The hazardous priority substances in Italy: National rules and environmental quality standard in marine environment

Journal Article · Tue Jan 15 04:00:00 EST 2008 · Environmental Impact Assessment Review

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eiar.2007.01.002· OSTI ID:21077723

Maggi, Chiara ^[1]; Onorati, Fulvio ^[1]

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1. ICRAM - Central Institute for Marine Research, Via di Casalotti, 300 Roma 00166 (Italy)

Article number 16 of the Water Framework Directive (Directive 2000/60/EC) lays down the community strategy for establishment of harmonised quality standards for the priority substances and other substances posing a significant risk to the aquatic environment. In order to achieve the protection objectives of the Directive 2000/60/EC, the Italian Ministry of the Environment proposed the quality standards for surface water, sediments and biota related to the priority substances listed in the decision No. 2455/2001/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of November 20 (2001) [Decision N. 2455/2001/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 November 2001. The list of priority substances in the field of water policy and amending Directive 2000/60/EC. Official Journal of the European Communities, 15.12.2001, p. 5]. Particularly, for the protection of the marine environment, the proposed Italian rules state that, from 1 January 2021, the concentrations of the hazardous priority substances in Italian marine and lagoon waters must be near the natural background for natural substances, like metals, and near zero for the anthropogenic one. According to Directive 2000/60/EC, the Italian Ministry of Environment issued in 2003 Decree 367 in which has derived 160 Environmental Quality Standard (EQS) for water and 27 Environmental Quality Objective (EQO) for sediment of marine coastal area, lagoons and coastal ponds. Biota quality standards have still to be fixed. The paper illustrates the criteria applied for the definition of the quality standards and some comments are presented.

• OSTI ID: 21077723
• Journal Information: Environmental Impact Assessment Review, Journal Name: Environmental Impact Assessment Review Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 28; ISSN 0195-9255; ISSN EIARDK
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
ENVIRONMENT
ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
EUROPEAN UNION
ITALY
METALS
PONDS
SAFETY
SEDIMENTS
STANDARDS
STATE GOVERNMENT
WATER POLICY