Urban Watersheds

Geology, Contamination, Environmental Regulations, and Sustainability, Second Edition

Daniel Rogers

• Publisher: CRC Press
• Year: 2020
• ISBN:
  9780429649318
• Edition: 2
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Business General
• Index: Business

Understanding that the natural world beneath our feet is the point at which civilization meets the natural world is critical to the success of restoration and prevention efforts to reduce contaminant impacts and improve the global environment because of one simple fact – contaminants do not respect country borders. Contaminants often begin their destructive journey immediately after being released and can affect the entire planet if the release is in just the right amount, at just the right location, and at just the right time.

Taking an interdisciplinary approach, Urban Watersheds, Geology, Contamination, Environmental Regulations, and Sustainability, Second Edition presents more than 30 years of research and professional practice on urban watersheds from the fields of environmental geology, geochemistry, risk analysis, hydrology, and urban planning. The geological characteristics of urbanized watersheds along with the physical and chemical properties of their common contaminants are integrated to assess risk factors for soil, groundwater, and air. This new edition continues to examine the urban environment and the geology beneath urban areas, evaluates the contamination that affects watersheds in urban regions, and addresses redevelopment strategies.

Features of the Second Edition:

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• Examines contaminants and the successes of environmental regulation worldwide and highlights the areas that need improvement

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• Describes several advances in investigation techniques in urban regions that now provide a huge leap forward in data collection, resolution, and accuracy

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• Explains the importance of understanding the geological and hydrogeologic environments of urban and developed regions

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• Provides new and enhanced methods presented as a sustainability model for assessing risks to human health and the environment from negative human-induced contaminant impacts

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• Includes a new chapter that surveys how environmental regulations have been successful or have failed at protecting the air, water, and land in urban areas

Suitable for use as a textbook and as a professional practice reference, the book includes case studies on successful and unsuccessful approaches to contaminant remediation as well as practical methods for environmental risk assessment. PowerPoint® presentations of selected portions of the book are available with qualifying course adoption.

Daniel T. Rogers is currently the Director of Environmental Affairs at Amsted Industries Inc. in Chicago, Illinois. His writings address environmental geology, hydrogeology, geologic vulnerability and mapping, contaminant fate and transport, urban geology, environmental site investigations, contaminant risk, brownfield redevelopment, and sustainability. He has taught geology and environmental chemistry at Eastern Michigan University and the University of Michigan.

1	Urban Watersheds Geology, Contamination, Environmental Regulations, and Sustainability

1.1 INTRODUCTION

In order for Earth to sustain a global human population of more than 7 billion people, which continues to increase daily, it is essential that we appreciate and comprehend our urban regions at a level that is greater than most, if not all, scientific levels in inquiry and understanding. The reason for such a high level of scientific inquiry is simple, this is where we live, and immediately beneath our feet is the contact between civilization and the natural world. Much of our human history has been spent in developing ways to conquer nature in numerous ways, which as we shall see in the course of reading this book, has not turned out well for nature and the organisms with which we share this planet. To underscore this point, Earth scientists are now convinced that we have now moved the needle of geologic time into a new period called the Anthropocene. This is significant because the definition of a Geologic Age is a time period that affects the entire Earth and will be recorded in Earth history and cannot be reversed. In order to support a human population on Earth we must not consume and pollute at current levels. In order to achieve a sustainable living, vibrant, and diverse world instead of a world without humans, we need to diligently work cooperatively toward living in productive harmony with nature instead of trying to change nature. This means that we must protect the air, protect the water, and protect the land. By protecting these three media, we can also protect the biosphere.

This book focuses on urban watersheds. This is logical since water acts as a universal solvent and is one of the major transport mechanisms of contaminants in urban regions of the world. In addition, watersheds form convenient boundary conditions when examining urban environments.

The first portion of this book is dedicated to learning about the geology of urban regions. We also must have an understanding of water since all urban areas in the world depend on water for survival. Understanding the geology of urban regions is critical because the geologic environment beneath each urban area of the world is literally the foundation of civilization and influences all aspects of life.

The second portion of the book is dedicated to learning about contaminants and their behavior in the natural world once they are released. We will learn how and why certain contaminants are more harmful than others when released and where we need to look to find them in the environment. We will also learn that there is a complex relationship the contaminants have with nature that influences to what extent they cause harm. We will also learn that when there is a release of contaminants to the environment all the financial and technological resources in the world may do little to mitigate harm. This brings us to the final portion of the book which will examine how humans can improve and develop methods for better protection of human health and the environment through sustainability.

The third portion of this book is dedicated to environmental regulations and sustainability. As we shall see, the first step to sustainability requires an understanding of the history and application of environmental regulations in the United States and the world. This is because contaminants do not respect boundaries. Contaminants released in one country often affects others and sometimes the entire planet. Finally, we meld environmental regulations and sustainability into a model to improve our relationship with our planet by implementing the many positive aspects of sustainability outlined in the book. Based on scientific information presented in the first two sections of the book and a critical examination of environmental regulations, numerous and extensive options are presented that provide a recipe of what must be done on a global level, national level, local level, and individual level to reduce environmentally destructive human behavior and improve environmentally constructive human behavior.

1.2 MAJOR THEMES OF THIS BOOK

The following sections provide a brief introduction into the central themes that are covered in this book and include the following:

1. The role of geology in the urban environment

2. Contamination and its behavior in nature

3. Contaminant risks are not equal

4. The cost of cleaning up the environment

5. Effectiveness of and need for improved environmental regulations

6. Sustainability

7. A sustainability model

1.2.1 THEME 1: THE ROLE OF GEOLOGY IN THE URBAN ENVIRONMENT

Each day when we walk outside we are walking on a history book, yet most of us are unaware of this and are unaware of how this history book influences our lives. The arrangement, thickness, and composition of the soil and sediment layers just centimeters beneath our feet have a profound influence on our lives and all life on Earth. These soil and sediment layers don’t just dictate where and how cities are built, where roads are built, and how buildings are constructed. Most significantly, these soil and sediment layers beneath our feet are the meeting place between human civilization and the natural world. This contact between human civilization and the natural world is the proving ground and point at which contaminants released into the environment begin their destructive journey that has now impacted on all living things on Earth. We must understand our natural world in at least the same scientific detail that we need to understand pollution. The reason we must do this is simple, they interact with one other.

We shall examine our natural environment in urban areas and explore how nature influences contamination. We will learn that we have control over the chemicals we use, and where and how we use them. Control over the geologic environment, however, is beyond our means. Therefore, we must understand the geologic environment where our urban areas are located and develop methods to minimize or eliminate the potential harmful effects of contaminants upon human health and the environment. A logical first step is through an understanding of urban geology, followed by an evaluation of the extent that a given urban area’s geology influences the migration of contaminants. In addition, since water plays a critical role in assessing a region’s vulnerability to contamination, the analyses performed require an understanding of water occurring at the Earth’s surface and beneath.

Throughout the world, the largest cities share a geologic environment dominated by unconsolidated sedimentary deposits and are located near water (see Table 1.1). Most of those sedimentary deposits are saturated with water very near the surface, and function as sources of drinking water and/or as hydraulic connections to surface water, ecosystems, and ultimately to the oceans. Moreover, water is considered the universal solvent, so any pollution released into the environment from anthropogenic or natural sources has the potential to migrate and cause harm. Scientific factors that control the severity of harm to the environment from pollutant releases are: (1) the geologic and hydrogeologic environment, (2) the physical chemistry of the contaminants and amounts released, and (3) the mechanism in which the release occurs (Rogers 1996; Murray and Rogers 1999; Kaufman et al. 2005; Rogers 2018). There are several techniques avai...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Author
• Chapter 1 Urban Watersheds: Geology, Contamination, Environmental Regulations, and Sustainability
• SECTION I Geology and Hydrogeology of Urban Watersheds
• SECTION II Contaminants and Their Behavior in Nature
• SECTION III Environmental Regulations and Sustainability
• Glossary
• List of Important Websites
• Index