The two aspects of our environment most invoked when we talk about keeping the
environment clean are liter and water pollution. We will discuss both in this article.
Litter is ugly and it can harm people and wildlife. Picking up litter can be costly for cities and
highway departments.
Dog fouling in public places (another form of litter) is a serious health risk, particularly for
young children.
Cigarette butts are another unpleasant form of litter. They may seem small, but with several
trillion butts littered every year they are the number one source of litter in this county. For
more, go to www.cigarettelitter.org . Cigarette butts make up a large part of much urban litter
and they can take up to 12 years to break down.
So how do we keep litter off our public places and keep the environment clean?
The answer is, of course, firstly educate the public to take their litter home, and when they do
not, it is necessary to ensure that efficient street cleaning is provided.
Street cleaning is controlled by the Department of Public Works in all towns and cities and is
usually removed by appointed contractors or the Council’s own direct labor force. When it
works well you will usually find that the local businesses take an active interest in assisting in
streamlining the process with also making further regular consultation with the community.
Street cleaning is often, but not always, carried out for extended hours, and these hours may
range from 8 am until 12 or 2 pm in our big cities. Street cleaning is an absolute necessity in
all modern well run cities.
Street cleansing is a manual task and labor is a significant cost. Satisfaction with the
cleanliness of streets and commercial areas has improved in the UK since privatization. One
reason likely for this is that previously the Council’s staff had to be the policemen ensuring the
efficiency of their own work. Human nature is such that to be on both sides of such a role
seldom works efficiently.
Street cleansing is only a part of city housekeeping which in this article is just a part of how to
keep the environment clean. The council (municipal) health department\'s business is to see
that all the people have pure air, pure water, pure food, and are protected from contagious
diseases.
Street cleaning is an important element of city housekeeping and is provided more and more
by highly mechanized equipment such as through the use of street sweepers and flushers.
Most streets are scheduled for cleaning at least five times per year, and paved alleys are
cleaned once.
Street cleaning must always be strictly enforced, and react to events when litter will build up
more quickly, but without clean water in the rivers and streams throughout the city the
municipal authorities could hardly be said to be keeping the environment clean.
River Pollution
The avoidance of river pollution is if anything more essential than street cleansing, especially
where the poorer population must rely on the river water for domestic and even drinking
water use.
If asked how to keep the environment clean from river pollution we would have to say by
collecting all sewage and treating it before allowing it to discharge back into the river
downstream.
River pollution is the most devastative phenomena to health in the poor and developing.
Pollution is occurring when the water shows an alteration of physical and chemical parameters
such as odor, taste, colour, turbidity.
If polluted water is tested in a water quality analysis laboratory there are a number of tell-tale
changes you will notice. These are exemplified by changes in total hardness, pH, chlorides etc.
Expect to see BOD, and COD in increased quantities as well, among others.
River pollution is a serious problem. In recent years there has been a growing awareness of
the issues involved but, at the same time, continued urbanization and industrialization and the
continued growth of population produce ever-increasing amounts of waste for disposal.
Dangerously, River pollution is concentrated around urban areas. River Pollution is a major
environmental problem today, but we don’t seem to be making as much progress as we
should. Perhaps the reason is ideological?
Where sewage treatment plants have been installed the levels of indicator bacteria and
nitrogen in the discharge should be tracked to measure management performance. If a failure
in discharge quality occurs the municipal authorities must act to determine changes needed in
monitoring protocol to avoid any further occurrences. It is important to also report progress
and recommendations to inform planning and management decision-makers. Levels of any
pollutant can be measured by water quality testing methods, and once the analysis has been
provided it is always important to check the data carefully against the legal standards. For
example, the State of Florida sets the safe health standard for bacteria as less than 1000 fecal
coliform bacteria per 100 milliliters.
The most common sources of pollution are domestic water discharges from the houses in the
catchment area, and uncontrolled dumps of solid domestic wastes along tributary banks and in
dry ravines. Industrial discharge can be a major cause of pollution. Each industrial discharge
usually contains chemicals and organic compounds which can enter the bodies of many
aquatic animals. Even ground water can be polluted from the soakage pits, septic tanks,
manure, garbage, etc. and that eventually discharges to the rivers still worsening the problem.
Industrial pollutants from smaller units continue to be a problem. While most of the large and
medium industrial units have put up treatment plants and are using them. 40 per cent of the
industrial waste seen in one example - a whopping 4000 mld - is from small scale industries in
cities and residential colonies.
(ArticlesBase SC #706836)
Steve Evans - About the Author:
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