Summary
Large areas of the West Balkan region are affected by coal ash deposits from thermoelectric power stations, which can impact negatively on human health through three pathways:
- Release of drainage waters from coal ash deposit sites may contaminate water supplies
- Heavy metals in coal ash deposits used for agriculture can enter the food chain
- Dust dispersion by wind erosion on uncovered sites by may affect the health and well-being of local people.
The overall aim of the RECOAL programme was to develop and test new methods for remediation of coal ash deposits and affected water resources in the West Balkan region, with a particular focus on Tuzla Municipality, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Special emphasis was placed on socio-economic aspects of the problem and its remediation through stakeholder involvement.
Forest Research was responsible for the social science inputs to the programme, including:
- Initial stakeholder analysis
- Impact assessment of different remediation options
- The development of decision support tools for use by local governance stakeholders.
Brief research summary of this project (PDF-257K)
Executive summary for overall programme (2005) (PDF-340K)
Research objectives
The technologies developed were based upon research conducted in both laboratory conditions and at the field scale in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
- The programme identified, developed and evaluated conventional and new low-cost technologies to clean-up contaminated water bodies and effluents from deposits
- Techniques were developed to immobilise heavy metals using various amendments, and to reduce the transfer of toxic metals to groundwater and to the air by establishing optimum soil cover
- Crops with low metal uptake rates were selected to allow safe agriculture on remediated coal ash sites.
Handbook
Handbook on treatment of coal ash disposal sites (PDF-1630K)
Guidelines for the management of established wet-disposed coal ash landfills
Other references
Castán Broto, V., Tabbush, P., Burningham, K., Elghali, L. and Edwards, D. (2007). Coal ash and risk: four social perspectives on a pollution landscape. Landscape Research, 32 (4), 481–497.
Castán Broto, V., Carter, C. and Elghali, L. (2009). Research note: The governance of coal ash pollution in post-socialist times: power and expectations. Environmental Politics, 18 (2), 279–286.
Castán Broto, V., Burningham, K., Elghali, L. and Carter, C. (forthcoming). Stigma and attachment: performance of identity in an environmentally degraded place. Society and Natural Resources.
Dellantonio, A., Fitz, W.J., Custovic, H., Repmann, F., Schneider, B.U., Grünewald, H., Gruber, V., Zgorelec, Z., Zerem, N., Carter, C., Markovic, M., Puschenreiter, M. and Wenzel, W.W. (2008). Environmental risks of farmed and barren alkaline coal ash landfills in Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Environmental Pollution, 153, 677–686.
Funders and partners
This programme was funded by the European Union - Sixth Framework Programme
The consortium comprised seven partners:
- BOKU – University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences, Vienna, Austria (Coordinator)
- HEIS: Hydro-Engineering Institute, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH)
- University of Banja Luka, BiH
- University of Zagreb, Croatia
- Brandenburg University of Technology at Cottbus, Germany
- Forest Research, UK
- Thermo-electric power plant, Tuzla, BiH
Forest Research involvement
The Social and Economic Research Group of Forest Research was responsible for social science inputs to the programme:
- In the first year, an extensive stakeholder analysis was carried out, as part of the overall management of stakeholders from the Thermo-Electric Power plant in Tuzla, Cantonal and Municipal officials responsible for spatial planning and environmental protection, and local communities living in and around existing deposit sites.
- Priorities in the second year included impact assessment of different remediation options.
- In the final year Forest Research lead the development of decision support tools for use by local governance stakeholders.
The fieldwork proved to be an excellent test case in which to develop new methodologies and decision support tools which integrate social research with the natural sciences. It is expected that these will be applicable to other applied natural resource research projects in UK and Europe, in particular those involving the reclamation of brownfield sites.
Forest Research inputs were managed by Claudia Carter with support from local consultants and NGOs. Vanesa Castan Broto, an Eng.D student previously attached to Forest Research and Surrey University, also worked with the project to research the social construction of environmental problems.
Status
The programme ran from 2005 to 2007.
Contact
Liz O'Brien
Forest Research
Alice Holt Lodge
Farnham
Surrey
GU10 4LH
Email: liz.obrien@forestry.gsi.gov.uk
Tel: 01420 22255
Fax: 01420 23653
EU contract details
Coordinator : Walter.Wenzel@boku.ac.at, University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences Vienna, Austria, Institute of Soil Science.
Type of Instrument: Specific Targeted Research Project (STREP)
Call Identifier: FP6-2002-INCO-WBC-1
