Pollution and threats to the environment

Determining the health risks to humans of exposure to toxic substances in the environment is made difficult by problems such as measuring the degree to which people have been exposed and determining causationwhether observed health effects are due to exposure to a suspected toxicant.

Scientists and policy-makers alike are concerned that operation of a fleet of high-speed civil transport (HSCT) aircraft could significantly affect the global atmosphere.

Small communities violate federal requirements for safe drinking water as much as three times more often than cities.

The fiscal and technological limitations associated with cleaning up hazardous waste sites to background conditions have prompted responsible parties to turn to risk-based methods for environmental rememdiation.

The United States produces 25% of the world's wood output, and wood supports a major segment of the U.

In the Coast Guard Authorization Act of 1996, the United States Coast Guard (USCG) was directed to assess the risk of spills for oils that may sink or be negatively buoyant, to examine and evaluate existing cleanup technologies, and to identify and appraise technological and financial barriers that could impede a prompt response to such spills.

This book presents a comprehensive, up-to-date review of technologies for cleaning up contaminants in groundwater and soil.

The passage of the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA 90) by Congress and subsequent modifications of international maritime regulations resulted in a far-reaching change in the design of tank vessels.

Emergence of a toxic organism like pfisteria in tributaries of the Chesapeake Bay has focused public attention on potential hazards in our water.

This book describes the development of ocean sciences over the past 50 years, highlighting the contributions of the National Science Foundation (NSF) to the field's progress.

Since Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm, Gulf War veterans have expressed concerns about health effects that could be associated with their deployment and service during the war.

Research Needs in Subsurface Science provides an overview of the subsurface contamination problems across the DOE complex and shows by examples from the six largest DOE sites (Hanford Site, Idaho Engineering and Environmental Laboratory, Nevada Test Site, Oak Ridge Reservation, Rocky Flats Environmental Technology Site, and Savannah River Site) how advances in scientific and engineering knowledge can improve the effectiveness of the cleanup effort.

In 1997, New York City adopted a mammoth watershed agreement to protect its drinking water and avoid filtration of its large upstate surface water supply.

Scientists have long sought to unravel the fundamental mysteries of the land, life, water, and air that surround us.

Information derived from climate modeling has become increasingly important in recent years.

The National Research Council's Committee on Atmospheric Chemistry (NRC/CAC) was established to serve as a focal point for NRC activities on issues related to atmospheric chemical change and its impacts on air quality, climate, stratospheric ozone depletion, and other related issues.

On August 16, 2000, the Board on Life Sciences held a forum on "e;Environmental Contamination, Biotechnology, and the Law: The Impact of Emerging Genomic Information.

Gulf War and Health, Volume 2, is the second in a series of congressionally-mandated studies by the Institute of Medicine that provides a comprehensive assessment of the available scientific literature on potential health effects of exposure to certain biological, chemical, and environmental agents associated with the Gulf War.

Managing the nation's air quality is a complex undertaking, involving tens of thousands of people in regulating thousands of pollution sources.

Spills of Emulsified Fuels: Risks and Response is part of an evolving body of work conducted by the National Research Council (NRC) to help inform debate and decision-making regarding the ecological consequences of releases associated with the widespread use of fossil fuels.

In 1986, the FFC requested that the NRC appoint a committee to examine the field and propose ways by which the POE process could be improved to better serve public and private sector organizations.

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The regulation of carbon monoxide has been one of the great success stories in air pollution control.

The report evaluates the plan to monitor and assess the condition of Florida's Everglades as restoration efforts proceed.

The Committee on Hydrologic Science (COHS) of the National Research Council (NRC) is engaged in studying the priorities and future strategies for hydrologic science.

This book identifies accumulated environmental, social and economic effects of oil and gas leasing, exploration, and production on Alaska's North Slope.

Incineration has been used widely for waste disposal, including household, hazardous, and medical wastebut there is increasing public concern over the benefits of combusting the waste versus the health risk from pollutants emitted during combustion.

The report reviews a comprehensive research plan on Everglades restoration drafted by federal and Florida officials that assesses a central feature of the restoration: a proposal to drill more than 300 wells funneling up to 1.

EPA estimates that thousands of premature deaths and cases of illnesses may be avoided by reducing air pollution.

Over the last 30 years, water quality management in the United States has been driven by the control of point sources of pollution and the use of effluent-based water quality standards.

It is now becoming clear that relatively few U.

Fluid flow and solute transport within the vadose zone, the unsaturated zone between the land surface and the water table, can be the cause of expanded plumes arising from localized contaminant sources.

Many people believe that environmental regulation has passed a point of diminishing returns: the quick fixes have been achieved and the main sources of pollution are shifting from large "e;point sources"e; to more diffuse sources that are more difficult and expensive to regulate.

Across the United States, the practices for collecting water use data vary significantly from state to state and vary also from one water use category to another, in response to the laws regulating water use and interest in water use data as an input for water management.

Industrial stormwater is derived from precipitation and/or runoff that comes in contact with industrial manufacturing, processing, storage, or material overburden and then runs offsite and enters drainage systems or receiving waters.

The Edwards Aquifer in south-central Texas is the primary source of water for one of the fastest growing cities in the United States, San Antonio, and it also supplies irrigation water to thousands of farmers and livestock operators.

We have an imperative, as never before, to change our ways.

Coal remains one of the principal sources of energy for the United States, and the nation has been a world leader in coal production for more than 100 years.

On March 13, 2017, the Roundtable on Environmental Health Sciences, Research, and Medicine and the Roundtable on Population Health Improvement jointly convened a 1-day public workshop in Washington, DC, to explore potential strategies for public health, environmental health, health care, and related stakeholders to help communities and regions to address and mitigate the health effects of climate change.

The social cost of carbon (SC-CO2) is an economic metric intended to provide a comprehensive estimate of the net damages - that is, the monetized value of the net impacts, both negative and positive - from the global climate change that results from a small (1-metric ton) increase in carbon-dioxide (CO2) emissions.

Military operations produce a great deal of trash in an environment where standard waste management practices may be subordinated to more pressing concerns.

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Part historical narrative, part travelogue through the wilds of the West and part environmental polemic, 'Selling Your Father's Bones' is a thrilling journey through the history and wilderness of the stunning area of landscape that is Continental USA.

Chronic and episodic water shortages are becoming common in many regions of the United States, and population growth in water-scarce regions further compounds the challenges.

The Edwards Aquifer in south-central Texas is the primary source of water for one of the fastest growing cities in the United States, San Antonio, and it also supplies irrigation water to thousands of farmers and livestock operators.

There are many connections between human communities and their surrounding environments that influence community resilience and health in the Gulf of Mexico.

BioWatch is an air monitoring system deployed in jurisdictions around the country with the goal of detecting the presence of certain high risk pathogenic microorganisms.

Historically, regulations governing chemical use have often focused on widely used chemicals and acute human health effects of exposure to them, as well as their potential to cause cancer and other adverse health effects.

The Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) is a program within the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that is responsible for developing toxicologic assessments of environmental contaminants.

Once ice-bound, difficult to access, and largely ignored by the rest of the world, the Arctic is now front and center in the midst of many important questions facing the world today.