Protecting our Marine Environment - Environmental Protection - 3.2 Public Information and Education

3.2 Public Information and Educational Initiatives undertaken by Environmental Protection

Executive Summary

• Environmental Protection considers pollution prevention and public awareness of environmental issues as an integral and important part of its work and has been active in this area for many years.
• Environmental Protection has developed various means to inform the public about their responsibilities under the Water Pollution (Jersey) Law 2000 and how they can prevent pollution occurring.
• This includes dissemination of pollution prevention information using different media, primarily through officer advice, anti-pollution campaigns, leaflets, the States website and the joint oil care group'.
• Effective public education can reduce the risk of pollution occurring and potentially reduce the number of incidents Environmental Protection attend and hence its ongoing workload.

1. Overview of environmental education

Environmental Protection provides a wide spectrum of pollution prevention information to the public about protecting controlled waters (including, coastal waters, groundwater and streams).

This information includes leaflets, posters, anti-pollution campaigns, States website, oil tank stickers, school presentations and public events, (see Appendix 1 for a list of educational materials).

Raising the awareness of the public helps reduce the risk of pollution occurring and informs them:

• of activities which can cause pollution
• how to reduce the risk of their activities causing pollution
• of their responsibilities under the Law
• about current environmental issues and pollution prevention at the forefront of public awareness.

2. Legislation

Article 5, 1&2 General Objectives of the Water Pollution (Jersey) Law 2000 states that:

1. The Minister shall have as the Minister's general objectives the maintenance and improvement of the quality of water in and around Jersey by the prevention, control, reduction and elimination of the pollution of controlled waters.
   2. The Minister shall seek to promote the conservation and enhancement of the natural beauty and amenity of controlled waters, their use for recreational purposes and the conservation of flora and fauna that are dependent on an aquatic environment.

4. Overview of public information and educational initiatives by Environmental Protection

1. Oil Care Campaign

The Oil Care Campaign was established in 2008 to increase public awareness about oil pollution occurring on Jersey and inform people of simple and practical steps that they can take to reduce the risk of oil pollution occurring.

As part of the Oil Care Campaign an Oil Care Group was formed with the aim of bringing together the oil industry (including the oil companies, plumbers and boiler engineers) and Environmental Protection. The objective of the group is to reduce pollution caused by oil in Jersey and to provide a forum to enable discussion on joint concerns.

2. Successes of the Oil Care Group to date

• Distribution (through the fuel delivery companies) of the oil care sticker to the majority of oil tank owners in the Island (see Appendix 3).
• Production of the code of best practice for fuel distribution companies, heating engineers and plumbers (see Appendix 4).
• Concerns from the oil industry that they did not understand their responsibilities under the Water Pollution (Jersey) Law 2000 lead to a joint training day with Jersey Water. Topics covered were, causes of oil loss, the impact of oil on the aquatic environment, how to prevent oil loss and their responsibilities under the Law. This was followed by a tour of Handois

Water Treatment Plant.

• Concerns about single-skinned oil tanks resulted in Environmental Protection distributing a letter through the oil companies, informing owners of the environmental risks of single-skinned oil tanks (see Appendix 5).
• Concerns raised by members of the oil care group about the regulation of the industry has resulted in Building Control (Planning & Environment) and OFTEC (Oil Firing Technical Association) participating in the next Oil Care Group meeting.
• Alterations are in the process of being made to the technical guidance notes of the Building Bye (Jersey) Laws 2007, to reflect common faults with oil tanks and associated pipework.

3. Water Made Clearer Leaflets

Environmental Protection produce a range of informative leaflets which provide facts to the public on types and causes of pollution, how to avoid pollution and what to do if pollution occurs (see Appendix 6-12). Information contained in these leaflets was partly obtained from UK Environment Agency, DEFRA and EU websites.

The Water Made Clearer leaflets were first distributed in 2000 and updated in 2006/7. The oil leaflet is currently being updated to take into account developments from the Oil Care Group. All pollution prevention leaflets will be updated in future.

The Ships & Boats leaflet (Appendix 8) is aimed at protecting the marine environment from potentially polluting activities, including anti-fouling of boats, re-fuelling and the release of grey water into the sea.

Other leaflet headings include; Construction (Appendix 6), Garden pesticides (Appendix 7), Groundwater (Appendix 9), Oil pollution (Appendix 10), Home pollution (Appendix 11) and Organic waste (Appendix 12).

Sources of potential pollution within the leaflets are: oil, sewage, compost leachate, milk, pesticide use, silt, concrete, cement, chemicals, animal waste, household waste, the waste products derived from the anti-fouling, painting and cleaning boats.

4. States website

Information about the work undertaken by Environmental Protection is included as part of the States of Jersey website. This includes:

Water Made Clearer leaflets, Oil Care sticker, bathing water and groundwater results and application forms for registering your water abstraction and applying for a discharge permit.

5. Additional information

Environmental Protection produces informative material according to the need. For example, following reports of oily bilge water being released into St Helier Harbour, Environmental Protection published an article in the Fisheries Newsletter about the environmental risk of discharging oil in the marine environment, (Appendix 13).

A complimentary poster was also produced and displayed around the Harbour area. This informed boat owners of the potential environmental impact of pumping oily water from bilges into the sea, re-fuelling close to the water's edge, storage of fuel and oil on board and disposing of oily materials, (Appendix 14).

Environmental Protection links up with Eco-Active campaigns using the Greener Living Trailer. This will be part of the Home Life Show Project Team, which aims to provide information to the public about environmental issues.

6. Distribution of information

• Leaflets are available to the public via a variety of outlets, including Parish Hall s, B&Q, Romerils, oil distribution companies, garden centres, museums and on the States website, (see Appendix 2 for distribution list).
• Fuel companies and boiler engineers distribute the Oil Care sticker, the Water Made Clearer - Oil leaflet and the Code of Best Practise leaflet to customers.
• Jersey Harbours assist Environmental Protection with the distribution of the poster concerning the disposal of bilge water and Ships and Boats leaflet.
• Fisheries and Marine Resources assist Environmental Protection with the distribution of pollution prevention leaflets.

4. Analysis and reporting of data

Information obtained from the pollution incident database is used to highlight areas to target the public on the common causes of pollution. The database is also used to assimilate facts about pollution that can re-enforce prevention messages.

For the last two years, statistics on bathing water quality and oil pollution have been included in the "Jersey in Figures" booklet produced by the States of Jersey Statistics Department.

5. Budget, manpower, and resource considerations

The budget available for producing, printing and distributing of pollution prevention information to the public is £1500. Although this budget is available, where possible, Environmental Protection seek to reduce costs by:

• Using fuel delivery drivers to distribute oil related information as part of the Oil Care Campaign.
• Using other States Departments to distribute pollution prevention material.
• Obtaining financial contributions from oil distribution companies and Jersey Water for printing the new oil prevention leaflet.

Staff time for pollution prevention work is approximately 25 days per annum, this includes:

• Organisation and follow up work of the Oil Care Group
• Up dating pollution prevention leaflets/posters etc.
• Developing new initiatives/approaches
• Conducting school talks and attending events

6. Constraints

Staff time is limited and this means that pollution prevention work suffers. This affects:

• Staff being unable to participate in public events
• Becoming more active in the sustainable schools framework by developing an information pack to distribute to schools

7. Addressing of constraints by Environmental Protection

Environmental Protection has addressed these constraints by cooperating with the industry, linking up with Eco-active and assessing each public event to gauge whether a presence would be beneficial.

Appendix 1 List of pollution prevention material

• Water Made Clearer Leaflet – Ships and Boats
• Water Made Clearer Leaflet – Home Pollution
• Water Made Clearer Leaflet – Organic waste
• Water Made Clearer Leaflet - Construction
• Water Made Clearer Leaflet – Garden pesticides
• Water Made Clearer Leaflet - Groundwater
• Water Made Clearer Leaflet – Oil Pollution
• Leaflet for children – Hydrogen Bond's fact file
• Oil Care sticker
• Poster – Bilge water

Appendix 2 Distribution list of pollution prevention material

Appendix 3 Oil care sticker, distributed to the majority of oil tank owners

Appendix 5 Letter to owners of single skinned oil tanks

Appendix 13 Article in fisheries newsletter concerning pumping out oily

bilges

Appendix 14 Poster on bilge water distributed around the harbour