State of the environment in Helsinki 2012

Transcription

1 State of the environment in Helsinki

2 Contents Introduction 3 Energy and 4 the climate Air quality 7 Noise 8 Procurements 11 and waste Soil 12 Nature 14 Water 16 Introduction THE GOOD STATE of the environment is essential for Helsinki, from the perspectives of the natural environment and the citizens. The maritime environment and the proximity of nature are essential for the comfort of the citizens, but a clean natural environment and ecologically sustainable operations are also increasingly seen as factors that affect the competitiveness of the city. Helsinki has many strengths in regard to the state of the environment. Our wastewater treatment and public transportation are considered to be of the top level, even on a global scale. The extent of the district heating network, the cogeneration of electricity, heating, and cooling, the green area network, and the utilisation of waste are a source of pride for us. However, the development of the state of the environment also poses challenges for the city, the most essential ones of which include reaching the climate goals, the management of environmental hazards from traffic, such as noise and air quality, and monitoring the state of the Baltic Sea. The city still produces a significant amount of greenhouse gases, even though plans have been made and actions have been taken for years. Changes are being planned in energy production, but reaching the climate goals of the city requires actions in all fields and sectors. The challenges in air quality and noise are mostly related to the traffic policy solutions of the city. The development is positive, for example, in the progress of the rail traffic projects, improvements in the service level of the public transportation, and the strengthened position of cycling. The state of the Baltic Sea is a particular cause of concern for Helsinki, because of the city s internationally good reputation as a maritime city. The improvements in wastewater treatment, for example, have been successful in enhancing water protection in general. The Baltic Sea Challenge launched by the Mayors of Turku and Helsinki has succeeded in spreading the protection of the Baltic Sea, even outside the city organisations. The state of the environment in Helsinki is monitored in many ways and through many channels. The traditional State of the Environment report has been complemented by online environment statistics and an annual City of Helsinki environmental report drafted for the City Council. In addition, the central environmental indicators of the city have been included in the State and Development of Helsinki report, drafted by the Urban Research unit for each council period. During the past few years, the clarity of the division of tasks for these reports has been improved. The State of the Environment report concentrates on describing the development of the state of the environment, and on presenting the factors that affect it. In addition, this report presents some future prospects for each of the sectors of the state of the environment. The city s annual environmental report concentrates on reporting the environmental actions of the city, as well as describing the predominant trends in the environmental indicators that have been agreed upon together with Finland s six largest cities, and the city s environmental accounts during the operating year. All of these reports produce background information for environmental management and decision-making. This State of the Environment report mainly follows the same structure for environmental issues that is used in the city s environmental policies. HST 2 3

3 Energy and the climate GLOBALLY, the average temperature has increased by approximately 0.8 degrees since the 19th century, and the ten warmest years have all been after In Finland, the temperature has increased by over one degree, and Helsinki has seen its warmest year, winter, and summer of all time over the past few years. The average temperature of the world is estimated to increase by 2 6 degrees during the 21st century, unless the development of emissions can be turned significantly. The clearest signals of the climate change include the rapid melting of arctic sea ice and rising sea levels due to the melting of the glaciers and the heat expansion caused by the increased temperature of the seas. Energy consumption in Helsinki is no longer increasing, and the per capita consumption has begun to decrease. This has been caused by the improved energy-efficiency of buildings, electrical equipment, and traffic. The goals of the European Union for the improvement of energy-efficiency also require decreasing energy consumption at a local level. Helsinki has been among the pioneers of energy-efficiency by issuing the requirement for Energy Class A for Greenhouse gases in Helsinki from Source: HSY. residential buildings in the property delivery terms in 2011, for example. According to the reports, Helsinki has the potential to reduce its energy consumption to some 70 percent of the current consumption by The greenhouse gas emissions in the city of Helsinki have decreased by 15 percent since The most significant factor in this was the replacement of coal with natural gas in energy production. The collection and utilisation of landfill gas has also had an impact on the overall emissions, as have the decreased emissions from road traffic, as well as the structural changes and the introduction of district heating instead of oil heating in industry. The emissions from electricity consumption have been increasing for a long time, but the development seems to have finally turned downwards. Helsinki is aiming for carbon neutrality by 2050, and aiming to decrease amount of greenhouse gases by 30 percent by Regardless of actions to the contrary, the climate will continue to change, and society needs to be prepared for and ready to adjust to the harmful effects. The means for this kind of preparation and adjustment are often under the authority of cities, and sufficient adjustment will be a significant cost saver in the long term. In the Helsinki region, the most significant risks of climate change are related to the rising sea levels and the effects of flooding in waterways and due to heavy rain. As the effects of exceptional weather conditions often hit the most sensitive population groups (children, the elderly, and people with long-term illnesses) the hardest, they may have a significant impact on public health. Run-off water and flood strategies, as well as other procedures, will allow the city to prepare for extreme weather conditions and the related damages. In the future, such adjustments must be included in all of the existing, essential planning processes. Seppo Laakso 4 5

4 Air quality The number of days, since 1993, when the limit value (50 microgrammes/m 3 ) for particulate matter (PM 10 ) was exceeded in the air quality measurement stations in Helsinki. The limit value can be exceeded on 35 days per year, before the total limit value is exceeded. Source: HSY. Aleksi Salonen 6 COMPARED to large European cities, the air quality in Helsinki is good. Air quality problems are caused by traffic emissions and street dust from traffic, as well as long-range transported fine particles and ozone. The burning of wood in one-family house areas causes local hazards. The nitrogen oxide contents in busy street routes within the city continue to exceed the annual limit value, due to emissions from car traffic. The development of vehicle technology is expected to decrease the nitrogen oxide emissions in the near future, but they are not likely have a sufficient effect by Therefore, in order to reach the limit values by 2015, the traffic emissions should be reduced by decreasing the amount of traffic within the city. This presents a challenge, as new, extensive residential areas are currently being built within the city. These areas, such as Jätkäsaari and Kalasatama, are likely to increase traffic within the city, even though the areas are within reach of excellent public transportation connections. Generally speaking, the street dust contents in Helsinki have decreased, which proves that the investments in controlling street dust over the past years have been successful. The daily limit value for particulate matter, introduced in 2005, was last exceeded in the centre of Helsinki in

5 Noise ROAD TRAFFIC is the most significant cause of disturbing noise in Helsinki. Some 40 percent of the people living in Helsinki live in areas where the average road traffic noise level during the daytime exceeds 55 db. Some ten percent of the citizens are exposed to noise from trams, trains, and the metro. The people living along the roads and the busiest main roads are exposed to the highest level of noise. Approximately one percent of the people living in Helsinki are exposed to the noise from Helsinki-Malmi airport. Locally, even noise from various construction and renovation operations, as well as public events, restaurants, and goods transport may disturb the citizens. Base map The City Survey Division, Helsinki 002/2013 Mika Lappalainen 8 Noise can disturb sleep, and in the long term, cause stress reactions that may lead to cardiovascular diseases. According to a study performed in Helsinki, a significant number of citizens feel that noise disturbs their sleep significantly or very significantly. Almost half of the respondents stated that noise prevents them from keeping their windows open. Noise has been found to affect reading and memory in children, which may result in learning difficulties or delays in linguistic development. Approximately one third of all Finns are sensitive to noise. In addition to that third, particularly General map of areas that are considered quiet. Areas that were mentioned more than five times as quiet areas are marked on the map. Source: City of Helsinki Environment Centre. children, pregnant women, the elderly, people suffering or recovering from various illnesses, and those working in shifts or otherwise at irregular times are particularly exposed to noise. The noise level in Helsinki is monitored every five years, with the most recent report from A revision of the noise prevention operating plan from 2008 is currently being drafted. The revision will propose noise prevention methods and an operating plan for Solutions used in land use and traffic planning are essential for the prevention of disturbing noise. Noise barriers may be the only practical solution for old areas that are worst affected by noise. Improving the sound insulation of buildings within the city will reduce the amount of disturbing noise. Increasing the use of silent coating, rail maintenance, an increasingly quiet vehicle base, and complying with speed limits are all viable means of reducing the amount of disturbing noise. Developing and favouring public transportation and pedestrian and bicycle traffic will be helpful for both noise prevention and air quality protection. Maintaining and developing quiet areas through the means of land use and green area planning will counterbalance the noise within the city. 9

6 Municipal solid waste in the Helsinki metropolitan region from 2004 to 2010 (tons). Source: HSY. Procurements and waste OVER six million tons of waste is created every year within the Helsinki metropolitan region. Of this, some 350,000 tons come from private households. The amount of municipal solid waste from private households in the region has been increasing since A slight decrease was visible in 2010, but it cannot yet be said to indicate a trend. Between 2004 and 2008, the waste recycling rate has increased from 45 to 50 percent, meaning that resource-efficiency has improved somewhat. The waste legislation which took effect in May 2012 aims to affect the solutions to waste problems at a comprehensive level. The new act defines the responsibilities of the various operators and sets an order of priority for waste management, aiming to reduce the amount and hazards of waste. Site-specific separate collection requirements are being introduced for glass and metal, and the property-specific collection of cardboard will be expanded at the beginning of More of the responsibility of waste transportation is to be moved to HSY. Population growth and the raised standard of living also increase the use of natural resources. Decisions on what to buy and what to do with the items bought or parts of them, such as the packaging material, after they are used, are particularly significant. It is essential to aim to decrease the environmental impact of products and services throughout their life cycle, as most often, the costs and environmental impacts are created in several phases, rather than just one. Procurements form a significant part of the costs of any city: in Helsinki, this share is as high as 40 percent. HRM 10 11

7 The amounts of contaminated land dug out annually in Helsinki (tons). Organic hazardous materials usually consist of oils or gasoline, and the inorganic materials of heavy metals. The exceptional amount for 2005 (some 608,000 tons) is caused by the renovations at the Myllypuro landfill site and Vuosaari harbour. A total of 3.75 million tons of contaminated soil has been dug out between 1994 and Most of this amount has been transported outside Helsinki. Source: City of Helsinki Environment Centre. Soil IN SOME areas in Helsinki, the soil is contaminated by hazardous materials resulting from many kinds of industrial and other operations. Land is often cleaned in connection with changes to the land use, e.g. when building new apartments to areas previously used for industrial, storage, or harbour purposes. According to the reports, there are hundreds of areas that are possibly contaminated. These areas will be studied closer and, if necessary, cleaned, when the purpose of use of the area changes, if not before. Some 3.75 million tons of contaminated soil have been dug up and transferred for treatment or disposal between 1994 and Some areas have also been cleaned in other ways without transportation or isolated, or special structures have been built to control the risks of the contamination. In some cases, contaminated land areas have been proven to be entirely or partially nonhazardous through risk assessments. The state of the soil is constantly improving, as tens or hundreds of thousands of tons of land are cleaned every year, and new contamination cases usually only affect a small area. In addition to actual contamination studies, the general state of the soil in Helsinki has been studied through an extensive background content study on lands that are in their natural state, and through taking samples from parks and the yards of residential buildings

8 Nature THE PEOPLE living in Helsinki appreciate the natural environment for both its beauty and the opportunities for leisure activities that it offers. There are other reasons for developing a sustainable green area network and maintaining a versatile urban nature, as well. The weakening of the free benefits offered by the natural environment, or ecosystem services, due to urbanization in Helsinki, presents a significant problem. Pira Cousin 14 The climate change will also disturb these natural processes. Solutions are sought through consolidating and harmonising the city structure and using new kinds of planning methods, for example. Securing the functional capacity of the ground and the versatility and abundance of the vegetation are the starting points. The significance of the ground in water circulation and cleansing is priceless. Vegetation evens out the temperature and humidity through offering shade and evaporation. In particular, the carbon dioxide binding power of forests is essential for controlling climate change. Information on the natural environment in Helsinki is collected in the city s electronic nature information system. The system is constantly being updated, and the aim is to update the existing information approximately every ten years. Geological Habitat classification of the forest areas in Helsinki. Source: Public Works Department areas and the occurrence of rare species in the area are the best documented issues. The living environments of rare species are also described, but a more expansive description of living environments was only started in 2010, when the nature type mapping process began. The process will offer a more extensive view of the natural environment, in order to develop consistency. The number of endangered plant species in and around Helsinki has clearly increased, because of national changes to the criteria of definition for endangered species, and the occurrences found in the Östersundom incorporated area. There are a total of 50 nature conservation areas in Helsinki, but most of these are quite small, with a total area of 684 hectares. When including protected nature types, species protection areas, and Natura 2000 areas not protected by the Nature Conservation Act, the total area amounts to 1,264 hectares. This covers some 3.1 percent of the land area of the city, and the water area of the nature conservation area covers some 1.2 percent of the water area of the city. The Environment Centre performs an inventory of the nature conservation areas in connection with drafting the treatment and usage plans. Only the avifauna in Vanhankaupunginlahti is monitored annually. The nature conservation areas are being increasingly used for recreation, which puts a strain on the natural environment in them. 15

9 Helsinki Helsingfors N Helsinki Helsingfors N Espoo Esbo Espoo Esbo Erinomainen/Hög/High Hyvä/God/Good Tyydyttävä/Måttlig/Moderate Välttävä/Otillfredställande/Poor Huono/Dålig/Bad Purkuaukko Avloppstunnel Discharge tunnel km 10 Erinomainen/Hög/High Hyvä/God/Good Tyydyttävä/Måttlig/Moderate Välttävä/Otillfredställande/Poor Huono/Dålig/Bad Puhdistamo Reningsverk Purkuaukko Wastewater Avloppstunnel treatment plant Discharge tunnel Purkuaukko Avloppstunnel Discharge tunnel km 10 Water quality classification in accordance with the Water Framework Directive in and Source: City of Helsinki Environment Centre. Waters 16 THE NEGATIVE effect of wastewater cleaning plants on the sea has significantly decreased over recent decades. Introducing chemical dephosphorization in the 1970s decreased the amount of phosphorus led to the sea to one fourth of what it was. The denitrogenation began at the end of the 1990s at the cleaning plants reduced the nitrogen load to a half. The biological after-treatment unit and eighth activated sludge line, introduced at the Viikinmäki cleaning plant in , further reduced the nitrogen load to a half. Of the largest Nordic cities (Stockholm, Oslo, Malmö, Copenhagen, and Gothenburg), the Helsinki cleaning plant had the lowest per capita nitrogen emissions and the second lowest phosphorus emissions (after Stockholm) in Most of the nutrient load in the Vantaa River comes from farming in the catchment area. The negative effect of wastewater cleaning plants on the sea area in Helsinki has significantly decreased over the past decades. Of the nutrient load coming to the sea by Helsinki, some 60 percent comes from the Vantaa River. As the cleaning of wastewater has been improved, the contents of soluble nitrogen on purified wastewater unloading areas have decreased rapidly, and they no longer differ from the values in the control area significantly. The soluble nitrogen contents in Katajaluoto are also significantly smaller than between 1980 and 1987, at which time, the wastewater was not led to the sea. This speaks for the improved state of the shores of the Gulf of Finland, which is probably partially due to the improvements in wastewater treatment. 17 Päivi Seikkula

10 Comma Image Oy Rhinoceros Oy 18 The highest contents of soluble phosphorus were measured between 1998 and 2004, and external phosphorus emissions had no significant effect on the variation. Based on the results, the state of the sea area in front of Helsinki seems to have improved as far as the amount of phosphorus nutrients is concerned, and the contents no longer vary significantly from the period of 1980 to The most eutrophicated areas in Helsinki are Vanhankaupunginselkä and Laajalahti, and Espoonlahti in Espoo. The eutrophicated state of these bays is maintained by the internal load of the sediment, and the load from the catchment areas running through rivers and streams. Of the main algae groups, cyanobacteria and green algae have increased, and the amount of diatoms has decreased in the area. The state of the bay areas in Helsinki has improved significantly since the 1970s and 80s, at which time, all wastewater was led directly to the bays. However, there is ample room for improvement. There are some 40 streams in Helsinki, with trout living in at least Longinoja, Haaganpuro, Mustapuro, and Mellunkylänpuro. There are over 40 ponds in Helsinki, most of which are eutrophic. However, Kruunuvuorenlampi in Laajasalo, Vuorilahdenlampi on the Villinki island, and the forest ponds in the Östersundom area have lower concentrations of nutrients. The only lake in Helsinki, Storträsk, is in Östersundom. There are also several springs of many types in Helsinki. There are 28 public beaches in Helsinki. The microbiological quality of the swimming water from 2008 to 2012 has mainly been good. There have been some individual cases where the amounts of bacteria studied in the water have exceeded the limit values, but these have not caused any beaches to be closed. Since the summer of 2008, the hygienic quality of the swimming water has been monitored by defining excrement-based bacteria in samples of the water. The quality of the water, such as the presence of cyanobacteria, is also monitored sensorily and, if necessary, through taking water samples. 19

11 Photographs: City of Helsinki Media Bank Cover photo: Lauri Rotko Layout: Marjo Kosonen Printed by: Star Offset Oy 8/2013 City of Helsinki Environment Centre Viikinkaari 2a P.O. Box 500, FIN City of Helsinki hel.fi/ymk