The Clean Air Act and the Safe Drinking Water Act
- To: CEO
- From: NAME
- Subject: Creating a Sustainable Initiative
Greetings,
I am NAME, an administrator in the environmental department. I am writing to propose the adoption of an environmentally sustainable initiative to improve the company’s efficiency of operations.
After a critical analysis of the company, I realized a significant amount of wastage in the water and energy resources. Therefore, I suggest the implementation of an initiative that will help the company innovate ways of preserving and conserving resources. This will help the company to reduce its overhead cost by decreasing the electricity and water bills. It will ensure that a lesser amount of water is diverted from its sources to the company, hence, assisting in maintaining a healthy environment. Further, the initiative will assist in the reduction of water treatment costs and energy applied when pumping, treating, and heating. To support the adoption of the initiative, I researched the laws and regulations that address the issue.
The clean air act (CAA), is a comprehensive federal policy that aims at governing and limiting air emissions from mobile and stationary sources. This law has authorized the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to develop the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) to protect the public welfare and health (Hand et al., 2020) The standards also regulate the emissions of hazardous pollutants in the atmosphere. This act was developed as a major concern to address the welfare risks and public health concerns by common air pollutants.
Additionally, the clean water law (CWA) focuses on protecting water resources to enhance environmental and human health. These laws set legal requirements and standards that govern water quality. They regulate the amounts of chemical, biological, physical, and radiological pollutants that can be dumped in a water source per the water volume (Hudiburgh, 2020). The number of pollutants allowed vary according to the primary use of the water such as domestic or industrial use and human consumption. The policies also govern the alternations of water pollutants according to the characteristics of the water resources. EPA evaluated the impacts of different chemical, physical, biological, and radiological pollutants in the environment and marine life when developing this law.
Consequently, the US government has standardized the quality of water that is fit for human consumption through the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA). EPA regulates the quality of drinking water by limiting over 90 contaminants. The set legal limit protects water systems and human health and can be achieved through the application of the technology (Calabrese, 2018). The EPA body further sets water testing methods and schedules that should be followed by water providers. However, the act allows individual states to set their drinking water standards as long as they meet the minimum criteria set by EPA. When developing this policy, EPA identified pollutants in the water that have hazardous impacts on human beings and required them to be eliminated before consumption.
To implement this sustainability initiative, the company needs to invest in various resources. First, the firm should replace old toilets with more water-efficient models such as aerated faucets, low water toilets, and urinals. This investment will help the company save up to 20% of the domestically used water. The company should also identify leaking water pipes and taps to seal or replace them. It needs to invest in sub-meters to monitor the amount of water used in every section. In the energy-saving initiative, the company should use solar energy and invest in low-light and energy-saving bulbs (LED). Please accept my proposal to achieve a more sustainable environment. Thank you.
Name
References
Calabrese, E. J. (2018). Safe Drinking Water Act. CRC Press. Web.
Hand, J. L., Prenni, A. J., Copeland, S., Schichtel, B. A., & Malm, W. C. (2020). Thirty years of the Clean Air Act Amendments: Impacts on haze in remote regions of the United States (1990–2018). Atmospheric Environment, 243, 117865. Web.
Hudiburgh, G. W. (2020). The Clean Water Act. In Fundamentals of Aquatic Toxicology (pp. 717-733). CRC Press. Web.