Scholarly Activity

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A Pollution Prevention Plan (P4) Pre-Assessment Study

Abstract

This undertaking essentially entails a Pre-Assessment study on behalf of the board of directors at ABC Agriculture Production Inc; it explores the general operational characteristics, potential ecological health effects, potential human health impacts, potential societal health impacts, risk assessment and regulatory requirements, pollution prevention technologies, and engineering opportunities for pollution prevention.

General Operational Characteristics

In this context, we will review the General Operational Characteristics of the organization. In essence, ABC Agriculture Production Inc. is located in Southwestern Nebraska, covering 640-acre land. Besides this land, particularly to the west, a privately owned rancher’s property harbors a commercially producing and leased natural gas well. A major river’s small active salt fork exists east of the 640-acre land. Production offices and barns meant for confined animal feed operations are presumed to cover an area of 160 acres; this involves separate large, full barns set for chicken, beef cattle, and swine operations, six barn-discharge wastewater lagoons, and one feed mill. Alfalfa and corn hay fields are presumed to cover 320 acres of the land; groundwater irrigation wells supply the irrigation sprinkler systems to sustain these crops. The remaining 160 acres manifest caliche and gypsum open pit excavation mines; these products are essentially excavated and traded by the truckload.

The organization primarily uses commercial nitrogen fertilizers to sustain crops, commercial herbicides to control weeds, and commercial pesticides to manage relevant pests. The involved animals are sustained through relevant administration of routine injections; antibiotics and vitamin supplements are also critically and routinely appreciated. Dead animal remains are usually disposed of in a pit; the pit has to be covered with calcium hydroxide daily. The facility manifests an EPA-recognized National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit. It is often applied as a combined wastewater/stormwater effluent permit. Also, the organization appreciates a hazardous waste permit for discarding all rejected pharmaceutical, pesticide, and herbicide wastes. Relevant rainfall and wind speeds should be 21 inches annually and 12 mph, respectively. Humidity should manifest an average provision of 65.8 % and a dew point of 37.9°F. Furthermore, high/Low temps range from summer (91°F/63°F) to winter (40°F/14°F).

Potential Ecological Health Impacts

The primary ecological pollutants in this context involve TSS, ammonia, TKN, and TDS. Also, the involved herbicides and pesticides used in the site are presumed to manifest chemical pollutants such as organophosphorus, organochlorines, and carbamates, which manifest critical ecological health impacts. Mining activities relevant to the caliche and gypsum excavation sites can potentially lead to the leaching of calcium carbonate and calcium sulfate dihydrate to the nearby surrounding attracting potential environmental consequences. The provisions of chemical oxygen demand and biochemical oxygen demand required in this context to oxidize and degrade relevant organic materials are presumed to be relatively enhanced; these substances manifest the capacity to potentially impede the degradation of released contaminants (Wu et al., 2018).

Deceased animal remains, and animal feed operations manifest the capacity to cause enhanced levels of methane gas production. This may also involve the realization of extreme levels of growth hormones, animal blood, antibiotics, silage from leachate from corn feed, and pathogenic manure, which proves to be detrimental to the environment's well-being. The levels of the mentioned contaminants, especially heavy metals, herbicides, pathogens, and pesticides, may concentrate to the extent of leaching to the immediate surrounding with eventual critical environmental pollution. Additionally, the organization’s confined animal feeds operations may attract the concept of the disrupted ecosystem; the potential spread of pathogens and associated diseases in this context can interfere with the relevance of organisms and bacteria in the immediate environment, which may lead to an ecological imbalance.

Potential Human Health Impacts

The organization’s implications critically manifest the capacity to threaten the health and well-being of humans. This can be captured from the concept that it not only leads to the release of potentially harmful products but also threatens the immediate environment that harbors relevant people. For instance, the organization’s operations that favor the growth and sustainability of pathogens pose a significant threat to the health of the immediate population. These pathogens can attract critical human diseases as the ecosystem sustains disruption from the implications of the relevant pollution (Gwenzi et al., 2018). The relevance of gypsum and caliche mining activities also manifests a critical capacity to threaten the well-being of the immediate people. For example, the emission of extreme dust to the involved persons can attract essential breathing complications.

The unfilled mines may be breeding environments for disease-causing organisms such as mosquitoes; this may be revealed when the mines accumulate stagnant rainwater. Also, uncontrolled disposal of pharmaceutical, pesticide, and herbicide rejects manifests the capacity to threaten human health (Brusseau et al., 2019). For instance, these chemicals may find their way into consumable water and raw edibles; people can consume the chemicals indirectly, which proves to be a critical health risk. This is also emphasized by the heavy use of commercial fertilizers and supplements. Though these provisions tend to boost production significantly, they are presumed to amount to compromised consumables as their relevance to health and well-being is concerned.

Potential Societal Health Impacts

The organization's effluents can influence and corrupt societal health critically. This is emphasized by the relevance of emissions such as TDS, TKN, ammonia, and TSS. Accumulating these chemical substances in the environment can corrupt the well-being of the environment that harbors societal and global populations (Pervin et al., 2008). This is because they generally interact and compromise the essentials that sustain human life. For instance, when the mentioned pollutants deviate from the acceptable limits, they are considered harmful. An excellent example involves a situation whereby drinking water manifests high TDS levels involving heavy metals. Ammonia may cause critical health issues such as burns and swellings in one’s airways and eventual lung damage.

Risk Assessment and Regulatory Requirements

The various activities and disposed of substances by the organization critically have an element of attracting significant risks and hazards. The concept of having the organization possess several effluent permits with no relevant pollution control initiative critically highlights the possibility of ignored risks. In essence, the potentially harmful implications should be evaluated primarily based on the well-being of the relevant internal and external population and environment (Zhou et al., 2019). For instance, the evident mining activities in the site can attract health complications emanating from released dust. The unfilled pits pose a danger of critical accidents; also, they can prove to be breeding sites for disease-causing organisms upon assuming rainwater. The continued application of commercial fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides has the potential to pollute and corrupt the environment critically.

The phenomenon of acquiring effluent permits needs to be accompanied by relevant regulatory provisions to emphasize their sustainability. Approved strategies that ensure handling chemicals and facilitating sensitive procedures must be established. For example, the organization’s approach to discarding chemical rejects should be fixed to comply with relevant acceptable regulatory provisions as environmental conservation is concerned. A detailed risk management plan that covers all critical dimensions and considers the ecological conservation requirements must be appreciated. This involves the embracement of relevant preventive and corrective measures upon evaluations of the identified possible risks. Also, a regular assessment program should be conducted to determine the relevance and efficiency of the adopted organization’s regulatory initiative. This should appreciate the involvement of internal and external audit parties for enhanced competence.

Pollution Prevention Technologies

The concept of environmental pollution has been a critical issue in the modern world. This has attracted a great deal of research and innovations toward providing sustainable solutions to address the same. One primary technology is treating waste properly before it is disposed of. For instance, the organization should treat its sewage effluent before releasing it to the respective systems. This limits the impact that the wastes have on the environment. Other technologies that the organization may deploy involve incinerators to do away with animal carcasses, adsorption, foam floatation, membrane process, coagulation, dialysis, biological methods, and photocatalytic degradation (Elleuch et al., 2018). These technologies can be deployed critically towards eliminating toxic compounds in waste effluents before their release into the environment.

Engineering Opportunities for Pollution Prevention

As mentioned earlier, pollution is a critical global issue that has attracted significant attention. It is a comprehensive phenomenon since it can be manifested in various dimensions. As technology keeps evolving, emerging environmental pollution channels and forms manifest. Preventing the relevance of pollution is presumed to be far better than addressing a manifested aspect of pollution. This concept of prevention has sustained significantly less exploration; it's, therefore, a challenge for relevant scientists and experts to venture into this field. This involves establishing and modifying processes to control potential pollutants' production and emission. The concept in this context primarily entails realizing sustainable processes that will prove friendly to the environment.

References

Brusseau, M. L., Pepper, I. L., & Gerba, C. P. (2019). Environmental and pollution science (3rd ed.). Academic Press. https://online.vitalsource.com/#/books/9780128147207

Elleuch, B., Bouhamed, F., Elloussaief, M., & Jaghbir, M. (2018). Environmental sustainability and pollution prevention.  Environmental Science and Pollution Research,  25(19), 18223-18225.

Gwenzi, W., Mangori, L., Danha, C., Chaukura, N., Dunjana, N., & Sanganyado, E. (2018). Sources, behaviour, and environmental and human health risks of high-technology rare earth elements as emerging contaminants.  Science of the Total Environment,  636, 299-313.

Pervin, T., Gerdtham, U. G., & Lyttkens, C. H. (2008). Societal costs of air pollution-related health hazards: A review of methods and results.  Cost Effectiveness and Resource Allocation,  6(1), 1-22.

Wu, J., Lu, J., Li, L., Min, X., & Luo, Y. (2018). Pollution, ecological-health risks, and sources of heavy metals in soil of the northeastern Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.  Chemosphere,  201, 234-242.

Zhou, S., Di Paolo, C., Wu, X., Shao, Y., Seiler, T. B., & Hollert, H. (2019). Optimization of screening-level risk assessment and priority selection of emerging pollutants–the case of pharmaceuticals in European surface waters.  Environment international,  128, 1-10.