Environmental Health

Common Lead Exposure

1. Brownfields: a former industrial or commercial site where future use is affected by real or perceived environmental factors

   a) former industrial/construction sites

   b) former gas stations

2. Environmental Consulting: redeveloping land for other use

3. Lead Found In: paint, gasoline, industrial lead, mining, consumer products

4. Damage: brain, soft organs, bones

   • most dangerous to children

   • no sage amount to consumer

Waste Production

1. Solid Waste: hazardous vs. non-hazardous

2. Liquid Waste: wastewater, water pollution

3. Emissions: air pollution

Solid Wate

1. Non-Hazardous/Hazardous

   Municipal Solid Waste: homes, hospitals, schools industrial places

2. Hazardous= hospitals, industrial place

Reprocessing- incineration, recycling, repurposing/selling, composting, combustion

Landfill: 50%, food, metals, plastics etc

Recycling: 25% paper, metal, plastics etc

Compost: 12.5% food, cardboard

Combustion: 12.5% used for fuel, electricity

Landfill: emptying pit with plastic basin to prevent leaching

• leaching- pollution from waste leakage

• pit with elevated sides laden with a material that has low permeability (clay)

            1 : plastic liner, no holes and thick

            2 : network of pipes that have slots for leachate to escape covered with gravel, pump out leachate. Leachate is brought to a leachate lagoon that is processed by a water treatment

            3 : Adding trash- trash is added in carved out cells, covered up with compacted dirt

• litter protection from covered cells

Landfill Lifespan: once space has been used up, landfill is decommissioned

• repeat start process in reverse: gravel, plastic, clay then topsoil

Decommissioned Landfill: buried and sealed products have limited O2, microorganisms and H2O for normal decay

• this causes products to decay in anoxic and anaerobic condition which produces methane instead of CO2

Solution: gas extraction pipes are added to buried landfill to pump out the methane (greenhouse gas)

• can either be burned or released into the atmosphere or if enough used for combustion

Groundwater Monitoring: site have an upstream and downstream well

• that collects and tests water samples for pollution leachate

• water entering and water exiting site

Post Usage: used for recreation or remediated as a nature preserve (cannot build or dig down otherwise leachate will be exposed)

Finding Landfill Space

1. Change the waste pathway (lower rate of waste going to landfills)

2. Build more landfills

   • need correct geology and proximity to community

   • geology = no shallow ground water, no fault lines, fertile ground

   • “NIMBY” = not in my backyard, put in less economically advantaged neighborhoods

3. Build more landfill: developing nations