Tag: water pollution

Environmentalists who have gone to court in a bid to kill a US water pollution trading system say it would be a mistake for Europeans to consider a similar cap-and-trade scheme to reduce fertiliser and other agricultural emissions.

When blood-red sludge broke through containment walls in the Hungarian town of Ajka in October 2010, the immediate concern was the safety of hundreds of nearby residents. In the end 10 people died from exposure and the toxic muck spilled into waterways, including the Danube, prompting alarms downstream.

Europe's freshwaters are increasingly filled with pharmaceutical residues and other micro-pollutants, which are potentially harmful to human health and the environment, warns Friedrich Barth from the European Water Partnership (EWP), a research group.

An estimated two million tonnes of human waste are disposed of in watercourses every day, with water pollution from emerging chemical pollutants like nanoparticles an issue of particular concern at this year’s World Water Week in Stockholm.

The EU has struck an agreement on a planned Industrial Emissions Directive, imposing stricter limits on air, soil and water pollution but allowing coal-fired plants derogations until mid-2020.