Does Polluted Water Hurts the Environment?

Embry Riddle Aeronautical University

Abstract Water pollution is the worst problem that the United States and other nations are facing today. Although, many people have known this issue, they are still contributing to it. People need to become more responsive on this issue by complying on several ways to prevent water pollution. The chemical industry and factory farms need to follow the guidelines of operating their business, by using proper disposal methods for hazardous materials and waste materials.

Chemical industry and factory farms need to follow the guidelines behind water pollution. To begin with, factory farms should be regulated accordingly. They must obtain permits, monitor water quality and pay for cleaning up and disposing of their waste. Also, factory farms must strengthen their new technology standards. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) must consider recent technological advances that significantly reduce pathogens. In addition, residents and local government should get involved and must have a say in whether to allow factory farms in their communities. The public also has the right to review and comment on the contents of pollution reduction plans and to enforce the terms, when a factory farm is in violation. The politically powerful chemically industry should enforce federal laws that permits underground waste disposal. A better and potentially safer method of disposal is incineration, which can convert poisonous chemicals into harmless compounds. As a matter of fact, these are the two main sources of today’s water pollution that our nation and other growing nations are contributing to. These industrial and economic growths have brought wealth and a better way of life to many people, but it has also harmed the environment. President George W. Bush remarks “There’s reason for our economic and environmental progress, and it’s because our nation made a commitment; starting in the Clean Air Act of 1970, we set high goals” (Miller 132-9). Instead of the government telling utilities where and how to cut pollution, we will work with them to create a cap… [but let them] figure out how (135). The Green Index, an environmental report by the Institute of Southern Studies, estimates that at least half the people in the United States…. due to factory effluent and other contaminants, one-fourth of the rivers, lakes, streams, and reservoirs that provide our recreational and drinking water don’t meet designated standards (Teague 70).
Design News cited that the control of water pollution was a major engineering challenge. Legislations at all government levels and initiative like June Earth Summit in Brazil are sounding the call to arms in the pollution problems. However, their most promising achievements so far: • Filtration membranes are separating metals, oils, and other contaminants from waste streams, and taking the salt out of seawater to make it drinkable. • Special absorbents are removing organic contaminants from groundwater and other streams, as are new treatment systems combining ultraviolet light, ozone, and hydrogen peroxide. • Most intriguing, some companies are adopting design-for-waste-minimization strategies that cut the number of pollutants they have to treat (qtd. in Teague 70). Senator Paul Wellstone, Democrat of Minnesota, introduced legislation…. [That] would have the same effect as the executive order (Cushman p.A.3). “We’re going to take what the White House issues and ensconce it into law,” Mr. Wellstone said, “Environmental justice is important enough that it surpasses any one Administration” (p.A.3). By adhering to the laws and guidelines imposed by the federal government, chemical industrial and factory farms can help reduce water pollution and people can have safe and clean water. Individual people can help and work on many solutions to prevent water pollution by recycling. The federal government and many volunteer organizations worked hard to informed people on what materials to recycle. First of all, paper is one of the easiest materials to sort, and recycling can lower air pollution by reducing the need to cut and process fresh timber into a new supply of paper. Approximately 27% of all paper and cardboard products and packaging were recycled in 1994. Such materials include newspapers, magazines, milk cartons, corrugated boxes and paper towels. About 13.5 million tons of newspapers were discarded in 1994, comprising almost 5% of all municipal waste. Nearly 45 % of that newspaper is recycled “Principal Recycled Materials (Sidebar), par.1). However, recycled paper is generally of lower quality than newly produced paper. Next, glass was approximately discarded about 23% recycled in 1994, which rate for beer and soft-drink bottles was a bit higher at 31% (par.3). Glass is primarily made of silica, a substance that is obtained from sand, flint or quartz. Another recycling material is plastic, most of plastic today is made from petrochemicals, which are derived from petroleum or natural gas. Plastics are use in a variety of consumer products, including furniture, carpets, toys, and diapers. Plastics are also used for heavily packaging and containers, as well as in trash bags. Most of the plastic made today is not biodegradable, which means it does not decompose over a period of time in a landfill. Finally, aluminum and steel have been recycled by industry for decades, since using scrap metals to convert into new products, such as old cars are crushed and the metal is reused for something else. “Aluminum and steel (made from processing iron) and other metals are used in the manufacture of appliances, furniture, and many other large items that are known as durable goods. The metals are also made into containers and cans for soft drinks, food and other products. About 55% of the metal used in containers and packaging is recycled, compared with about 28% of the metal used in durable goods. Almost 66% of aluminum beverage cans were recycled in 1994 (par. 6). Majority of the people around the world are now recycling. In California recycling law passed in 1989 that required communities in the state to cut by 50% the amount of trash sent to landfills. Many states and communities have “bottle laws” that requires deposits on beverage container to encourage their return and also, they have successful voluntary recycling programs for paper, aluminum, or other recycling materials (Blatt 62-63). Design for recycling proponents say that planning for recycling from a product’s design stage will have broader positive effects on the environment as a whole and not just make life easier for recyclers. “There are probably nine or 10 well recognized areas that Design for Recycling can influence our lives [in],” says Ratner, DFR can effect the environment by making products easier to recycle, decreasing the risks posed to workers by creating products that are safer to recycle and by preserving raw materials, according to Ratner (Miller 167). These bigger goals are just as important, says Ratner. “Design for Recycling is a core principle to our beliefs as recyclers because it embodies so many aspects what we’re trying to influence and shape in our business and everyday lives (67). The society should know the method of how to properly disposal of hazardous materials and wastes materials in the environment. The first disposal method of hazardous and waste materials in the low-level waste is usually sealed in metal drums. Usually, it is burned in special incinerators to lower their volume and either stored or buried in shallow trenches about three feet of soil. In formality, the storage site was carefully examined to the location and geology to make sure that there wasn’t contamination of plants, soils, and groundwater. However, the metal drums corrode overtime and many drums at some sites have leaked radioactive liquids into soil and groundwater. In other words, a safer method for these drums to storage is needed. The safest method is to store them in excavations about ten feet deep but far above the groundwater table in arid or semiarid of the Western United States. This method would keep water from the drums, and the waste could be easily and continuously monitored for a few centuries until it was no longer hazardous and could be landfilled. The low-level waste materials are wide and include fabric, metal, plastic, glass, paper, wood, and animal wastes. Radioactive waste is classified as either low-level or high level waste materials. Ninety-nine percent of all radioactive waste is low-level and in these wastes the maximum level of radioactive is up to 1,000 times the amount considered acceptable in the environment. About 63 percent of this waste (but 94 percent of the radioactivity) originates in nuclear power plants. The rest comes from hospitals (cancer treatment), university and industrial laboratories (research), manufacturing (measurement), and military facilities (nuclear-weapons manufacturing and research) (Blatt 208). The next disposal method for low-level waste has been to cast it into concrete, encased in steel drums, and dump it into the deep ocean. The concrete ensures that the waste will reach the floor of the ocean 15,000 feet down intact, where it supposed to remain safe and undisturbed for at least hundreds of years. The way of doing this is that any leakage over the years will be diluted by the vast mass of ocean water and dispersed harmlessly into the surroundings. High-level wastes are a radioactive waste by product of nuclear-weapons production and commercial reactors. This waste will be dangerously radioactive forever — that is at least tens of thousands of years. There are now about 100 million gallons in storage at 158 sites in 440 states. The only countries that have succeeded in having repository sites accepted by their citizens for high-level waste are Sweden, Finland, Japan, and Switzerland. The United States is in the final stages of establishing a site. Local communities can make a part of this process by proper disposal of their oil and gasoline in their nearest collection center. Also, people can pick-up their dog’s remains in the park. In addition, people can also contribute to this approach by picking up bottles and plastics materials floating in the ocean to save lives of aquatic animals. We can make one positive change in our community and our environment by preventing water pollution. Societies need to become more responsive on this issue by complying to the guidelines sets by government to prevent water pollution. The chemical industry and factory farms need to follow rules and regulations, people need to recycle, and follow the method of properly disposing of hazardous and waste materials in our environment. We can inhibit many diseases that cause death of human and aquatic animals because of unsafe and unclean water. The issue of water pollution is serious. Local government and the community need to get involved now, before it is too late.

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