Main description:

This book explores environmental and human risk problems caused by contamination, from the perspective of real world applications with quantitative procedures. It includes risk methods for environmental problems where data are sparse or fuzzy, and incorporates political, social and economic considerations in determining directions of remediation solutions for environmental contaminant problems. It highlights the impact of contaminants on human health - sometimes fatal - and the anthropogenic exacerbation of natural processes.

Contents:

Natural and Anthropogenic Environmental Problems.- Restoration of lignite mining sites in the former GDR: lessons to be learnt from Zwenkau.- Carbon Dioxide Development and the Influence of Rising Groundwater in the Cospuden/Zwenkau Dump: Observations and Inferences.- Carbon Dioxide Development and the Influence of Rising Groundwater in the Cospuden/Zwenkau Dump: Quantitative Models.- Environmental and Economic Risks from Sinkholes in West-Central Florida.- Risks of Damage from Flooding Rivers: Correlation of Weakened Dyke Structures?.- Biological Remediation of Environmentally Contaminated Water.- Heavy Metal Contamination Removal by Bacterial Activity in Seeping Depositories.- Quantitative Risks of Death and Sickness from Toxic Contamination: General Population.- Quantitative Risks of Death and Sickness from Toxic Contamination: Age-Dependent Toxic Sickness/Death Exposure Limits.- Methods for Estimating Associated Risks of Sinkhole Occurrences with data from the Ruhr Valley Region of Germany.- Environmental Concerns: Catastrophic Events and Insurance.- Integrated Scientific and Economic Uncertainties in Environmental Hazard Assessments: Social and Political Consequences.