It's really important to be aware that what can end up on your streets can end up in your drain, and therefore, can be transported to the ocean. Here are some suggestions that you should consider:
1) Don't throw garbage on the streets. There are garbage cans and recycling bins for a reason, and it's very easy to take the concept, "out of sight, out of mind" lightly, but just because it is out of "your" sight doesn't make it disappear.
2)When you take your pets out for a walk, make sure you pick up after them. The manure produces hydrogen sulphide emissions that can enter the sewage systems.
There are specific meaasures that can be taken to reduce hydrogen sulphide emissions for places like farms and manure-storage areas.
a)Biofilters can trap gaseous emissions and serve to biologically degrade the gases in the filter's aerobic environment. Biofilters like permeable covers on manure storage areas is said to prevent hydrogen sulphide from being released into the environment, as the biocovers allows for environment with aerobic organisms that restrict the formation of hydrogen sul
phide. Although statistics have shown that this seems to have served more to reduce the odours rather than the gaseous emissions.b)Since the formation of hydrogen sulphide gases are due to anaerobic conditions, aeration systems can be implemented to provide an aerobic environmet, therefore supplying oxygen and reducing gas emissions.
c)Another way to reduce these gases is to compost. Again, this maintains an aerobic environment in the manure. Compost in this sense is the "the controlled aerobic decomposition of manure (or other nitrogen source), which produces a stable organic material. " This is done by adding a bulking agent (which could be newspaper, wood chips, straw). This bulking agent is the carbon source, and when this is combined with oxygen, nitrogen and moisture, it provides an aerobic environment for the manure to decompose. Although the difficulty with composting is that the environment has to be very specific, with 55% moisture, and temperatures between 40 degrees Celsius to 60 degrees Celsius. All these specific factors contribute to the environment that allows for microbial activity, as the microbes "digest and process the various components of manure, rendering it less offensive, and in many respects, less harmful to the environment." It also allows for the manure to retain its nutrients. The problem with composting is that it releases ammonia into the environment due to the loss of nitrogen. In response to our Group 4 project of how waste pollutes the ocean, hydrogen sulphide gas was a problem because it can harm aquatic life if it enters sewers and goes into the ocean. However, composting to deal with the problem of hydrogen sulphide produces ammonia, which can be harmful to the aquatic ecosystem all the same. Statistics show that, "in 1996, ammonia was ranked first by the National Pollutant Release Inventory in terms of amounts released by industry to the Canadian environment." As well, "The amount of ammonia released to water via municipal WWTPs is estimated at 62 000 tonnes/year. Negative environmental impacts on some aquatic ecosystems are occurring from this source."
This just just goes to show that creating a solution for problems like this can have pros and cons, and one solution may not solve the whole problem. There are side effects and other implications that need to be considered as well.
http://www1.agric.gov.ab.ca/$Department/newslett.nsf/all/agin6316
http://www.extension.iastate.edu/Publications/PM1972a.pdf
http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/ewh-semt/pubs/contaminants/psl2-lsp2/ammonia/ammonia_synopsis-eng.php
No comments:
Post a Comment