Community Environmental Issue
Kornorton Sullivan
October 13, 2013
SCI/275
Claudia De Mendonca Synek Listopad

Community Environmental Issue Environmental issues are continuously growing throughout America and the rest of the world. In order to protect what is left of the environment, each state developed an environmental department. These environmental departments are working to find ways to not only protect the environment, but to resolve the issues effecting the environment. Scientific assessments, risk analysis, public engagements, political considerations, and long-term environmental management is the starting point of succeeding in protecting the environment. One key element effecting the environment in Georgia is pollution. The population has grown past the means of Georgia’s expectation. The population growth brings about building new homes in wooded areas, new roads, more pollution, and fewer resources. Georgia’s Environmental Protection Division is geared towards protecting human health, sustaining healthy ecosystems, ensuring resources to support a growing economy ("Environmental Protection Division Georgia Department Of Natural Resources", 2010-2011). These are the new issues that have emerged in Georgia. Not too long ago, the American public became concerned about environment and the effects on humans. The federal policymakers implemented statutes as the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act, the National Environmental Policy Act, and the Endangered Species Act, which the legislation passed in the 1960s and 1970s designed to limit pollution and other abuses. The Georgia General Assembly passed the state’s first major environmental legislation, the Water Quality Control Act of 1964 and in 1968 the Georgia Surface Mining Act requiring the reclamation of the lands after mining (Kundell, 2004-2013). There were several other acts that were passed by the state and federal policymakers after this. By Georgia law and the federal Clean Air Act, Georgia’s Environmental Protection Division prepared state implementation plans that leads each air quality control region in the state to attain or move toward the attainment of national ambient air quality standards for six main pollutants: carbon monoxide, lead, nitrogen oxides, particulate matter, sulfur dioxide, and ozone (Kundell, 2004-2013). The metro Atlanta area does not meet the standards of ground-level ozone. Columbus, Macon, Athens, and Augusta have high ozone levels and is need of additional emission controls. Water is another major concern in Georgia. As the population in Georgia continues to grow, the intensity of the quality and quantity of the state’s water resources are in stress mode. The issues Northern Georgia faces is saltwater intrusion, the Biscayne aquifer along the coast, water allocation, reduction of population from nonpoint sources, water conservation and wastewater reuse, water and wastewater infrastructure construction and maintenance, and drought mitigation. The Flint River Drought Protection Act in 2000 and the creation of the Metropolitan North Georgia Water Planning District in 2001, prepared by the Georgia’s Environmental Protection Division, were environmental policies put in place to deal with these issues (Kundell, 2004-2013). Land development is another issue for Georgia brought about by the population growth. There is a loss of greenspace due to the thriving economy and steady increase of population and its development practices, which is degrading the state’s air and water quality as well. The Georgia Planning Act in 1989 was passed by the state legislature to address the growth issues and to protect the environmental quality (Kundell, 2004-2013). This act uses protective measures for the wetlands, water supply watersheds, significant groundwater-recharge areas, stream corridors, and the higher elevations of the mountains where many drinking-water resources originates. This lead to the Georgia General Assembly enacted legislation to create the Georgia Community Greenspace Program to encourage the adoption of policies and regulations that would preserve greenspace in rapidly growing counties (Kundell, 2004-2013). This program did not last long, because the funding ended in 2004. In 2005, the Georgia legislature passed the Georgia Land Conservation Act, which created a trust fund and a loan fund to which communities can apply to offset the costs of protecting their land and water resources (Kundell, 2004-2013). The state of Georgia have these continuing issues and new issues developing due to the population growth and the pollution. In the long haul of protecting the environment, there are environmental policy changes to considered: taking a longer-term perspective regarding the environmental impact of individual actions, placing a greater emphasis on research to identify options that can minimize environmental impacts, emphasizing smaller, dispersed, nonpoint sources of pollution, and increasing efforts toward pollution prevention and source reduction (Kundell, 2004-2013). These are just a few ways to help contain Georgia’s environmental issues. This is a journey with no end, because of the challenges faced with the population which results in more pollution. Regardless to the way some may feel, the environmental is the responsibility of every human, because it affects humans physically, mentally, and emotionally.

References
Environmental Protection Division Georgia Department of Natural Resources. (2010- 2011). Retrieved from http://www.gaepd.org/Documents/soe2009.html

Kundell, J.E. (2004-2013). New Georgia Encyclopedia. Retrieved from http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/geography-environment/environmental- policy