Recycled Water and Fire Fighting Operations - Term Paper Example

Recycled Water and Fire Fighting Operations Name Institution Tutor Date Introduction Recycled water may come from storm water, grey water, treated sewage, and treated to a standard to encounter the appropriate requirement. A mixture of increasing populaces and inadequate clean water resources is decreasing the availability and quality of our drinking water supplies (Tchobanoglous & Stensel, 2007). In addition, complications arising from the dumping of wastewater are still evident. Therefore, wastewater regulations exercises guard, preserve and fully exploit water resources essential for use by the entire populaces. Increasing the safe use of recycled water can significantly help in meeting water necessities of the firefighting department, enrich the surrounding, and subsidies the public health by conserving resources upon which the communal health protection is founded (John, 1995). The Department of Health has been a promoter of water recycles for as far as it does not complicate communal health and the treasured water resources. Elevation of the use of recycled water is one of the firefighting Department’s high priority goals. The principle of this sector is for use in operational regulation. This therefore involves witnessing and documenting the potential hazards; evaluating the degree of threat they manifest to the society and the surrounding overall (Spalding, 2009). A difference between a hazard and a threat should be noted. A threat refers to the possibility of recognized hazards that may bring about harm if exposed to the populaces in a given time duration. There are numerous emergent matters on the use of recycled water for use in fighting fires. Some of these matters have health insinuations whereas others have influences on the surrounding. This document looks at some of these matters in depth. Recycled water may have hazards. A hazard is a biotic, chemical, physical, or radiological agent that has the capacity to bring impairment to individuals, animals, crops or plants, other biota, aquatic biota, soil or the overall surrounding (Addiscott & Benjamin, 2004). Materials and methods Recycled water can be used by fire fighters, helper fire fighters, and government emergency amenities for: Regulating fires Analysis and upkeep of fire regulation systems Training amenities for fire fighting There are many Work-related Health and Safety contemplations to look into when recommending exploiting average threat exposure level recycled water for fighting fires. It is essential to certify that procedures are executed to minimize incidental exposure, by accidental splashing, aerosol inhalation or ingestion (WHO, 2012). Legislation necessitates that recycled water for domestic use and firefighting processes is treated to a level whereby incidental exposure, either by accidental splashing, aerosol inhalation or ingestion is not deliberated to pose a noteworthy health implication to workers (Dixon, Butler, & Fewkes, 2008). This is not always the incident. The hazards that are present in recycled water may be divided into different groups. Ways in which the recycled water harms people include incidents where: People unsuspectingly take recycled water for example by taking water from the hose or from the tanker containing recycled water Storing of water in fire appliances which are later on released to the surrounding or consumed unsuspectingly This oncoming section looks in depth some of the implications of using recycled water for firefighting uses. The health of humans The most distinguished hazards present in recycled water are microorganisms that have the capacity to cause health implications. There is a higher likelihood of having high levels of pathogenic microorganisms in storm water, grey water and in sewage water. The levels of such pathogenic microorganisms are influenced by the number of animals or humans that give the faucal matter (Addiscott & Benjamin, 2004). When such organisms enter the body system they thrive and bring about dangerous infections and illnesses in people such as typhoid, cholera, diarrhea, fungal infections, and amoebic infections both in man and in animals (WHO, 2012). The status and health of the environment The hazards existing in the environment are usually of chemical or physical hazards types. The source of the recycled water should be analyzed in the sense that, the physical or chemical hazards in the water has a higher ability of affecting the surrounding more than the society. The chief hazards that are present in recycled water include boron, cadmium, chlorine disinfection residuals, hydraulic load, nitrogen, phosphorus, salinity, chloride and sodium salts (Moore, 2003). The kinds of water and the possible hazards Storm water Water that has been used in animal husbandry may contain pathogenic microorganisms, pharmacological products, and turbidity. Surface run-off from forested areas may contain insecticides. Water that has been disposed from industrial use comprises of heavy metals, organic chemicals that include halogenated organics, arsenic chemicals, preservatives, cadmium, and chromium (Moore, 2003). Illegal sewage connections comprises of pathogenic micro-organisms, detergents and heavy metals. The chemical hazards The use of reclaimed water paves way for exposure to numerous chemical pollutants, including mineral chemicals, organic chemicals, pesticides, potential endocrine disruptors, pharmaceuticals and disinfection byproducts (Moore, 2003). Run off from a fire is well thought-out as inescapable and it is anticipated generally that the implications of the use of recycled water itself is not significant. Given the manner in which of an emergency manifests itself, the quality of run-off from a location will be determined more by the constituents and chemicals involved in contrast to the high quality recycled water that is used in firefighting (Leishman & Thomson, 2004). The ways that can be applied in making sure that the effects of runoff are controlled comprise of: Conducting firefighter training drills on areas with grass or have firewater run-off where it is applicable. Distribution of recycled water awareness programs to inform firefighters of the suitable uses of recycled water. Documentation of tankers carrying recycled water with appropriate posters on them. Implementing harmless working practices for people working in direct contact with recycled water; Enhancing and preserving standard operating procedures authenticating suitable environmental and health necessities; 1. Managing the consumption of recycled water to decrease the environmental effects (inclusive of the growth of a site administration plan where relevant and in liaison with water utilities. 2. Instrumenting development recognized through systematic reviews. 3. Taking note of and reporting at a constant rate the regularity and the number of situations where recycled water is used for firefighting and training exercises. Results and discussion Firefighting services are normally given with the following aims in mind: Enabling individual and community welfare by sticking on a path of economic improvement that protects the well-being of the future generations Deliver equity within generations Safeguard biodiversity and upholding essential biological progressions and life-support coordination. The accomplishment of these purposes is reinforced in each government by evaluation and judgment, such as resource planning, environmental influence evaluation and various surrounding guidelines (Dixon, Butler, & Fewkes, 2008). Preventive measures to put in place in order to regulate chemical threat The threats posed to human health from chemicals in recycled water is quite low, considering that effective precautionary procedures are recognized and upheld, to make sure that industrial release do not cause raised chemical concentrations in treated recycled water(Dixon, Butler, & Fewkes, 2008). In some cases, minor treatment plants and on-site recycled water treatment plants are more susceptible than big plants to unlawful releases of industrial and domestic effluents. Watchfulness is needed to reduce the rate of unlawful releases if these small plants will be used as a source of recycled water. For on-site systems, precautionary procedures should include giving proprietors of systems instructive material about the necessity of avoiding inappropriate effluent release of household chemicals into the environment (Casanova, Little, Frye, & Gerba, 2001). Precautionary measures to contain microbial and chemical threats found in grey water whenever possible, a defensive approach should be put in place to reduce concentrations of hazards in grey water. Number strategies of handling grey water are instructions on materials and products that need not be placed in grey water collection systems (Addiscott & Benjamin, 2004). These instructions include: • discarding laundry water from washing faucal soiled garments • Use of detergents that have relatively low concentrations of phosphate, boron and sodium • Discarding garden chemicals elsewhere in a biodegradable manner and not into grey water systems • Not disposing kitchen waste in grey water systems. The organization of public behavior, reducing changeability of the quality of grey water, and handling hazard concentrations are improbable to getting rid of all hazards related to grey water contamination (Bridges, 2003). Therefore, treatment processes are needed in reducing to such hazards. Environmental guideline standards are generally articulated as concentrations (Tchobanoglous & Stensel, 2007). The standards are based upon knowledge of features that do not cause any important threat to any physical or organic constituent of the surrounding. Some of the procedures that can used to safeguard the use of recycled water in firefighting include: 1. Distinguishing the source of water It is essential to know that the origin of the water from different sources will bring about different threats. The source of water has to be established so as to determine the types of hazards. The safety measures for consuming this water can then be established and the degree of implications is predetermined. 2. Establishing the intended uses The diverse uses of recycled water cause the numerous pathways over which recycled water does into the surrounding. It is essential to look at the preliminary receiving surrounding of the recycled water and the concluding location of the recycled water, that is, the point where an effluent could be established, which is also known as the surrounding end point (Bridges, 2003). In establishing the surrounding threat, massive quantities of end points are considered in order to establish the health threats, which then emphasizes on one end point in humans. Surrounding threat evaluation can be basically collected by the end points into the wide-ranging categories of air, plants, soils, biota, that is, both aquatic and terrestrial, recycled water treatment plants, grey water reuse in-house, groundwater, surface water and infrastructure (Bridges, 2003). The efficiency of barriers Many of the treatment procedures used during water recycling are precisely and chiefly intended to eliminate and incapacitate enteric pathogens. Provided that the systems are suitably calculated in relation to the bacteriological challenge available, and the schemes are steadily operated as designed, recycled water can be changed to become safe from hazardous enteric pathogens (Casanova, Little, Frye, & Gerba, 2001). Numerous reports indicate the capacity of water treatment systems to eradicate and incapacitate pathogenic microorganisms. There is no doubt about the competence of accurately designed water treatment systems in regard to the elimination of pathogenic micro-organisms. There is wide spread indication relating to the efficiency of platooning, disinfection and filtration systems in terms of their ability to remove enteric pathogens contaminated water (Leishman & Thomson, 2004). Conclusion Recycled water provides an opportunity to minimize the pressure on the water supply of water supply institutions. However, the surrounding and people’s heaths come first regardless of the situations in which we find ourselves in our day-to-day lives. Some of the pathogenic micro-organisms that are found in water have brought about loss of lives in many countries especially in African states such as Congo in the year 2011 (John, 1995). Research needs to be conducted on matters that regard to making the waters that are recycled to be completely safe for human consumption. Once the safety levels have been determined then the use of this water to fight fires can be authorized. The methods for making water safe for consumption are often times costly, for example in most Arabian nations, oil reserves are used to cleanse water. This is quite costly as the value of the output is quite less than the inputs that have been used in cleansing the water. Cheaper methods of cleansing water should be devised. Bibliography Bridges, O. (2003, September). Chemosphere. Retrieved August 18, 2012, from Double trouble: health threats of accidental: www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/B6V74- Casanova LM, L. V. (2001). A survey of the microbial quality of. Journal of the American Water Resources Association, 1313–. Dixon AM, B. D. (2008). Guidelines for graywater reuse: health matters. Journal of the Chartered Institution of Water and Surroundingal Regulatement, 322–326. Leishman, T. V. (2004). Survival of native plants of Hawkesbury Sandstone. Australian, 141–147. 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