Monitoring of acidifying and eutrophying deposition and ecological parameters at seven potentially vulnerable Natura 2000 sites in England and Wales. Sixth report to the power station and refinery operators. Final report

Monteith, Don ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3219-1772; Sherrin, Lorna; Carter, Heather ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5999-2732; Keenan, Patrick; Thacker, Sarah; Coyle, Mhairi; Nemitz, Eiko ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1765-6298; Smith, Ron. 2015 Monitoring of acidifying and eutrophying deposition and ecological parameters at seven potentially vulnerable Natura 2000 sites in England and Wales. Sixth report to the power station and refinery operators. Final report. Lancaster, NERC/Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, 99pp. (CEH Project no. C04409) (Unpublished)

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Abstract/Summary

Operators of power stations and refineries in England and Wales who have “opted in” to the Large Plant Combustion Directive (LCPD) are required by the UK Environment Agency to undertake “a monitoring programme to assess changes in acidification and eutrophication deposition and ecological effects at appropriate Natura 2000 sites”, as part of the operating permit improvement conditions for plant. A formal response outlining this monitoring programme was submitted to, and accepted by, the Environment Agency in March 2008. The NERC Centre for Ecology and Hydrology were awarded a four year contract to implement the monitoring in 2011. The monitoring programme is based on protocols for ecological and deposition monitoring at Natura 2000 sites approved by the Environment Agency in September 2010. Following discussions between the installation operators, the Environment Agency, Natural England and Countryside Council for Wales (CCW), seven Natura 2000 sites were selected for inclusion in the monitoring programme, including at least one site relevant to each of the 13 participating installations. As sulphur deposition remains the dominant issue associated with power station and refinery emissions, sites were selected on the basis of the installation’s modelled percentage contribution to the minimum site-relevant critical load for sulphur (CLmaxS), plus the percentage contribution to total sulphur deposition and total acid deposition, while the absolute level of sulphur deposition arising from the installation was also taken into account. Monitoring focuses on three components relating to the conservation objectives of the selected sites: 1. Prevailing levels of acidifying deposition and any changes in acidification deposition over the period of monitoring. 2. Prevailing levels of eutrophying deposition and any changes in eutrophication deposition over the period of monitoring. 3. Prevailing ecological condition and any changes in the ecological condition over the period of monitoring. The monitoring programme provides supplementary monitoring information to complement a previous modelling assessment review conducted by the Environment Agency in relation to the Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control permitting for UK refineries and coal-fired power stations. This report is the sixth data report to the power station and refinery operators and provides an update on chemistry data collected up to the end of 2014, thus covering the first three full calendar years of monitoring, and provides details of monthly measurements of wet deposition chemistry, gaseous concentrations and soil solution chemistry collated over 2014 particularly. Two dry deposition models that combine meteorological observations with gaseous concentration measurements have been used to produce monthly estimates of dry deposition. Monthly estimates of wet, dry and total deposition of oxidised sulphur, oxidised nitrogen, reduced nitrogen and acid chloride are provided for the seven sites, together with annual estimates of total deposition, (that also include estimates for nitric acid, and aerosol sulphate (SO4), nitrate (NO3) and ammonium (NH4) dry deposition) for the three years.

Item Type:	Publication - Report
UKCEH and CEH Sections/Science Areas:	Dise Parr Shore
Funders/Sponsors:	E.ON
NORA Subject Terms:	Earth Sciences Ecology and Environment Atmospheric Sciences
Date made live:	02 Mar 2016 10:34 +0 (UTC)
URI:	https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/513139

Item Type:

Publication - Report

UKCEH and CEH Sections/Science Areas:

Dise
Parr
Shore

Funders/Sponsors:

E.ON

NORA Subject Terms:

Earth Sciences
Ecology and Environment
Atmospheric Sciences

Date made live:

02 Mar 2016 10:34 +0 (UTC)

URI:

https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/513139