Industrial Pollution in China and the USA

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Introduction

Pollution can be termed as the introduction or contamination of the environment which include the water (both underground and surface water), land and the air that may cause discomfort, unsteadiness and disorder to the physical, psychological and emotional system of the living things. On the other hand, industrial pollution can be defined as the pollution that emanate from the factories and the industries directly.

In the world, industrial pollution contributes to around 55 percent of the total world pollution. Industrial pollution comes in various forms and these include water pollution which is mainly caused by dumping of the industrial waste (both effluent and solid waste) in to water bodies. This form of industrial pollution causes contamination of the underground water through seepage of the effluent in the ground. The other form of industrial pollution is the air pollution which is caused by gasses that emanate from the industrial processes.

For instance, when an industry produces hydrogen sulfide or carbon dioxide which may lead pollution of the air, moreover hydrogen sulfide has a pungent smell and thus will affect the air quality. Another form of industrial pollution is the land pollution. This is where an industry dumps its solid waste in to the open ground or land. This result to unpleasant heaps of waste which the aesthetic vale of land. This may also lead to infectious diseases to the people living nearby by the rodents and other insects that breed and live on waste like flies and mosquitoes.

Both China and the United States of America have contributed heavily in the degradation of the worlds environment. This may have effect on all life form in the World. For instance, when an industry directly channel their effluent waste in to a near by river the water bodies is contaminated and this may lead to death of the aquatic animals in the water and also may have an effect on the health of people who are using the water (direct effect) (Chereminisinoff200-234). Moreover, the effluents may contaminate the underground water when it seeps into the ground. This will have an effect to the whole aquifer and its effects may be felt by people who are far from the industry but use the aquifer for domestic purpose (this is an indirect effect).

The world is interlinked and what we give to the environment comes back to us thus industrial pollution hurts the environment and in return the environmental changes that occur affect the health and lives of human being and other living organisms. For instance, if industrial pollutants are dumped on an open field or a grazing area and the animals come and feed on the grass, it may cause death to the animals which may graze on the contaminated pasture. Moreover, the air quality deterioration has caused disease like asthma, rheumatic infection which may cause death to the human being (Stwertka and Stwertka6).

This paper therefore, discusses the main cause of industrial pollution and its effects in China and USA and rules and regulations put in place for both countries to minimize industrial.

History

In the late 18^th and 19^th centuries drastic changes in agriculture, mining and transportation affected the socioeconomic, cultural and environmental aspects of the entire world. Moreover, these changes affected the human society and the day to day running of the human life, especially in China and USA (Chereminisinoff45-50).

The changes in agriculture, mining and transportation did not affect the Chinese world in this era and China was regarded as one of the developing countries. This did not detour the China government from pursuing their goal of being industrialized and in 1970s China began building large and many industries that lead to industrial revolution. The industrial revolutions lead to inflow of investors and a growth in the industrial sector in China. This had both positive and negative impact on the people of China (United Nation34), for instance, when the industrial revolution began, the Chinese people were able to get employment thus boosting their economic status; more food was available for the Chinese people and good transportation was available, among others.

Although the Chinese people experienced certain prosperity, this came at a cost to the environment causing degradation; waste water/ effluents from the industries was being dumped into streams and rivers and other open water bodies, smoke and other gaseous emissions were being emitted into the atmosphere, solid waste was being dumped in open fields and all the mining holes were left open leading to acid rain, diseases to the citizens due to pollution of atmosphere and contaminated water, among others (Shen5). All these deteriorated the aesthetic value of the environment. Moreover, due to Transboundary pollution, developed countries pollutants affected the developing countries environment.

In United States of America industrial revolution lead to mechanization of agriculture sector and other industries that used human labor. The mechanization led to increased pollution making the US to be the leading country in pollutant emission.

These industries and manufacturing companies used large volumes of water for their process and for cleaning and carrying their waste. The polluted water or effluent was then directed to streams and nearby river or any other water body that near the industries. This affected the aquatic life and resulted in reduction of fish inn the lakes oceans and other water bodies (Lund1-56). Moreover, the effluent has also affected the quality of surface and underground water leading to unsafe drinking water for the humans and the animals. This has lead to increased human diseases such as cancers and dysentery especially in the low income areas.

Moreover, industrial pollution has lead to air pollution where the gaseous emissions from the industries and manufacturing companies have been dispensed at a height into the atmosphere. This has lead to increased number of reported deaths due to inhalation of air pollutants in the atmosphere, for instance, in 1948, Monongahela Valley was field with smoke and the residents died while other fled to other places. The smoke came from an industrial area that was nearby. In schools which are in close proximity to industrial areas, high cases of respiratory diseases have been report and it has been attributed to poor air quality resulting from industrial activities nearby (Lund1-56).

How Industries are Polluting

Water (Causes and Effects)

China and USA use water in one way or another, as a raw material, for cooling or cleaning the factory. This water after being used becomes waste, which may be disposed off. Many of this industries lack water treatments plants and thus channel this water to rivers and streams thus polluting them (Wang23-45). Because of the effluents from factories and industries are highly toxic and contain substance that are harmful to the animals and plants, this type of contamination has led to death of aquatic life and other animals that use that particular water.

In addition, these industries and factories channel their waste oil in to the water bodies forming a blanket or an oil slick that cover the water bodies and making it impossible for oxygen to penetrate, being this another cause of death of aquatic life. This happen more in those industries that deal with oil extraction along the shore of seas and oceans (United Nation56). So when one is looking at industrial pollution, the content of waste water and how it is disposed come in mind. Industries and factories should develop a water plant that will help in educing the concentration of the pollutants in the waste water (Irving120-156).

Air (Causes and Effects)

Air pollution can be termed as the introduction to the atmosphere of pollutants that are emitted from industries, traffic pollution or other human activities, but we are going to focus the attention in air pollution caused by industries. In both countries, China and USA, most of industries produce smoke, which is disposed using long chimney that takes the smoke at a high level of the atmosphere. This smoke then reacts with other pollutants in the air to form smog.

This has caused depletion of the important Ozone layer (Guy et al.550-700). At the same time, this has lead to global warming and has in cease human skin diseases due to ultra-violet ray of the sun. Moreover, smog contribute an increasing in respiratory diseases among people especially living in urban areas such as lung cancer, COPD, and another sings and symptoms like headache, eye irritations. Bad pungent smell is another cause of air pollution. The waste from industries have a bad smell and especially in those industries that produce hydrogen sulfide which has a smell of rotten eggs.

Land (Causes and Effects)

Most factories and industries in China and USA involved in mining of resources from the ground leave this areas uncovered after extraction of the raw material. Beebe hole mine at San Diego, California in USA represent a real example of what we have discussed above.

This may lead to out break of diseases in the area such as malaria due to these areas form good breeding grounds for the insects. For instances, the industries that deal with cement production get their raw material from the ground, leaving the holes gapping (Liptak880). In addition, due to the loose soils left after mining, soil erosion take place and this affects the water bodies reducing the aesthetic value of that particular area. Some other industries in China and USA dump their solid waste in open pits and fields. This also pollutes the land and reduces the aesthetic value of the land. The contaminated water may then affect the health of the society especially in those areas that use borehole water.

Acid Rain

Last but not least is the acid rain, which constitutes a combination of the previously mentioned causes of pollution. It results from the interaction of rain and acidic particles in the air. Those industries in China and USA that produce sulfur dioxide gas in to the atmosphere, when it rains the gas reacts with water to produce sulphuric acid. Water also reacts with nitrogen oxide and form nitric acid. Acid rain may fall in form of dry depositions like sulphates, nitrates, or gases and be absorbed by the ground. In 1994, there was acidic rain across America. Acid rain kill plant, corrodes the iron sheet, and may cause skin diseases to both human beings and animals (United Nation106). Acid rain also causes death of aquatic animals because it adds to the acidic levels of the waters they live in.

Government Rules and Regulation

Fortunately, it has come to the attention of the government of both countries the causes of industrial pollution and its effects on the citizens of their countries and those from the neighboring countries, and more specifically, its effects in the environment. This has lead to the desire of the government to protect their citizens and the whole world at large; this has been shown trough formulation of rules and regulation to minimize industrial pollution, for instance, in March 2008, China government instigated a the Ministry of Environmental protection whose task was to formulate and enforce environmental protection laws and to manage all related planning, policies and standards to ensure environmental problems are minimized (Shen5).

In the united State of America, the government has drafted a Total Quality Management that ensures that companies produce fewer pollutants to the atmosphere. Moreover, the government has put up incentives for those industries that produce fewer pollutants. The federal government of the US has enforced environmental regulation and has made company be liable to own environmental pollution.

Many are the future plans of these two Governments to minimize industrial pollution. However, these efforts by the governments are not yielding great benefits as industries are still relying on coal and petroleum for energy production. Thus these governments are campaigning on the use of renewable energy sources such as solar energy, wind energy and wave energy. For instance, currently the renewable source of energy account for 9 percent of the entire energy being used in the USA and 7 percent of the total energy used in China. Moreover, in China there have been opening a Center for Wind and Solar energy (Irving123-178). The center will encourage use of Wind and Solar energy across the whole of China.

The books and journals that talk about industrial pollution will be used. These books and journal will involve all the published researches on industrial pollution (its causes, effects and solutions offered).

Interviews

An interview schedule will be developed that will list all the questions that the researcher want to be answered. He or she will ask these questions in the field and write the answers down.

Surveys

Surveys will involve developing a questionnaire and administering it to the people of the affected by industrial pollution. The questionnaire will list questions that will answer the questions listed above.

Conclusion

The consequences of industrial pollution have been felt by all countries of the world. All continents have experienced one or many industrial pollution consequences; prolonged droughts have engulfed countries especially those in the developing world, flooding and raising in sea level, melting of glaciers and ice caps have been experienced by many countries of world. All this have been attributed to industrial pollution which has caused global warming leading to the above consequences. However, countries have become aware of these consequences and they are undertaking measures to reduce industrial pollution.

Moreover, climate change conferences have been held to help educate countries on the various ways of reducing industrial pollution. Countries have established ministries that set rules and regulations that are to be followed by all sectors of economy and have put sanctions to ensure that all these sectors of economy adhere to the set environmental set rules and regulations.

Works Cited

Stwertka, Eve & Stwertka, Albert. Industrial Pollution: Poisoning Our Planet. Mexico: Library Pub, 1981. Web.

Shen. Industrial pollution Prevention. New York: Springer, 1995. Web.

Irving, Newton. Industrial pollution. New Jersey: Van No strand Reinhold Co., 1974. Web.

Wang, Lawrence. Waste Treatment in the Process of Industries. Quebec: Printah Press, 2005. Web.

Chereminisinoff, Nicholas. Handbook of Pollution Prevention Practices. United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press, 2000. Web.

United Nation. State of the World Report. United States of America: United Nation, 2005. Web.

Collins, Jeremy. Air pollution. 2^nd Edition. New York: Clays Library of Health and Environment, 2002. Web.

Guy P. B., John J. O., Geoffrey S. T. & National Center for Atmospheric Research (U.S.). Atmospheric Chemistry and Global Change. United States of America: Pritax, 1999. Web.

Lipták, Béla. Environmental Engineers Handbook: Land pollution. London: Chilton Book Co., 1974.

Chow, Gregory. Chinas Economic Transformation. New York: Wiley-Blackwell, 2002.

Lund H. F. Industrial Pollution Control. Mexico: McGraw-Hill, 1971.

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