Benefits and limitations single-media vs milti-media air pollution Essay

Benefits and limitations single-media vs milti-media air pollution regulatitons or contorl - Essay Example The Clean Air Act (CAA) covers air and the Clean Water Act (CWA) covers water specific. However, pollution is not constrained by statues; it can shift between media by natural and human action (Everett, 2004). Fortaine states that we have improved our abilities to detect toxic pollutants, understand their movement through the environment, and asses their impacts; we have increasingly realized that pollution is rarely contained with the artificial boundaries of our regulatory system (Fortaine, 1993). Therefore, environmental management of pollution is improved when all media are considered. Two common ways for controlling air contaminants are the single media approach and the multi-media approach and each one have their benefits and limitations. The limitation of discharged in medium such as air, while correcting the immediate pollution problem with that medium, often do little more than shift the pollution to another medium. Such transfer can even create greater problems in the mediu m in which they are moved.