Publications
10 results found
Giakoumis T, Voulvoulis N, 2023, Combined sewer overflows: relating event duration monitoring data to wastewater systems' capacity in England, Environmental Science: Water Research & Technology, Vol: 9, Pages: 707-722, ISSN: 2053-1400
Water pollution caused by the frequent use of combined sewer overflows (CSOs) has been attracting increased media and political coverage in England as in other places in the world. Considering that each of the country's 14 346 CSOs has been assessed for their environmental risk potential, as defined by the Environment Agency, and they have each been permitted to act as a storm overflow is indicative of a more systemic problem than currently perceived. While looking at the duration and frequency of discharges from individual CSOs not much can be said about their causes nor about what needs to be done to reduce them, here through an extensive investigation of event duration monitoring (EDM) data for 2021 and 2020, CSO spills are shown to be an issue across all sewerage companies related to how they operate their systems. By analysing EDM data considering the type and location of CSOs, and the sewerage networks they are connected to, our findings reveal the chronic under capacity of the English wastewater systems as a fundamental cause behind the increased frequency and duration of CSO spills. Other than pumping stations, 82% of the CSOs with the maximum spill duration per system were located at storm tanks and inlets of treatment works and had on average significantly higher spill durations in systems with insufficient hydraulic capacity both in 2020 and 2021, suggesting that CSOs are used to protect the works under peak dry weather flow conditions. Such frequent, and in some cases independent of rainfall, use of CSOs, could have detrimental effects for the receiving environment, as well as put thousands of water users at risk.
Voulvoulis N, Giakoumis T, Hunt C, et al., 2022, Systems thinking as a paradigm shift for sustainability transformation, Global Environmental Change, Vol: 75, Pages: 102544-102544, ISSN: 0959-3780
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), adopted as reference and universal guidepost for transitioning to Sustainable Development by the United Nations in 2015 as part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, are intended to be used as a set of interconnected goals and global targets for ‘Transforming our world’, as the 2030 Agenda is titled. This is a far more challenging task than business as usual; it requires systems thinking for understanding the conditions that generate and propagate sustainability challenges, moving away from the reductionist and anthropocentric thinking that created them in the first place. Taking a systems approach to addressing these challenges has been gaining currency with academics and policymakers alike, and here we make the case for holistic, integrated, and interdisciplinary thinking that challenges assumptions and worldviews, crucially based on public participation and engagement, to create the enabling conditions for sustainability to emerge. System transformations require interconnected changes to technologies, social practices, business models, regulations and societal norms, an intentional process designed to fundamentally alter the components and structures that cause the system to behave in its current unsustainable ways, a paradigm shift enabling the transition to sustainability.
Seethalakshmi PS, Charity OJ, Giakoumis T, et al., 2022, Delineating the impact of COVID-19 on antimicrobial resistance: An Indian perspective, Science of the Total Environment, Vol: 818, ISSN: 0048-9697
The COVID-19 pandemic has shattered millions of lives globally and continues to be a challenge to public health due to the emergence of variants of concern. Fear of secondary infections following COVID-19 has led to an escalation in antimicrobial use during the pandemic, while some antimicrobials have been repurposed as treatments for SARS-CoV-2, further driving antimicrobial resistance. India is one of the largest producers and consumers of antimicrobials globally, hence the task of curbing antimicrobial resistance is a huge challenge. Practices like empirical antimicrobial prescription and repurposing of drugs in clinical settings, self-medication and excessive use of antimicrobial hygiene products may have negatively impacted the prevalence of antimicrobial resistance in India. However, the expanded production of antimicrobials and disinfectants during the pandemic in response to increased demand may have had an even greater impact on the threat of antimicrobial resistance through major impacts on the environment. The review provides an outline of the impact COVID-19 can have on antimicrobial resistance in clinical settings and the possible outcomes on the environment. This review calls for the upgrading of existing antimicrobial policies and emphasizes the need for research studies to understand the impact of the pandemic on antimicrobial resistance in India.
Gerassimidou S, Lovat E, Ebner N, et al., 2022, Unpacking the complexity of the UK plastic packaging value chain: A stakeholder perspective, Sustainable Production and Consumption, Vol: 30, Pages: 657-673, ISSN: 2352-5509
The pace to achieving a sustainable plastics economy remains noticeably slow. This could be due to a lack of understanding of the role and importance of stakeholder dynamics in the plastic packaging system. Therefore, this study aims to unpack and assess the role of stakeholders in improving the plastics recycling rate and circularity in the UK, using polyethylene terephthalate (PET) drinks bottles value chain as a case study. Via the theoretical lens of stakeholder theory the study identifies and groups the stakeholders in the PET drinks bottles value chain, and tries to make sense of, and analyse, their complex interactions via the use of the Complex Value Optimisation for Resource Recovery (CVORR) systems thinking approach. This integrated approach reveals, that even though external stakeholders (e.g. NGOs, trade associations) engage with internal stakeholders (e.g. suppliers, consumers, investors), and vice versa, at different levels and scales in promoting the circularity in the PET drink bottles value chain, there is a strong drive in incentivising the production and consumption processes. This is driven by the significant lobbying power of internal stakeholders operating upstream of the PET bottles value chain (i.e. producers and brand owners), that is supported by financial institutions, and which, strongly influences national and local government policies and decision-making processes. Meanwhile, the waste management processes are short-sighted, being unable to gain improved momentum and increase the PET bottles recycling rates. This dynamic conceals, and somewhat retains, the prevailing resistance in removing the infrastructural, regulatory and technological lock-ins. A collaboration between internal and external stakeholders is paramount to sustainably managing PET drinks bottles in the UK and achieving a transition to a sustainable circular plastics economy. Creating a level playing field and fostering a closer collaboration between all stakeholders invo
Giakoumis T, Vaghela C, Voulvoulis N, 2020, Chapter Six - The role of water reuse in the circular economy, Wastewater treatment and Reuse – Present and future perspectives in technological developments and management issues, Editors: Verlicchi, Publisher: Elsevier, Pages: 227-252
Water is at the core of sustainable development and is critical for socio-economic development, energy and food production, as well as healthy ecosystems and the benefits they deliver to us. Water and sanitation are vital for reducing the global burden of disease and improving the health, education and economic productivity of populations. Water reuse closes the loop between water supply and sanitation and provides an alternative water source. Wastewater treated to the right quality can replenish water supplies and reduce the demand and availability gap. The transition to a circular economy has the potential to transform current barriers to water reuse, and this chapter investigates its role in closing the loop in water management. Examining various advanced treatment technologies, we conclude that effective water reuse applications can deliver environmental, economic and social benefits. By the time recycled water has passed through the right combination of treatment processes, it is in fact cleaner than regular drinking water. The issue, however, comes down to how much people trust governments to make sure water is safe. As the public is becoming more environmentally aware—maybe more willing to accept “drinking toilet water,” the current prevailing perception of water reuse and main barrier to its widespread application.
Giakoumis T, Voulvoulis N, 2019, Water Framework Directive programmes of measures: Lessons from the 1st planning cycle of a catchment in England, Science of The Total Environment, Vol: 668, Pages: 903-916, ISSN: 0048-9697
The European Union's Water Framework Directive (WFD) required Member States to establish programmes of measures to achieve good water status formally by 2015, but on postponing the deadline by two six-year periods, by 2027 at the latest. With many Member States facing problems with developing such measures in the first planning cycle, and limited change in ecological status since the first river basin management plans were reported, we look at the implementation of the Directive in England, where only 17% of the surface water bodies were found at good status in 2015, a reduction of 4% since 2009. Using as a case study the Broadland Rivers catchment, we examine the measures taken for Cycle 1 and changes in the classifications of water body status, to investigate whether the way the measures were developed could have limited their potential to deliver WFD objectives. While the WFD was adopted to succeed and replace management practices targeting individually non-compliant element, findings indicate that little had changed in the way measures were developed. Although considerable progress has been made on the implementation of these measures, the limited progress in improving classifications demonstrates the limits of this approach and further makes the case for what the WFD was introduced for: the harmonised transposition of the Integrated River Basin Management paradigm, as the key for delivering good ecological status.
Giakoumis T, Voulvoulis N, 2018, A participatory ecosystems services approach for pressure prioritisation in support of the Water Framework Directive, Ecosystem Services, Vol: 34, Pages: 126-135, ISSN: 2212-0416
The pressure and impact analysis is an important process in integrated river basin management and a key procedural element of the EU Water Framework Directive. It aims to inform both the assessment of water body status and the development of management responses. However, the Directive does not provide prescriptive guidance on how it should be carried out and during the 1st river basin cycle, its application proved to be a real challenge. Incorporating ecosystem services as indicators of impacts, a participatory framework for pressure prioritisation is presented here. While various methods exist for engaging stakeholders in river basin management, the framework allows for the ecosystem approach to be operationalised through a risk assessment perspective, in the context of the pressure impact analysis. Applying this to a case study in England, we demonstrate how a ranking of pressures can be delivered based on stakeholders’ perception of how the delivery of ecosystem services is affected by each pressure and incorporating their value as indicator of the magnitude of the impact. This approach allows for a more systematic way to effectively prioritise significant pressures and therefore select appropriate programmes of measures in line with the Directive's integrated river basin management paradigm.
Giakoumis T, Voulvoulis N, 2018, The transition of EU water policy towards the Water Framework Directive’s Integrated River Basin Management paradigm, Environmental Management, Vol: 62, Pages: 819-831, ISSN: 0364-152X
Introduced in 2000 to reform and rationalise water policy and management across the European Union (EU) Member States (MS), the Water Framework Directive (WFD), the EU’s flagship legislation on water protection, is widely acknowledged as the embodiment and vessel for the application of the Integrated River Basin Management (IRBM) paradigm. Its ecological objectives, perhaps even more challenging than the prospect of statutory catchment planning itself, were for all EU waters to achieve ‘good status’ by 2015 (except where exemptions applied) and the prevention of any further deterioration. In support of the upcoming WFD review in 2019, the paper reviews the transition of EU policies that led to the adoption of the WFD, to identify the reasons why the Directive was introduced and what it is trying to deliver, and to place progress with its implementation into context. It further investigates reasons that might have limited the effectiveness of the Directive and contributed to the limited delivery and delays in water quality improvements. Findings reveal that different interpretations on the Directive’s objectives and exemptions left unresolved since its negotiation, ambiguity and compromises observed by its Common Implementation Strategy and lack of real support for the policy shift required have all been barriers to the harmonised transposition of the IRBM paradigm, the key to delivering good ecological status. The 2019 WFD review offers a unique opportunity to realign the implementation of the Directive to its initial aspirations and goals.
Giakoumis T, Voulvoulis N, 2018, Progress with monitoring and assessment in the wfd implementation in five european river basins: Significant differences but similar problems, European Journal of Environmental Sciences, Vol: 8, Pages: 44-50, ISSN: 1805-0174
The river basin approach of the Water Framework Directive (WFD) and the introduction of ecological status represent a shift in the assessment and management of freshwater systems from discipline-specific to more holistic, catchment-based principles. At the core of the WFD’s approach are catchments as highly interconnected systems. Despite strict timetables, progress towards achieving the WFD objectives has been slow, with deterioration in some cases not being halted. In this paper, looking at evidence from five European basins (Adige, Anglian, Ebro, Evrotas and Sava) we identify some of the key implementation challenges faced by each catchment during the development and implementation of the 1st River Basin Management Plans (RBMPs) of 2009. Despite significant differences in socio-ecological conditions, geographic coverage and starting points in the implementation between these river basins, findings highlight some similar key issues. The lack of a common systemic understanding of each river basin and detailed monitoring data to capture pressure-status interactions in order to anticipate how the system will react to interventions; as well as compliance driven implementation efforts were underlying problems in all five study areas. While some improvements to address these problems can be seen in the 2nd River Basin Management Planning Cycle (2015–2016), our findings demonstrate that a more effective approach is to question the deviation of the whole implementation from the directive’s systemic nature and therefore improve the adaptive, collaborative, participatory and interdisciplinary nature of the implementation efforts.
Voulvoulis N, Arpon KD, Giakoumis T, 2017, The EU Water Framework Directive: From great expectations to problems with implementation, Science of the Total Environment, Vol: 575, Pages: 358-366, ISSN: 0048-9697
The Water Framework Directive 2000/60/EC (WFD) is widely accepted as the most substantial and ambitious piece of European environmental legislation to date. It has been referred to as a once in a generation opportunity to restore Europe's waters and a potential template for future environmental regulations. However, fifteen years since it was adopted, and with many problems and delays in its implementation, the WFD has not delivered its main objectives of non-deterioration of water status and the achievement of good status for all EU waters. Putting aside the daunting technical and organisational challenges of its implementation, this paper aims to shed light on why the great expectations that came with the WFD have not yet been fully realised. It reviews how the Directive has been interpreted, focusing on its intentions and how they were applied. The findings reveal the absence of the paradigm shift towards the systems (integrated) thinking that the WFD was grounded on, as a fundamental problem with its implementation. This is also evident in cases where the Directive has been criticised as a policy tool or when implementation efforts were reviewed, indicating misunderstandings even of its core principles. This inherent departure from the Directive's systemic intention and methodological approach needs further investigation, as it could be the reason behind many of its problems and delays. Unless current implementation efforts are reviewed or revised in light of this, enabling the paradigm shift required to ensure a more sustainable and holistic approach to water management, the fading aspirations of the initial great expectations that came with the Directive could disappear for good.
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