Simplified Calculation of Ammonia Impact Limits (SCAIL)
Project
SEPA has a duty to consider the effects on Special Areas of
Conservation (SACs), Special Protection Areas (SPAs), Ramsar sites
and Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs) when processing
applications for, and reviews of, environmental licenses. As part
of this work, the SCAIL screening tool has been developed by SEPA
in co-operation with the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH),
the Scottish Government and the Environment Agency.
Under the Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (IPPC)
Directive, permits are required for pig and poultry systems with
more than a certain number of livestock (40000 places for poultry,
2000 fattening pigs or 750 places for breeding sows). SCAIL was
developed to provide an estimate of the amount of nitrogen
deposited, in form of NH3, on a habitat from the assessed livestock
unit, storage area or spreading technique. The estimated deposition
value can then be used to assess whether more complex dispersion
and deposition modelling is needed to determine if the impact
limits for the habitat are exceeded or not.
The SCAIL model is freely available at: www.scail.ceh.ac.uk 