Environmental and Social Impact
. Appropriateness of Infiltration
Pollution to environment is always a big concern in all rainwater infiltration designs. Pretreatment of rainwater is required in all kinds of processes before the cutoff infiltrates into the ground. Yet, designers and decision makers should also pay close attention to the condition of the land where water management programs will be carried out. Rainwater infiltration projects will be of great benefits if such practices are feasible and environmentally protective. However, if such projects are implemented on sites where pollutants present, the pollutants may be mobilized to increase groundwater contamination. We can define such sites as brownfields where redevelopment or reuse may be complicated by the presence (or likely presence) of contamination (EPA, July 2013).
Prior land uses and the types of activities that took place on the site are often good predictors of whether there will be contaminants and wastes in the soil
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For example, installing infiltration could have a negative effect on vertical barriers that are designed to keep contamination from moving laterally because increased hydraulic pressure caused by infiltration will increase leakage through the barriers and reduce its effectiveness over time. Infiltration can also interfere with a soil vapor extraction system that is commonly installed to reduce the vapor pressure beneath buildings to evacuate any vapor risk that may be caused by contaminants beneath the building. In this case, infiltration can raise the groundwater table which may prevent the soil vapor extraction system from working properly and result in high volumes of condensate from the vapor collected which is commonly contaminated (EPA, July 2013). When decisions are being made, all these factors should be taken into consideration on a case-by-case
affects the ecosystem. The land's incline prevents some areas to receive and maintain a water
Cleaning up and reinvesting in these properties protects the environment, reduces blight, and takes development pressures off green spaces. The EPA works with local governments and provides grants that help fund redevelopment strategies to brownfield sites. These redevelopment projects help transform these sites into something useful that will benefit the community and the environment while encouraging the reuse of land by developing sites that are documented as contaminated. The EPA is not biased when it comes to choosing a site for redevelopment. As long as the site is defined as a brownfield by a local, state, or national government agency, that site will be approved for protective measures (“Brownfields in Region
There are many ways pollutants can enter lakes and rivers: agricultural and urban runoff, industrial outfalls, migration through groundwater, through the food chain, and many more. Many p...
...ively place the suspect or perpetrator behind bars. Analyzing soil compounds can be measured by the levels of organic molecules including n-alkanes, fatty alcohols and fatty acids, which are all found in the waxy outer layer of plant matter (Geddes, 2008). It basically states that compounds can remain in the soil for thousands of years, which explains that each area being tested has its unique organic profile.
Storm water runoff is the biggest polluter of streams, creeks, rivers and ocean water systems. “Nationwide, storm water is a leading source of water pollution. About thirteen percent of U.S. rivers, eighteen percent of lakes and thirty-two percent of estuaries are classified as impaired by storm water, which means they are rendered unsafe for swimming or fishing. It also contributes to the degradation of many other waterways” (Coefield, 2010, p.1). The improperly disposed coal waste from Duke Energy easily percolates through t...
According to the internet human behavior has a very big affect on the environment. Environmental settings such as air pollution, oceans, energy, or noise are all sources that can negatively impact the environmental quality and conditions. Our daily routines have a huge impact on the environment and we do not realize it. New laws that are passing and educating people will help a lot. People are being educated on how to use less water, use our cars less, how to use less energy, and even taking reusable bags when going grocery shopping because plastic bags are very bad for the environment. There are simple solutions that can help in getting started with these efforts. Every little step and effort we make in our daily routines count.
Human Impact on the Environment Introduction = == == == ==
Participation by the public, amongst other things, is crucial to the success of the EIA process.
"Protecting Water Quality from Agricultural Runoff." Home. EPA, Mar. 2005. Web. 9 Mar. 2012. .
According to Jacquet (2014:1) social sciences has long been interested in the social and economic created by large industrial, land-use and environmental changes. In the early 1970’s, formalised set of practices and processes named Social Impact Assessment (SIA) emerged to document and/or predict socio-economic impacts from such large-scale projects which was developed in the United States through the 1969 National Environment Policy Act, which led to the expansion of the practice of Social Impact Assessment (SIA) (Jacquet, 2014:1). Vanclay (cited in Byker, 2009:12) defines Social Impact Assessment as an assessment in an effort to measure or estimate, the social consequences that are most likely to follow from explicit
Environmental sustainability is making decisions and taking actions in the interest of protecting the natural world, preserving the capability of the environment to support human life and ensuring that humans use the environment in a way that does not harm the environment. It also questions how economic development affects our environment vice versa.
What is pollution? Pollution is a detrimental enemy to all species that walk on earth. It is a product of mankind carbon foot print on the environment. It consists of chemicals or particles in the air that can harm the health of humans, animals, and plants. Pollution occurs when pollutants contaminate the natural surrounding; which brings about changes that affect our normal lifestyles adversely. Pollutants are the key elements of pollution which are generally waste materials of dissimilar forms. Pollution disturbs our ecosystem and the balance in the environment. With innovation and development in our lives pollution has reached its peaks; giving rise to global warming and human illness. When raw materials, water, energy and other resources
Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is assessment of impacts on the environment due to proposed activity and finding ways to mitigate the environmental impacts.
Environmental management awareness rose up for last decades until today. So in managing and avoiding environmental degradation happen continuously, the are several policy and regulation formed from time to time. Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) And Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) is two of environmental protection that being implemented. Most country have the same policy but in own standard of control. These policy primary goal is to ensure the implementation and enforcement
Most people think they know a wetland when they see one, but the delineation of wetlands for the purpose of granting permits has proven enormously controversial. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), an area is defined as a wetland when a combination of three technical criteria are met: Wetland hydrology (land that is saturated within 18 inches of the surface for more than seven days per year), Hydrophytic vegetation (a list of plants that will thrive in wet areas), and Hydric soil (mucky and peat-based soil). The continual destruction of these valuable lands is due mainly to farmers, oil and mining interests, and development groups (Russel, p.36). It is estimated that 30-40% of the original wetlands in the United States have been lost, and about 300-400,000 acres are destroyed each year (Hollis, p. 36). Recent concern has led to an increase in wetland restoration and creation to reduce the impacts of activities in or near wetlands, compensate for additional losses, and to restore or replace wetlands already degraded or destroyed (Nicholas, p. 39).