Why are businesses allowed to dump their pollutants into waterways? Yes, it gets cleaned up at the water recycling plant, but what happens when something goes wrong. Have you ever been told not to drink the water because of power outage or some other reason? Well those chemicals are in our pipes and even after you say we can drink the water some goes through. You say well, the pollution in the water is within safe limits. That may be true, but why allow any at all? Why can not your safe limits be 0.00% mercury, 0.00% for all other pollutants? This may sound like a dream, but it is possible if you made it impossible for businesses to dump their attorneys. Clean up our water!
Indoor Air More Polluted than Outdoor Air
The battle to control air pollution moved indoors such as homes and businesses. Studies have shown that people are exposed to higher concentrations of air pollution for longer periods of time inside buildings than out-of-doors. Furthermore, evidence indicates that this exposure is contributing to a rapidly increasing incidence of illness, thus costing businesses, taxpayers, and the government billions of dollars in health care costs and lost work time. The typical US home contains many hazardous chemicals and substances, including radon, which has been linked to lung cancer and other ailments. Congress has responded to public concern about indoor air quality by requiring the EPA to establish a program to study the problem and make appropriate recommendations.
Rural Areas Face Greatest Threat from Indoor Pollution
In the developing countries, it is the rural areas that face the greatest threat from indoor pollution, where some 3.5 billion people continue to rely on traditional fuels such as firewood and charcoal for cooking and heating. Burning such fuels produces large amount of smoke and other air pollutants in the restricted space of the home, resulting in high exposure. Women and children are the groups most vulnerable as they spend more time indoors and are exposed to the smoke. In 1992, the World Bank designated indoor air pollution in the developing countries as one of the four most critical global environmental problems. Although many hundred of separate chemical agents have been identified in the smoke from bio fuels, the four most serious pollutants are particulates, carbon monoxide, polycyclic organic matter, and formaldehyde.