Department of the Environment

Laboratory of petroleum hydrocarbons and pesticides, Pardisan Research Center, Department of the Environment (DOE), Tehran, Iran. 

The authors would like to thank Dr Mark Taylor, Dr Raquel Duarte-Davidson and the other participants who contributed to our understanding during a workshop on the ecological effects of sex hormone disrupters held at the Institute in January 1998. We also acknowledge the financial support provided by the UK Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions for the work at lEH on endocrine disruption. However, the opinions expressed in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of any government department or agency. 

Ronald E. Hester is Professor of Chemistry in the University of York. He was for short periods a research fellow in Cambridge and an assistant professor at Cornell before being appointed to a lectureship in chemistry in York in 1965. He has been a full professor in York since 1983. His more than 300 publications are mainly in the area of vibrational spectroscopy, latterly focusing on time-resolved studies of photoreaction intermediates and on biomolecular systems in solution. He is active in environmental chemistry and is a founder member and former chairman of the Environment Group of the Royal Society of Chemistry and editor of Industry and the Environment in Perspective (RSC, 1983) and Understanding Our Environment (RSC, 1986). As a member of the Council of the UK Science and Engineering Research Council and several of its sub-committees, panels and boards, he has been heavily involved in national science policy and administration. He was, from 1991-93, a member of the UK Department of the Environment Advisory Committee on Hazardous Substances and is currently a member of the Publications and Information Board of the Royal Society of Chemistry. 

Impacts of Nitrogen Deposition on Terrestrial Ecosystems, Report of the United Kingdom Review Group on Impacts of Atmospheric Nitrogen, Department of the Environment, London, 1994. Report of the AERC Institute of Arable Crops Research for 1991, AERC, London, 1992, p. 36. 

In 1974, the Harmonized Monitoring Programme was set up by the Department of the Environment (DoE). The objective was to provide a network of sites at the lower end of catchments, where water quality data could be collected and analysed in a nationally consistent manner, allowing the loads of materials carried through river catchments into estuaries to be estimated and long-term trends in river quality to be assessed. The complete list of substances to be monitored is diverse and specifies about 115 substances. The pesticides aldrin, dieldrin, y-HCH, heptachlor, p,p -DDT and p,p -DDE are included. Figures 1 and 2 show the downward trend of y-HCH and dieldrin over the past 20 years at the Harmonized Monitoring Sites. This confirms that reductions in environmental concentrations have been achieved, particularly over the past 10 years. 

The estimates in Table 3 represent one inventory however, a further estimate of uncertainties may be found by comparing other recent ongoing inventories for the UK. Pain et alJ have very recently estimated UK emissions from livestock production systems (including tillage crops) at 240 Gg NHj yr while ApSimon et al. (personal communication) estimate a figure of around 280 Gg NHj yr h Including the non-agriciiltiiral sources at around 40 Gg NHj yr the official estimate recently adopted by the Department of the Environment is 320 Gg NHj yr h If these estimates are contrasted with the other recent estimate of UK... 

ENVIRONMENT AGENCY Tile Environment Agency provides a comprehensive approach to the protection and management of the environment by combining the regulation of land, air and water. Its creation is a major and positive step, merging the expertise of the National Rivers Authority, Her Majesty s Inspectorate of Pollution, the Waste Regulation Authorities and several smaller units from the Department of the Environment. 

Table 10.7 Methods for the examination of wafer and associated materials published by the UK Department of the Environment...

State Emergency Response Commission Maryland Department of the Environment Toxics Information Center 2500 Broening Highway Baltimore, MD 21224 ... 

Department of the Environment and Heritage John Gorton Building, King Edward Tenace, Parkes ACT 2600 GPO Box 787, Canbena ACT 2601 Australia Phone +61 2 6274 1111 Fax +61 2 6274 1123... 

The Technical Guide to Flat Roofing, published by the Department of the Environment/PSA in 1987, is one of the many useful reference books. 

The Department of the Environment s interpretation of reasonableness is given in the 1990 edition of Building Regulations 1985, Approved Document L, Conservation of Fuel and Power, available from HMSO. This deals with three areas of energy conservation ... 

HMIP publish sets of Guidance Notes, which relate to activities they control. These notes are known as Best Practicable Means (BPM) Notes. BPM is explained in Note BPM 1/88, Best Practicable Means. General Principles and Practices. Copies of these notes may be obtained from the Department of the Environment Publications Sales Unit, Building 1, Victoria Road, South Ruislip, Middlesex HA4 ONZ, telephone 020 8841 3425. 

It has been proposed that a set of scheduled works may be assigned to local authorities. This class of works has been discussed in documents published by the Department of the Environment Air Quality Division and legislation came into force on 1 April 1991. It is proposed that these schedule (B) works will be licensed in much the same way as the existing scheduled works and that prior consent will be needed before operations of this type commence. This will give local authorities a much stronger hand in pollution abatement, and they will be able to avoid the establishment of premises in unsuitable areas or without adequate pollution-abatement equipment. At present, local authorities rely on planning conditions or nuisance provisions. 

Department of the Environment (1983) European Community screening programme for lead United Kingdom results for 1981. Pollution Report No. 18, HMSO, London. 

Maryland Department of the Environment, The Task Force on the Environmental Effects of MTBE, Final Report. Available at http //www.mdarchives.state.md.us/msa/mdmanual/26excom/defunct/ html/23MTBE.html, December 2001. 

MD Air and Radiation Mgmt. 1998. State of Maryland, Department of the Environment, Air and Radiation Managment. 

MD Maryland Department of the Environment, Office of Environmental Health Coordination 25 (18 years or older)... 

Further consideration is being given by the National Radiological Protection Board and the Department of the Environment to the need for standards in the UK and to the means of implementing them. A decision is likely to be made before the end of this year. 

The range of radon decay-product concentrations found in houses in southwest England spans three orders of magnitude. A few dwellings have been found where levels exceed 0.6 WL. It is clear that there are likely to be an appreciable number of houses in this region with indoor concentrations higher than 120 mWL. In 1982, the Department of the Environment identified two local authorities in the county of Cornwall that were willing to lend council property to test... 

The work reported here was part-funded, and jointly carried out by the Building Research Establishment of the UK Department of the Environment (Contract No. 7910-2199). The authors would like to thank Dr P R Warren and his colleagues, of the Building Research Establishment, for their interest and advice during this project. 

Crookes, M.J., Howe, P.D. (1993) Environmental Hazard Assessment Halogenated naphthalenes. Toxic Substances Division, Directorate for Air, Climate and Toxic Substances, Department of the Environment, Build Research Establishment, Garston, Watford, WD2 7JR. 

The Department of the Environment UK [155] has described a number of alternative methods for the determination of total oxidised nitrogen (nitrate and nitrite) in aqueous solution, while specific methods for nitrate and nitrite are also included. Among the methods for total oxidised nitrogen, one is based on the use of Devarda s alloy for reduction of nitrate to ammonia, and another uses copperised cadmium wire for reducing nitrate to nitrite, which is determined spectrophotometrically. Nitrate may also be determined spectrophotometrically after complex formation with sulfosalicylic acid or following reduction to ammonia, the ammonia is eliminated by distillation and determined titrimetrically. Other methods include direct nitrate determination by ultraviolet spectrophotometry, measurements being made at 210 nm, and the use of a nitrate-selective electrode. Details of the scope, limits of detection, and preferred applications of the methods are given in each case. 

Workers at the Department of the Environment UK [174] have described continuous flow methods for the determination of total oxidised nitrogen and nitrite in seawater. limits of detection are 1.3 pg/1 (total oxidised nitrogen) and 0.26 pg/1 (nitrite). Within-batch standard deviations for total oxidised nitrogen range from 0.28 pg/1 to 17.5 pg/1 at the total oxidised nitrogen level, to 0.96 pg/1 at the 560 pg/1 total oxidised nitrogen level. Within-batch standard deviations for nitrite range from 0.056 pg/1 at the 3.5 pg/1 nitrite level to 0.042 pg/1 at the 70 pg/1 nitrite level. 

Department of the Environment/National Water Council Study Committee of Analysts, Methods for the examination of water and associated materials, HMSO, London (1981) 61 pp (RP2B CENV)... 

The determination of trace metals in estuarine, marine, and other waters is the subject of a booklet published by the Standing Committee of Analysts set up by the Department of the Environment UK [30]. 

Department of the Environment and the National Water Council, Standing Committee of Analysts Manganese in Raw and Potable Waters by Spectrophotometry (using Formaldoxime) 1977 (1978) Methods for The Examination of Waters and Associated Materials, EfMSO London UK... 

Standing Committee of Analysts Department of the Environment UK (1987) Methods for the Determination of Metals... 

Department of the Environment and National Water Council (UK) (1985) Mercury in waters, effluents, soils, and sediments, etc., additional methods. Pt 22-AG ENV. HMSO, London... 

Fire Technical FTS3, 5, 6 and 15. Department of the Environment Crown Suppliers, London. 

It is reported that the UK Department of the Environment, Transport The Regions (the DETR) has announced an innovative study to compare environmental and health impacts of PVC and alternative building and packaging materials. The research will take a year and will be carried out by consultancies Entec and Ecobalance. Details are given. 

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