Environmental Cambridge pressure groups most concerned with the pollution may find themselves also concerned with minimis References ing the impact of the steps taken to control it. Finally, speaking personally, and not wishing Anon. (1972). A blueprint for survival. The Ecologist, 2, 1-43. necessarily to commit my colleagues on the working EHRLICH, P. (1969). Eco-catastrophe. Ramparts, 24-8. Section 1 Production and Deposition of Airborne Pollution Barry Smith Deputy Chief Scientific Officer, Boundary Layer Research Branch, Meteorological Office, Bracknell, Berks This paper presents the work of a sub-group of the Watt Committee working group on Air Pollution, Acid Rain and the Environment. Membership of Sub-group Dr F.B. Smith (Chairman) Dr H. ApSimon Dr A. Cocks Dr G. Dollard Dr B. Fisher A. S. Kallend M. I. Manning A. R. Marsh Dr P. Roberts Dr M. H. Unsworth
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