Freshwater oil spill remediation study at the IISD-experimental lakes area: (The FOReSt Project)

石油泄漏对环境的影响是加拿大公众关注的一个主要问题。监管机构和科学 社区也不确定在不同的地区清理漏油时最好采用哪种方法。 环境.需要在实际的实地情况下提高清理程序的效力， 解决这些重大的知识差距。这里提议的合作研究将由 来自马尼托巴、卡尔加里、麦吉尔大学、国家科学研究所的研究人员 和国际可持续发展研究所-试验湖区。它将 包括一个多阶段的大型项目，以检查泄漏石油的命运和行为，并比较泄漏 淡水环境中的清洁方法。该项目包括工业界、政府、 原住民和社区团体，并将量化影响（即，生态、社会和经济价值 从失去的生态系统服务）的石油泄漏到淡水环境。检查有效性，以及 该项目的一个关键组成部分是评估目前淡水系统中溢油清理方法的影响。许多 目前清除溢油的策略主要是机械清除，但也可以从生态学角度 破坏性和经济成本。拟议项目的目标是确定 不同海岸线环境中的物理、化学和生物溢油清理方法。小规模 模型溢油将被用来检查不同的清理方法的能力，以消除残留的石油， 维持自然北方湖泊封闭区域的生态系统功能。第一年将开展的工作 将作为一个试点实验，目的是确定石油产品进行全面的实地研究 在第二年。受影响地区的生态恢复，以及 将通过监测对采用不同补救方法应对溢漏情况进行量化 第三年和第四年的封闭环境。优化适用于石油泄漏的补救战略将有利于 加拿大人通过显著提高响应效率和更快地恢复生态系统服务。

Environmental impacts of oil spills are a major concern for the Canadian public. Regulators and the scientific community are also uncertain which methods are best to employ when cleaning up oil spills in different environments. Improving effectiveness of clean-up procedures under realistic field situations is required to address these significant knowledge gaps. The collaborative research being proposed here will be conducted by researchers from the Universities of Manitoba, Calgary, McGill, Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique and the International Institute for Sustainable Development-Experimental Lakes Area (IISD-ELA). It will consist of a large multi-phased project to examine the fate and behaviour of spilled oil, and to compare spill clean-up methods in a freshwater environment. The project includes participation from industry, government, First Nations and community groups, and will quantify impacts (i.e., ecological, social and economic value from lost ecosystem services) of oil spilled into freshwater environments. Examining effectiveness, and impacts, of current oil spill clean-up methods in freshwater systems is a key component of the project. Many current strategies for removing spilled oil focus on mechanical removal; however, this can be ecologically damaging and economically costly. The goal of the proposed project is to determine relative effectiveness of physical, chemical and biological oil spill clean-up methods in different shoreline environments. Small-scale model oil spills will be used to examine the ability of different cleanup methods to remove residual oil and maintain ecosystem function in enclosed regions of a natural boreal lake. The work to be conducted in Year 1 will serve as a pilot experiment which aims to determine the oil product to be tested in the full-scale field study in Year 2. Ecological recovery of the affected areas, together with social and economic impacts of incorporating different remediation approaches for responding to spills will be quantified through monitoring the contained environments in Year 3 and 4. Optimizing remediation strategies applied to oil spills will benefit Canadians by significantly improving response efficiencies and restoring ecosystem services more quickly.