Question

Which of the following activities would have the greatest impact on the amount of dirt, oil and other contaminants added to the streams and lakes near a large urban area

Answer 1

construction of a large mall and parking lot

Answer 2

Urban areas are crowded places with many apartments, offices, restaurants, parking lots and shopping centers. Comparing the amount of dirt, wastages and pollutants that are released into streams and lakes by each of these sources, we can conclude that the construction of a shopping mall or parking lot contributes a lot to the addition of the wastage into the streams and lakes

A shopping mall and parking lot in itself occupies a lot of space hindering the air balance and also increasing the traffic in the area and the adjacent areas leading to this area. On the other hand , this construction accommodates hundreds of shops that discards bulks of packaging materials in the form of plastic covers, fabric, card boards and other wastages which will have to be dumped every day.

Apart from this, urban areas have major part of the land covered with roofs and roads thus making all the rain water flow into the sewer and drainages washing out chemical wastes, pet wastes and other garbages into the streams and lakes.