Environmental Issues Flashcards
How to eliminate radon from a house?
It’s fairly simple
It can be removed from drinking water by a special filtration system.
Gas is removed from the indoor air by ventilation systems or exhaust fans
What is Sick Building Syndrome?
wide range of symptoms suffered by building occupants. These symptoms are present only when the occupants are in the building and subside when the occupants leave the building.
What is percolation test?
Before a septic tank can be installed, the property owner must have the soil tested to determine how much wastewater the soil can process (percolation test)
At what capacity does the federal government regulate residential/farm fuel storage tanks?
fuel storage tanks with a capacity of 1,100 gallons or more also are regulated under New York’s Underground Storage Tank Act.
What is Building-related illness?
caused by toxic substances or pathogens, continues to affect the building occupant even after she has left the building. BRI symptoms include hypersensitivity, pneumonitis, asthma, and certain allergic reactions.
What is environmental assessment and its phases?
An environmental assessment consists of investigating, testing and confirming, remedying, and managing the contamination.
Phase I (investigative phase) assessment consists of reviewing the previous ownership and uses of the property by examining all deeds, easements, leases, restrictions, and covenants for a period of 50 years; aerial photographs; any recorded environmental cleanup liens; federal, state, and local government records of sites or facilities where there has been a release of hazardous substances; and a visual site inspection of the property and all its improvements.
Phase II (comprehensive investigative phase) Environmental Assessment will be performed to confirm findings in Phase I. This consists of sample testing and evaluation conducted by a qualified environmental engineer.
Phase III (remediation phase) includes remedying the contamination confirmed in Phase II.
Phase IV includes management of the environmental hazards. This requires appropriate legal disposal in federally-regulated waste grounds. The party that removes the waste owns the material forever and must pay to maintain it in waste sites.
What is CERCLA?
The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) was created in 1980. It established a fund of $9 billion, called the Superfund, to clean up uncontrolled hazardous waste dumps and to respond to spills. It created a process for identifying potentially responsible parties and ordering them to take responsibility for the cleanup action.
What is SARA?
