Heavy Metals in the Environment Using Wetlands for Their Removal © 2000 by CRC Press LLC LEWIS PUBLISHERS Boca Raton London New York Washington, D.C. Howard T. Odum Wlodzimierz Wójcik Lowell Pritchard, Jr. Shanshin Ton Joseph J. Delfino Malgorzata Wójcik Slawomir Leszczynski Jay D. Patel Steven J. Doherty Jacek Stasik Center for Environmental Policy and Center for Wetlands Environmental Engineering Sciences University of Florida Gainesville, Florida Heavy Metals in the Environment Using Wetlands for Their Removal © 2000 by CRC Press LLC This book contains information obtained from authentic and highly regarded sources. Reprinted material is quoted with permission, and sources are indicated. A wide variety of references are listed. Reasonable efforts have been made to publish reliable data and information, but the author and the publisher cannot assume responsibility for the validity of all materials or for the consequences of their use. 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Specific permission must be obtained in writing from CRC Press LLC for such copying. Direct all inquiries to CRC Press LLC, 2000 N.W. Corporate Blvd., Boca Raton, Florida 33431. Trademark Notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation, without intent to infringe. © 2000 by CRC Press LLC Lewis Publishers is an imprint of CRC Press LLC No claim to original U.S. Government works International Standard Book Number 1-56670-401-4 Library of Congress Card Number 99-089022 Printed in the United States of America 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 Printed on acid-free paper Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Heavy metals in the environment : using wetlands for their removal / Howard T. Odum … [et al.]. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 1-56670-401-4 (alk. paper) 1. Heavy metals—Environmental aspects. 2. Lead—Environmental aspects. 3. Wetland ecology. 4. Bioremediation. 5. Ecological engineering. I. Odum, Howard T., 1924– TD196.M4 H434 2000 628.5 ′ 2—dc21 99-089022 CIP L1401-frame-FM Page 4 Tuesday, April 11, 2000 2:53 PM © 2000 by CRC Press LLC Foreword This is a book to deepen our understanding of the way nature realigns and reorganizes to accept the burdens associated with metal as it streams through society. Tadeusz and Berthe Sendzimir, industrial pioneers, first in Poland and later in the U.S., left a legacy to fit metals with environment and society by supporting the work which led to this book. Much of the appearance and possibilities of modern life reside in sheet metal, the cowling shield of most machines. Tadeusz Sendzimir designed some of the first machines that made sheet metal affordable, mills that rolled red hot slabs into miles of thin metal to house the refrigerators and washing machines of expanding suburbia. Like so many of the creative eddies spun off a river of fossil fuel in this century, Tadeusz Sendzimir made sheet metal something common, and appliances became the altars of modern-day convenience. However, the load that convenience takes off human muscle has to be taken up elsewhere, and some of this has been borne as a series of burdens added to the Earth during the extraction and refinement of metal. In a sense, the true cost of convenience is emerging; and it is only fitting that the profits derived from metal’s convenience should in turn be fed back to understand some of the impacts underlying the exploitation of metal. This balancing of cause and effect is part of the noble legacy of pioneers. Many of us awakened to the true cost of convenience as the momentum of a century of industri- alization finally surpassed the capacity of nature to assimilate it. Society’s final buffer against uncontrolled pollution is to filter the news from state and corporate news media. When the official silence on environmental degradation was breached in Poland by the Solidarity Movement in the mid- 1980s, Tadeusz and Berthe Sendzimir were shocked to learn of the effects of 50 years of short-sighted exploitation of natural systems. The bleak aspect of Polish rivers, lakes, and forests had testified to this for decades, and now the verdict of statistics left no doubt. Forests were acidified by rain, rivers were made corrosive with salt and acid, waters were polluted by sewage, and air in many cities was laden with the exhaust of cars, furnaces, and factories. Many places in the U.S. were also impacted. With difficult choices and years of hard work, new progress can grow from these ashes. Tadeusz and Berthe decided that they could help by supporting small steps in understanding what might culminate in useful tools when the political will and the economic means to mitigate the damage to the environment had matured. This book describes the first project they launched. It had the goal of understanding how natural systems use wetlands to adapt to wastes. Lead was chosen because a capable group of investigators had incisive questions to apply and situations were available where human developments had inadvertently saturated wetland ecosystems with this heavy metal. The key people in question were ecologists, Howard T. Odum and Lowell Pritchard, Jr.; chemists, Joseph Delfino and Shanshin Ton; and an engineer, Wlodzimierz Wójcik and associates. Breakthrough questions stem from ecological engineering, a discipline that probes how the design of natural systems can be employed to engineer resource flows in ways more efficient than fossil fuel-driven machine systems. Can systems powered by sunlight handle toxics more effectively than systems running on fossil fuel? At what scale and by what means does one usefully define efficiency? The locations where these studies occurred were a North Florida cypress swamp loaded with lead from a spill from a battery reprocessing plant and an herbaceous wetland in Silesia which has received the waste effluent from a lead mine for 400 years. The questions raised in these studies resonate ever more strongly with a number of global challenges that have become more prominent since this study has been completed. Airborne deposition of toxics is no longer a regional phenomenon that can be avoided by moving elsewhere. It appears to be as global and inescapable as climate change. If the time comes when there is less use of fossil fuel-based technology, what means remain with which to clean up the aftermath of toxic misadventures? Ecological engineering appears to be one of the most promising avenues with which to explore answers to that question, and this book is an excellent step down that path. Jan Sendzimir L1401-frame-FM Page 5 Tuesday, April 11, 2000 2:53 PM © 2000 by CRC Press LLC Acknowledgments This study was a joint project of the D.T. Sendzimir Family Foundation (Jan Sendzimir, Head), the Department of Environmental Engineering Sciences of the University of Florida in Gainesville (H.T. Odum, Principal Investigator), and the University of Mining and Metallurgy, Krakow, Poland (Wlodzimierz Wójcik, Principal Investigator). Joan Breeze was editorial assistant. Joseph J. Delfino Department of Environmental Engineering Sciences University of Florida Gainesville, Florida Steven J. Doherty Swedish University of Agricultural Science Uppsala, Sweden Slawomir Leszczynski Institute of Enviroment Protection and Management University of Mining and Metallurgy Krakow, Poland Howard T. Odum Department of Environmental Engineering Sciences University of Florida Gainesville, Florida Jay D. Patel Department of Environmental Engineering Sciences University of Florida Gainesville, Florida Lowell Pritchard, Jr. Department of Environmental Studies Emory University Decatur, Georgia Jacek Stasik Institute of Environment Protection and Management University of Mining and Metallurgy Krakow, Poland Shanshin Ton Department of Environmental Science Feng-Chia University Tai-Chung, Taiwan Malgorzata Wójcik Institute of Environment Protection and Management University of Mining and Metallurgy Krakow, Poland Wlodzimierz Wójcik Institute of Environment Protection and Management University of Mining and Metallurgy Krakow, Poland L1401-frame-FM Page 7 Tuesday, April 11, 2000 2:53 PM © 2000 by CRC Press LLC Contents PART I INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND Chapter 1 Introduction 3 Chapter 2 Problems and Needs 21 Chapter 3 Background of Published Studies on Lead and Wetlands 29 Chapter 4 Biogeochemical Cycle of Lead and the Energy Hierarchy 49 Howard T. Odum PART II LEAD IN A CYPRESS-GUM SWAMP, JACKSON COUNTY, FLORIDA Chapter 5 Ecological Assessment of the Steele City Swamps 71 Lowell Pritchard, Jr. Chapter 6 Lead Distribution in Steele City Swamps 81 Shanshin Ton and Joseph J. Delfino Chapter 7 Experiments with Lead and Acid in Wetland Microcosms 87 Shanshin Ton Chapter 8 Simulation Model of a Lead-Containing Swamp Ecosystem 91 Shanshin Ton and Howard T. Odum PART III LEAD AND WETLANDS IN POLAND Chapter 9 Lead and Zinc Retention in the Biala River Wetland of Poland 97 Wlodzimierz Wójcik and Malgorzata Wójcik Chapter 10 Perspectives on Lead and Zinc Manufacturing, and Environment 115 Wlodzimierz Wójcik Chapter 11 The Ecological Economics of Natural Wetland Retention of Lead 121 Lowell Pritchard, Jr. L1401-frame-FM Page 9 Tuesday, April 11, 2000 2:53 PM © 2000 by CRC Press LLC PART IV VALUE AND POLICY Chapter 12 Emergy Evaluation of Treatment Alternatives in Poland 145 Wlodzimierz Wójcik, Slawomir Leszczynski, and Howard T. Odum Chapter 13 The Evolution of Environmental Law and the Industrial Lead Cycle 153 Jay D. Patel Chapter 14 Summary, Policy for Heavy Metals and Environment 165 APPENDICES Appendix A1 Symbols Used in Systems Diagrams 171 Appendix A4 Biogeochemical Cycle of Lead and the Energy Hierarchy 173 Howard T. Odum Appendix A5 A Field Measurement Methods 177 Lowell Pritchard, Jr. Appendix A5 B Data on Biota in Sapp Swamp 183 Lowell Pritchard, Jr. Appendix A6 A Methods Used for Chemical Analysis of Waters and Sediments 187 Shanshin Ton and Joseph J. Delfino Appendix A6 B Chemical Data on the Cypress-Gum Swamps of Steele City Bay, Jackson County, Florida 193 Shanshin Ton and Joseph J. Delfino Appendix A7 Details and Statistics on Microcosm Studies 201 Shanshin Ton Appendix A8 Equations, Programs, and Calibration Table for Simulation Models 205 Shanshin Ton and Howard T. Odum Appendix A9 Data on the Biala River Wetland and the Results of the Field Experiments 211 Wlodzimierz Wójcik and Malgorzata Wójcik L1401-frame-FM Page 10 Tuesday, April 11, 2000 2:53 PM © 2000 by CRC Press LLC Appendix A11 A Details on Economic Valuation Methods 255 Lowell Pritchard, Jr. Appendix A11 B Transformities Used in Calculations 261 Lowell Pritchard, Jr. Appendix A12 Emergy Evaluation of Poland 269 Wlodzimierz Wójcik, Jacek Stasik, and Howard T. Odum Appendix A13 References to Laws Cited in Chapter 13 281 Jay D. Patel References 283 L1401-frame-FM Page 11 Tuesday, April 11, 2000 2:53 PM © 2000 by CRC Press LLC To Tadeusz and Berthe Sendzimir For their love of nature and the people of Poland which returns again and again in the new understanding and practice toward which they set us. L1401-frame-FM Page 13 Tuesday, April 11, 2000 2:53 PM © 2000 by CRC Press LLC P ART I Introduction and Background After describing the contents of this book on lead and wetlands, the introductory chapter explains the gaia hypothesis for the role of wetlands in regulating toxic heavy metals. Chapter 2 identifies current questions and needs regarding lead and society. Chapter 3 reviews published literature on lead, wetlands, and society. Finally, Chapter 4 examines systems models of lead and the global cycle. L1401-frame-P1 Page 1 Monday, April 10, 2000 9:13 AM © 2000 by CRC Press LLC [...]... © 2000 by CRC Press LLC 13 © 2000 by CRC Press LLC L14 0 1- frame-C1 Page 13 Monday, April 10 , 2000 5:02 PM INTRODUCTION Figure 1. 6 Plant communities of the Biala River Wetland L14 0 1- frame-C1 Page 14 Monday, April 10 , 2000 5:02 PM 14 HEAVY METALS IN THE ENVIRONMENT: USING WETLANDS FOR THEIR REMOVAL Figure 1. 7a View of the sedge community, Station 3, Biala River, Poland Figure 1. 7b View of bog bean, sedges,... April 10 , 2000 5:00 PM INTRODUCTION 11 Figure 1. 4g View of area near Station F August 20, 19 90 where some trees survived and were resprouting (Pritchard) See Figure 1. 3 Figure 1. 4h Sampling dissolved oxygen August 21, 19 90 at Station C (Pritchard) See Figure 1. 3 © 2000 by CRC Press LLC L14 0 1- frame-C1 Page 12 Monday, April 10 , 2000 5:02 PM 12 HEAVY METALS IN THE ENVIRONMENT: USING WETLANDS FOR THEIR REMOVAL. .. by CRC Press LLC L14 0 1- frame-C1 Page 15 Monday, April 10 , 2000 5:02 PM INTRODUCTION Figure 1. 7c View of cattails and reeds, Station 4, Biala River, Poland Figure 1. 7d View of reeds and cattails, Station 7, Biala River, Poland © 2000 by CRC Press LLC 15 L14 0 1- frame-C1 Page 16 Monday, April 10 , 2000 5:02 PM 16 HEAVY METALS IN THE ENVIRONMENT: USING WETLANDS FOR THEIR REMOVAL Figure 1. 7e View of Station... 5:00 PM 10 HEAVY METALS IN THE ENVIRONMENT: USING WETLANDS FOR THEIR REMOVAL Figure 1. 4e View of gum and cypress trees in November 19 91 after autumn leaf fall in the unimpacted reference area at Station RF (Pritchard) See Figure 1. 3 Figure 1. 4f View August 21, 19 90 of damaged area near Station G where many trees survived (Pritchard) See Figure 1. 3 © 2000 by CRC Press LLC L14 0 1- frame-C1 Page 11 Monday,... lilies near Station B (Pritchard) See Figure 1. 3 © 2000 by CRC Press LLC L14 0 1- frame-C1 Page 8 Monday, April 10 , 2000 5:00 PM 8 Figure 1. 4c HEAVY METALS IN THE ENVIRONMENT: USING WETLANDS FOR THEIR REMOVAL Lowell Pritchard, Jr sampling sediments near Station B, with surviving swamp trees in less affected areas in the background March 15 , 19 91 (Pritchard) See Figure 1. 3 MODELS AND SIMULATION After scientific... lead The Sapp site in Jackson County, in Florida (Figure 1. 3), is a 1- h drive west of Tallahassee From 19 70 to 19 79 thousands © 2000 by CRC Press LLC L14 0 1- frame-C1 Page 6 Monday, April 10 , 2000 5:00 PM 6 HEAVY METALS IN THE ENVIRONMENT: USING WETLANDS FOR THEIR REMOVAL N 500 m Water flow Sapp Battery Site A U.S Route 2 31 New creek Old creek Route 276 H C Steele City Bay RF B E F Steele City G D OF1 To... environmental work (on the left) contributing real wealth to economic uses The work contributed by human services is shown (from the right) paid for by dollars (dashed lines) © 2000 by CRC Press LLC L14 0 1- frame-C1 Page 18 Monday, April 10 , 2000 5:02 PM 18 HEAVY METALS IN THE ENVIRONMENT: USING WETLANDS FOR THEIR REMOVAL To evaluate the impact and contributions of environment and the costs and benefits to people... depends In the global cycle of the earth, the slow rise of the land is balanced by steady erosion as soils and sediments return to the sea carried by the cycle of water In Figure 1. 1 the ocean on the left supplies the rain to the land on the right, and the water carrying sediments drains back to the ocean In the original landscape before economic development, much of the water runoff passed through wetlands. .. (Lynch, 19 81; Trnovsky et al., 19 88) Becker (19 81) gathered photographic documentation This battery-washing area was designated a Superfund site and a $700,000 cleanup was contracted by the U.S Environmental Protection Agency in 19 81 to 19 83 The battery-washing site and soils of the first wetland (within the dashed line at the top of Figure 1. 3) were dug up and transported to Alabama During 19 90 to 19 93... RIVER MARSHES IN POLAND The second lead-containing wetland studied was the Biala River Marsh (Figure 1. 5), 60 mi from Krakow, Poland where lead and zinc from mining and processing had been running into grassy wetlands for 400 years Lead and zinc and ecosystem characteristics were studied to understand long-range responses In this site some of the metals washing out from the industry into the river were . (Pritchard). See Figure 1. 3. L14 0 1- frame-C1 Page 9 Monday, April 10 , 2000 5:00 PM © 2000 by CRC Press LLC 10 HEAVY METALS IN THE ENVIRONMENT: USING WETLANDS FOR THEIR REMOVAL Figure 1. 4e View of. Data Heavy metals in the environment : using wetlands for their removal / Howard T. Odum … [et al.]. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 1- 5 667 0-4 0 1- 4 (alk. paper) 1. Heavy. to the sea carried by the cycle of water. In Figure 1. 1 the ocean on the left supplies the rain to the land on the right, and the water carrying sediments drains back to the ocean. In the original