Dr. Patrick Reynolds

Contracting Authority: The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development
Contract Value: 1,200,000 Euro
Beneficiaries: The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development
Financing Agency: World Bank/Sida
Consortium: Mott MacDonald, Abkons (Albania), DHI (Denmark)
Period of Assignment: 24 months (Start date: April 2016)

Main Outputs: RBMPs for the Drini-Buna River Basin and the Semani River Basin in Albania

The IWRM strategy addressed the objectives of the EU-WFD implementation and includes specification of water policy and resource implications in Albania.

Leading the component to provide inputs to the assessment of the current administrative structure and its capacity to effectively implement the water management legislation with its specific focus on EU-WFD and to support development of the initial elements of the River Basin Management Planning of Vardar River. I also worked on the development of suitable and implementable organisational options for strengthening the water management structures of the project beneficiary country.

The objective was to strengthen the administrative structures and foster the approximation process and support implementation of the EU Environmental Acquis (including relevant EU water policies, WFD and other water directives). My responsibilities included leading the water management component for strengthening technical and IPA-compliant planning capacities of the institutions involved in environmental and water management in BiH to achieve EU environmental and water standards. I also assisted in the production or relevant documents in order to support implementation of EU-WFD requirements namely through development of Directive Specific Implementation Plans for the water sector ‘Heavy Investment Directives’ (Urban Waste Water, Drinking Water, Flood management etc.).

Contracting Authority: World Bank
Contracted by: WRA

The objective was to define the status of environmental degradation in the Kagera River Basin and identify interventions to reverse degradation and an appropriate institutional set up for project implementation on national and transboundary levels.

Contracting Authority: Millennium Challenge Corporation
Contracted by: WRA
Beneficiaries: Millennium Challenge Account - Malawi, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Environmental Affairs, Ministry of Irrigation and Water Development
Contract Value: 1,200,000 USD
Project Start Date: 9th June 2010

This project was carried out in conjunction with MCC in Washington and MCA-Malawi, LTS Ltd, in partnership with The International Union for Conservation and Nature (IUCN), the Centre for Development Management (CDM) and Water Resource Associates (WRA), to develop an Environmental and Natural Resource Management Action Plan (ENRMAP) for the Upper Shire River Basin, with a focus on the East and West Malombe catchments.

EuropeAid/125153/D/SER/Multi African Transboundary River Basin Support Programme – case of the basin of the Orange-Senqu River in Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia and South Africa.

Preparation of a framework for the development of recommendations to support the management of water environmental quality for the Orange-Senqu River System, and to develop water resource management objectives to support this process.

Acting as bid manager for a range of proposals related to international transboundary water management. Responsibilities included the identification of projects, the development of project consortia, the development of Expressions of Interest and the coordination and delivery of proposals

Contracted by ARCADIS Euroconsult (now Euroconsult Mott MacDonald)
for EU-PHARE (0.5 M EUR)

Leading the project to achieve the objective to establish partnership between the stakeholders of Bulgaria and Greece based on the EU standards for integrated WRM according to the EU WFD 2000/60/EC and other EU water directives as well as increase the capacity regarding strategic planning to improve the quality of Arda River. The project, furthermore, supported preparation of the implementation programme of the acquis with particular emphasis on water quality in respect of the Directive 2000/EEC for establishing of framework for Community action in the field of water policy and of the Convention on protection and use of the cross-border water. The project also provided a programme for monitoring of the Arda River water quality and for reservoirs water; increasing the capacity regarding strategic planning for improving the quality of Arda River according to the requirements of the WFD; Strengthening administrative, monitoring and enforcement capacity at different levels, with the accent on regional and local levels.

Assignment: Assisting in the process of improving the quality of water resources shared by Greece and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, i.e. the Vardar river and the Dojran lake, so as to progress towards compliance with the EU Water Framework Directive.
Contracting Authority: European Agency for Reconstruction, Skopje
Beneficiaries: The Ministry of Environment and Physical Planning (MEPP), the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Economy of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (MAFWE), and the Municipality of Dojran
Contract Value: 1,000,000 Euro
Financing Agency: European Union (CARDS)
Consortium: Euroconsult Mott MacDonald (NL), Eptisa (Spain), Mott Macdonald (UK), GEING (fYROM)
Composition of Team: Team Leader, Water Resources Specialist, Water Quality Specialist, Industrial Pollution Specialist, Hydrologist, Legal expert
Period of Assignment: 18 months (Start date: January 2007)

Contracted by Project Management Ltd (Ireland) for EU-PHARE (0.4 M EUR)

Developed the main elements of the draft River Basin Management Plan for Mesta River Basin in accordance with the requirements of the Water Framework Directive 2000/60/EC focused on the river basin characteristics, preliminary pressure and impact analyzes and GIS development. (i) assessment of the basin characteristics (ii) technical capacity building and assessment of the staff of the local River basin Directorate, (iii) Gaps in data, technical and HR critical for the further implementation of the requirements of the WFD and identification of main RBM issues, and (iv) Strategic capacity building, and management support to the Joint Coordinating Body of the Mesta/Nestos River Basin, formed under the INTERREG LLLA A – PHARE CBC Greece – Bulgaria. Project included cross-border counterparts ’coordination through: common technical approach to the requirements of WFD, durable lines of communication and management frame between responsible regional Bulgarian and Greek Basin authorities, common agreed water quality objectives as well as common programs of measures within the Mesta/Nestos River Basin Management Plan as part of bilateral agreement between the two countries.

I was also responsible for the advisory services, technical coordination/quality control.

The GEF Implementing Agency was the United Nations Development Agency (UNDP). Contract value was 4M USD.

The executing agent of the project was the United Nation Office for Project Services (UNOPS).

The project (BSERP) supported regional aspects of nutrient control in the Black Sea coastal countries. It also aimed to strengthen the role of the Black Sea Commission to ensure the formulation, adoption, and implementation of a suite of harmonized legal and policy instruments for tackling the problem of eutrophication and release of certain hazardous substances; and to facilitate ecosystem recovery, including through sustainable use of living marine resources.

As acting Project Coordinator/Chief Technical Advisor during Phase I of the BSERP my responsibilities were as follows:

• Establishing basin-wide consultative groups and functioning of national inter-sectoral bodies;

• Reinforcing the legal background and promoting the implementation of the Global Programme of Action;

• Assisting with the project institutional network, including the Advisory Groups of the Black Sea Commission, Regional Activity Centres, NGOs and other stakeholders in project implementation;

• Management of the Small Grants Programme;

• Diffusing project outputs through newsletters, posters, technical reports and public information bulletins;

• Coordination of relevant activities of donors, participants in the funding and implementation of the overall Black Sea Environmental Programme;

• Preparation of progress reports concerning programme activities.

Involved in the following projects:

• EU-TACIS Development of Transboundary Co-Operation Water Quality Monitoring and Assessment Bug River Between Belarus and Poland. Main responsibilities included (i) the development of a trans-boundary water information management system between Belarus, Poland and Ukraine; (ii) the designation of environmental quality objectives and standards for the Bug river and support for monitoring system in accordance with the requirements of the EU WFD.

• Caspian Sea Environment Programme-CEP (GEF/UNDP/WB/EU). Involved involved in the design of a regional water management and sediment quality monitoring programme and the implementation of environmental quality objectives for water, sediment and biota for the future management in Caspian Sea.

• TA for Development of Strategic and Short-term Investment Plans for the city of Rostov, Russia”, funded by (DFID). Provided technical assistance in relation to integrated sustainable water management for the city of Rostov including the study of the impact of pollution sources and a strategic plan for upgrading and expansion of the water services.

• EU-TACIS “The updating of Vodokanal’s Environmental Protection and wastewater treatment laboratory facilities in Zaporozhzhia”: Assistance provided to Vodokanal in liaison with donor organisations and the drafting of a proposal for the procurement of equipment and training of staff for procedures of quality control.

• The Regional Nutrient Reduction Programme for the Black Sea Basin: Implemention of new policies, institutional and regulatory measures for nutrient reduction, Implementing investment projects for water pollution, Capacity building for water pollution management including monitoring systems, Adopting of legal mechanisms at national and regional level to control nutrient releases to the Black Sea. My responsibility involved the review of policy and legislation for regional protection of surface waters from nutrients and the development of Black Sea ecosystem indicators and the environmental status framework.

• Advisor for the development of Environmental Risk Assessment for a Costal Realignment Scheme for UK Environmental Agency. The study involved the use of environmental risk assessment procedures to determine the present and future impact of agrochemicals to surface waters and coastal habitats.

Black Sea Environnent Programme - EU TACIS/ GEF/ UNDP. The purpose of the Programme was to strengthen and create regional capacities for managing the Black Sea water and ecosystem, develop an appropriate policy and legislative framework.

Responsible for shaping the policy and legislation for environmental standards in water, sediment and biota for the management of the Black Sea and involved in liaison with regulatory and technical specialists from the beneficiary countries.

An Environmental Code of Conduct was proposed in the late 1990s by the Association Internationale de la Savonnerie, de la Détergence et des Produits d’Entretien (A.I.S.E). Any manufacturer, importer or other persons within the European Detergent Industry, whether or not affiliated to A.I.S.E. national associations, which adopted the Code of Good Environmental Practice for household laundry detergents, would commit itself to striving to achieve a reduction in household laundry products, packaging, poorly-biodegradable ingredients, and energy used in the washing process.

The targets, proposed for the European Economic Area (EEA), starting in early 1998, were reductions of:

- 10% for products
- 10% for packaging
- 10% for poorly-biodegradable ingredients
- 5% for energy reduction

The targets were to be established for five years. The overall objective of this study on behalf of the EU DGIII was to identify whether the requirements for industry, as laid down in the Code, are sufficient and, if not, to suggest ways to improve them.

Responsible for managing the project team and the study carried out on behalf of the EC DG III, which was designed to identify if surfactant chemicals posed a risk in surface waters, and to determine whether or not a requirement to assess the ultimate biodegradability of surfactants would be beneficial for minimising the impact of future surfactants. The study focussed on the issues surrounding persistence of surfactants and their potential for oestrogenic activity.

At the time of this report (1997) of the parent surfactants which had been tested for oestrogenicity, none have been shown to be oestrogenic. Thus, it appeared that the parent surfactants themselves did not provide cause for concern regarding the potential effects of exposure to oestrogenic chemicals. A number of breakdown products of the APEs have been shown in the scientific literature to be weakly oestrogenic in a number of assays. Both the position and branching of the alkyl group were known to affect oestrogenicity. Data obtained at the time of the study from the in vivo rainbow trout vitellogenin bioassay suggested that an oestrogenic response may be seen at concentrations of around 10 and 3 g per litre of nonyl and octylphenol, respectively. However, the importance of this in terms of health and ecology of fish populations remained uncertain.

Based on data received from AISE and CESIO during the study, the total production volume of the all surfactant chemicals which would fail the screening test is less than 100,000 tonnes per year, equated to approximately 3% of the total annual production of surfactant in detergent sold in the European Community. Analysis of standardised biodegradation data revealed that alkylphenol ethoxylates (octyl- and nonyl-), which at the time of the study (1997) had a maximum Community production volume of 50,000 tonnes per year, were the sole priority candidates for risk assessment, judged on the basis of the relative persistence and oestrogenic activity of their biodegradation intermediates.

The study concluded that in view of the biodegradability data set for surfactant chemicals, it did not appear to be advantageous to change the legislation to test the small number of chemicals, which were prioritised in this report. Alternatively, the judgement of chemical persistence and fate in the environment was assumed on the basis of a voluntary agreement between industry and representatives of the Commission, whereby chemicals could be assessed on a case by case basis by an ad-hoc committee. The basis for guidance may be readily drawn from the OECD or EC strategies for biodegradability testing was outlined in this report.

Atmospheric pollutants such as industrial emissions, crop sprays can be deposited long distances from their points of release. There are three routes of entry for such pollutants into animals: respiratory absorption of inhaled airborne material, skin absorption from contact with contaminated substrates, and absorption through the gut from the ingestion of contaminated material. The experiments described here are concerned with absorption due to ingestion and contact. The effects of acidic gases such as sulfur dioxide on epiphytic lichens and algae have long been known. Recently it has become apparent that these organisms can accumulate large amounts of other atmospheric pollutants such as heavy metals, organic compounds, and radionuclides. Many arthropod assemblages are associated with epiphytic algae and lichens, most using these as a source of nutrients. In this study one such group, the bagmoths (Lepidoptera: Psychidae), were used for measuring biological effects of atmospheric pollutants. Bagmoth larvae were used as they constitute a "front-line" or sentinel group of indicator organisms because of the ability of their algal diet to absorb large quantities of atmospheric pollutants.

The global distribution of the Psychidae ranges from Finland to the tip of South America. They are commonly referred to as bagmoths because their larvae construct portable dwellings from silk coated externally with their various pabulae. These bags protect the larvae from desiccation and provide them with camouflage enabling them to avoid the attention of predators.

Conclusions: There are many features of the biology of Luffia ferchaultella that make it a useful organism in ecotoxicological studies. Of most importance for assessing the toxic effects of atmospheric pollutants is that the diet of its larvae is capable of sequestering such pollutants, resulting in measurable detrimental effects on their feeding. Results of laboratory experiments designed to simulate pollution from agricultural sprays and vehicle exhaust emissions identified feeding as the most sensitive endpoint of those examined. A field transect demonstrated that larvae supplied with algae collected from an environment impacted by atmospheric pollution exhibited reduced feeding compared with those fed algae from a "clean" control site.

Project Objective

This study investigated alternative landfill management procedures designed to accelerate the stabilisation processes occurring in municipal solid wastes (MSW). The Landfill 2000 test cells were located at Dewsbury Landfill, UK.

The work was carried in two purpose built prototype waste processing cells each containing 1000 tonnes of MSW.

The research objectives were to:

• Establish optimum cell conditions that would give a three year waste degradation period;

• Quantify the methane generating potential of the waste/sewage sludge mix;

• Determine the biological condition of the waste digestate after a three year period and assess its suitability as an environmentally friendly soil conditioning medium.

A novel gas flow meter was designed and patented during this study. View patent

The Programme funded by the UK Department of Trade and Industry was not operated in isolation. It has leant heavily on landfill research conducted in the UK (notably funded through the Dept of Environment) and elsewhere (particularly the USA). Although the DTI-funded programme has been innovative in some respects, in others it has developed an existing line of research. Regardless of this, there was a need to assess whether any of the findings made in the programme have already found applications or are likely to be applied in the control of landfill gas production with or without more research.

During the early 1990's. the guidance in the UK's Waste Management Paper 26, for the practice of co-disposing industrial waste with domestic refuse was re-assessed by the Department of the Environment. At this time, the draft EC Landfill Directive (91/C190/01) proposed controls and loading limits for co-disposal as a means of sorbing and storing non-degradable components of liquid waste, wherein the solid components of domestic refuse present a wide variety of physical and chemical surfaces which may interact with fluids passing over them.

To determine the ability of refuse to alter the nature of the incoming waste, it was essential to consider both the physico-chemical absorptive properties of the refuse together with the initial and future characteristics of the landfill.

Studies initiated on behalf of the Department of the Environment were designed to:

• Evaluate the effects of acid and organic ligand on both the release and retention of heavy metals by aged and recently emplaced refuse

• To determine the chemical stability and partitioning of the retained metal within refuse; and to provide additional data on metal loadings which may be safely co-disposed.

During the contract a study was also undertaken to provide the DoE with practical advice relating to landfill gas flux. A study was carried out to quantify potential gas yield and lateral gas migration beyond landfill perimeter.

High concentrations of sulphate in wastewater streams subjected to anaerobic digestion have been considered to be undesirable because of the production of sulphide during digestion, which can inhibit methanogenesis. Appreciable sulphate may be present normally in many industrial effluents, and anaerobic digestion of such effluents results in low biogas formation and high concentrations of sulphide in the effluent.

Sulphate-reducing bacteria (SRB) compete with methanogenic bacteria (MB) for substrates such as acetate and hydrogen, outcompeting MB when sulphate is present in the environment. While the methanogenic bacteria metabolise only a restricted range of substrates (principally acetate and hydrogen), the SRB metabolise a far wider range of substrates, including long chain fatty acids, aromatic compounds etc. The SRB might be expected, therefore, to be more resilient to challenge by novel organic molecules than the MB, and digestion based upon sulphate-reduction therefore more resilient than methanogenic digestion. Furthermore, the production of sulphide during digestion may precipitate many metals as their insoluble sulphides, a process which has been used to reduce high metal content in waste waters. In contrast, methanogenic digestion has a reputation for being sensitive to toxicity by organic inhibitors such as toluene or chloroform and by metals. Inhibition of methanogenesis can also be caused by organic overload when the rates of acid production exceeds methane production, leading to decreased pH and souring of the digester.

This study was designed to investigate the effect of high sulphate concentrations, which may be present in landfill leachates. The study was commissioned by the UK Department of Environment (now Defra) who needed to understand the impact of elevated sulphate levels in landfill leachate, which would be expected to occur if coal containing high sulphate levels was imported from outside of the UK, and the disposal option for the processed coal waste (to remove sulphate) was co-disposal with household and/or industrial waste in landfill. This work investigated the treatability of landfill leachate with elevated sulphate and heavy metals by anaerobic digestion, comparing methanogenic with sulphate-based digestion, in upflow anaerobic digesters where biomass was retained as biofilms on support material.

Efficient and economical treatment of contaminated subterranean formations by in situ bioremediation process is under investigation. These processes involve injection of specific nutrients into the subsurface to stimulate bacterial populations involved in transformation and/or mineralization of potentially toxic compounds. The success of such processes depends on a fundamental understanding of the factors that influence the propagation, growth, and movement of bacteria within porous subsurface formations. In flow systems, bacterial transport through porous media has been largely described as a function of the porous entrance size and, hence, adequately simulated by a filtration model. Under static conditions, however, it is known that a relationship between the bacterial penetration rate and the subsurface permeability exists. Furthermore, a penetration mechanism based entirely on motility has previously been derived which successfully predicts penetration times for a motile bacillus strain growing within Berea sandstone.

Although motility was an important mechanism for bacterial penetration in this case, it was unknown whether other characteristics of motility, i.e., random or nonrandom movement, were also important. Directional or nonrandom movement is usually thought to occur only in chemotactic strains, since non-chemotactic mutants are known to move randomly. Nonmotile bacteria have also been shown to penetrate consolidated sandstone cores, although their penetration rates were considerably slower than that found in motile bacteria. The mechanisms by which nonmotile bacteria penetrate porous media were not known. The aims of this study were to determine the biological factors which govern the movement of motile and nonmotile bacteria through unconsolidated porous media. To answer these questions, we compared the penetration times of Eschericia coli mutants defective in chemotaxis, flagellar synthesis, and gas production under anaerobic conditions.

For motile strains, the penetration rate decreased with increasing galactose concentrations in the core and with decreasing inoculum sizes. Also, motile strains with the faster growth rates had faster penetration rates. These results imply that, for motile bacteria, the penetration rate is regulated by the in situ bacterial growth rate. A sigmoidal relationship was found between the specific growth rates of all of the motile bacteria used in this study and the penetration rates through cores saturated with galactose-peptone medium.

This research was supported under contract CR-813559 from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, under the supervision of Professor Michael McInerney at the University of Oklahoma, USA.

My Ph.D Thesis, entitled "Support Matrix and Feed Flow Effects in Anaerobic Fixed-Bed Reactors", was completed under the supervision of Professor Emer Colleran (RIP) at the University College Galway, Ireland in 1987. This involved examined the relationship between the potential for methane production in anaerobic digesters operated using agricultural waste in the following ways:

• Upflow - Fixed Film Packed Reactor
• Upflow Hybrid/Sludge-Bed Fixed Film - Effect of varying the matrix quantity
• Downflow Fixed Film

Anaerobic reactors were studied for optimisation in:

• Start-up phase
• Long term operation
• Methanogenic activity in attached and non-attached sludges
• Liquid flow dispersion

During my research, I developed and improved upon specific methanogenic activity tests that existed during the 1980s. These included the cofactor F₄₂₀ assay and the measurement of specific methanogenic potential of sludges.