Environment of Asheville, NC
BI Final Exam Project 4.1.5
Asheville's Background
Asheville is a splendid place to visit, whether you're seeking beautiful mountain scenery, contemporary art galleries, walk around the city grounds, or even just a day to shop, Asheville has it all. Known as an art colony, a healing resort and a home to notable statesmen and his family, Asheville is one of the most welcoming cities in America. The city's rich architectural legacy with the locally owned-shops and galleries, distinctive restaurants and exciting entertainment venue make you feel like you're in a different world. Your activity choices vary from many options, but you don't have to choose wisely because you will not be let down.
Superfund Site and Brownfield Site
Superfund Site
Superfund site is, where toxic wastes have been dumped and the Environmental Protection Agency has designated them to be cleaned up.
The CTS site is one of the few Superfund sites to be found in Asheville NC, which is a metal plating operations plant. It is located right next to the groundwater site which is what most of Asheville's citizens drink and use. The site has chemicals in it such as radon, pesticides, and PCB. With a 30.6 level the chemical with the highest contaminent rate is radon, which is a main cause of the cancer in the locals. Radon can also cause low birth weight which is the one of the main birth outcomes that stands out.
Brownfield Site
Brownfield site, is land previously used for industrial purposes or some commercial uses. The land may be contaminated by low concentrations of hazardous waste or pollution, and has the potential to be reused once it is cleaned up.
Clean Air Act
The Clean Air Act is a United States Federal Law designed to control air pollution on a national level:
- Programs and activities
- Esablishing research programs
- Setting Clean Air standards
- Enforcing Regulations
- Providing Technical and Financial Assistance to State and Local Government efforts toward reducing air pollution
Air Quality of Asheville
As seen in the air quality chart below of Asheville, NC the air quality is phenominal at a 95.7%.
Possible air pollutants:
Ozone- A colorless unstable toxic gas with a pungent odor and powerful oxidizing properties, formed from oxygen by electrical discharges or ultraviolet light.
PM2.5- Also known as particulates or particulate matters (PM) – are tiny pieces of solid or liquid matter associated with the Earth's atmosphere.
PM10- Same as 2.5
SO2- Sulfur dioxide is the chemical compound with the formula SO 2. At standard atmosphere it is a toxic gas with a pungent, irritating and rotten smell.
NO2- Nitrogen dioxide is the chemical compound with the formula NO 2. It is one of several nitrogen oxides. NO 2 is an intermediate in the industrial synthesis of nitric acid, millions of tons of which are produced each year.
CO- Carbon monoxide is a colorless, odorless, and tasteless gas that is slightly less dense than air.
Water Quality of Asheville
Main source of Asheville's water is from ground water. With having ground water you could have different types of wastes and matters be contaminating your water. Asheville's overall water quality is good, but it has very low rates of metal, microbiological, and pesticides.
Health Status
Cancer Rates
Annual incidence rate: 475.3
Average annual count: 1,371
Mortality Rates
26.8% is Asheville's annual rate
Birth Outcomes
The highest birth outcome is low birth weight, even though there are numerous amounts of other outcomes this one is the most frequent outcome. In Asheville over the time span from 2006-2010 the percentage of birth rates declined steadily from 9.3-8.6, a total of 7.5%.
Medical Action Plan
Looking over the cancer rates, mortality rates, and birth outcomes, we started to see a downward trend. The trend seemed to be the cancer rates were the reasonings for Asheville to have a higher mortality rate than the cities surrounding. Low birth weight is also one of our main concerns which we think is has to do with some substance in the water we all consume. We have came up with a precise Medical Action Plan to get the environment on the correct path for we have concern of the health of our community.
Our main goal of the health action plan is to raise enough money from the donations of our loyal community donators to invest in a new filtration system. The Council will serve as guiding officials for providing leadership, support and coordination to assist the community in reaching its health goals. Our goals are to improve water quality by reducing the concentration of Radon. Council members will consider the data and information available to them which is provided by the water quality assururer of the city. They will provide guidance for the workgroups during the planning process and oversee the implementation and evaluation of the plan. Members will be responsible for being an advocate for systems, policy and environmental change in the community. How we will start it out is getting up to date and efficient filtration systems to modify the water for the first few months and keep track of the water substance levels. The numerous amounts of quality assurerers will be in charge of the water qulity after the first four months of filtration. Hopefully after the four months the Radon levels will go down and we will watch the rate's of cancer and see if the reasoning for such high cancer rates is because of Aheville's water quality.
Remove the Radon
Our loyal and new comers who are part of the community donators committee are coming together to reduce the radon. Radon is a big factor for the high cancer rates in Asheville, and to get community filtration sytems we need your help to get the donations rolling in. So come join us and make the rates and the radon levels go down!!!