In 1995, a series of about 30 studies entitled "Flux of substances to the North Sea" was published by the Belgian Technical Commission of the North Sea, following the international commitments of Belgium with regards to the Final Declaration and to the Annex 1A of the 3th International Conference on the Protection of the North Sea.
This work was co-ordinated by the MUMM (Management Unit of the Mathematical Model of the North Sea), a department ofthe Royal Belgian Institute for Natural Sciences (http://www.mumm.ac.be).

Our laboratory has been assigned the task to update the studies dealing with the emissions of selected chlorinated solvents (tetrachloroethylene, trichloroethylene, 1-2 dichloroethane, chloroform, carbon tetrachloride) and heavy metals (lead, cadmium and copper). This work includes (1) an assessment of the methodologies used to forecast the emissions from point and diffuse sources to surface waters and to the air for the year 1995; (2) the production of new estimates for 1995, based on data made available between 1995 and nowadays; (3) a forecast of the emissions for 2000.

A detailed investigation of the main industrial activities concerned with the release of chlorinated solvents and heavy metals in the environment is being performed in order to quantify the impact of new technologies and process changes on the emissions. Market trends are also analysed and will, together with the technical data gathered, allow us to verify the previous estimations and anticipate the 2000 emissions.

This study is performed in collaboration with the Department of Analytical Chemistry of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (Prof. Baeyens) and the Department of Chemistry of the Universitaire Instelling Antwerpen (Prof. Van Grieken). It is funded by the Belgian Federal Office for Scientific, Technical and Cultural Affairs ( http://www.sstc.be) and is supervised by the MUMM.

Contact for further information: catherine.piron@ulb.ac.be