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How to Get Information About Pollution in Your Neighborhood
Would you like to find out more about the pollution in your community, and the potential health effects of that pollution? To find out about the quality of the surface water (lakes, rivers, and streams) or ground water (important if you have a well at your home or at work), look in your phone book under state government, environmental management, water (probably will be listed under either water quality or water resources). To get a feel for the types of pollutants which might be discharged into the rivers you can request a report on POTW Discharge and Waste water Effluent Permits. All industries who discharge water to a Publicly Owned Treatment Works or directly to a river must file a report detailing the types of chemicals in their wastewater.To find out more about the quality of your air, there are two resources you can turn to. Many industries submit numerous reports about their air emissions. First, under the SARA Title III regulation, they must submit a report detailing how much of each of the listed air toxics (i.e. chemicals) they emit on an annual basis. This report is called a Toxics Release Inventory (TRI), which is publicly accessible information - in fact, you can get that information by typing in your zip code at this EPA site on the internet. You can obtain a TRI report on your community by calling the EPA Emergency Planning and Community Right to Know Hotline 1-800-535-0202. Second, industries must also report clean air act compouds as well. These reports must be filed with the state, You may obtain a copy of this information by calling the state agency responsible for air quality.
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This page was updated on 23-Jan-2011
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