Sustainable Landscape Design

Introduction: Sustainable water and wastewater services are critical to providing the American public with clean and safe water and helping ensure the environmental, economic, and social sustainability of the communities that utilities serve. Utilities across the country face tremendous challenges, such as aging infrastructure, an aging workforce, increasing mandates, and competing priorities within the communities they serve. The purpose of this document is to assist utility leaders with implementing proven and effective practices over time to improve their operations and move toward sustainability, at a pace consistent with their needs and the needs of their communities. It provides utility leaders with a cohesive structure to help them address various challenges proactively and with confidence. The practices described in this document reflect the lessons learned and the practical experience utilities have derived as they have improved their operations. A utility can use this document to identify specific opportunities for improvement and draw on the example practices to create an individualized “roadmap” to more sustainable operations.

Heavy metals are a group of metals and metalloids that includes transition metals, lanthanides, and actinides. When released into water, these elements have toxic effects on water quality and surface sediments, affecting environmental parameters such as pH and temperature. Therefore, metals that are harmful to aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems pose a significant threat to plants, animals, and human health. As such, there is increased interest in mitigating the harmful environmental impacts of heavy metals. This book provides a comprehensive overview of heavy metals, their impacts on water, soil, food crops, and cosmetics, and techniques for their remediation. It is organized into three sections: “Heavy Metals and Their Effects on the Environment,” “Evaluation of Heavy Metals and Their Risks to Irrigation Water,” and “Remediation of Heavy Metals.