Work Package 3
Deliverable 3.1.1 Environmental and public health monitoring framework
Human activities are important for economic development and prosperity of a society, but under certain conditions affect human health because of the environmental pressures they create.
The water sources, air quality and soil play an important role in the maintenance and development of local communities through various uses, such as uses relevant to economic activities (agriculture, livestock, industry, tourism), other as food production and recreation. Contaminated water-soil-air can cause the spread of diseases, thus it is becoming easy to see that besides environmental issue environmental protection is a public health issue.
The project "Protection of human life and the environment through sustainable management of the agrarian landscape" with the acronym WET-AID is a cross-border program between Greece and FYROM. The goal of WET-AID project is the protection of human life and the environment through water and soil and ecosystem management in protected areas.
The project reflects the commonly perceived need to strengthen cooperation between the competent authorities of the two countries to create common methodologies, guidelines, strategies, sustainable structures and harmonized data on water and soil ecosystem management using advanced technology promote the protection of human life and the environment.
The economic prosperity associated with the use of water resources and soil must be done in accordance with environmental and health standards as not involving risks for the population. An effective way to ensure the safety of local communities is the systematic monitoring of water quality and soil and to assess the impact of economic activities in the region to develop guidelines and strategies for water and management of soil ecosystem
Both leading partners WET-AID project involved over the years in such actions within their respective territories. Partners P3 and P4 have also dealt with similar issues regarding the monitoring of water quality and management-monitoring of the soil ecosystem and the conservation of protected areas within the limits of their jurisdiction.
The present deliverable 3.1.1 "Environmental and public health monitoring framework" is a part of Work Package (WP) 3 "Risk and Impact Assessment" This WP concerns guidelines for the monitoring of environmental indicators and public health in protected areas, assessing the impact of economic activities on the environment of protected areas, according to which will take place measures to monitor and create geodatabase for the collection of monitoring data .
The aim of this deliverable was to create a monitoring system for significant environmental effects of a comparative report based on the legislation set by the EU. This report lists the selection principles of environmental indicators related to the project activities and potential environmental changes and the legal framework that defines the limits of these also record the form of environmental changes and impacts brought about public health. Finally, emphasize was given to the value of on line monitoring due to changes of the environmental indicators per day-month-year always driven bio-geo morphology of the region.
Deliverable 3.2.1 Assessing the impacts of economic activities around protected areas on environmental and public health
Economic growth is important in all societies because it ensures wealth and prosperity. However, it often poses a threat to the environment with the use of new technologies and the attempt to achieve bigger production.
The three economic sectors are all responsible for environmental degradation since they all contribute in waste production (solid, liquid, gaseous) in a different degree concerning the morphology and the growth of each area.
Municipality of Volvi couldn’t be an exception to the above rule. The unique landscape of the area as well as the presence of lakes, coasts, forests and vast agricultural areas has led on many different professions to develop in the area thus posing certain environmental threats associated with these professions. These threats can vary from reckless water consumption to inappropriate waste deposition and these threats are met in all economic sectors.
The primary sector has always been, and still is, for the greater part of the municipality the pillar of the economy. However it is suspicious for various environmental threats linked to agriculture and livestock.
Agriculture is a popular occupation in the area and farmers use fertilizers to achieve maximum production. It is noted in a previous chapter that fertilizers cannot be totally absorbed by plants so a portion of fertilizers used ends up in groundwater. Another major issue that poses an environmental threat is excessive irrigation. The last few years lake Koronia has dried out for long periods and irrigation is responsible for that in a great part.
Livestock is another economic activity which should be taken into consideration when discussing environmental issues on a certain area. Livestock is also a very common economic activity in the municipality which may have both positives and negative results in the environment. Animal waste, both solid and liquid, can be used as good fertilizers but if they are no treated properly they can generate environmental issues such as the creation pathogenic microorganisms including bacteria, viruses and protozoa. The effects of the above contaminants are very important concerning human health and should be treated properly.
The secondary sector, although it is present it is not as popular as in other areas. However it has a significant affect in environmental health since it generates solid, liquid and gaseous waste. Although industries in the area have always been small and local, they became even fewer due to economic crisis. However that doesn’t lessen their environmental effect. The term environmental effect describes both the water consumption and the amount of waste gathered by all procedure steps. As mentioned before the types of industry in the study area are small and local and they are mainly occupied with food processing because of the surplus of raw materials in the area. They type and amount of waste produced follows the pattern that is described by international bibliography and is adjusted to local formulas such as the size of the study area, the size and number of industry. However industries can lessen their environmental impact by adjusting the levels of water consumed by using modern techniques such as water recycling and by using waste treatment facilities instead of dumping waste outdoors.
The tertiary sector, the service sector, has developed in recent years constituting Volvi as touristic destination due to its unique and diversified landscape. The increase in tourism is associated with environmental degradation because more tourists means more water consumption and more liquid and solid waste not to mention traffic and noise issues which are of lesser importance. Fortunately environmental issues created by tourists are seasonal since economic activities associated with tourism are seasonal too.
Of course there are other professions in the municipality of Volvi which are not popular and their environmental effect is insignificant compared to the most popular activities.
As a general conclusion one can say that every economic activity poses environmental threats but these threats can be diminished if waste from all economic activities is treated properly. So it is up to the local professionals as well as the tourists to prevent environmental threats. From farmers that use water and fertilizers excessively to industries that should have proper waste treatment facilities. That means that everybody needs to invest in upgrading, equipment, facilities and get more informed and involved in environmental issues.
After all this is the place where they live and work and they economic growth of the municipality without environmental risk should contribute to their own prosperity and well being
Deliverable 3.3 Geodatabase
Deliverable 3.4.1 Pilot application of health and impact assessment techniques in Greek protected areas
The present deliverable "monitoring activities in a protected area in Greece" is part of the cross-border project with acronym "WETAID" which deals with the protection of the environment and human health through sustainable development of rural areas. The delivery is part of Work Package 3, entitled "Risk assessment and impact."
During sampling, field measurements were performed regarding the physicochemical parameters such as temperature, pH, salinity, conductivity, total dissolved solids, turbidity, dissolved oxygen and the measurement of the water level. The sampling sites were characterized by obtaining coordinates using a GPS device. In this deliverable becomes the description of the encoding of each sample and reference sampling points. Photos have taken during the sampling process. All field measurements recorded in protocols.
In this deliverable, there is extensive reference laboratory analysis of both the water and the soil samples collected during sampling and the necessary equipment for laboratory analyzes. Laboratory methods of analysis of water and soil samples described (pH, EC, DO, TSS, TDS, BOD, COD, anion-cation measurements, measurements of heavy metals, toxicity and phytoplankton) are necessary for pollution assessment in order to permit an evaluation the effects of pollution on the environment and human health.
Out diagrams-tables are the result of data processing and analysis in various analyzes categories such as pH, EC, TSS, TDS, BOD, COD heavy metals, nutrients, etc. both for water and for soil samples.