INTRODUCTION

Figure 1. Map of the Black Triangle with station names and locations

The intensive mining of lignite began in Central Europe in southern Saxony in Germany, northern Bohemia in the Czech Republic, and Lower Silesia in Poland during the 19th century. Following the development of lignite-mining, the region became intensively industrialised after the 2nd World War. The side effect was environmental pollution, which with the accumulation of industrial activity within a small area and without sufficient measures for the protection of the environment caused not only local pollution but also that of distant regions.

In 1990, with the advent of political change, Czechoslovakia, Germany and Poland found themselves facing a difficult legacy -- the results of a long period of relentless environmental destruction. They also found that only common, trilateral co-operation could lead to the significant improvement of the environment in this Central European lignite-mining area.

In June 1991, the Environment Ministers of Czechoslovakia, Germany and Poland issued a joint declaration at a meeting in Dobris that created a trilateral Working Group for neighbourly co-operation. The primary task of the Working Group was to prepare an action plan of joint priority tasks. The programme created by the Ministers became the international Regional Environmental Black Triangle Programme. The European Commission joined the Working Group as a fourth partner, providing financial support through the PHARE Regional Environment Programme. One of the first common achievements the Black Triangle Programme was the establishment of the Joint Air Monitoring System.

OBJECTIVES

• Support international cooperation in the field of air protection concerning the transboundary pollution caused by large power plants fired by brown coal;
• Create a mechanism for continuous air quality control;
• The measurement of meteorological parameters;
• Collect complementary information concerning the quality of different environmental components;
• Assure good quality measurement according to international standards, recognisble by all cooperating countries and international institutions;
• Create an early warning system for dealing with smog situations;
• Enable the creation of a decision support system for efficient environmental management;
• Enable research into the movement and quantities of transboundary pollution;
• Collect data for dispersion model evaluation and validation.

USER NEEDS

• Environmental protection services, forestry services, the staff of national parks and protected area administrations;
• Researchers of universities and institutes;
• Local and regional authorities, administration and decisionmakers;
• The general public via the media (newspapers, tv, internet).

All the above mentioned groups rely on information concerning the quality of environment. Some of them, particularly specialists, need more detailed data for further analysis and research. Non-specialists, i.e. journalists and the public, need elaborated reports and publications, where information is more general and carries clear conclusions.

The organisation responsible for the operation of the Polish component of JAMS offers access to the following information:

1. Monthly reports, containing a description of the environmental situation for the previous month with graphical presentation of data. Two versions of the monthly report are available, including:
   • One for environmental specialists within universities, institutes and administrations, consisting of tabular presentations of pollutant concentrations;
   • And one for others where the statistical data is not included.

2. Specific yearly reports, concerning air quality in the Black Triangle region, which consisting of comprehensive presentation and descriptions, text and tables, as well as graphics with maps and charts;

3. A general annual report, containing complementary information about the overall activity of the Voivodsip Inspectorate.

Up-to-date user-friendly information concerning the network and monthly reports are made available via the Internet.

AREA OF APPLICABILITY

There are a total of 43 static monitoring stations within the Black Triangle air monitoring system. Ten stations are based in Poland in the provinces of Jelenia Góra and Walbrzych, twelve stations are based in Germany in the provinces of Chemnitz and Dresden, and 21 stations are located in the Czech Republic in the counties of Sokolov, Karlovy Vary, Chomutov, Most, Teplice, Ústí nad Labem, Decín, Ceska Lipa, Liberec, Jablonec, Semily, Trutnov). In Poland, there is also one mobile station, which is used for contemporary measurements in both Polish provinces.

The basic monitoring programme includes the continuous measurement of sulphur dioxide (SO₂), nitrogen oxides (NO and NO₂) and suspended dust. Most stations measure ozone (O₃). Some stations also measure carbon monoxide (CO). In parallel, air quality meteorological parameters are also collected, i.e., windspeed and direction, temperature, humidity, solar radiation and atmospheric pressure.

Apart from the automatic data acquisition of air pollution compounds and meteorological parameters, manual measurement is also made in selected stations. Those parameters are poly-nuclear aromatic hydrocarbons and metals measured from dust samples and pH, conductivity, sulphates, nitrates and other parameters measured from automatic rain collectors.

The monitoring programme of the entire Black Triangle network is presented in the tables below. The locations of the Monitoring Stations are given in Figure 1.

TECHNICAL ASPECTS OF THE JAM SYSTEM

For the purpose of exchanging monitoring data between the three countries, a data exchange system was developed, based on the Meteosat satellite. Satellite communication via Meteosat offers a technical means for data acquisition from stations located across Europe, as well as from north Africa The monitoring centres in Jelenia Góra, Radebeul at Dresden, and Ústi nad Labem were all therefore equipped with satellite receivers.

Apart from a standard communication system, the stations in Poland and Germany are also equipped with satellite transmitters. German stations already use the Meteosat system and data is directly received in Poland and the Czech Republic. Polish stations will begin satellite data transmission in 1998. Validated data will be exchanged between the country centres via the wide area network DatexP, EuroTel and Polpak as well as the Internet.

Measurement results are collected in country regional centres and go through a validation and processing procedure. Furthermore the data is distributed in textual and graphical form to the relevant institutions and to the public. Lastly data from each monitoring centre is exchanged online, assuring direct access to environmental information across the region.

The Central Acquisition System in Jelenia Góra (Poland) was recently connected to Internet through a high speed leased line, giving access to data for authorised persons, online, 24 hours a day.

The Polish Central Acquisition System (CAS) is located at the Voivodship Inspectorate of Environmental Protection (Wojewódzki Inspektorat Ochrony Srodowiska) in Jelenia Góra. CAS is equipped with an IBM RS/6000 workstation. The central computer works under the IBM AIX 3.2.5 Operating System with an X/Window graphical user interface. The application of software conforms to the ISO 7168 standard and is approved by the French agency, ADEME.

The CAS software has built-in communication procedures within monitoring stations. The system uses a wireless packet radio communication system. Any station can also be served also via switched telephone or direct cable links. The advantage of such a multi-tasking software environment allows the simultaneous performance of different tasks.

The Czech Central Acquisition System is located at the Czech Hydrometeorological Institute (Cesky Hydrometeorologicky Ustav), in Ústí nad Labem.

The German Central Acquisition System is located at Sächsisches Landesamt Für Umwelt und Geologie at Radebeul in Dresden.

The Czech Republic and Germany use the public telecommunications network to communicate with their stations (see Figure 2).

Figure 2. Schematic diagram of the Polish communication system

EXPERIENCES GAINED FROM IMPLEMENTATION

Particular care should also be taken at the stage of supplier selection. Successful implementation relies a great deal on the ability and reliability of the supplier. References should be checked carefully.

Conclusions drawn from the Polish site are that the beneficiary countries should have more influence on the execution of the contract to ensure it's proper implementation. The beneficiary country should also expect the administrative tasks to be executed by the Commission, especially since many problems deal with the technical aspects of the delivery.

Another problem was caused by the lack of a sound technical infrastructure within the beneficiary countries to establish a reliable wide area network connection. Digital data networks were only just being introduced in Poland when the tender for JAMS was made. This has resulted in the fact that the fully automatic international data exchange process is still being implemented and will only start in Autumn 1998.

TRANSFERABILITY ASPECTS

• Planning of a monitoring system (which parameters to measure and where, which methodology to use, how to organise data transfer and processing, how to communicate with the stations etc.);
• How to prepare technical tender documentation and the tender itself;
• How to organise the operation of the system;
• How to assure the high quality of data;
• How to produce reports and in what form for different users;
• How to integrate the system with other information systems and tools.

GOOD OR BEST PRACTICE ASPECTS

To ensure the long-term cooperation within the framework of the JAMS project, on September, 17, 1996 the Data Exchange Memorandum was signed in Most (in the Czech Republic) by the Polish Minister of Environmental Protection, Natural Resources and Forestry, the Czech Minister of Environment, and the German Minister of Environment and Reactor Safety. The countries declared to further exchange air pollution imission data concerning the Black Triangle region and to elaborate summary reports about the imission situation of the Black Triangle. The first report containing an elaboration of data for the entire Black Triangle has already been published for the Polish segment. (See Figure 3 for an example of air-quality data). The next report will be issued at the end of June 1998 and will elaborate data also from the western part of Poland, outside of the Black Triangle, but still impacted by its big power plants.

After the first period of JAMS operation, the Polish conclusions are as follows:

• Data processing system should be based on common standards, recognised by all;
• Common methodology for environmental assessment should be used;
• Data validation should be made in a similar way by all partners;
• A periodic inter-calibration programme should be implemented;
• The system of reporting should be commonly agreed upon, especially that data intended for the general public.

Not all of the defined objectives have yet been implemented, for example, common reporting or the full integration of systems. In the meantime, other objectives have been further clarified, for example, the decision support system.

The founders of the Polish Black Triangle JAMS idea were aware that the creation of the monitoring system is just a first step in the creation of an environmental management and support system. As the network can never be dense enough, the next step is to collect information for those places between stations. This will involve the implementation of dispersion models, typically difficult to successfully implement in complex territories like the Black Triangle Region.

The implementation of dispersion models involves the work of researchers and experts, as well as the collection of much additional data. Representative meteorological data and emission inventories are critical for further modeling.

The implementation of a geographical information system would be another milestone and benefit. All the above activities are undergoing development in neighbouring countries.

COST-BENEFIT CONSIDERATIONS

It is very difficult to make a direct cost-benefit assessment of an air quality monitoring system. In general, the cost of monitoring does not exceed 1.5 percent of overall environmental investments. In the case of the Black Triangle region, the analysis of the monitoring data has clearly shown that the highest concentration of pollution in highly populated areas does not now come from big power plants. The elaboration of air quality data therefore confirmed that the abatement strategy which involved financing gas conversion was the correct measure.

Apart from this, monitoring results show significant decreases in air pollution concentrations during previous years, which has already been closely related to investments made in the energy sectors of the three countries.

Figure 3. Changes of SO₂ concentrations at the Czerniawa station in Izera Mountains during the period, 1997 - 1998

References