By Decire Gonzalez KC'S BLOG • • • • • • • 0 Comments

Groundwater

It should come as no surprise that groundwater is the foundation of our drinking sources, but are we aware of the significance of preserving it for the sake of our health and the environment?

The United States Environmental Protection Agency (NYEPA) is responsible for regulating the public water systems that use groundwater. However, regulating groundwater is significant for both municipal and private water systems. Groundwater comes from natural sources beneath the earth's surface in the cracks between rock and soil; as such, they are susceptible to pollution. There are many factors that can contribute to polluted groundwater such as natural disasters like wildfires and flooding. When contaminated chemicals are mixed with the groundwater, it becomes unsafe, and when humans consume it, it provokes serious health issues. Inadequate sanitation can also subject people to a variety of diseases. Aside from the unpleasant smells, studies have shown that contaminated water can cause cancer and even miscarriages.

It is important that owners of private water systems are aware of the different methods they can use to make sure their wells are safe and, more importantly, protect their families from consuming contaminated water. Private owners must conduct research to determine what types of chemicals are prevalent in their regions, and then conduct yearly contaminant tests on their wells. Additionally, private owners must keep fertilizer away from their wells because these chemicals may migrate. The more private owners understand about wells, the better they will be able to safeguard their home's water system. Many websites, such as wellsowners.org, can keep owners up to speed on the latest information on how to maintain their wells.

Groundwater pollution has serious environmental consequences, including ecological deterioration, which has repercussions for food security. It is critical to be aware of our human actions that may have an impact on the environment. Human activities such as deforestation, plastic pollution, and toxic waste dumping are major contributors to these environmental issues. To avoid contaminating our groundwater, we must reduce human-caused environmental pollution by avoiding excessive fertilizer use and following the instructions of our groundwater regulators.

 

By Decire Gonzalez KC'S BLOG • • • • • • 0 Comments

World Water Day

World Water Day is an annual observance held on March 22nd since 1993 to bring awareness of the importance of worldwide freshwater. In honor of this day, it’s important to bring awareness on how important freshwater is, the main concerns on how freshwater is suffering in today’s society, and how we can address these freshwater issues we are facing.

We all know that freshwater is a vital resource for life due to being an important aspect of supporting human civilization and our ecosystems. But did you know that less than 3% of the world’s surface is freshwater? Therefore, is important to come up with solutions and work together to preserve freshwater worldwide. We might not see freshwater as a luxury since we can easily obtain it, but in other parts of the world, it is hard to obtain clean water. Freshwater is important to our food production because, without freshwater, it would be impossible to harvest sustainable crops and food. Having access to clean water is indispensable for agricultural production. In addition, freshwater is one of the main sources to feed the farmers’ animals.

One of the concerns of freshwater is pollution, and it is the main reason why our freshwater is suffering today. Pollution has been taking over our freshwater resources such as rivers and lakes, which is making our water undrinkable, and it is also causing harm to our wildlife. Therefore, so many species of our wildlife are in danger of extinction. One of the reasons why we cannot maintain proper sanitation to our rivers and lakes is due to overuse. The overuse of these freshwater resources can be trigged by many factors, such as population growth. Population growth causes our rives and lakes to dries up, which leads to freshwater shortages.

We need to act now and address these freshwater concerns because this will be a big and dangerous issue that our future generations will have to face. In order to fight the freshwater crisis, we need to come up with strategies and approaches worldwide. Some important areas that we can approach are getting educated on these issues and coming up with ways to change our lifestyles, coming up with new technologies to recycle wastewater, and improving our infrastructure.

We need to unite globally and individually to do our parts in maintaining our freshwater resources no matter what side of the world we are in.

 

By Decire Gonzalez KC'S BLOG • • • • • • • 0 Comments

The Importance of Green Construction

The construction industry, responsible for about 4% of the world’s particulate emissions, is one of the major sources of pollution. Despite our best construction practices, air, water, and noise pollution continue to threaten our way of life.

Green building, a method of construction used to design sustainable, energy-efficient residential and commercial buildings, is now a growing trend and no longer a construction novelty. With pollution jeopardizing air quality, drinking water, and even putting our wildlife at risk, green building has come to the forefront of the construction industry as a largely marketable, thoughtful, and productive method of building.

A combination of sustainable processes and use of high-quality, low-impact materials contribute to the practice of green building. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) promotes several components of green building, including renewable energy use, waste reduction, and use of environmentally preferable building materials.

The popular concept of “reduce, reuse, recycle” is an example of an environmentally-friendly practice used during green construction, especially when it comes to waste reduction. As far as environmentally preferable materials, where concrete and steel are often impractical and expensive materials, timber is a relatively inexpensive, naturally renewable alternative with long-term sustainability capabilities.

Ultimately, green construction processes present a pollution-profuse industry with the opportunity to build smarter and sustainably, better control costs, and maintain the condition of the earth.

By Evan Thomas PRESS RELEASES • • • 0 Comments

Stormwater Wetland System

The Village of Wappingers Falls, with KC as Village Engineer, teamed up with Renewage, LLC and Southern Dutchess News to implement a new stormwater wetland system to combat growing pollution problems and flooding.