Introduction to Environmental Management

Mary K. Theodore, Louis Theodore

• Publisher: CRC Press
• Year: 2021
• ISBN:
  9781000385595
• Edition: 2
• Topic: Derecho
• Subtopic: Derecho medioambiental

Written at a level that is accessible to students in all disciplines, Introduction to Environmental Management, Second Edition translates complex environmental issues into practical and understandable terms. The book provides students and practitioners an understanding of the regulations, pollutants, and waste management issues that can be applied in various related environmental fields and industries. This new edition is updated throughout and adds eleven new chapters, including coverage of water conservation, water toxins, measurement methods, desalination, industrial ecology, legal issues, and more.

Features:

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• Updated throughout and includes eleven all-new chapters

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• Reviews the specialized literature on pollution prevention, sustainability, and the role of optimization in water treatment and related areas, as well as references for further reading

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• Provides illustrative examples and case studies that complement the text throughout

• Includes ancillary exams and a solutions manual for adopting instructors

This book serves as a complete teaching tool, offering a combination of insightful coverage, concise language, and convenient pedagogical features, and supplies practical guidance that will aid students and practitioners alike.

Part I

Overview

Part I of this book serves as an overview of the numerous major environmental issues facing the twenty-first century. Part I comprises eight chapters. A brief review of the environmental issues is presented in Chapter 1. Chapter 2—the longest and most detailed chapter in the book—focuses on environmental regulations while Chapter 3 examines international environmental regulations. Chapter 4 provides an overview of ISO 14K. Multimedia concerns and approaches are treated in Chapter 5. Chapter 6 discusses the sources and classifications of pollutants while Chapter 7 discusses the effects of pollutants. Part I concludes with Chapter 8 which address the general subject of measurement methods.

Also note that the acronym USEPA (United States Environmental Protection Agency) and EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) are used interchangeably throughout this as well as the remaining Parts of the book. This problem arises because some of the material has been drawn directly from government publications.

1 Introduction to Environmental Issues

1.1 Introduction

In the past five decades, there had been an increased awareness of a wide range of environmental issues covering all sources: air, land, and water. More and more people are becoming aware of these environmental concerns, and it is important that professional people, many of whom do not possess an understanding of environmental problems, have the proper information available when involved with environmental issues. All professionals should have a basic understanding of the technical and scientific terms related to these issues as well as the regulations involved. Hopefully this book will serve the needs of both the professional and the concerned citizen by increasing his or her awareness of (and help solve) the environmental problems facing society.

The past five decades have been filled with environmental tragedies as well as a heightened environmental awareness. The oil spills of the Exxon Valdez in 1989 and in the Gulf War of 1991 showed how delicate our oceans and their ecosystems truly are. The earlier disclosures of Love Canal in 1978 and Times Beach in 1979 made the entire nation aware of the dangers of hazardous chemical wastes. The discovery of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) virus and the beach wash-ups of 1985 brought the issue of medical waste disposal to the forefront of public consciousness. A nuclear accident of 1986 placed the spotlight on Chernobyl, and to this day society is still seeing the effects of that event.

An outline of the contents of the book follows. Some details on each of the chapters of the eight parts are included in the presentation.

1.2 Part I

The Overview part provides a general background and addresses international concerns, environmental regulations, and generators of pollutants. Degradation of the environment is not a problem that is restricted to the United States or even to developed countries. On the contrary, underdeveloped countries are struggling with several environmental issues that have already been resolved in many developed countries. In the United States, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as well as the individual states are working hard to implement regulations addressing areas of environmental concern. Generators and sources of pollutants are being identified so that solutions may be targeted to specific areas. The part concludes with a chapter that deals with measurement methods.

1.3 Part II

Air management issues look into several different areas related to air pollutants and their control. Atmospheric dispersion of pollutants can be mathematically modeled to predict where pollutants emitted from a particular source, such as a combustion facility stack, will settle to the ground and at what concentration. Pollution control equipment can be added to various sources to reduce the amount of pollutants before they are emitted into the air. The greenhouse effect and global warming are indicators of adverse effects to the air, land, and sea which result from excessive amount of certain pollutants being released into the air. One topic that few people are aware of is the issue of indoor air quality. Inadequate ventilation systems in homes and businesses directly affect the quality of health of the people within the buildings. For example, the episode of Legionnaires’ disease, which occurred in Philadelphia in the 1970s, was related to microorganisms that grew in the cooling water of the air-conditioning system. Noise pollution is included in this section. The effects of noise pollution are generally not noticed until hearing is impaired. And, although impairment of hearing is a commonly known result of noise pollution, few people realize that stress is also a significant result of excessive noise exposure. The human body reacts with its innate physiologic defensive mechanisms under conditions of loud noise, and the fight to control these physical instincts causes tremendous stress on the individual. The part concludes with a chapter on vapor intrusion and air toxics.

1.4 Part III

Pollutant dispersion in water systems and wastewater treatment is discussed in Water management issues. Pollutants entering rivers, lakes, and oceans come from a wide variety of sources, including stormwater runoff, industrial discharges, and accidental spills. It is important to understand how these substances disperse in order to determine how to control them. Municipal and industrial wastewater treatment systems are designed to reduce or eliminate problem substances before they are introduced into natural water systems, industrial use systems, drinking water supply, and other water systems. Often, wastewater from industrial plants must be pretreated before it can be discharged into a municipal treatment system. The part also includes chapters regarding desalination, water toxics, and water conservation.

1.5 Part IV

Solid Waste management issues address treatment and disposal methods for municipal, medical, and radioactive wastes. Programs to reduce and dispose of municipal waste include reuse, reduction, recycling, and composting, in addition to incineration and landfilling. Potentially infectious waste generated in facilities must be specially packaged, handled, stored, transported, treated, and disposed of to ensure the safety of both the waste handlers and the general public. Radioactive waste may have serious impacts on human health and the environment, and treatment and disposal requirements for radioactive substances must be strictly adhered to. Incineration has been a typical treatment method for hazardous waste for many years. Superfund was enacted to identify and remedy uncontrolled hazardous waste sites. It also attempts to place the burden of cleanup on the generator rather than on the federal government. Asbestos and some metals are also addressed in this Part.

1.6 Part V

Pollution Prevention covers domestic and (primarily) industrial means of reducing pollution. This can be accomplished through (a) proper residential and commercial building design; (b) proper heating, cooling, and ventilation systems; (c) energy conservation; (d) reduction of water consumption; and (e) attempts to reuse or reduce materials before they become wastes. Domestic and industrial solutions to environmental problems are addressed by considering ways to make homes and workplaces more efficient as well as ways to reduce the amount of wastes generated within them. Chapters regarding sustainability, green chemistry and engineering, and industrial ecology are also included in this Part. The Part concludes with a chapter devoted to architecture in the environment.

1.7 Part VI

Managers also need to be informed on how to make decisions about associated risks and how to communicate these risks and their effects on the environment to the public. Environmental Risk topics include short-term and long-term threats to human health and the environment. Risk assessment is the most important consideration for remediation of harmful effects stemming from the presence of hazardous and toxic substances, and risk-based decision making is a tool that is now routinely being used to select a cleanup alternative. This part also provides an explanation on how to estimate and how to avoid environmental health, and hazard risks, and a separate chapter discusses nontechnical risk.

1.8 Part VII

Since the beginning of time, man has been coping with balancing his energy requirement with the environment. In effect, in trying to provide food and shelter, he has had to cope with both energy and the environment. The environmental impacts of energy demand and consumption are far reaching, affecting air and water (as well as land) quality and public health. Combustion of coal, oil, and natural gas is responsible for a host of environmental problems. However, energy is the keystone of American life and prosperity. It is also a vital component for environmental rehabilitation. The question is whether reasonable energy demands can be met without significantly harming the environment. Energy consumption is thus a major contributor to environmental degradation, and decisions regarding energy policy alternatives required comprehensive environmental analyses. This part, Energy Considerations, is not intended to be all encompassing. Rather, it is to be used as a starting point. The material is primarily a key for traditional energy–environmental topics. Chapters on energy resources, energy conservation, heat transfer and heat exchanger design, and energy–environmental interaction are the highlights of this part.

1.9 Part VIII

The last part Other Areas of Interest discusses nine topics that are relatively new in the area of environmental management. Included in this part are electromagnetic fields, noise pollution, used oil, underground storage tanks, and the environmental implications of nanotechnology. Environmental audits provide a means of assessing the environmental conduct and performance of an organization. Legal issues and training options are also included in the presentation. Environmental ethics, as it relates to rules of proper environmental conduct, receives treatment in the next to the last chapter. Finally, environmental justice (last chapter) is a term for describing the disproportionate distribution of environmental risks in minority and low-income communities; federal attention is now focused on environmental and human health conditions in these areas, with the goal of achieving equa...