Pavements are one of the highest assets and represent massive investment. The need to design and provide a sustainable maintenance service is becoming a priority and this comes mutually with the intentions to reduce impacts caused by maintenance treatments to the environment. This paper through a case study presents a Life Cycle Cost and Assessment technique during a 30 year analysis period to measure the cost effectiveness, embodied energy and carbon emissions of selected preservation treatments. These treatments can either be applied separately or in combination during the preventive maintenance of road pavements. This study entails three life cycle phases of material extraction and production, transportation and construction of maintenance activities. Through a literature review, raw materials energy and emission inventory data was averaged followed by the analysis of the equipment involved by using the specific fuel consumption to calculate the energy and emissions spent by the machine and finally the selected treatment energy and emissions was computed. Results show that preservation treatments can have an LCC of 30-40 % and embodied energy and carbon emission of 3-6 times lower than the traditional approach. This study bridges gaps in literature on integrated evaluation of environmental and economic aspects of preservation treatments.
Micro-surfacing since its formal introduction in 1980 has proved to be the number one treatment option for maintenance and preservation of pavements. This paper reviews the design and equipment practice, construction process, benefits, limitations and worldwide state of the practice of micro-surfacing. Two implemented project examples are also included to corroborate why micro-surfacing is a better preservation maintenance strategy. The general consensus from the literature is that micro-surfacing is a cost effective and eco-friendly treatment but more research needs to be done to validate and quantify the less environmental impacts and energy usage it offers unlike other treatments. Suggestions like standardization of the mixture design and whether rolling of the micro-surfacing surface adds value are future research topics that will greatly improve its effectiveness. It is my hope that through this review, more developing countries under strict budgetary constraints can take up this practice and enjoy the many benefits that micro-surfacing offers.
Groundwater quality is extremely important for people's health. Currently, there has been a global rise in growth of interest in environmental issues, including groundwater quality. Groundwater contamination constitutes one of the most important natural resources in drinking water supply in both rural and urban areas. With the coming of the new century, the serious deterioration of ground water quality has been observed in both developed and developing nations with the industrialized and densely populated regions being the most hit with the pollution. The extent of its damage is difficult to determine due to its complexities of contaminants, in predicting their movements and fate in the groundwater system.The demand for drinking water supply has increased because of the global rise in population and food demand. This rise has further enhanced the call to better management of our groundwater aquifers by preventing any further pollution than remediating the already polluted ones. In this short article, groundwater problems and sources are described, health effects related to the pollution are briefly highlighted and lastly the future prospects with respect to groundwater mitigation and prevention are included. The onus to minimize the pollution and to confine and destroy the contaminants before they completely destroy our aquifers still remains on us. This is a battle that is very much achievable and it is our noble duty to see to it that our groundwater aquifers are rid of this pollution.
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