Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 8.3 Companies' general and environmental management activities.
and recreation should be managed not by companies but, at the community level, by
local, national or regional governments.
Environment is the global, continental, regional (watershed or catchment area)
or local entity of land, water and air including their users, i.e., humans and ecosys-
tems. Environment represents the external physico-chemical, biological and ecological
conditions that affect and influence growth, development and survival of organisms
and their communities. In a broader sense, the environment, out of the natural envi-
ronment, also includes the social and cultural complex affecting the ecosystem and
humankind, the individuals and communities.
Unidentified sources and transport pathways, the impact of natural and anthro-
pogenic adverse effects on the environment and the countless interactions between
harmful agents and the living and nonliving compartments of the environment often
make the situation confusing, inscrutable and difficult to manage.
Management goals and concepts may widely differ depending on the interest of
stakeholders. Environmental management within companies concentrates on produc-
tion and transport, emission from the technologies used within the plant or at service
providers' sites, and occupational health of the employees. Management of possible
sources such as chemical substances, pesticides, biocides, food additives and cosmetics
at global or regional levels mainly deals with the hazards or generic risk posed by these
substances. Contaminated site management covers the direct adverse effects and the
related site-specific risk by the contaminants at place. All these problems follow the
same pattern: they emerge from the source of contamination, “travel'' through the envi-
ronment and arrive at the receptors. Every harmful agent, every contaminant causes
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