Six questions 175 words minimum each, APA Format Two Citations for each question -Environmental

BEM 3601, Waste Management 1 Cou rse Learning Outcomes for Unit VII Upon completion of this unit, students should be able to: 1. Summarize the history of waste management including impacts from early hum an civilization to current day . 1.1 Analyze the causes and effects of a past hazardous waste incident . 6. Discuss waste disposal techniques and technologies . 6.1 Describe in situ and ex situ treatment methods for abandoned hazardous waste sites . 6.2 Summa rize the impacts of temperature on waste treatment and environmental systems . 6.3 Discuss the control of point and non -point sources of land pollution . 6.4 Describe the factors that drive the selection of bioremediation strategies for the treatment of haza rdous waste. 7. Summarize requirements for hazardous waste generation, transportation, treatment, storage, and disposal . 7.1 Discuss the main components of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) . Reading Assignment Chapter 27 : Hazardous W aste s Chapter 28 : Thermal Pollution Chapter 29 : Land Pollution Unit Lesson Hazardous Waste Between 1942 and 1953, Hooker Chemical dumped 21,800 tons of industrial hazardous waste in an abandoned canal in New York. Although it was capped, the waste eventually leached into the groundwater, basements, and to the surface. The waste caused serious health problems for the residents, and just about anyone recognizes the name of the area in question : Love Canal (Thompson, 2013). The Love Canal incident is an infamous example of the consequences of improper disposal of hazardous waste. The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) regulates the disposal of solid and hazardous waste in the United States. Section 1004(5) of RCRA de scribes a hazardous waste as “a solid waste that may pose a substantial present or potential threat to human health and the environment when improperly treated, stored, transported, or otherwise managed ” (Vallero , 2011 a). To fall under RCRA, a waste must f irst be classified as a solid waste. The waste can then be further classified as a listed waste, a characteristic waste, a univ ersal waste, or a mixed waste. Hazardous waste generators, transporters, and treatment, storage, or disposal facilities are all regulated under RCRA . RCRA divides waste into two types. Non -hazardous waste is covered under Subtitle D, and hazardous waste is covered under Subtitle C. UNIT VII STUDY GUIDE Hazardous Waste, Thermal Pollution, and Land Pollution BEM 3601, Waste Management 2 UNIT x STUDY GUIDE Title Vallero (2011 a) lists three main aspe cts of managing hazardous waste:  First, managers should reduce the amount of hazardous waste being produced. This aspect of waste management is, of course, a recurring theme with all types of waste we have discussed throughout the course. Ideally, the process that is producing the waste should be altered as much as p ossible to minimize the amount of hazardous waste that results.  Second, the hazardous waste that is produced should be treated to reduce its toxicity as much as possible.  Last, engineering controls should be applied to minimize exposure to the waste. Trea tment technologies for hazardous waste include physical treatment, chemical treatment, and biodegradation. A hazardous waste can be physically treated by several means. As you read in Chapter 16, the waste can be incinerated to reduce the volume of waste, reduce its toxicity (in some cases), and reduce the chances of the waste migrating offsite. Another physical treatment process is solidification and stabilization. This process produces a solid block of treated waste. This method maintains the waste in a form that is the least soluble and least toxic form of the waste. Disposal is another physical form of treatment. Hazardous waste can be disposed of in underground injection wells, in surface impoundments, in landfills, at land treatment facilities, or in waste piles. Lastly, hazardous waste can also be sent to com prehensive treatment facilities that treat many forms of hazardous waste (Vallero, 2011 a). Chemical treatment methods for hazardous waste consist of four m ain types of chemical reactions:  Synt hesis reactions occur when two or more substances react to form a single substance . In the case of hazardous waste treatment, this substance is a less toxic one.  Decomposition reactions are reactions in which one substance is broken down into two or more n ew substances.  In single replacement reactions, one reactant replaces another react ant.  In a double -replacement reaction, molecules exchange their cations and anions. Biodegradation of hazardous waste involve s the use of microbes to break waste down into water, carbon dioxide, and other simple inorganic and organic compounds. In addition to generation, treatment, and disposal, another primary issue in volving hazardous waste is the management and cleanup of abandoned hazardous waste sites. Before RCRA, haz ardous waste was not managed properly, and as a result, there have been over 20,000 abandoned hazardous waste sites identified in the United States as requiring immediate action (Vallero, 2011 a). These sites are regulated under the Comprehensive Environmen tal Response, Compensation and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA). This law is best known as Superfund. The waste at these sites can be treated by in situ (in place) or ex situ (off -site) methods. Typical actions for treating contaminated soil include excavat ing the soil and transporting it to incinerators or other treatment facilities. Groundwater is often treated through a pump -and -treat system, whereby contaminated water is pumped through recovery wells into a treatment system on the surface. Air strippers, filtering through granular activated carbon drums, and air sparging are three methods commonly used to treat the groundwater that is pumped from the recovery wells. In situ treatment methods include bioremediation and phytoremediation (Vallero, 2011 a). BEM 3601, Waste Management 3 UNIT x STUDY GUIDE Title Thermal Pollution Heat might not be something you would automatically think of when listing pollutants. However, when too much heat is added to an environmental system, it can adversely affect the organisms living in that system. Thermal pollution can be direct, such as a power plant releasing heated water into a stream. It can also be indirect, through various changes in the physical, chemical, and biological integrity of a system (Vallero, 2011 b). One example of such indirect pollution is the thermochem ical formation of carbon, sulfur, and nitrogen compounds. Thermal reactions emit greenhouse gases, with carbon dioxide being the main gas released. An equilibrium among carbonates, bicarbonates, organic compounds, carbonic acid , and carbon dioxide is invo lved in the regulation of the pH of precipitation. As the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere increases, the interactions between the forms of carbon in equilibrium in the atmosphere cause a proportional decrease in the pH of precipitation. For example, models show that a 50 -part -per -million increase in carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere would produce a decrease in precipitation pH to 5.5. The pH of uncontaminated pH is 5.6. Although this may not seem like much at first glance, ke ep in mind that the pH scale is loga rithmic. This means that a one -unit decrease in the pH is a tenfold decrease in acidity. Thermal process often generate s sulfur and nitrogen compounds, as well. Both sulfur and nitrogen compounds react with water in the atmosphere to form acids. Temperature affect s not only environmental system s but also waste treatment. As you learned in Chapter 16, the byproducts of thermal treatment processes can sometimes be more toxic than those of the waste being treated. The temp erature at which wastes are incinerated can determine whether toxic byproducts are produced during the incineration process. Some of the most toxic byproducts of thermal processes are the products of incomplete combustion, such as chlorinated dioxins . Shib amoto, Yasuhara, and Katami, (2007) found that dioxin formation in incin erators occurred at temperatures above 450 degrees and decreased significantly above 850 degrees. However, the reactions in incinerators are very complex, and not all of the factors involved in dioxin formation are understood well enough to control the formation of this dangerous byproduct of thermal treatment of waste. Land Pollution For the purposes of this Unit, land pollution is not a waste stream itself, but the ways in which lan d is polluted through human activity can be . Obviously, we can pollute the land by dumping waste onto it, but land can be damaged when development of land is not properly managed. Erosion and habitat destruction can occur when land is developed without con sideration for the ecosystem surrounding it. Land pollution often ends up causing or becoming water pollution, as well. We discussed the formation of dead zones in Chapter 19. Sediment loading from erosion causes these dead zones . Much of the runoff that causes dead zones results from what would usually be classified as non -point sources of pollution. A non - point source is one that does not have a definitive discharge location. A point source does originate from a definitive location. One way in which the Clean Water Act regulates these sources of pollution is through restricting the total maximum daily load (TMDL) of pollutants that are released into water bodies that have been classified as impaired (Vallero & Vallero, 2011). In some cases, the damage to the land has already been done. As discussed in Chapter 27, Superfund regulates the cleanup of abandoned hazardous waste sites. The EPA ’s Land Revitalization Program seeks to restore contaminated sites. If the efforts are successful, and the land can be r ehabilitated to the extent that it can be used in some beneficial way, it is known as a brownfi eld. BEM 3601, Waste Management 4 UNIT x STUDY GUIDE Title References Shibamoto, T., Yasuhara, A., Katami, T. (2007). Dioxin formation from waste incineration. Rev iews of Environ mental Contam ination Toxicol ogy , 190 , 1-41. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17432330 Thompson, C. (2013 , November 2 ). Love Canal toxic waste disaster is repeating, 35 years later, lawsuits by new residents claim. National Post. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.go v/pubmed/17432330 Vallero, D. A. (2011 a). Hazardous wastes. In T. M. Letcher, & D. A. Vallero (Eds.), Waste: A handbook for management (pp. 393 -42 3). Burlington, MA: Academic Press . Vallero, D. A. (2011 b). Thermal pollution. In T. M. Letcher, & D. A. Val lero (Eds.), Waste: A handbook for management (pp. 425 -443 ). Burlington, MA: Academic Press . Vallero, D. J., & Vallero, D. A. (2011). Land pollution. In T. M. Letcher, & D. A. Vallero (Eds.), Waste: A handbook for management (pp. 445 -466 ). Burlington, MA: Academic Press .