Fate and Transport of Contaminants Essay ⋆ Environment Essay Examples ⋆ EssayEmpire

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Contaminants are substances that carry the threat of contaminating the environment, and include nuclear waste, industrial by-products, and organic manure. The contamination threat may be short-term or long-term, and dangerous or non-dangerous, depending on the nature of the substance and how it interacts with its surroundings. Nuclear waste, for example, is toxic to humans, remains dangerous for up to thousands of years, and its irradiated particles can pass through nearly all other substances. Organic remains, on the other hand, may be of only passing danger, and quickly degrade into inert products. The ways in which contaminants need to be transported from creation to dafe storage also vary considerably, with the resulting costs representing a disincentive for organizations to ensure safe transportation and storage. Governments often intervene to police a regulatory regime that requires contaminant-providers to bear the cost of safely transporting and storing waste.

Fate and transport also refers to the movement of chemical contaminants through groundwater, soil, gas, and the atmosphere. Research examines how fast contaminants can migrate in certain media and on the synergistic effects of chemicals within ecosystems; assesses risks to both humans and nonhumans from potential exposure; and informs management decisions for the movement and deposition of hazardous materials.

One notable example of the problems caused by inappropriate transportation of contaminants has been the continuous pollution of New York’s Hudson River. In 2001, courts decided that GE Corp. was guilty of dumping polychlorinated biphenyls into the river, and that it should be responsible for dredging a 40-mile stretch of the river to ensure that the ongoing danger be mitigated, including the threat of causing cancers. This and related cases have also raised the issue of the corporate prosecution for negligence leading to seriously negative health impacts.

The detection of contaminants in the environment, often in the face of opposition from polluters, has become an important part of the task of environmental workers. This vigilance, combined with strong and enforceable laws, has helped to reclaim some areas from conditions that are dangerous to living beings. Nevertheless, the rise of newly industrializing countries, especially China, has raised fears that contamination will increase or has already significantly increased in states with severe government censorship of information. Since reporting is hindered, timely intervention to reduce problems is less likely.

Bibliography:

Frank M. Dunnivant and Elliot Anders, A Basic Introduction to Pollutant Fate and Transport: An Integrated Approach with Chemistry, Modeling, Risk Assessment, and Environmental Legislation (Wiley, 2006);
Ling-Ling Hung, , Field Guide for the Determination of Biological Contaminants in Environmental Samples (AIHA, 2005);
Zhongguo Gong and Cheng Yuan, Urbanization, Energy, and Air Pollution in China: The Challenges Ahead (National Academies Press, 2005);
Chunmiao Zheng and Gordon D. Bennett, Applied Contaminant Transport Modeling (Wiley-Interscience, 2002).