Aduot Madit Anhiem 12926 Civil Engineering Environmental Management System Assignment 1

Minamata disease Minamata disease is a form of methyl mercury poisoning caused by eating large quantities of fish and shellfish polluted by methyl mercury in factory wastewater. It is not a contagious disease transmitted through air or food, nor is it inherited. Minamata disease was officially discovered in 1956, and in 1968 the national government announced that it was a pollution disease caused by the Chisso Co.Ltd. The methyl mercury which caused Minamata disease is a type of organic mercury. It is a white powdery substance and smells like the sulphur in a hot spring. It is easily absorbed from the stomach into the blood and carried to the liver and kidney, and then the brain and even the foetus, where it is absorbed and concentrated and causes great damage to the human body. The methyl mercury that enters the body mainly attacks the central nervous system, including the brain., and causes various symptoms including numbness and unsteadiness in the legs and hands, tiredness, ringing in the ears, narrowing of the field of vision, loss of hearing, slurred speech, and awkward movements. Insanity, unconsciousness and death were prone within a month of the onset of the disease. There are also other effects, such as headaches, frequent tiredness, and loss of the senses of smell and taste, and forgetfulness, which are not easily visible but make daily life difficult. Moreover, the congenital Minamata disease patients were born with handicaps after being attacked by methyl mercury while in the wombs of their mothers who consumed polluted fish.

London Smog It is a severe air pollution event that affected London during December 1952. It was a period of cold weather combined with an anticyclone and windless conditions, collected airborne pollutants mostly from the use of coal to a form a thick layer of smog over the city. As a result the people of London were burning large amounts of coal and smoke bellowed from the chimneys. The winds were light and the air near the ground was moist, conditions ideal for formation of radiation fog. It lasted after 5 days. The weather conditions made the Londoners to burn more coal than usual to keep them warm. Post war domestic coal was relatively low grade, sulphurous variety which increased the sulphur dioxide in the smoke. The effects were numerous, and since it was denser and had a longer lasting period than other fogs, the visibility was reduced hence driving was impossible, therefore the ambulance service stopped functioning forcing sick people to transport themselves. Death toll was high about 4000 people died and most of the victims were very young and elderly, or had pre-existing respiratory problems. Also the effects are; increase risk of cancer and susceptibility to infection among children. Respiratory effects: Short term decrease in breathing ability and increase in chest pains Inflammation of the lungs and damage to respiratory cells Permanent lung damage and reduced quality of life due to ozone. Increased number of asthma attacks due to nitrogen dioxide.

Cardiovascular effects

A lack of oxygen in the bloodstream in those with heart disease due to carbon monoxide.

Bhopal Tragedy It was a gas leak industrial catastrophes, the leak of methyl isocyanate gas and other chemicals from the plant surround the environment and number of people were exposed to the toxic substance around the shantytowns located near the plant. The cause differs but the two are substantial. The water entered Tank 610 containing 42 tons of methyl isocyanate; as a result there was an exothermic reaction which increased the temperature inside the tank to over 2000C and raised the pressure, therefore about 30 metric tons of methyl isocyanate escaped from the tank into the atmosphere. Also the cause is being labelled to a disgruntled worker who introduces water into the tank directly as an act of sabotage through a connection to a missing pressure gauge on the top of the tank. The Union Carbide Corporate and Government of India and Madhya Pradesh were responsible for the tragedy. The factors leading to gas leak include; storing MIC in large tanks and filling beyond recommended levels, poor maintenance and failure of safety systems. The effects were irreversible pain inflicted, suffering and deaths, these were due to the gas released to the surrounding and the gas cloud contained phosgene, hydrogen cyanide, carbon monoxide, hydrogen chloride and monomethyl amine either produced in the storage tank or in the atmosphere. The acute effects were the burning in the respiratory tract and eyes and vomiting. It is estimated that 2000 died during the week and over 100,000 had permanent injuries and people exposed to it were 520,000 and they had developed , respiratory difficulties, immune and neurological disorders, cardiac failure secondary to lung injury, female reproductive difficulties and birth defects among children born to affected women

Chernobyl Explosion It occurs in 1986 and it was a result of flawed reactor design that was operated with inadequately trained personnel. The steam explosion and fires released at least 5% of the radioactive reactor core into the atmosphere and downwind. The accident destroyed the Chernobyl reactor, killing 30 operators and firemen within three months and several further deaths later. One person was killed immediately and a second died in hospital soon after as a result of injuries received. The cause was mainly due to gross violations of operating rules and regulations. During preparation and testing of the turbine generator under run down conditions using auxiliary load, personnel disconnected a series of technical protection systems and breached the most important operational safety provisions for conducting a technical exercise This shows there was lack of knowledge of nuclear reactor and engineering as well lack of experience and training. The health has deteriorated especially in children where thyroid cancer increased since the disaster and WHO predicted that around 50,000 children would develop the disease during the life time. Birth defects and genetic mutations are other effects. There is international spread of radioactive substances and the worst hit regions are Belarus, Ukraine and Russia. Economic cost; lot of money was spent as a payment of Chernobyl-related social benefits and a vast land of agricultural was abandoned because of different ways of getting radiation through underground and from the crops too.

Ozone Layer Depletion Ozone layer is present in the stratosphere which is about 30 miles above the earth. The ozone is at the top of the stratosphere and it absorbs the sun rays hence it protects the Earth from the ultraviolet rays sent down by the sun. Ozone is a bluish gas that is formed by three atoms of Oxygen. The ozone layer depletion is caused by the production and emission of CFCs, chlorofluorocarbons. The chlorine atom is removed from the CFC and attracts one of the three oxygen atoms in the ozone molecule. The process progresses and continues and a single chlorine atom can destroy over 100,000 molecules of ozone. The effects are any minor problem on the ozone layer, means more ultraviolet light from the sun can reach the earth. Therefore cancer levels can be increased due to too much exposure to the ultraviolet light. Some research says that decrease of the ozone layer will increase the rates of malaria and other infectious diseases. Environment will be adversely affected in that the life cycles of plants will change, disrupting the food chain hence severe effect to animals, therefore the ecosystems such as forests and deserts will be harmed.

Greenhouse Effect This is known as global warming because the gases that are gathering above the earth make the planet comparable to a greenhouse. It traps the heat near the surface of the earth, the greenhouse effect is warming the planet and threatening the environment Greenhouse effect has been caused by overpopulation, which consume more items which take more energy to make, waste created and cars being used. Different products and human activities contribute to greenhouse effect. The most common gas accounting about 50% of all greenhouse gases has been increasing because of the industrialization at this modernity. The other gases are methane CFCs, nitrogen oxides and Ozone; also contribute to greenhouse layer formation. The greenhouse effect is mainly the warming of the earth and climate changes which will be extremely hard to predict and to handle. If global warming happens there are higher possibilities of raising global sea levels which would be disastrous for some places like islands and more so the flooding along the coastline displaces people and ruining crops.