international. the monitoring jackpot

2
INTERNATIONAL The monitoring jack A report from ICESA-the International Confer Environmental Sensing and Assessmen Las Vegas, Nev.. was the gathering place for 95% of the world's monitoring experts from 41 countries in mid. tember for the first International Cc ence on Environmental Sensing an sessment. Pollutants-heavy metals, pestil: organics, inorganics-in air, water land, and more specifically in such ronmental samples as ground water ana drinking water, were the subject of the more than 240 paDers DreSented at the - -Sep- activities. infer- "Over the next year or two there will d As- be a series of meetings of highly expert country representatives to design piec- :ides, es of the system in the seven program ', and areas of GEMS" (see box), the spokes- envi- man from the Department of State . . ~~.~~._.~,.~.~ ~. ~ ~ ~ ~ . . ~ ~ ~~~~~~. conference. It attracted.more than 1000 attendees, 57 exhibitors, and 17 press registrants. "There is virtually no subject in the area of environmental sensing and as- sessment that you have not covered in your daily sessions," Christian A. Hert- er, Jr., told the luncheon attendees. Herter. deputy assistant secretary of state in the Bureau of Oceans and Inter- national Environmental and Scientific Affairs, a position that was created by Congressional mandate about a year ago, referred to environmental affairs as the new dimension of US. foreign policy. The U.S. being perhaps the biooest oolluter has the exoerience to Monitoring System (GEMS) will rely asked each member country of its GOV- heavily on national and local monitoring erninq Council to designate a lead agen- i the IRS focal point. In the U.S., was given this distinction and ?d its facility in Washington. D.C., :tober 6. The central computer for tS is located in Geneva, Switzer- Data will not be exchanged in IRS. !r, for example, if a country wants norea. I ne iirsi sucn meering, on ocean IO Know more about SO2 controls or ad- monitoring, will take place early next vanced municipal wastewater treat- year. Hopefully, shortly thereafter, there ment, it will be referred to existing will be a meeting on global atmospheric sources of information in various pollution and its impact on climate. countries. Then, that country will have It is also important to point out that in to establish direct communications with the environmental field, there is no in- the sources. ternational enforcement machinery. AI- Another activity, under UNEP aegis, though Earthwatch, if successful, can to be located in Europe, is the Interna- provide basic information-from moni- tional Registry of Potentially Toxic toring and research-it cannot provide Chemicals. Although it is being estab- a believable judgment and evaluation to lished now, a computer capability in this the international community, Herter op- area probably will not exist for "two or ines. But he is optimistic that UNEP three years," according to Herter's could become the great intellectual view. force in environmental matters, utilizing and taking advantage of the best scien- tific brains in the international communi- tY. At Dress time. no US. focal Doint had New monitoring Slant What is becoming more obvious as we proceed down the monitoring path is the need for an intearated conceDt of cy as EPA opent on O( the IF land. Rathf .~. h2; others with cleanup. "Because of been 'announced for its monitoring ac- monitoring. Rather thin gathering more our own historv." Herter added. "we tivities althouah NOAA (the National and more data on more and more DOIIU- I. probably know as much about this Oceanic and- Atmospheric Agency), tants in more and more environmental subject as any other country . . . but we ample?., the integrated monitoring con- still do not know the big picture, even ept tries to ascertain the total expo- today. We can only speculate. This is ure to critical receptors; for example, why the conference . . . and the work . .. which was created by i plan similar to another o the EPA, is perhaps th tender for that distinction that you are doing at home in this field is so relevant." Earthwatchi Other UNEP business The Information RE (iRSI is another item c Monitorin< 3 global view VI ~.IIVIIVIIIII~.III 15 ,,,e subject of Earthwatch (ES&T, March 1974. p 214). Earthwatch, the keystone of the United Nations Environment Pro- gram (UNEP), involves four aspects; monitoring is the first. It also includes research, data evaluation, and ex- change of information about managing the state of the environment. It is important to note that 90% of the environmental problems, particularly of industrialized countries, have to be dealt with on a national and local basis. Therefore, the Global Environmental Depl. of Stale's "Environmental a ffi direction in U.S. fore, I reorganization s #ne that created c le leading con- s I. 11 11 ?e exposure of lead to an infant, SO2 3 a tree, or the pollutant burden to man from his food, air, and water. In other words, to add up all the exposures. it is also referred to as exposure monitor- ing-what the receptor, the newborn, the senior citizen, the emphysematic, and others are actually exposed to. Then, perhaps for the first time one !ferral Service If UNEP. UNEP i Herter 3irs. . . new ign policy" .... .~ ~ ~ ~ ~ . . . ~ ~ .~ .-,, ~~1~-111~- ~~. wiii oe in a posirion IO rei1 wnar me po- tential damage or harm might be. This concept has been pioneered by Dr. Del- bert S. Barth, director of the EPA Envi- ronmental Monitoring and Support Lab- oratory (EMSL) in Las Vegas, Nevada, and general chairman of the confer- ence. Barth said, "This (ICESA) is the first major scientific conference to focus on monitoring pollutants of national and in- 1109 Volume 9, Number 13, December 1975

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Page 1: International. The monitoring jackpot

INTERNATIONAL

The monitoring jack A report from ICESA-the International Confer

Environmental Sensing and Assessmen

Las Vegas, Nev.. was the gathering place for 95% of the world's monitoring experts from 41 countries in mid. tember for the first International Cc ence on Environmental Sensing an sessment.

Pollutants-heavy metals, pestil: organics, inorganics-in air, water land, and more specifically in such ronmental samples as ground water ana drinking water, were the subject of the more than 240 paDers DreSented at the

- -Sep- activities. infer- "Over the next year or two there will d As- be a series of meetings of highly expert

country representatives to design piec- :ides, es of the system in the seven program ', and areas of GEMS" (see box), the spokes- envi- man from the Department of State . . ~ ~ . ~ ~ . _ . ~ , . ~ . ~ ~. ~ ~ ~ ~ . . ~ ~ ~~~~~~.

conference. It attracted.more than 1000 attendees, 57 exhibitors, and 17 press registrants.

"There is virtually no subject in the area of environmental sensing and as- sessment that you have not covered in your daily sessions," Christian A. Hert- er, Jr., told the luncheon attendees. Herter. deputy assistant secretary of state in the Bureau of Oceans and Inter- national Environmental and Scientific Affairs, a position that was created by Congressional mandate about a year ago, referred to environmental affairs as the new dimension of US. foreign policy. The U.S. being perhaps the biooest oolluter has the exoerience to

Monitoring System (GEMS) will rely asked each member country of its GOV- heavily on national and local monitoring erninq Council to designate a lead agen-

i the IRS focal point. In the U.S., was given this distinction and

?d its facility in Washington. D.C., :tober 6. The central computer for tS is located in Geneva, Switzer- Data will not be exchanged in IRS. !r, for example, if a country wants

norea. I ne iirsi sucn meering, on ocean IO Know more about SO2 controls or ad- monitoring, will take place early next vanced municipal wastewater treat- year. Hopefully, shortly thereafter, there ment, it will be referred to existing will be a meeting on global atmospheric sources of information in various pollution and its impact on climate. countries. Then, that country will have

It is also important to point out that in to establish direct communications with the environmental field, there is no in- the sources. ternational enforcement machinery. AI- Another activity, under UNEP aegis, though Earthwatch, if successful, can to be located in Europe, is the Interna- provide basic information-from moni- tional Registry of Potentially Toxic toring and research-it cannot provide Chemicals. Although it is being estab- a believable judgment and evaluation to lished now, a computer capability in this the international community, Herter op- area probably will not exist for "two or ines. But he is optimistic that UNEP three years," according to Herter's could become the great intellectual view. force in environmental matters, utilizing and taking advantage of the best scien- tific brains in the international communi- tY.

At Dress time. no US. focal Doint had

New monitoring Slant

What is becoming more obvious as we proceed down the monitoring path is the need for an intearated conceDt of

cy as EPA opent on O( the IF land. Rathf . ~ .

h2; others with cleanup. "Because of been 'announced for its monitoring ac- monitoring. Rather th in gathering more our own historv." Herter added. "we tivities althouah NOAA (the National and more data on more and more DOIIU-

I .

probably know as much about this Oceanic and- Atmospheric Agency), tants in more and more environmental subject as any other country . . . but we ample?., the integrated monitoring con- still do not know the big picture, even ept tries to ascertain the total expo- today. We can only speculate. This is ure to critical receptors; for example, why the conference . . . and the work

. .. which was created by i plan similar to another o the EPA, is perhaps th tender for that distinction

that you are doing at home in this field is so relevant."

Earthwatchi

Other UNEP business The Information RE

(iRSI is another item c Monitorin< 3

global view VI ~ . I I V I I V I I I I I ~ . I I I 15 ,,,e subject of Earthwatch (ES&T, March 1974. p 214). Earthwatch, the keystone of the United Nations Environment Pro- gram (UNEP), involves four aspects; monitoring is the first. It also includes research, data evaluation, and ex- change of information about managing the state of the environment.

It is important to note that 90% of the environmental problems, particularly of industrialized countries, have to be dealt with on a national and local basis. Therefore, the Global Environmental

Depl. of Stale's "Environmental a ffi

direction in U.S. fore,

I reorganization s #ne that created c le leading con- s I. 11

11 ?e exposure of lead to an infant, SO2 3 a tree, or the pollutant burden to man

from his food, air, and water. In other words, to add up all the exposures. it is also referred to as exposure monitor- ing-what the receptor, the newborn, the senior citizen, the emphysematic, and others are actually exposed to.

Then, perhaps for the first time one

!ferral Service If UNEP. UNEP

i Herter 3irs. . . new ign policy"

.... .~ ~ ~ ~ ~ . . . ~ ~ .~ .-,, ~ ~ 1 ~ - 1 1 1 ~ - ~~. wiii oe in a posirion IO rei1 wnar me po- tential damage or harm might be. This concept has been pioneered by Dr. Del- bert S. Barth, director of the EPA Envi- ronmental Monitoring and Support Lab- oratory (EMSL) in Las Vegas, Nevada, and general chairman of the confer- ence.

Barth said, "This (ICESA) is the first major scientific conference to focus on monitoring pollutants of national and in-

1109 Volume 9, Number 13, December 1975

Page 2: International. The monitoring jackpot

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11 10 Environmental Science & Technology

ternational importance.” He continued, “It is also the first major conference to look at health related or exposure moni- toring, the kind of monitoring which de- termines a person’s exposure to a pol- lutant from all routes including air, food, water, and skin combination. The World Health Organization is planning to imple- ment a system for health related expo- sure monitoring on a global basis.”

Also, in Washington, D.C., in Octo- ber, a 3day workshop session of the National Academy of Sciences and the Department of State discussed further aspects of monitoring activities includ- ing the seven monitoring items of the GEMS. This workshop is preparatory to the development of the US. position and the US. contribution to the GEMS. Delegates to that workshop included G. B. Morgan of the EPA Las Vegas EMSL, Ronald Engle (EPA Office of Research & Development, Washington, D.C.), Nor- man Glass (EPA Corvallis lab), and Ken Biglane of the EPA Office of Hazardous and Toxic Materials.

Other vlews Dail Brown of NOAA mentioned that

Earthwatch calls for the designation of establishment of three levels of assess- ment activities-world, regional, and national. A proposed framework calls for the designation of World Environ- mental Assessment Centers for each of the seven areas of the GEMS. Then, Regional Environmental Assessment Centers would support the world cen- ters, which in turn would be supported by the national environmental assess- ment.

“The implementation of Earthwatch

will call for the broadest international participation and cooperation,” Brown said. “The months ahead will be critical to the future viability of Earthwatch, and the viability of Earthwatch may be criti- cal to the future well-being of the Earth and its inhabitants.”

Wilson Talley, EPA deputy assistant administrator, who represented EPA ad- ministrator Train at the ICESA, men- tioned that the No. 1 priority in EPA R&D is effects research and noted that moni- toring was part of it. He said that the EPA R&D effort amounts to about $250 million per year, of which $70 million goes for the support of 15 laboratories.

Noel Brown, chief of the UNEP liaison office (New York City), acknowledges that Earthwatch is both a showpiece and an index of viability of the UNEP. He refers to Earthwatch as “action plan- ning at the global level.” What is neces- sary in all this monitoring activity is the avoidance of discovery by accident- such as the depletion of the ozone layer. What is obviously needed is an early warning system, but not false alarms!

Looking ahead The umbrella title of the Las Vegas

meeting accounted for the fact that two meetings were combined to form the ICESA. The first was the International Symposium on Environmental Monitor- ing, with sponsors being the World Health Organization, EPA, and the Uni- versity of Nevada, Las Vegas. The sec- ond meeting was the 3rd Joint Confer- ence on Sensing of Environmental Pol- lutants with co-sponsors being nine or- ganizations including the American Chemical Society (ACS) and the Insti- tute of Electrical and Electronics Engi- neers (IEEE). The broad subject of the combined meeting was the dual theme of practical health-related monitoring and advanced technology for assess- ment of environmental pollutants.

In any event, the conference pro- ceedings are being published by IEEE (New York City) in two volumes and should become available this month. Another such conference will more than likely be held in another two years. SSM