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Hazardous Waste

Dr. Glass
CIEG 566
5:10-6:30 pm M & W
Syllabus
• Instructor: Dr. Glass • Course objectives: To introduce
• Office:LKD 3017 the concepts and terminology
• related to hazardous waste
Telephone: 806-6715
management and treatment.
• E-mail:
• Grading:
cglass@howard.edu
Two Midterms: 40%
• Office Hours: M, T, W, 10:00 –
HW and Quizzes: 30%
12:00 p.m. or by appointment
Final Exam: 30%
Syllabus

• Homework will be collected at the beginning of class on


the date due.
• The quizzes on the reading assignments will be given and
will be unannounced.
• Text: Watts, Hazardous Wastes, John Wiley and Sons,
1997.
• Midterm 1: Chap. 1,2, 3, 4 Feb. 16, 1999
• Midterm 2: Chap. 5, 6, 7, & 8 Mar. 15, 1999
• Final Exam: 50% Chap. 12, 13, 50% Cumulative
Final given on May 5, 1999, 4 –6 pm
Policies/Philosophy
• Reading the text is not optional in this course.
• The only purpose of the unannounced quizzes is to
ensure that the reading is being accomplished.
• My goal in the lectures will be to clarify concepts
in the reading, supplement the reading material,
and stress concepts of particular importance.
Policies/Philosophy
Questions on the grading of exams,
homework assignments, or quizzes should
be made within one week of their return.
After that period there will be no discussion
about the grade.
• As long as the average on the individual
exams is above 75 out of a possible 100
there will be no curving. If the average
exam score is less than 75, the exam will be
curved. The curve will assume a normal
distribution, with letter grades determined
by the average and the standard deviation,
i.e.:
If the average is 70 with a standard deviation of 10;

A>90, 89.9>B>80.0, 79.9>C>70.0, 69.9>D>60

If the average is 50 with a standard deviation of 7;

A>64, 63.9>B>57,56.7>C>50, 49.9>D>43


“Excuses are tools of the incompetent which build
bridges to nowhere and monuments of
nothingness, those who use them seldom amount
to anything.” Author unknown
• Notes from Medical doctors and statements of
bereavement are the only reasons for being unprepared or
not completing assignments. No excuses or explanations
of late work are necessary because no late work will be
accepted. Plan to start assignments early. If you have a
pet don’t leave your work in a place where they can
destroy it! Back up disks!

If reviews of the material before the exam day are


requested a study session can be arranged a few days
before the midterms or final.
Questions??? Discussion???

By the way, my notes are on the web


at
www.imappl.org/~cglass
Lecture 1- Introduction

• What is a Hazardous Waste?


A waste that, due to its chemical Activity or
flammable, explosive, toxic, or corrosive
properites, is likely to result in danger to human
health or the environment.
• What Agency declares a given chemical or group
of chemicals to be a Hazardous Waste?
Environmental Protection Agency
History
• Before the first federal mandate, Resource
Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976
(RCRA) , how was hazardous waste
disposed?
– The cheapest and most convenient way possible
• Storage on-site (burial, shallow pit, containers)
• Landfill with municipal solid waste
History
• What was the result?
– Soil and Groundwater contamination for many
years after the original dumping
– Health and Environmental effects that
prompted the action of the government
History

• Other Quick and Dirty Methods of Hazardous


Waste Contamination
– Soil Spreading
– Pesticide Rinse and Formulation Areas
– Underground Storage Tanks (approximately 5 million)
– Pits/Ponds/Lagoons
– Sanitary Landfills
History
– Drum Storage Areas
– Unlined Hazardous Waste Landfills
– Midnight dumping
– Uncontrolled Incineration
Case Histories
• Love Canal
– School and subdivision housing was built on top of an
old Chemical waste dump
• Stringfellow Acid Pits
– Landfill built on top of a major water aquifer
• Hardeman County, Tennessee
– 300,000 drums of pesticides and solvents buried near
homes where residents noticed foul odors in their water
years later
The Problem
• How many HW Sites are there?
– There are an estimated 50,000 hazardous waste
sites in the U.S.
– With approximately 60 million tons of wastes
– Over 1200 sites have been placed on the
National Priorities List (NPL)
– NPL is a system to rank the worst sites for
clean up under CERCLA (Comprehensive
Environmental Response, Compensation and
Liabilities Act
The Problem
– CERCLA – law established in 1980 to deal
with sites that were contaminated with
hazardous waste before 1979 when RCRA
became law
– The most sites are found in New Jersey,
Pennsylvania, California, Michigan and New
York
The Problem

– The multiple reporting and regulatory systems


at the federal, state and local levels make it hard
to quantify the number of HW sites
– However there are thousands of serious sites
and smaller site are in the hundreds of
thousands
The Problem
• What are the hazards from improper
disposal?
– Primarily through subsurface contamination
(37% through groundwater)
– And an additional 23% through GW and
surface water
– Volatile organic compounds generally cause
this contamination, especially trichloroethylene
and perchloroethylene
The Problem
– 48% of U.S. population uses groundwater for
drinking water
– 95% of the rural population uses groundwater
– 4 million people live within 1 mile of a
Superfund site, 40 million with 4 miles
– Of the 4 million, 1.9 million are women of
child-bearing age, young children and the
elderly
Hazardous Waste Legislation

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