Description of industrial pollution in Spain

BMC Public Health

Table 4 Description of pollution directly discharged to water by industrial plants in Spain (2001), by specific pollutant.

POLLUTANTS		TOTAL SPAIN			AUTONOMOUS REGIONS WITH HIGHEST EMISSIONS
SUBSTANCES	THRESHOLD (Mt/year)¹	EMISSION (Mt/year)²	PLANTS³	MEAN EMISSION PER PLANT (Mt/year)⁴	REGION	EMISSION (Mt/year)²	PLANTS³	MEAN EMISSION PER PLANT (Mt/year)⁴
GROUP 1: ENVIRONMENTAL THEMES
Nitrogen	50	5255	18	292	Andalusia	1759	4	440
Phosphorus	5	535	25	21	Aragon	175	3	58
GROUP 2: METALS AND COMPOUNDS
Arsenic	0.005	0.412	11	0.037	Catalonia	0.161	3	0.054
Cadmium	0.005	2	16	0.106	Andalusia	1	8	0.133
Chromium	0.050	7	24	0.293	Catalonia	2	7	0.336
Copper	0.050	9	28	0.309	Basque Country	3	5	0.690
Mercury	0.001	0.281	17	0.017	Cantabria	0.102	2	0.051
Nickel	0.020	9	33	0.275	Aragon	3	2	2
Lead	0.020	3	18	0.187	Andalusia	1	5	0.208
Zinc	0.100	137	37	4	Cantabria	97	6	16
GROUP 3: CHLORINATED ORGANIC SUBSTANCES
Dichloroethane-1,2	0.010	0.332	2	0.166	Catalonia	0.308	1	0.308
Chloroalkanes	0.001	0.186	2	0.093	Cantabria	0.161	1	0.161
Hexachlorobutadiene	0.001	0.001	1	0.001	Catalonia	0.001	1	0.001
Halogenated organic compounds	1	319	16	20	Andalusia	100	3	33
GROUP 4: OTHER ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
Benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, xylenes	0.200	64	4	16	Cantabria	47	1	47
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons	0.005	7	6	1	Cantabria	5	2	2
Phenols	0.020	24	17	1	Andalusia	17	4	4
Total organic carbon	50	31375	55	570	Cantabria	11878	6	1980
GROUP 5: OTHER COMPOUNDS
Chlorides	2000	7696120	11	699647	Basque Country	6517950	3	2172650
Cyanides	0.050	153	5	31	Asturias	151	1	151
Fluorides	2	149	15	10	Asturias	60	2	30

ISSN: 1471-2458