In my community there is a problem of water control that is becoming the cause of the environmental pollution. The rain falls in the community and the water is channeled down into the gutter through the drainage system, but there is no proper subsurface and surface drainage for removing the excess water in timey and proper manner. This is paving the way to the environmental pollution as well as causing many diseases. So, careful and appropriate control and reuse of the drainage water can be helpful in the protection of the environment and for optimizing the use of the water resources. In order to promote positive environmental behavior following are the strategies.
The strategy of re-usage of the drainage water can be adopted for controlling the water. Drainage water can be reused by leaching from the fields and treating with the pesticides such as fungicides, herbicides, molluscicides and the insecticides (Milne, 2004). The trace elements can, however, be leached out by the subsurface drains. Various water retention structures are required for the chemical, physical and the biological processes. So, constructed wetlands can be an efficient source in this regard as they can lead to permanent and a new surface for the open water (Brinson, 1988). Furthermore, control and the prevention should b e applied by checking the fluctuations in the level of water, and irregular drying out of the area of wetland, by ensuring housing improvement, settlement maintenance and planning, restricted accessibility and personal protection.
Furthermore, the strategy of the environmental receptivity should be adopted in order to ensure water control in the community. The environmental receptivity is the receptivity to the transmission of pathogen, which is related to the vector abundance, to the contacts of human with the vectors or water and to various other climatic or ecological factors that are favorable for the purpose of transmission. However, the assessment is ensured according to the transmission, but not to the occurrence, the transmission is resumed easily to the elevated level of receptivity.
These strategies can, however, increase the pro-environmental behaviors. With the adoption of these strategies the people become aware of the fact that it is necessary to properly control the drainage water. Considering an example, some people make the use of drain in their garden or in the road in order to dispose of the dirty water and the oil, which goes directly into the river that further increase environmental pollution without being properly drained. So, they become aware of the fact that the compounds in oil and dirty water make proper drainage difficult, and they avoid pouring oil and other compounds in the excess water meant to be drained properly. Similarly, people also avoid bad plumbing as they become aware that the toilet system should be connected properly to the sewerage system instead of connecting to the drainage system that makes the proper drainage difficult.
Furthermore, the use of the pesticides for making the water reusable can cause health problems so people themselves try to drain the water properly after the rain so that they can remain protected from the ill-effects of the pesticides. The use of the technology and the advancement in technology is however, exerting its effect positively as well as negatively. If the positive impact is considered then the advancement in technology has helped in the filtration of the water so that it can be used for the purpose of drinking and other uses (Yao, Habibian & O’Melia, 1971). This has enabled to get the freedom from harmful chemical that causes environmental pollution. The filtration process is, however, used in the treatment of the community water, once it get polluted because of the excessive rains or else. So, the technological advancement has made purification of water easier without causing any environmental pollution.
Moreover, the technological advancements also exert negative impact on the environment in a way that in order to control the water in the community, the wetlands are reduced because latest technology is being used in order to control the water. The wetlands are the natural source of controlling the water; they are even effective for controlling the water of floods. But they are not considered, so the environmental is getting polluted with the harmful rays of the technology emitted from its use. In case of the heavy rains, the drinking water is getting contaminated because there is no strategy for immediate management of water. The wetlands present immediate solution to the problem, but this fact is neglected, and the work is becoming more and more technology oriented.
However, if the influence of the environmental policy is considered in this regard, then it becomes obvious that the environmental policy does not have significant impact. This is because several laws relating to the environment are made at the national level, but the states and communities make their own local laws that exert their influence on the environment, because it is easy for people to influence the policy at the local level as compared to the influence at the national level. It is also considered that the local government is effective and responsive to the input of the citizens as compared to the state or the federal government. Furthermore, it is easy for the citizens to contact their local representatives, and the planning board takes many decisions for the betterment of the community. Same, is the case with my community, the local government of the community is considered as better as compared to the state government.
The local governments, however, make the laws relating to the matters of community such as development, disposal of waste, control of water, housing and the business etc. they try to facilitate the public by creating ease for them. But, sometimes they also face problems, such as the people do not coordinate with them. this is similar situation that there are environmental policies but the law making agencies, officials and public do not follow them properly, as a result of which the level of pollution is increasing. often there are problems that the neighbor communities do not coordinate, for example, if a community want to control the water, but the neighboring community allow such development that create hurdles in the effective control of the water, and that pave the way to the environmental pollution, this makes the smooth functioning and implementation of the environmental rules and regulations difficult. At some place, the environmental policy exerts its strong influence. In these places, the federal government makes the laws and set the standards relating to the environment, but these laws comprise of the minimum standards. So, individual states and the communities are free to set higher standards by making their laws. In my community, the environmental policy is considered but the laws made by the community are given more importance as compared to the environmental policies.
References
Brinson, Mark M. (1988). Strategies for Assessing the Cumulative Effects of Wetland Alteration on Water Quality. Environmental Management, 12(5), 655-662.
Milne, George W. A. (2004). Pesticides: An International Guide to 1800 Pest Control Chemicals. Ashgate Publishing, Lund Humphries
Yao, Kuan-Mu., Habibian, Mohammad T., & O’Melia, Charles R. (1971). Water and Waste Water Filtration. Concepts and Applications. Environmental Science & Technology, 5(11), 1105–1112
