protection of the environment and human health PDF

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Unit VIII Essay
Chad Proffitt
Columbia Southern University
Environmental Technology
Prof. George Gough
October 8, 2020

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The Environmental Technology Verification (ETV) Program was established by the U.S
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 1995. The ETV was developed to test and validate
the performance of innovative environmental technologies that can better the protection of the
environment and human health through monitoring, prevention, control, and cleaning up
pollution (Ashley et al., 2005). The primary goal of this program is to avail reliable, high-quality
data on the performance of any innovative environmental technologies. This can be achieved by
reducing uncertainty surrounding the performance of new technology, reducing the cost of
regulatory compliance, and helping in the removal of real and perceived barriers to the
innovative technology in place today (Ashley et al., 2005).
According to Ashley et al. (2005), ETV has verified over 300 environmental technologies
and has come up with over 80 testing protocols for these technologies since its inception. Almost
half of them work to monitor soil water and air, including the control and treatment of
stormwater, pathogens and arsenic monitoring and treatment in drinking water, greenhouse gas
control, lead in dust monitoring, and other poisonous emissions in the environment, etcetera.
The agriculture sector has been one of the greatest contributors of ammonia pollution in
the U.S. This results from livestock waste runoff, which releases a significant amount of
ammonia into the atmosphere. Ammonia is one of the primary sources of nitrogen pollution,
resulting in adverse effects on human health and the environment. The Advanced Monitoring
Systems (AMS) Center, as part of ETV, was used to study ammonia sensors and how the
technology would provide reliable and continuous data on the amount of ammonia that is emitted
from agricultural activities. In conjunction with the U.S Department of Agriculture (USDA),
AMS worked on the testing and verification of the ammonia sensing technologies (Ashley et al.,
2005).

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Mercury is also another hazardous material that requires consistent monitoring due to its
toxicity. As such, it was necessary to understand the sources of mercury emissions, its
concentrations, and their effects on the environment. AMS is currently working on the testing
and verification of mercury continuous emission monitors (Ashley et al., 2005). Due to the
mercury monitoring technologies' complexity, ETV has conducted multiple rounds of testing
across the program. The verification of this technology will go a long way in establishing the
control and prevention measures of mercy emissions to the environment.
In this unit, we covered pipe networks for sewage force mains and water distribution
pipelines. According to Nathanson and Schneider (2015), the most commonly used formula for
computations of pressure, head losses, and flow through a system is the Hazen-Williams
equation shown below;
Q = 0.28 × C × D2.63 × S0.54
Where, Q = Flow rate (m/s)
C = Pipe roughness coefficient
D = Pipe diameter (m)
S = Slope of HGL
We covered the various methods of treating both drinking and wastewater. Chemical
contaminants ranging from barely detectable amounts occur in drinking water systems
throughout the U.S (Reynolds et al., 2008). These chemicals, if not treated will pose a threat to
human life. For this segment, I will discuss two processes: disinfection and filtration.
Disinfection is the killing of disease-causing microbes in sewage effluent or water. This water