UMGC ENMT495 Week 5 Discussion (dq1+dq2+dq3) Latest 2021 October

ENMT495 Global Environmental Management Issues

Week 5 Discussion

DQ1 Water Management

Lead: Martina Bokuma

Summary: April Dorsey

Please answer one of the following questions (they are organized by area)

1. Water Management

The focus of this week’s readings is waste management and the medium of focus within this topic is water.  First in the hierarchy of waste management are activities and tools to promote source reduction and reuse., followed by recycling and composting, energy recovery and lastly, treatment and disposal (EPA, 2017)  Within each management level there are some tried and true technologies to accomplish specific purposes.  Water treatment of sewage, other organics as well as industrial effluents encompass primary, secondary and tertiary treatment, as well as disinfection.  There are a variety of other technologies, such as activated charcoal and biofiltration, used to further remove carbon based molecules (UMGC, n.d.)

With this in mind please explore one of these two arenas of waste management and specifically explore the type, purpose and characteristics of the technology used.  What is the condition of the water as it enters the treatment process and what are the characteristics as it exists?  Why that particular process at this particular stage of the treatment process?  Can the treatment train be shortened?  These are the concepts I want you to think about as you explore these topics.  Now, just to bring you up short, given these treatment process that must be accomplished, what could be done in that first waste management step (source reduction and reuse) that would shorten or somehow reduce this waste treatment effort?

 EPA. (August 10, 2017. Sustainable Materials Management: Non-Hazardous Materials and Waste Management Hierarchy.  https://www.epa.gov/smm/sustainable-materials-management-non-hazardous-materials-and-waste-management-hierarchy

University of Maryland Global Campus. (n.d.). Week 5: Incorporating what we have learned to water, air and soil management. Document posted in UMGC ENMT 495 6380 online classroom, archived at https://learn.umgc.edu.

2. Waste Water

Most of you know what goes on in a municipal sewer treatment plant.  The goal of this question is to familiarize you with the waste generation and waste treatment that an individual industry needs to accomplish based upon the type of product produced.  Are businesses cleaning up the mess they create?

In order to explore this choose a particular factory and investigate the content of wastes, concentration of effluents, and the treatment the factory provides prior to emitting it’s effluent.  Characterize the wastes it generates (chemicals, metals, organics, toxics, radioactive, etc.).  What type of process is used to remove or reduce this waste (please get technical here) and what happens to those wastes that are removed.  Are they required to have a NPDES permit?  What are the requirements put on the plant by the Federal, State, and/or local government (some municipalities build their sewer treatment systems to a higher level to attract certain types of processing plants and thereby reduce pretreatment requirements).  Here are some suggestions of interesting businesses you might explore – Paint, Fertilizer, Meat Packing or Poultry Processing, Chemical Manufacturing (those that make dry cleaning fluid and embalming fluid might be particularly interesting), Paper Manufacturing, Vegetable or Fruit Processing , etc. You can duplicate the type of plant, but not the same plant location.

3. Drinking Water

What is the source of your drinking water (river, reservoir, desalination plant, etc.).  Investigate the water constituents and concentrations of the source water then the process that the water goes through at your local drinking water plant (again get technical here please).  What are the concentrations of managed components in the final drinking water?  What components are not managed (certain bacteria or viruses, endocrine disruptors, chemicals)?  Why are they not managed? What Federal, State and local regulations govern the treatment of your drinking water?  Does this plant meet the requirements? It will be interesting to compare the requirement and ultimate effluent concentrations among plants throughout the US.  Will they be the same, similar, wildly disparate?

DQ2 Soil Management

Lead: April Dorsey

Summary: Alex Duval

Please answer one of the following questions:

 The EPA has provided a management hierarchy guideline to manage non-hazardous materials. The hierarchy progresses through solid waste management options that range from most desirable to least desirable. The respective options are: source reduction and reuse; recycling and composting; energy recovery; treatment and disposal.  Briefly describe each of these environmental preferences with one example of each process. From a standpoint of sustainability and impact to the environment, select one management option and justify its level of desirability? How does this particular option reduce environmental impacts, conserve resources, and/or reduce costs in its own way?

Municipal solid waste management is key to successful soil management. As mentioned, there are hierarchical options associated for addressing the various forms of waste.  Our readings this week presented the five elements/infrastructure used in support of these waste management options. After reviewing these elements and their technologies, provide some discussion of what some positive externalities might be for using these technologies. Similarly, are there any negative externalities that may be a result? Could these negative externalities ultimately prove to be acceptable as part of a bigger environmental picture?

DQ3 Air Management

Lead: Alex Duval

Summary: Martina Bokuma

Please answer one of the following Questions

1) This week we discussed the different technologies used to treat emissions from mobile and stationary sources. Explain in your own words what causes the similarity or difference in the type of pollutants emitted from these sources. Please be specific about which pollutants are being treated. How would you compare technologies that are used to treat these emissions regarding stationary vs. mobile? If different, why aren’t they treated the same? 

2) Some of the technology discussed includes treatment of gas emissions from power plants. The pollutants most commonly emitted from power plants are CO, NOx, SOx, and hydrocarbons. Choose one pollutant (CO, NOx, SOx, hydrocarbon, or other common pollutant emitted from power plants) and describe the best available technology to reduce or eliminate this contaminant. How does this technology work and why it is the BAT in this instance?  Please provide an example.  Also, has this technology changed over time? How?  Is the factory responsible for keeping up with new advancements in pollution treatment technology?  What are the implications of this?

3) We have discussed how air pollution is a global problem. However, some parts of the world have higher emissions of one particular pollutant when compared to another. What air pollutant is of particular concern with the U.S.(do not limit yourself to CO2)?   Which pollutants are of highest concern to the planet as a whole? What nations are doing the best in management of this pollutant. Discuss one nation that is doing doing the least, and explain why? What would you recommend to the leaders of that nation to improve their air quality? (Hint: consider the mantra reduce, reuse and recycle.)