Air and Water Quality
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Air and water quality has been an issue in Connecticut for quite a while now, and it is progressively getting worse with the amount of factories and industries working with fossil fuels. It is said by the U.S Environmental Protection Agency that 3,781 bodies of water nation wide are contaminated because of mercury released into the air by coal-fired power plants. This mercury reaches up to the clouds and falls back down to Earth as rain, contaminating our rivers, lakes, and streams. Not only are these power plants polluting our waters, they are also polluting our air by releasing mercury. Mercury in the air can dangerously affect young children as well as women expecting to be mothers. 1 in 10 women of childbearing age have enough mercury in their bloodstream to put a child at risk if they were to become pregnant. Children in the womb exposed to this mercury can have irreversible impaired brain functions, such as verbal, attention, motor control, language deficit, and lower IQ’s. These impairments still exists in children monitored at ages 7 and 14, making them possibly irreversible.
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It’s harder to control big power plants releasing mercury into the air. However, they are not the only cause to this air and water pollution problem. Things as small as household cleaners can affect the environment. You would think that these products are making your house cleaner-and they are-however they are making nature dirtier. Household cleaners contain the chemicals nitrogen, phosphorus, ammonia, and others grouped under “Volatile Organic Compounds”. These chemicals are named the worst environmental hazards according to the U.S EPA. This is because these chemicals cannot be removed of in our waterways and they contribute to the smog polluting our airs. These chemicals are rinsed down drains or flushed down toilets, and although waste treatment facilities remove the harmful pollutants before releasing the water back to lakes, rivers, streams, etc., nitrogen, phosphorus, and ammonia are the three chemicals that can’t be removed of. They enter our waterways and build up. This causes the accelerated growth of different types of plants, which can lead to dense vegetation clogging the waterways and crowding out animals and other marine plant life. Just as they start to grow in large masses, they start to die off in large masses, too. As more and more organisms start to die off in the water, the amount of decay increases, and this causes the depletion of the oxygen in the water. Furthermore, the VOC’s can contribute to air pollution, too. When we clean around our houses, these chemicals stay trapped in our houses and can be hazardous to our health. When we crack a window to let this harmful air out, we are releasing these chemicals into the air outside, and this can contribute hugely to smog that is greatly polluting the air.
As you can see, using something as simple a household cleaners can have a huge environmental impact. That is why we highly recommend using green cleaners. Green cleaners use organic ingredients so that it’s not harmful to the environment when washed away or let out into the air.
Sources (http://www.environmentconnecticut.org/programs/cte/clean-air-healthy-families and http://homeguides.sfgate.com/household-cleaner-affect-environment-79335.html)
As you can see, using something as simple a household cleaners can have a huge environmental impact. That is why we highly recommend using green cleaners. Green cleaners use organic ingredients so that it’s not harmful to the environment when washed away or let out into the air.
Sources (http://www.environmentconnecticut.org/programs/cte/clean-air-healthy-families and http://homeguides.sfgate.com/household-cleaner-affect-environment-79335.html)