Air Pollution

1

• Air Pollution Components
• Lead (Pb)
• Sources
• Formerly motor vehicles
• Transition to unleaded gasoline virtually
  eliminated this source
• Industrial plants
• Smelters
• Battery manufacturers
• Human exposure mostly through inhalation of lead
  in air and dust
• Food
• Paint
• Water

2

• Air Pollution Components
• Lead (Pb)
• Effects
• Not readily excreted by body
• Accumulates in tissues, especially kidneys,
  liver, nervous system, bones
• Health
• Anemia
• Kidney disease
• Reproductive disorders
• Neurological problems (seizures, mental
  retardation, behavioral disorders)
• Birth defects (CNS damage, retarded growth)
• High blood pressure ? heart disease
• Environment
• Deposition on leaves of plants is hazardous to
  grazing animals and humans (ingestion of meat)

3
Lead 1990-2010 Pb emissions down 60
4
Comparison of growth measures and emissions,
1990-2010
5
Comparison of National Levels of the Six Criteria
Pollutants to the Most Recent NAAQS, 1990-2010
Ozone and PM2.5 shown relative to standards
revised in 2008 and 2006, respectively
6
Number of People Living in Counties with Air
Quality Concentrations Above the Level of the
NAAQS in 2010
www.epa.gov/air/airtrends/2011/index.html
7
Number of Days on Which Air Quality Index (AQI)
Values Were Greater than 100 During 2002-2010
www.epa.gov/air/airtrends/2011/index.html
8

• Air Pollution Regulation Legislation
• History Pollution is the price of progress
• Air Quality Act (1967)
• Authorized secretary of HEW to establish air
  quality regions
• States given responsibility of adopting and
  enforcing pollution control standards
• Controversial Air pollution doesnt stop at
  regional boundaries
• Failure Only a few regions were established,
  and no state had established a full pollution
  control program
• Clean Air Act (1970)
• Established National Ambient Air Quality
  Standards (NAAQS)
• Typically annual average concentration or daily
  maximum concentration
• Established statutory deadlines for compliance
• EPA (federal agency) responsible for recommending
  policy to Congress and monitoring/enforcing policy

9

• Air Pollution Regulation Legislation
• Clean Air Act (1970)
• Local enforcement left to state governments
• States allowed to have more stringent pollution
  standards than EPA
• Command and Control
• EPA established standards and technology used to
  achieve standards
• Non-compliance ? heavy fines
• Clean Air Act Amendments (1990)
• Market-based approach to achieving NAAQS
• Cap and Trade system
• Examples
• Time frames for compliance based on designation
  of nonattainment areas (marginal to extreme)
• Tailored to specific situations
• Established possibility of emissions trading
• Allows economic and technological flexibility

10

• Water Pollution Sources and Effects
• Background
• Oceans 97 of worlds water
• Ice permanent snow 2
• Ground water 0.6
• Provides drinking water for 50 of people in US
• Sources of water pollution tend to be less
  centralized and identifiable, compared to sources
  of air pollution
• Relatively few pollutants characterized
• Sources
• Pollution
• Point sources
• Discharge directly into receiving waters
• Easier to characterize and regulate than NPSs
• Non-point sources
• Pollutants from diffuse sources
• May vary regionally and seasonally
• Ex Chloride from salting streets in winter
• May be difficult to distinguish natural from
  anthropogenic effects