Events Anniversary for 2024-12-25

The "Directive 2000/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing a framework for the Community action in the field of water policy" or short the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD) entered into force. All member states have approved the results of the mediation between the European Parliament and of the Council. Within the next 15 years rivers, lakes and costal waters shall gain a good quality. The protection of groundwater will be improved as well. Measures of protection of the groundwater quality shall be taken even before the boundary values have been reached. Further on, the prices for water shall gein® more transparency. The member states have to report their water pricing differentiated by the sectors industry, agriculture, and private households. The target is that the consumers have to bear the operational costs at least (as it is common practice in Germany) to ensure an efficient handling of this resource.

On 20 December 2000, the European Commission adopted this decision: Article 1: Lindane is not included as an active substance in Annex I to Directive 91/414/EEC. Article 2: The Member States shall ensure that: 1. authorisations for plant-protection products containing lindane are withdrawn within a period of six months from the date of adoption of the present Decision; 2. from the date of adoption of the present Decision no authorisation for plant-protection products containing lindane will be granted or renewed under the derogation provided for in Article 8(2) of Directive 91/414/EEC.

More than fourteen years after the disaster, the last of the atomic reactors has been taken off the grid in Chernobyl. However, innumerous landfills full of radiated materials are still remaining together with the open question, how and when the ramshackle reactor blocks themselves will be disposed.

With a hurricane blowing over southern Germany, Reactor Block B is shut down, and Block C's output reduced from 1300 to 500 MW. Later in the evening, Block C was powered up fully, and at 9.23 pm, Block B was again operational. These precautionary measures prevented any damage to the facility.

The Erika breaks in half in heavy seas off the west coast of France and sinks to the sea bed with two thirds of its cargo. Special ships attempt to pump the remaining oil away (10,000 to 12,000 t). Nonetheless, the storm drives the oil slick onto the coast over Christmas, contaminating over 400 km of coastline and at least 6000 birds.

In 1993 and 1995, the rivers Rhine and Meuse flooded their banks twice within a thirteen-month period. Because the catchment areas of these two rivers are located in more than one country, flood control inevitably became a matter of co-operation between the relevant authorities. Flanders, France, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Wallonia submitted a joint flood control programme to the European Commission within the framework of its INTERREG II-C initiative. This programme was approved on 18 December 1997 and was given the name IRMA, which stands for INTERREG Rhine-Meuse Activities. Besides the EU Member States mentioned, Switzerland was also participating in this programme on a project basis.

The Third Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP3) was held from 1-11 December 1997 at the Kyoto International Conference Hall (KICH) in Japan. On 11 December, after 10 days of tough negotiations ministers and other high-level officials from 160 countries reached agreement on a legally binding Protocol under which industrialized countries will reduce their collective emissions of greenhouse gases by 5.2%.

Sodium circulating in the secondary system (loop C) breaks the casing of the cylindrical thermometer, which explodes and cause the sodium to burn in the main system. Sodium escaped from loop C (source: Greenpeace).

§1 The purpose of this Act is to ensure the effective implementation of an EU directive ... on the voluntary participation of commercial companies in a common system for environmental management and inspection.

The Voluntary Environmental Year provides an opportunity for personal development with an emphasis on environmental awareness. Full-time voluntary work is available at suitable institutions and other bodies concerned with conservation and the environment. The act was last amended on 24.3.1997

On 8 December 1993 the French-flag container ship Sherbro lost a number of containers overboard in the English Channel. As a result, hundreds of thousands of plastic sachets containing the pesticide Apron plus entered the sea and were subsequently washed up on the coasts of France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany.

The Aegean Sea strikes a rock off the coast of Spain, spilling 1,000 t crude oil into the bay of La Coruna.

The incinerator ship "Vulcanus II" leaves Antwerp on its final journey, before the global ban on high sea incineration of toxic waste comes into force.

§1 If a person's life is lost, body or health impaired or property damaged as a result of the environmental impact of a plant listed in the Appendix, its operator is required to compensate the person for this damage.

This act regulates the use of and payment for electricity generated exclusively from water or wind power, solar energy, landfill, sewage or biomass gas within Germany by electricity suppliers. The act has been replaced by the Renewable Energy Sources Act.

The "Aragon" loses c. 25,000 t oil.

The Khark 5 explodes north of the Canary Islands, losing c. 70,000 t light crude oil.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change was created in 1988. It was set up by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) to prepare, based on available scientific information, assessments on all aspects of climate change and its impacts, with a view of formulating realistic response strategies. The initial task for the IPCC as outlined in UN General Assembly Resolution 43/53 of 6 December 1988 was to prepare a comprehensive review and recommendations with respect to the state of knowledge of the science of climate change; the social and economic impact of climate change, and possible response strategies and elements for inclusion in a possible future international convention on climate.

When a valve which had been accidentally left open is repaired, 107 l of cooling water are released (source: Greenpeace).

To protect the population, radioactivity in the environment shall be monitored, exposure or contamination of humans and the environment by radiation in the case of events adjudged minor (taking into account the current state of scientific knowledge and other relevant factors) shall be minimised through appropriate action.

A defective tank at the Union Carbide pesticide factory in Bhopal leaks methylisocyanate, resulting in 3,400 deaths and c. 200,000 serious injuries.

Bayer halts its dumping of spent acid in the North Sea.

Grafenrheinfeld nuclear power plant is located 2 kilometres to the south of Grafenrheinfeld in the rural district of Schweinfurt, which forms part of the Lower Franconia region of Bavaria. The nuclear power plant was shut down permanently on 27 June 2015. It's the first reactor to close since Germany passed its 13th Act for the Amendment of the Nuclear Power Act in July 2011 which requires the closure of all commercial nuclear reactors by the end of 2022. Grafenrheinfeld nuclear power plant is located 2 kilometres to the south of Grafenrheinfeld in the rural district of Schweinfurt, which forms part of the Lower Franconia region of Bavaria.

The Argo Merchant ran aground on Fishing Rip (Nantucket Shoals), 29 nautical miles southeast of Nantucket Island, Massachusetts in high winds and ten foot seas. On December 21, the ship broke apart and spilled its entire cargo of 7.7 million gallons of No. 6 fuel oil.

The Council of the European Communities has adopted the DIRECTIVE of 8 December 1975 concerning the quality of bathing water. Directive 76/160/EEC concerns the quality of bathing water, with the exception of water intended for therapeutic purposes and water used in swimming pools. It lays down the minimum quality criteria to be met by bathing water: the physical, chemical and microbiological parameters; the mandatory limit values and indicative values for such parameters; the minimum sampling frequency and method of analysis or inspection of such water. Member States fix the values that they apply to bathing water in accordance with the guidelines of Directive 76/160/EEC. Member States may fix more stringent values than those laid down in the Directive. Where it does not give any values for certain parameters, Member States are not obliged to fix any.

The World Food Council is set up on the recommendation of the Rome World Food Conference. It is the highest committee directing and coordinating various UN organisations in solving world hunger.

On 19 December 1972 in Oman Sea the South Korean Sea Star supertanker collided with Brazilian tanker Horta Barbosa and spilled about 115000 tons of crude oil into the Gulf of Oman.

The Advisory Council on the Environment (SRU) was established by a charter of the Federal Ministry of the Interior on December 28, 1971 (GMBI 1972, No. 3, page 27), as part of the federal government's environmental programme of October 1971. The SRU was constituted and commenced operation in 1972. It consists of seven university professors from a range of different environment-related disciplines. The members of the Council are appointed by the German government for a four-year period. The interdisciplinary SRU is fully independent to determine the focus and scope of its reports.

The Advisory Scientific Council (SRU) is constituted by a government decree under the first environmental programme, to provide scientific advice for the government. Its brief is to present and evaluate the environmental and relevant political trends and situation in Germany, as well as to point out policy failures and potential remedies. It publishes a biannual report, and may also publish further reports and expert opinions on specific issues, if this is considered necessary by the council or requested by the environment minister.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA or sometimes USEPA) is an agency of the federal government of the United States charged with protecting human health and the environment, by writing and enforcing regulations based on laws passed by Congress. The EPA was proposed by President Richard Nixon and began operation on December 2, 1970.

On 13 December 1961, the British tanker the Allegrity ran aground off the coast of Caerhays, near Saint Austell in the Channel. 800 tonnes of petroleum were spilled in the incident.

Otto Hahn and Fritz Straßmann discover nuclear fission.