Contamination Of Air And Water Resources

Every year Americans collectively create approximately 208 million tons of municipal solid waste, which breaks down to 4.3 pounds of waste generated per American per day. In addition to this normal waste, the United States produces roughly 279 million tons of hazardous waste per year.1 All of this waste has to go somewhere. Two good methods of waste disposal, infrequently used, are incineration and recycling. However, any waste that is not recycled or incinerated ends up in America’s landfills. Landfills that are not in proper working order can pose a serious threat to humans and the environment, but ones that safely store all of their waste may possibly be helpful for the

Municipal solid wastes are leftovers made by the population such as food, plastic bottles, household wares and many more. These items referred by most as “the garage” or “trash”. (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2015) In the early 1900’s, incinerators were used to burn waste however by the Mid-20th century, lawmakers enacted the first government regulations in an attempt to address increasing concerns about the environmental impact of unregulated waste management practices. With the first waste management legislation being passed in 1965, brought along the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency in 1970, thus bringing us into a new world of waste management.(Vault, n.d.)

When a person is asked what water is, the first things that they say are; water is drinkable, used for showers, simple, washing, etc.. But people don’t really know how complex and important water is for our kind. Water is one of the most precious things we humans have, but we don’t realize it and we damage it without caring for the consequences. Water and water pollution are two things that we should all have in mind. Even though we see water as just a liquid, but there’s more to it than its form or state.

Experiments were done on the water quality and the contamination of groundwater. First, I observed the effects that different pollutants had on groundwater. I predicted that the experiments with the oil and vinegar would create the most contaminations to the water. When the laundry detergent were mixed with the groundwater, it created a light green color with a pleasant smell. The second water treatment experiment were about filtering techniques to remove contaminants from water. I predicted to drain the water by removing all the contaminants

To develop a better understanding of water contamination, a field comparison between two separate water sources was conducted. The first water sample was gathered from the Simmons Park Pond and the second from a NES water fountain. The data gathered from this experiment was used to answer several questions regarding the prevalence of contamination in nearby water sources. The field analysis ultimately concluded what contaminants had the greatest prevalence, thereby exemplifying the defining differences between the two water sources.

Domestic wells are usually shallower than public wells and are more susceptible to contamination from surface waters (Kumar et al., 2010). From 1971-2008, private wells were responsible for 67 percent (n=40) of reported outbreaks from groundwater (Wallender et al., 2013). Contamination of the groundwater that feeds drinking water wells results from infiltration from rivers, septic tank leach fields, and leaking sewer lines (all sewer lines leak). Cross contamination with septic system wastes due to poor design, maintenance or improper spacing is listed as the primary cause. Contamination of groundwater is reportedly widespread (Auld et al., 2004; Curriero et al., 2001; Fong et al., 2007; Thomas et al., 2006; Tornevi et al., 2015) and

Water has a huge ability to serve as a mode of transmission for certain pathogens. Even though water carries so many different pathogens, due to fecal contamination, it is impossible and expensive to try and ensure ever type of water is free of pathogens. In this experiment, we verified three different samples of water and determined the amount of fecal contamination in each. The three samples of water included: Little John Lake, Leaf River, and a roadside lake. It was predicted that all three water samples would be affected by some coliforms, but that the water sample, Little John Lake would contain the most coliforms, which contained fecal contamination. In order to determine which sample of water contained the most fecal contamination,

Landfills are getting bigger and are becoming more of a problem in the U.S because they are hazardous to our health and our environment, but there is a way to stop the villain known as a landfill.

The disposal of hazardous material is something that many waste management organization are well educated on when conducting every day operations. However, in the even the the Mercury Recovery Facility in which created a Federal Clean-Up site, initiated an multitude of issues that not only impacted the enviorment but also the people that lived in the surrounding areas. Though, there were many issues that caused these issues to happed due to weathering of materials and chemicals over time. The biggest mistake was the lack of accountability of personell as well as the dumping that was taking place at this site. Not only calling for federal relief, but also gaining social attention from the media as well as scientific professionals around the world.

The slow release from the landfill entails a dilution in time, which is hazardous. Landfills are disposal sites for waste which cannot be reused, recycled and recovered. “Waste is typically burnt at factories, but the waste which cannot be reused is taken to landfills where it is dumped”, (Spokas and Bogner, 2006: 516). Waste is taken to landfills to prevent pest infections, odour and litter. Once the waste is dumped and the landfill is to its full capacity, trained engineers build a cap out of clay and other solid materials. This is then covered with soil and other materials so that the site can be used for other things in the future such as nature conservation and agricultures. This is repeated for all sites.” Accordingly landfills are the most common form of waste disposal. “Landfills, being relatively cheaper than other treatment/disposal alternatives, are used not only by developing but also by industrialized countries, such as US, Australia, UK and Finland (Laner et al., 2012, cited in Diamantis et al., 2013:

Most of our household waste is buried in landfills. An important factor in how landfills are built is how they contain waste and prevent waste from contaminating nearby soil and water sources. Leachate is a fluid that has passed through or emerged from the waste in a landfill, picking up a variety of suspended and dissolved materials along the way. In unlined landfills, the leachate continues to leach into the ground and may contaminate groundwater. Many old landfills used a simple clay liner for containing leachate. Newer landfills are required to meet federal and state requirements to prevent environmental contamination. These landfills have sophisticated liner systems often made of heavy-duty, high density polyethylene plastic, where leachate is collected at the bottom. The leachate is typically treated on-site or is pumped out and sent to a local wastewater treatment plant. Treated leachate can be disposed of in a number of ways e.g., discharged to surface waters or recirculated back into the

Landfill growth is inevitable. As landfills grow, they release toxic chemicals in the air and harmful pollutants into groundwater. These hazardous chemicals make our tap water undrinkable and our air unbreathable. Residents who live near landfills are most likely to encounter health problems. A few of these problems include: lung and respiratory problems, heart disease, nervous system damage, and cancerous illness. Residents who live nowhere near a landfill may think they are safe, when the risk may be just as high. The truth is, no matter if you live across the road from a landfill, or if you live 100 miles away, everyone is at risk. To better understand how people hundreds of miles away are at risk, it’s important to know how landfills came about, what kinds of toxins landfills produce and how they travel, and what can be done.

Water contamination due to increased population and industrial activities is one of the most challenging issues to the researchers, because it is continuously increasing threats to both human health and the environment. With the rapid development of industries such as metal plating facilities, mining operations, fertilizer industries, tanneries, batteries, paper industries and pesticides, etc.,(1,2) heavy metals wastewaters are directly or indirectly discharged into the environment increasingly, especially in developing countries. Unlike organic contaminants, heavy metals are not biodegradable and tend to accumulate in living organisms. Many heavy metal ions are known to be toxic or carcinogenic and cause high blood pressure, anemia, cancer, renal kidney disease, nervous system

It is vital to reduce contaminants and decrease the risk of microbes in drinking water. The process of removing these contaminants is accomplished through water disinfection. Although water decontamination can be accomplished through several methods, chemical disinfection is used most frequently (Serrano, Silva, & Gallego, 2011). When water disinfection methods are utilized, there is an increased risk of health effects due to the production of by-products. These byproducts are the result of interactions between chemicals used for disinfection methods and natural organic matter (Bougeard, Goslan, Jefferson, Bruce, and Parsons, 2010). While these by-products impose such an inherent risk to health, finding the apposite chemicals to diminish the risk of by-product formation is imperative (QUOTE). Research indicates that while chlorine is the most frequently used chemical disinfectant, chloramine maybe used to decrease the production of undesired by-products (QUOTE). Chloramine is made through the addition of ammonia to pre chlorinated water to perform as a secondary disinfectant (QUOTE).

Drinking water is vital to the health and well-being of human life, without it, life does not exist. Human bodies are composed of 60 percent water. Drinking healthy water is important to maintain a healthy balance of body fluids. Tap water and bottled water in general are safe to drink, the question is how safe and what are you willing to pay to consume healthy, safe water. Most Americans assume the Environmental Protection Agency is protecting our citizens by monitoring water quality, contaminant levels and potential health effects. Burke (2016) noted, “This was not the case for residents of Flint, Michigan, where citizens were exposed to high levels of lead because of government