The Australasia-Pacific Region supports approximately 50% of the world's population. The last half-century has witnessed a rapid increase in the regional population, agricultural productivity, industrial activities and trade within the region. Both the demand for increased food production and the desire to improve the economic conditions have affected regional environmental quality. This volume presents an overview of the fate of contaminants in the soil environment; current soil management factors used to control contaminant impacts, issues related to sludge and effluent disposals in the soil environment; legal, health and social impacts of contaminated land, remediation approaches and strategies to manage contaminated land, some of the problems associated with environmental degradation in the Australasia-Pacific Region and steps that we need to take to safeguard our environment.

This document is the result of a conference on "Biological Monitoring of Metals" held in Rochester, June 2-6, 1986, organized jointly by the Environmental Health Sciences Center of the School of Medicine and Dentistry of the University of Rochester, NY, and the Scientific Committee on the Toxicology of Metals within the International Commission on Occupational Health (ICOH) at the Karolinska Institute and the National (Swedish) Institute of Environmental Medicine and the University of Umea, Sweden. The aim of the Conference was to define and evaluate the scientific basis for the biological monitoring of metals. The conference was co-sponsored by the World Health Organization through its International Program on Chemical Safety and received substantial encouragement and support from the Swedish Work Environmental Fund and the United States Environmental Protection Agency. This was the second conference organized jointly by the Scientific Committee on the Toxicology of Metals and The Toxicology Division of the University of Rochester. The previous joint conference was held in 1982 on the Reproductive and Developmental Toxicity of Metals. In addition, conferences have been organized by each group (see Appendices A and B). Several of these conferences are specially relevant to the topic of the current conference. These include the joint conference mentioned above and the conferences on dose-effect and dose-response relationship held in Tokyo in 1974 and on accumulation of metals held in Buenos Aires in 1972.

The protection of groundwater resources has emerged in recent years as a high priority topic on the agenda of many countries. In responding to the growing concern over deteriorating groundwater quality, many countries are developing a comprehensive regulatory framework for the management of subsurface water resources with management referring to both quantity and quality aspects. Within this framework, groundwater models are rapidly coming to playa central role in the development of protection and rehabilitation strategies. These models provide forecasts of the future state of the groundwater aquifer systems and/or the unsaturated zone in response to proposed management initiatives. For example, models will predict the effects of implementing a proposed management scheme on water levels and on the transport and fate of pollutants. The models are now used in the formulation of policies and regulations, the issuing of permits, design of monitoring and data collection systems, and the development of enforcement actions. The growth in the use of these sophisticated tools has led to many unforeseen problems in groundwater management. Lingering issues include reliability of codes, quality assurance in model development and applications, efficient utiliza tion of human and material resources, technology transfer and training. Some issues have legal ramifications, as in cases where the applications of models have been contested in courts."

Pulp and paper production has increased globally and will continue to increase in the near future. Approximately 155 million tons of wood pulp is produced worldwide and about 260 million is projected for the year 2010. To be able to cope with increasing demand, an increase in productivity and improved environmental performance is needed as the industry is also under constant pressure to reduce and modify environmental emissions to air and water. The authors give updated information on various biotechnological processes useful in the pulp and paper industry which could help in reducing the environmental pollution problem, in addition to other benefits. Various chapters deal with the latest developments in such areas as raw material preparation, pulping, bleaching, water management, waste treatment and utilization. The book also covers the environmental regulations in various parts of the world as well as the role of biotechnology in reducing environmental problems.

Three symposia on environmental geochemistry in tropical countries, held in Niter6i, Brazil (1993), in Cartagena, Colombia (1996) and in Nova Friburgo, Brazil (1999), made it very clear that tropical geochemistry is of world standard and fast increasing in multi disciplinarily and impact on important geochemical paradigms. It has additionally strong links with the economy of tropical countries, such as mining and industrialisa tion and is in full development for treating environmental problems caused by human activities of urban or industrial origin. We must compliment Prof. Jorge Abriio and his colleagues in Brazil and Dr. Gloria Prieto and her colleagues in Colombia for these ini tiatives. The participation of respectively 180 and 150 scientists, coming from 15 different countries for the first and second symposia, has shown that a large interest exists for tropical environmental geochemistry. It also demonstrates the necessity to understand tropical environmental problems. The organisation of a large international symposium is not possible without the assistance of state and federal authorities, for which those of Brazil and Colombia have to be complimented. The 3rd Symposium on Environmental Geochemistry in Tropical Countries was the last of the series and was attended by 22 countries and 170 participants and treated a number of related environmental and economic problems."

From beach encounters, aquaculture perils, and processed-food poisoning to snake bites and biological warfare, natural toxins seem never to be far from the public's sight. A better understanding of toxins in terms of their origin, structure, structure-function relation ships, mechanism of action, and detection and diagnosis is of utmost importance to human and animal food safety, nutrition, and health. In addition, it is now clear that many of the toxins can be used as scientific tools to explore the molecular mechanism of several biological processes, be it a mechanism involved in the function of membrane channels, exocytosis, or cytotoxicity. Several of the natural toxins have also been approved as therapeutic drugs, which has made them of interest to several pharmaceutical companies. For example, botulinum neurotoxins, which have been used in studies in the field of neurobiology, have also been used directly as therapeutic drugs against several neuromus cular diseases, such as strabismus and blepherospasm. Toxins in combination with modem biotechnological approaches are also being investigated for their potential use against certain deadly medical problems. For example, a combination of plant toxin ricin and antibodies is being developed for the treatment of tumors. The great potential of natural toxins has attracted scientists of varying backgrounds-pure chemists to cancer biologists-to the study of fundamental aspects of the actions of these toxins."

Most of the nuclear facilities built since the Second World War have ceased active operation and have been decommissioned. Some of the sites are heavily contaminated with radioactive substances. Correct and efficient action to mitigate the radiological consequences of such contamination will only be possible when the behaviour of radionuclides in the terrestrial environment is sufficiently well known. Yet radioecologists often find it difficult to study the transfer of radioactivity in agricultural land and semi-natural ecosystems, because of the complexity and diversity of such environments. The present book presents an analysis of all the factors that affect the behaviour of radionuclides as they move from their point of release through the environment and then enter the tissues of biota living in the ecosystems, in particular plants and animals consumed by humans. The course on which the book is based was held in a region that is heavily contaminated by radioactive discharges into the environment during nuclear weapons fabrication in the 1950s and '60s, and due to a severe accidental release following the explosion of a rad-waste tank in 1957. This allowed in situ training of the students. The book's main emphasis is on specific radioecological problems in severely contaminated areas in the former Soviet Union: the Southern Urals Trail, the rivers Techa-Isert-Tobol-Irtis-Ob, and the 30 km zone around Chernobyl. Systems examined include soils, arable and pasture land, forests, lakes and rivers. Special attention is paid to the effects of radiation on natural ecosystems: trees, soil-dwelling organisms, and aquatic organisms. Synergistic effects are also considered. Short, medium and long term countermeasures are discussed.

The atmospheric scientists of the world are in general agreement that the threat of climate change is real, inevitable, and serious. The accumulation of greenhouse gases, principally CO from burning fossil fuels, is the main cause. 2 At the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro, 166 nations signed the Framework Convention on Climate Change and agreed to draw up plans to contain greenhouse gases at 1990 levels. Never in world history had so many nations agreed on anything. . Developing these plans has not been easy and no two countries have had the same circumstances and conditions to meet. Countries have not approached their problems in the same manner and many nations find the task almost impossible to solve under the ground rules set up in Rio. This volume contains the papers presented at a meeting organized by the Center for Environmental Information and held in Washington, D.C., November 30 to December 2, 1994. The principal aim of the meeting was to evaluate the U.S. and other national climate action plans which had been released a few weeks before. Specifically, these papers concentrate on an overview of the U.S. plan; the perspec tives of business, industry, electric utilities, and environmental organizations; mitigation actions in various plans; integrated assessment; an overview of plans from various nations; and the need to amend the convention. The meeting was sponsored and cosponsored by 35 governmental agencies, environ mental groups, industrial organizations, and educational institutions."

The study of the relationship between environmental pollution and human health is in its infancy. The number of substances and mixtures that have been identified in uncontrolled hazardous waste sites or that have been in advertently released into the environment is large and data on how thes~ substances are modified as they interact with one another as they migrate through soil, air, and water are limited. There are also limits on our un derstanding of how these substances may be ingested, inhaled, or absorbed by people. The complexity of possible interactions between biological, chemical, and physical components in a given environment makes it virtually impossible to evaluate the potential for adverse biological effects ade quately in the laboratory. Other, more comprehensive methods which provide realistic and interpretable results must be used. Many scientists believe that humans represent the ultimate sentinel species of a toxic exposure re sUlting from environmental pollution, however such exposures may also se verely impact environmental health. There exists a wide variety of organ isms in the natural environment that could be used to provide an early warning for potential human health effects as well as to indicate adverse ecological effects. The issue of effective utilization of sentinel species for environment al monitoring is a rapidly developing area of research which has grown in importance during the last decade.

This volume constitutes the proceedings of the Produced Water Seminar held in Trondheim, Norway, in September 1995. Hosted by Statoil Research and Development and IKU Petroleum Research, the seminar was an update of the 1992 seminar of the same title held in San Diego, California (Ray and Engelhardt, 1992). Produced water remains the largest volume waste stream from oil and gas production offshore. In the North and Norwegian Seas, produced water volumes are projected to increase significantly over the coming decades, as oil reservoirs near depletion. These releases are therefore the focus of continuing environmental concern. The purpose of this seminar was to provide a forum for scientists, legislators, and industrial and environmental representatives to share recent information and research results, and to encourage cooperative pursuit of solutions in the future. The success of the seminar, and the quality of this volume, are due in large part to the many authors from around the world who presented almost 50 posters and papers focused on environmental issues and mitigation technologies. In addition, we wish to acknowledge the contributions of the local and international organizing committees. Local Committee Asbj0fg 0verli and Heidi Torp, Statoil Egil Wanvik and Laila S. Olden, IKU Petroleum Research International Committee James P. Ray, Shell Chemical and Petroleum Products Companies Alexis E. Steen, American Petroleum Institute Theodor C. Sauer, Battelle Ocean Sciences Steven A. Flynn, British Petroleum Martin C. Th. Scholten, TNO Kjell Lohne, Statoil Ingvild Martinsen, Norwegian Pollution Control Authority.

Although present day politics seems to be preoccupied with questions of economic growth and full employment, the basic environmental problems stemming from the interactions of the economic sphere with global, regional and local environments persist and will have an even greater impact in the future. If economy and ecology are not reconciled in the years to come, mankind will not have a sustainable future on Earth. The typical negation of environmental problems in times of economic crisis is partially due to the fact that environmental and health damages of economic activities are neither priced nor included in our market price system. This allows politicians to focus their attention on insufficient economic indicators which do not reflect the actual development of the welfare of society. If economic lead indicators like GDP or balance of trade figures were better integrated with information on the environmental and health costs caused by the seemingly beneficial economic development, politicians might have better guidance as to what policy choices would benefit society most.

The pilot study on estuarine management was initiated by the NATO Committee on the Challenges of Modem Society (CCMS). The objective of this project was to make a comparison of several estuarine management strategies and to formulate a set of recommen dations and planning guidelines to restore polluted estuaries, to prevent further estuarine deterioration, and to manage conflicting demands stemming from human activities. The first results of this NATO-CCMS project were reported in 1982, describing six estuaries and their management approaches. In 1985 CCMS decided a subsequent research project should be performed to achieve the original objectives. This second research project was basically done by way of a comprehensive questionnaire that was sent to authorities of estuarine areas all over the world. Eleven questionnaires have been received. In some instances, the questionnaires were not fully completed for several reasons. Especially, data on water quality was lacking. As a result, less attention will be paid to related aspects as originally intended. This study shows that knowledge of the number of functions and conflicts of estuaries may provide relevant information concerning the severity of the problems as well as the propensity towards planning of water systems."

***e FACHGEBIET*** Mathematical Geology, Computer Applications, Artificial Intelligence, Urban Economics and Regional Economics ***INTERESSENTENGRUPPE*** Of interest to Urban and Regional planners, civil engineers, geographers; computer scientists; operations researchers; landscape architects; and advanced students in the above disciplines.- Level: Technical Book, Monograph ***URHEBER*** T.J. Kim, University of Illinois, Champaign, IL; L.L. Wiggins, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA; J.R. Wright, Purdue University, Lafayette, IN (Eds.) ***TITEL*** Expert Systems: Applications to Urban Planning ***BIBLIOGRAPHISCHE-ANGABEN*** 1990. XIV, 268 pp. 48 figs. Hardcover DM 78, - ISBN 3-540-97171-8 ***LANGTEXT*** While expert systems have become a popular topic in the computing, medical and engineering fields, the expert system is still a new technology in urban planning. This book introduces expert systems for problem solving in urban planning and describes the way in which heuristic knowledge and rules of thumb of expert planners can be represented through computer programs. The book presents practical applications of expert systems for solving many important urban planning problems, particularly those issues that many practicing planners face in their daily operations. Problems and issues discussed are grouped in the following categories: - Land Use Planning - Transportation Planning - Site Selection and Analysis - Environmental Planning - Conflict Mediation and Legal Disputes - Future Developments and Directions Expert Systems: Applications to Urban Planning will benefit both urban planners who wish to learn how this new technology might be applied to their daily work as well as researchers in expert systems seeking new ideas for systems design.

Biotechnology for Waste Management and Site Restoration covers: waste management - solid, gaseous, liquid; site restoration - radioactivity, organics, toxic metals; educational, economic, social and business aspects; and international collaboration. International collaboration is growing apace and many concrete projects have been started. The body of knowledge is growing. Over the long term, it is envisaged that this international collaboration will result in a long-term scientific and technological strategy, new technologies and alternative solutions, and practical implementations of biotechnology for the nuclear and industrial sectors of the economy.

Motivation The other day I was waiting at the station for my train. Next to me a young lady was nonchalantly leaning against the wall. Suddenly, she took a cigarette pack out of her handbag, pulled out the last cigarette, put it between her lips, crushed the empty pack, threw it on the ground and hedonistically lit the cigarette. I thought to myself, "What a behavior? ." The nearest trashcan was just five meters away. So I bent down, took the crushed pack and gave it back to her, saying that she had lost it. She looked at me in a rather deranged way, but she said nothing and of waste to the trashcan. brought the piece Often people are not aware of the waste they produce. They get rid of it and that's it. As soon as the charming lady dropped the cigarette pack, the problem was solved for her. The pack was on the ground and it suddenly no longer belonged to her. It is taken for granted that somebody else will do the cleaning up. There is a saying that nature does not produce waste. For long as humans obtained the goods they needed from the ground where they lived, the waste that was produced could be handled by nature. This has drastically changed due to urbanization and waste produced by human activities has become a severe burden.

A survey of recent developments in the field of plutonium disposal by the application of advanced nuclear systems, both critical and subcritical. Current national R&D plans are summarized. The actinide-fuelled critical reactors are associated with control problems, since they tend to have a small delayed neutron fraction coupled with a small Doppler effect and a positive void coefficient. Current thinking is turning to accelerator-driven subcritical systems for the transmutation of actinides. The book's conclusion is that the various systems proposed are technically feasible, even though not yet technically mature. The book presents a unique summary and evaluation of all relevant possibilities for burning surplus plutonium, presented by experts from a variety of different disciplines and interests, including the defence establishment. The obvious issue - the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons - is vital, but the matter represents a complex technological challenge that also requires an assessment in economic terms.

Until the late 1970s, most commercial power plant operators outside the United States adopted a spent fuel management policy of immediate reprocessing and recycling of recovered products. In response to rising reprocessing prices, decreasing values of re covered products, concerns over proliferation risks, and a belief in the favorable eco nomics of direct disposal, many utilities have since opted to store spent fuel on an in terim basis pending the availability of direct disposal facilities or a change in the eco nomic and/or political climate for reprocessing and recycling uranium and plutonium. Spent fuel has traditionally been stored in water-filled pools located in the reactor building or fuel handling buildings, on reactor sites, or as part of large centralized fa cilities (e.g. Sellafield, La Hague, CLAB). Because the economics of pool storage are dependent on the size of the facility, the construction of additional separate pools on reactor sites has only been pursued in a few countries, such as Finland and Bulgaria."

Proceedings of the International Workshop, Thermal Solid Waste Utilization in Regular and Industrial Facilities, held in Kazimierz Dolny, Poland, November 28-30, 1999. In recent years, industrial and urban growth has resulted in growing volumes of nondegradable wastes, and this volume focuses on the technologies related to recycling and material reuse which are now being favoured over land disposal. There is an overview on waste utilisation in industrial facilities, particularly cement kilns, from an ecological as well as technological aspect, and some innovative solutions of pyrolitic and plasma reactors, used for hazardous wastes combustion.

During late 1978, a symposium entitled "Science Underlying Radioactive Waste Management" was one component of the Annual Meet ing of the Materials Research Society held in Boston, Massachusetts. The purpose of this Symposium was to bring together for the first time the entire range of sciences that form the basis for the treatment, solidification and isolation of radioactive wastes. Some 79 papers were presented to an international audience of over 300. The Symposium was such an impressive success that another will be held at the 1979 Annual Meeting of the Materials Research Society. The proceedings of the forthcoming symposium will also be published and it is for this reason that the present volume has been desig nated Volume 1. The scope of the Symposium was defined by the following steer ing committee: Rustum Roy, The Pennsylvania State University (Chairman) Richard S. Claassen, Sandia Laboratories Don Ferguson, Oak Ridge National Laboratory Victor I. Spitsyn, U.S.S.R. Academy of Sciences, Moscow David B. Stewart, United States Geological Survey Torbjorn Westermark, Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm. The program was organized by the following committee: Gregory J. McCarthy, The Pennsylvania State University (Cha- man) Harry C. Burkholder, Battelle Memorial Institute Arnold M. Friedman Argonne National Laboratory Werner Lutze, Hahn-Meitner Institut, Berlin John G. Moore, Oak Ridge National Laboratory Robert W. Potter, II, United States Geological Survey Richard L. Schwoebe1, Sandia Laboratories Roger W. Staehle, Ohio State University."

Metals in the hydrological cycle represent a very broad subject covering all parts of the geological cycle. The present version of this book, therefore, would not have been possible without the comments and suggestions for improvement on draft ver- sions of the various chapters by a large number of colleagues. We wish to express our gratitude to: P.A. Cawse (AERE, UK), J.N. Galloway (University of Virginia, USA) and S.E. Lindberg (Oak Ridge National Labo- ratory, USA) for reviewing the chapter on atmospheric trace metals. G. Batley (CSIRO, Australia) and B.T. Hart (Chisholm In- stitute of Technology, Australia) for reviewing the chapter on speciation of dissolved metals. E.K. Duursma (Delta Institute, The Netherlands), J.M. Bewers and P.H. Yeats (Bedford Institute of Oceanography, Canada) and D. Eisma (Netherlands Institute for Sea Re- search, the Netherlands) for reviewing the chapter on estuaries. P. Baccini (EAWAG, Switzerland) and W. Davison (Fresh- water Biological Association, UK) for reviewing the chapter on lakes. E.T. Degens (University of Hamburg, W-Germany) for re- viewing the chapter on the oceans, and J.P. Al (Public Works Department, The Netherlands) for reviewing most of the indi- vidual chapters. Without the collaboration of these colleagues this book would not have been possible in its present form.

The problem of pollution of the environment arose for the first time with the beginning of Industrialization. At that time there was no need to think about disposal of waste. There was no reason to do so because the space available to man and other living creatures appeared quite adequate. The life expectancy of man has risen as a result of the enormous advances In technology and medicine. In 1650 It was 30 years throughout the world whi Ie In 1970 It had risen to 53 years, and this has consequently been accompanied by a population exp los I on. Whl Ie the world population in 1650 was some 500,000,000, in 1970 It was about 3,600,000,000. Assuming that mortality does not rise sharply, the population potential 1 for the year 2000 is expected to be some 7,000,000,000 * Industrial production has grown to an even greater degree than the world population. The growth of noxious substances has developed with the growth of the population on the one hand and with industrial growth on the other. The growth of slaughterhouse waste is directly related to population growth, because as the population -increases so does the demand for meat and meat products. Consumption habits have also changed with Increasing prosperity so that there has been an increase in the proportion of slaughterhouse by-products which are difficult to market.

The volume contains the main papers presented at the 1994 EUROTOX Congress, Basel, Switzerland, August 21-24, 1994. Toxicology has become a less descriptive science because more importance has been placed on the mechanisms underlying toxic effects. This is reflected in symposia and workshops devoted to species differences in organ toxicity, receptor-mediated toxicity and stereochemical effects of xenobiotics. Recent progress in the fields of immunotoxicology, ecotoxicology, and neurotoxicology is highlighted and documented together with the present discussion on harmonized regulatory guidelines.

The past few years have seen the emergence of a growing, widespread desire in this country, and indeed everywhere, that positive actions be taken to restore the quality of our environment, and to protect it from the degrading effects of all forms of pollution-air, noise, solid waste, and water. Since pollution is a direct or" indirect consequence of waste, if there is no waste, there can be no pollution, and the seemingly idealistic demand for" zero discharge" can be construed as a demand for zero waste. However, as long as there is waste, we can only attempt to abate the consequent pollution by converting it to a less noxious form. In those instances in which a particular type of pollution has been recognized, three major questions usually arise: 1, How serious is the pollution? 2, Is the technology to abate it available? and 3, Do the costs of abatement justify the degree of abatement achieved? The principal intention of this series of books is to help the reader to formulate answers to the last two of the above three questions. The traditional approach of applying tried-and-true solutions to specific pollution problems has been a major factor contributing to the success of environmental engineering, and in large measure has accounted for the establishing ofa "methodology of pollution control.

As society has become increasingly aware of the potential threats to human health due to exposures to toxic chemicals in the environment and the workplace and in consumer products, it has placed increased demands upon the still-fledgling science of toxicology. As is often the case when science is called upon to supply firm answers when pertinent information and fundamental knowledge are lack ing, both the scientific and the social issues become confused and new tensions develop. One of the major purposes of this book is to focus on those aspects of the science of toxicology that pertain most to social issues-namely, analysis of risk for purposes of human health protection. Although it is apparent that the discipline of toxicology is not yet prepared to provide firm answers to many questions concerning human risk, it is important that the rigorously derived information be used in the most objective and logical way to yield the closest approximation to the truth. This book is designed to sup ply as much guidance for such tasks as is permitted by the current state of our knowledge. Its emphasis is thus placed on interpretation of toxicity data (broadly defined) for assessing risks to human health. In this way, it differs from other basic toxicology texts, most of which emphasize methods for performing studies or describe various toxicological endpoints and classes of toxic agents."