SCI 219
How Do Environmental Issues Impact You Personally?
Increasing water pollution awareness is on the rise. There are many types of water pollution and causes but industrial waste is a big issue in the Birmingham, Alabama area where I reside. It is estimated that millions of gallons of permitted wastewater are discharged by industrial facilities and municipal sewage plants into Birmingham’s surrounding waters daily. Alabama has the fifth highest volume of toxic releases into waterways in 2017 (Pillion, 2019).
For me, I am an outdoor adventurous person that enjoys tubing, hiking, or basically anything outdoors. I personally enjoy cooking fresh foods and utilizing local markets. But with the recent and historical water pollution, many attractions such as tubing are continuing to become a thing of the past. Some of the natural water resources that provide food and fun have been deemed unusable from past historical years of toxin dumping. This has affected food sources such as fish, drinking water, and farmland and has limited some of the natural resources of enjoyment.
Environmental issues impact us all no matter where we are. In the Birmingham area, I must be mindful that some of the natural resources can cause great harm. For example, there are many lakes, rivers, and streams here contaminated with mercury. Therefore, most fishing must be for sport and not food consumption. Water must be processed before drinking and bathing because most Alabamians get their drinking water from our rivers (Walker, 2017). Rivers are not usable for tubing due to high levels of contamination and other natural resources cannot be enjoyed too fullest.
Understanding that Birmingham is known as the “Magic City” because of its booming Steel industry in the 1800’s. Has also left the Magic City with years and years of pollutants that will continue to haunt the city for years to come.
Pillion, D..2019. Alabama ranks 5th for industrial toxic releases in air and water. https://www.al.com/news/2019/03/alabama-ranks-5th-for-industrial-toxic-releases-in-air-and-water.html
Walker, C. 2017. Toxic chemicals dumped in Alabama rivers. Toxic chemicals dumped in Alabama rivers (alreporter.com)