U N FOUR ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH AND SAFETY 485
CHAPTER 15 ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERNS: WASTES AND POLLUTION CHAPTER QUTLINE CHAPTER OBJECTIVES SCENARIO After studying this chapter you will be able to: INTRODUCTION 1 Define the terms environment, ecology, and \biospbere. NATURAL ENVIRONMENTAL HAZARDS Explain how human activities affect the envi- RESIDUES AND WASTES FROM HUMAN ronment through the production of wastes ACTIVITIES and residues. TYPES OF WASTES AND POLLUTION 3Name the primary sources of solid waste. Solid Waste. Hazardous Waste Air Pollution )List and briefly explain the four approaches to Water and Its Pollution. Radiation. Noise solid waste management Pollution 5 Define bazardous waste CHAPTER SUMMARY 6 Explain the difference between sanitary and SCENARIO: ANALYSIS AND RESPONSE secured landfills. Identify six ways to deal with hazardous ACTIVITIES stes waste COMMUNITY HEALTH ONTHE WEB 8)Explain what is meant by the term Superfund. REFERENCES (9)Explain the Pollutant Standard Index (PSD) Briefly describe acid rain, ozone layer, global \warming, and photochemical smog. 11Identify the major indoor air pollutants 12 Explain the difference in point source and nonpoint source pollution. 13Identify the three categories of water pollu- tion 4) Briefly describe waste water treatment. 15 List means of conserving water. 6 Name the primary sources of radiation. 7 Explain how nuclear wastes are handled in 18 Identify the two basic characteristics of sound 19 Identify steps to deal with noise pollution. 486
CHAPTER 15 ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERNS: WASTES AND POLUTION. 487 centre d Mary recently accepted jobs as teachers chemicals. The sanitarian recommended that Tom the Blackford school Corporation. When they and Mary drink bottled water until the well water moved to the Blackford community, they pur could be tested further. After some investigation, chased a modest home on five acres of land out county officials determined that Mary and Toms side the city. They had only been living in their 15-year-old home had been built close to a former new home two months when they noticed that landfill that had been closed about 20 years ear their water was beginning to taste different The lier. Tom and Mary were now faced with an ource of their water was a well on their own expensive, unforeseen, and long-term problem, not property. A testing of the water by the local health to mention the devaluation of their property. department sanitarian revealed that their water was contaminated with lead and perhaps other INTRODUCTION health are affected by the quality of our environment, and the way we live our lives& As human beings, we are a part of the environment in which we live. Our lives and all the external influences the quality of the environment. In this chapter we explain in detail and I inin r illustrate with examples the ways in which our interactions with the environment surrounding and have direct consequences for the quality of our lives. While this chapter seeks to and develogment of describe and define wastes and pollution, Chapter 16 examines more specifically an organism or The environment is defined as all the external conditions, circumstances and/ ogontramro the health consequences of these environmental hazards influences surrounding and affecting the growth and development of an organism or a community of organisms. In order to fully understand environmental concerns that threaten our health, we must understand how we interact with our environ- ecology ment. The study of how living things interact with each other and their environ- between organisms ment is called ecology, and the zone of the earth where life is found is known as and their evironment the biosphere. NATURAL ENVIRONMENTAL HAZARDS biosphere the zone of the earth where life is found While the purpose of this chapter is to point out and explain environmental hazards associated with human activities, it is important to recognize the ex tence and influence of natural hazards in the environment that damage or destroy wildlife habitats, kill or harm humans, and damage property. These hazards naiural hazards may be physical, biological, chemical, or even psychological or social. Physical that incease hazards are caused by forces either internal to the earth's surface or on the sur- proboliltyof disease face itself. Natural hazards resulting from internal forces include earthquakes and iniury or death volcanos. Those on the surface include winds lightning, storms, floods, fires, and of humans drough
488. UNIT FOUR ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH AND SAFETY Biological hazards for humans are, for the most part, limited to microbiological gents such as pathogenic bacteria, parasites and viruses, and their toxic biological products. Examples include malaria, plague, tuberculosis, and human immunodef ciency virus(HIv). Examples of biological toxins include the toxin produced by the tetanus bacteria, poisons produced by certain mushrooms, and the poisoning of marine life by"red tides Biological hazards and their resulting epidemics were the topic of Chapter 4 and will not be discussed here. Chemical hazards are noni ological substances that are toxic enough to threaten human health Two other categories of hazards are psychological and sociological hazards Psychological hazards affect a person s outlook on life Psychological hazards are just as real and damaging to health as physical hazards. Boredom, stress, fear, and depression represent psychological hazards that consume significant health care dollars. A workplace can be most unproductive if the workers are highly stressed bored, or depressed. The fear of losing a job and other economic factors can also weigh heavily on members of a community. Entire communities may have prob- lems if their young people are bored or frustrated The final classification of environmental hazards is that of sociological haz. ards. Sociological hazards occur when societies interact in destructive ways or fail to interact in productive ways. Overcrowding and war are sociological hazards Some would say Adolph Hitler, the German dictator before and during World War Il, was a sociological hazard; others might nominate the late drug kingpin Pablo Escobar. RESIDUES AND WASTES FROM HUMAN ACTIVITIES More than any other species on our planet, humans have the power to significantly alter the environment through individual and community activities. These activities include working, traveling, leisure-time activities, and simply living at home Likewise, environmental conditions such as weather, climate, and topography affect human activities. As people participate in their daily activities, they continually pro- residues and duce residues and wastes On any typical day a person in the United States might unwanted by produts generate the following types of residues and wastes: Human body wastes: urine and feces(waste water) 2. Excess materials and foods: trash and garbage 3. Yard wastes: grass clippings and tree branches 4. Construction and manufacturing wastes: scrap wood and metal, contaminated water solvents, and excess heat and noise 5. Agricultural wastes: animal dung, run-off from feedlot operations, crop residues, animal carcasses. 6. Transportation wastes: carbon monoxide, gaseous pollutants, and used motor 7. Energy production wastes: mining wastes, electrical power(combustion of coal)wastes, nuclear power(radioactive)wastes, and weapons production (radioactive) wastes
CHAPTER 15 ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERNS: WASTES AND POLUTON 489 FIGURE 15.1 A healthy environment supports a healthy community A healthy environment, one relatively free from pollution, supports healthy communities(see Figure 15. 1). Residues and wastes from human activities can adversely affect the environment by damaging wildlife habitats, undermining food production, contaminating sources of water, altering climate, and threatening human health Factors contributing to an ever-increasing number of environmental hazards are: (1)urbanization, (2)industrialization, 3) human population growth, and(4) the production and use of disposable products and containers. Urbanization, the urbanization process in which people come together to live in cities, often results in people the proces by which living in overcrowded conditions and inadequate space for the disposal of wastes, to live in ife making waste management more difficult(see Figure 15.2). Concomitant industri. alization, resulting in the generation of new types of wastes, has complicated the waste disposal problem because of the generation of hazardous waste Population growth has also contributed to the overall waste disposal problem, as has the reliance on disposable containers. Not only are there more people than there were 30 years ago, but the amount of refuse generated by each person as we enter the twenty-first century is much greater than it was in the 1960s, when reusable containers began to be replaced by throwaway containers(see Table 15.1)