Vital Waste Graphics 3

Deepwater Horizon oil spill emergency waste network

s i p p i

MISSISSIPPI

ALABAMA

s i s

M i s

Mobile

Panama City

Pensacola

Tallahassee

Bâton Rouge

Robert

LOUISIANA

FLORIDA

New Orleans

Lake Charles

Lafayette

Beaumont

Houston

Other impacted shorelines and waste facilities are located further (especially around St Petersburg, Florida).

Houma

DEEPWATER HORIZON OIL DRILLING RIG

Port Arthur

TEXAS

Galveston

(NOW WRECKED)

Cumulative oil spill extent (April-June 2010)

Impacted shoreline Heavy oiling

Gu l f of Mex i co

Waste treatment facilities:

Liquid waste

Incident command post Unified command post

Solid waste (landfills)

Waste decontamination areas Waste staging areas

Recyclables

Sources: ERMA GeoPlatform (www.geoplatform.gov/gulfresponse), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, University of New Hampshire; Unified Incident Command, US Government Official Website (www.restorethegulf.gov).

After the explosion and sinking of BP’s Deepwater Horizon oil-extracting plat- form in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010, 50 000 tonnes of boom and oily debris were landfilled, and more waste is be- ing collected from what reappears on the ocean surface or the shore. This waste is an additional burden for hu- man health and the environment in a region already devastated by the 2005 Hurricane Katrina (generating more than 75 million m 3 of debris). Industrial and official waste disposal sites with inadequate risk protection pose threats by the mere presence of hazardous substances. In October 2010, for instance, a tailing dam holding back a sludge pond owned by the Hungarian Aluminium company in Ajka (Hungary) broke during heavy rain and storms. Some 600 000 to 700 000 m 3 of highly toxic aluminium sludge were released into the Danube river and flood plain,

contaminating 800 hectares of fertile ar- able land and forcing whole villages to be evacuated. This tragic example was a fur- ther illustration that we should not un- derestimate the power of natural events, and that such factors should be empha- sized in risk assessments for industrial

facilities and infrastructures which pro- duce or contain hazardous substances. Adequate risk assessments covering the whole waste management process are even more necessary in light of the in- creased chance of intense precipitation and flooding due to climate change.

Oil spil waste

Oil spill waste

Thousand barrels

Thousand barrels

OIL CONTAMI ATED WASTE

OIL CONTAMINATED WASTE

LIQUID WASTE [UNOILED ] 1 000

1 000

LIQUID WASTE [UNOILED ]

Liquid Solid

Liquid Solid

900

900

OILY SOLID WASTE

OILY SOLID WASTE

OILY LIQUID WASTE

OILY LIQUID WASTE

800

800

Booms from skimming operations Debris Vegetation Garbage

Booms from skimming operations Debris Vegetation Garbage

Oil and water mixtures from skimming operations

Oil and water mixtures from skimming operations

Thousand tonnes

Thousand tonnes

100

100

700

700

90

90

600

600

Protective equipment from shoreline cleanup operations.

Protective equipment from shoreline cleanup operations.

80

80

500

500

70

70

60

60

400

400

WASTE-TO- ENERGY CEMENT INDUSTRY

WASTE-TO- ENERGY CEMENT INDUSTRY

50

50

Collected dead animals

Collected dead animals

613

613 SEA TURTLES

SEA TURTLES

OIL INDUSTRY

OIL INDUSTRY

300

300

40

40

ASPHALT

ASPHALT

30

30

157

157 MARINE MMALS (MOSTLY D LPHINS)

200

200

MARINE MAMMALS (MOSTLY DOLPHINS)

Oil and water emulsions sent for recovery

Oil and water emulsions sent for recovery

20 SOLID WASTE [UNOILED]

SOLID WASTE [UNOILED]

20

Oiled sand Tar balls

Oiled sand Tar balls

100

100

Handled and ispose of by the US Fis and W ldlife Service (FWS). Source: U FWS, Deepwater Horizon Response Consolidated Fish and Wildlife Collect on Report , April 2011.

Handled and disposed of by the US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS). Source: US FWS, Deepwater Horizon Response Consolidated Fish and Wildlife Collection Report , April 2011.

10

10

6147 BIRDS

6147 BIRDS

Recyclabl s and recoverables

Recyclables and recoverables

0

0

0

0

Source: BP Waste and recoverable material tracking, cumulative total, June 2011. Not included: animal carcasses (see opposite), medical and municipal waste related to response operations Source: BP Waste and recoverabl materia tracking, cumulative tota , June 2011. Not included: a imal carcasses (see oppo it ), medical and municipal waste re ated o sponse operations

VITAL WASTE GRAPHICS 3 35