The Baltic Sea is one of the largest brackish water bodies in the world. It is an especially sensitive sea, because it is a shallow and semi-enclosed body of water that receives a considerable load of pollutants from the surrounding countries. The pollution of the sea has become one of the most important common environmental issues for countries in Northern Europe. Today's environmental problems are, however, the collective result of political decisions made in the past. Hence there is an evident need to understand the current environmental changes of the Baltic Sea from historical perspectives.

The Sea and the Cities project has studied the environmental history of urban water pollution and protection in the Baltic Sea region in the 19th and the 20th century. Altogether 13 cities and 40 students and senior scientists participated.

Approaches to the environmental history of the Baltic Sea project aims to answer how the Baltic Sea was perceived to be endangered by pollution and eutrophication, and who acted, why and how in order to protect the sea in different regions, eras or political systems.

The 'Sea and the City' project focuses on the deterioration of urban sea area and on the role of scientists in the process of water protection. The main study questions are: Which concepts, criteria and methods have been used to define the state of water? What has been the role of the scientists of Univ. of Helsinki and the municipality of Helsinki in developing urban water research? Scientist of the Univ. of Helsinki had a pioneering role in launching water studies in Helsinki, but also elsewhere in Finland. Thus, the study will provide insights to the development of Finnish water research in general.

The participating cities are St Petersburg, Tallinn, Riga, Vilnius, Gdansk, Kiel, Lübeck, Hamburg, Copenhagen, Oslo, Stockholm, and Helsinki.

The consortium Linking ecological and social systems for sustainability of urban development (ECOLINK) includes two interlinked projects: (a) Linking ecological and social urban systems, and (b) The Sea and the City - environmental history of pollution and protection of urban sea area of Helsinki in the 20th century. The research is based on the notion that in the sectorial scientific community, scientist usually study either ecological systems or social systems, yet the need for an interdisciplinary approach to environmental problems is becoming increasingly obvious. The significance and innovation of this research is that it will link ecological and social systems in the urban setting in order to create a holistic view of sustainable urban development. Close collaboration between researchers and end-users (city of Helsinki) ensures that results can be quickly applied.

The project has focused on the question how methods of scientific studies on water pollution developed over the past century. According to the results the methodological basis of municipal pollution studies in the Helsinki area has been surprisingly extensive since the early 20 th century; basic parameters of physical, chemical, hygienic but also biological methods were adopted. More or less regular biological monitoring of water bodies started in the 1920s and 1930s. Statutory monitoring, involving the use of hygienic, physico-chemical and biological methods, was initiated in the mid- 1960s. Recently the focus of studies has shifted towards biological and ecological methods.

Until the 1960s in Helsinki the main objective was to study hygienic and organic pollution, the focus thereafter has been on eutrophication. Classification systems were used as tools to assist the public and decision-makers in interpreting the scientific findings. The system used to measure and classify physico-chemical parameters was based on ammonium values and oxygen demand. Biological studies had an important role in demonstrating the influence of wastewaters on aquatic environment. Indicator species of macrophytes and plankton species were used for saprobic classification. The years 1904-1908 and 1947-1960 were the only periods in which no classification system was applied.

Pollution has affected the interests of several stakeholders. Various municipal, governmental and private institutions have had cause and means to launch scientific studies of the water quality, at least in principle. In practise, however, the municipality i.e. the city of Helsinki was for decades the sole initiator of pollution studies, even though it did not have any juridical obligation to be so. The main reason for this is that the City Council had the political will to provide economic support for the studies, and the municipal departments and laboratories had the skills needed to conduct scienti fic examinations. The results of these studies were eventually used in order to formulate municipal water protection policy.

The City of Helsinki has cooperated primarily with the University of Helsinki and secondarily with the Helsinki University of Technology (previously Helsinki Polytechnic Institute) to develop the skills and acquire manpower required in biological and practical pollution studies. Prior the Second World War the sea area was effectively studied by eminent scientists, and their research was supported by adequate funding. The Second World War changed this. Due to the post-war scarcity in Finland, water quality and wastewater problems were of minor interest until the mid-1950s, when municipal environmental politics re-emerged. In addition, the Water Act of 1962 obliged the municipalities to purify the wastewaters and to monitor water quality on a regular basis. During the 1960s many resources were invested in the preparation of extensive annual quantitative studies. However, these research activities gradually became more bureaucratic, and they were conducted further away from the shores and hence also from the urban society.
The question how the results of these studies were presented in the newspapers over time will be the next research theme. 

Department of Economic and Social History, Faculty of Social Sciences
POB 54 (Snellmaninkatu 14 A)
00014 University of Helsinki
Finland
PhD Simo Laakkonen (Supervisor)

01/01/2001

31/12/2004

Sari Laurila, main researcher

research

Urban Policy > Urban environment > Environmental sustainability

Water quality