Union County Community Pollution

Union County Community Pollution

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Union County Community Pollution

My county of residence is Union County. As at the year 2002, Union County had rankings as one of the filthiest cities in the United States of America. It was categorized among the 20% worst counties in the United States from the perspective of toxic air releases to the environment. The top ten pollutants are hydrofluoric acid, ammonia, aluminum, bis, styrene, xylene, glycol ethers, dichloromethane, methanol and nickel. The county is also ranked as one with the highest levels of hazardous lead pollutants. This is because one percent of all the houses in Union County faces the danger of hazards that emanate from lead. As at the year 2001, there were 310 housing units facing high lead pollutants in the Union County (Nazih, 2012). This comprised one percent of all the houses in the county that were facing lead pollution hazards.

In the year 2004, Union County, and most amazingly, was ranked among the best and cleanest counties in the United States. It ranked among the ten percent best counties in terms of the number of designated Superfund sites. Nickel was identified as one of the major pollutants of the Superfunds areas. There were two facilities releasing superfund chemicals to the land in Union county in the year 2004. In addition to these, there were 1550 pounds of TRI chemicals released to the environment especially land that belonged to the superfund sites.

In the year 1999, Union county again ranked among the twenty percent worst counties in the United States of America in terms of release of volatile organic compound emissions into the air. These volatile organic emissions released into the air were majorly comprised of smog and soot. In this same year, there were 86% of the days had good air quality as compared to only 13% that had moderate air quality. Boren Clay Products Company and Genwove US Ltd were the two leading polluters of the air contributing to highest level of smog and soot in the atmospheric air in the county.

Current data from EPA indicated that Union County belonged to the twenty percent dirtiest counties in the United States that had non-cancer hazards from the hazardous air pollutants contained in the air. Diesel trucks and buses, gas stations and dry cleaners were the top polluters releasing non-cancer pollutants into the atmosphere. The county ranked in the category of the worst counties in the United States in terms of the number of impaired water bodies. Fifty percent of the surface waters in the county were impaired or threatened with pollutants.

Union County has only two watershed which are Lower Catawba and Rocky in North Carolina. Only twelve percent of the surface water was reported to have problem. On average, the county was reported to not have been adhering to the environmental clean water act. Hogs, cattle, poultry and sheep were the major water polluters releasing animal pollutants into the water bodies.

Effects of environmental degradation were found to mostly negatively affect the communities of color and low-income communities in the county as compared to other groups in the region. There was unfair and unequal distribution of the environmental restoration burden among ethnic groups in the county. The burden was more skewed towards the people of color compared to whites. Distribution of the environmental restoration burden was also higher among the low-income earners compared to the high income earners. Families living below poverty shared a larger portion of the burden compared to families above the poverty line.

The same trend of skewed distribution of the burden was evidenced among the childhood poverty and education. Kids below poverty shared a larger portion of burden compared to kids living above poverty. Non-high school graduates shared a larger portion of the burden compared to high school graduates.

In conclusion, restorative decisions should be taken to reduce the unequal and unfair distribution of the burden among all the stakeholders concerned. The environmental burden should not be skewed towards one group. Proper management decisions should also be taken to ensure that animal pollution of the water surfaces is controlled and that the watershed in the county do not continue to suffer from high pollution rates (Nazih, 2012). Provision of piped water could help reduce the water pollution that is caused by animals. Industries that release lead substances into the air should make a move to fit their chimneys with catalytic converters with the aim of highly reducing the emissions into the atmospheric air that cause air pollution.

References

Nazih, K.(2012). Handbook of Environment and Waste Management: Air and Water Pollution Control. World Publishing Company.