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History of water essay
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Three Medical Doctors wrote the book, The Water We Drink: Water Quality and Its Effects on Health. Their names are Joshua I. Barzilay, M.D., Winkler G. Weinberg, M.D., and J. William Eley, M.D. In order to put the issue of drinking water quality and its effects on health into perspective, the book is divided into three parts. It first reviews the history of water, disease, and sanitation. The next section deals with health issues. At the conclusion of the book are chapters regarding bottled water and methods of purification. The intent of the book is to educate consumers.
In the ancient world there was an awareness of the need for sanitation and for water that was safe for consumption. Efforts at keeping water pure, maintaining access to waters of high quality, and providing sewage disposal were widely practiced. With the diminish of the Roman Empire and the beginning of the middle ages, these practices were largely forgotten, and infectious illnesses became common. Only with the ascendancy of the scientific method and discoveries in the last one hundred years has the connection between water quality, sanitation, and health once again been discovered.
The discovery that diseases were infectious and transmissible through water
served as a reason to the development of methods of water purification. In 1887 the first water filtration system was established in Lawrence, Massachusetts. Sand was the
filtering medium. Within a short time the incidence of typhoid fever dropped enormously.
In 1974 Congress enacted the Safe Drinking Water Act. It set up government oversight, through the EPA, the Environmental Protection Agency, of surface and ground-water sources. “The EPA set up two types of regulations: (1) mandatory, enforceable maximum contaminant levels (MCLs), to be set as close to the recommended health-based goals and (2) non-mandatory, health-based maximum contaminant level goals (MCLGs).” The chemicals and contaminants to be regulated were: microbiological contaminants, metals and inorganic chemicals, volatile organic chemicals, organic compounds, and radionuclides.
Despite the accomplishments, water-borne diseases remain an issue of concern. “From 1971 to 1988 there were 564 infectious outbreaks in the United States involving nearly 140,000 people.” Bacteria are microorganisms that are of the kingdom Prokaryotae. When certain bacteria appear in places where they do not normally reside, they can cause illness.
Over the years humans have tried every possibility to overcome the health problems, spread of epidemics and infections, disease control and have worked towards a healthy society free of disease and health problems. They have succeeded to a great extent. The book “Good germs, bad germs” describes that though the life expectancy is now far more as it was in previous eras. Epidemic problems and infectious diseases are now getting lesser and lesser and humans are being treated successfully. The hygienic conditions have also been improved so as to ensure least growth of microbes, germs, parasites and bacteria. Antibiotics have been invented to address diseases and infections caused by bacteria and viruses. With all these substantial efforts the biologists, physicians and scientists have triggered another epidemic which is even more severe. They have killed those microbes and bacterial species which were human friendly and as a result of either their disruption or mutation, pathogenic bacteria have even become more active and resistant to treatments. This has led to increased ineffectiveness of antibiotic drugs, low immunity and various infections and inflammatory diseases. The chlorinated water for drinking and food processing along with excessive hygienic conditions indicates our fight against these bacteria and germs. Further, these antibiotics are even given to the livestock which becomes our food and as result many of their resistant germs end up in our digestive tract and other organs. Thus, the war against microbes through excessive cleanliness and use of antibiotics has resulted in antibiotic resistance among humans, which has become one of the prominent problems of medical science
This is because only a small part of the population, particularly in developing countries, have access to water of acceptable quality. It is estimated that in some countries only 20% of the rural population has water of satisfactory quality. Based on these statistics, it is clear the urgent need for awareness about caring for water use. Almost without realizing it, we are seriously jeopardizing this essential resource, not for us but for our children's children and their generations, aware that in other parts o...
Although extremely detrimental to the people of Africa, there is a chance that these individuals are not the only ones that may be affected by the issue of the current water pollution. There is no borderline of which disease cannot cross. There is an extremely large chance that over time, the infectious diseases from water pollution will spread to areas other than Africa, becoming a universal issue. Although the issue of water pollution is growing each day, there is hope that with the world’s awareness, and organizations’ help, the issue is soon to become one of the pasts.
Clean water supplies are life necessities to live healthy lives. Children well-being is very high depending on the supply of clean water. Some of the health problems that face unclean water supply are that it can lead to diarrhea and hepatitis C from dirty unsanitary water. In fact more than millions of children per year die because of diarrhea that is result from lack of water supply. Unclean water supply not only affects children, but also is a problem for the whole house especially the woman. Women spend their days cleaning and cooking with unsafe and unclean water exposed them to more health concerns and problems. For example, areas like that in Africa are affected from thee6 lack of water supply. In Africa, the areas of Ghana are affected
Saleh, M.A. Abdel-Rahman, F.H. Woodard, B.B. et al. (2008). Chemical, microbial and physical evaluation of commercial bottled waters in greater Houston area of Texas. Journal of Environmental Science and Health Part A. 43: 335–347.
“My goodness, that’s some nice refreshing water!” is something that probably isn’t said very often in Mesa, Arizona or especially Buckeye, Arizona. Tap water quality is a big issue and not just in suburban Arizona where the author has had the most experience with it. It’s a nationwide problem that a lot of people aren’t aware of. They live in areas where they either actually have it good, or they don’t notice what their water tastes like. I’m going to address some of the statements of the opposing side of why tap water quality needs to be regulated more.
Water is the most unique and important resource on our planet and yet it is also the resource most taken for granted. While we live in a world that is over half water, very little of that water is safe for human consumption. While fresh water is spread throughout the world, some countries risk their health by drinking toxic water full of bacteria and hazardous chemicals. In America, our fresh water supplies are treated in order to kill any bacteria or other chemical hazards in the water. However, without realizing it, Americans drink water filled with bacteria all the time. By drinking from reused water bottles, people are consuming more bacteria-filled water.
Drinking polluted water is very hazardous to human health. Consumption of contaminated water can lead to nausea, vomiting, cramps, and diarrhea, which can be fatal over time (Halton, 2016). Water can be contaminated with so many things, including bacteria, e. coli. Nitrates, and herbicides and pesticides. Water must be filtered and treated properly to ensure that none of these contaminates are in one’s drinking water. One of the biggest and most recent examples of a catastrophe caused by contaminated water is the Flint Water Crisis. In April of 2014, the town of Flint changed their water source from Detroit Water and Sewerage Department to the Flint River. This water was contaminated with lead; therefore, for months, the residents of Flint were consuming dangerously high levels of lead (Ortiz, 2015). In children, lead in the bloodstream can cause behavior and leaning problems, lower IQ and hyperactivity, slowed growth, hearing loss, and anemia. In adults, exposure to contaminated lead can lead to cardiovascular effects, increased blood pressure, hypertension, decreased kidney function, and reproductive problems (Environmental Protection Agency, 2016). The residents of Flint were exposed to high levels of lead for a long period of time, so it is unknown how many people were effected and how
Poor water quality is regarded as one of the leading causes that contribute to illnesses, especially to those that are from undeveloped countries. Many of the deadly diseases that result from poor water quality include, cholera (intestinal tract infection), dracunculiasis (guinea worm disease), and the death-dealing disease, diarrhoea. Statistically, this issue isn’t any easier to look at. Annually, there are approximately 2, 000 000 people (mostly children) that die f...
One essential solution is the government, who are a big part of regulating water pollution and enforcing the laws against the dumping of pollutants. For example, in the 1970s, the US implemented the Clean Water Act, which provides the basic structure for regulating the release of pollutants into waters (Ross). According to Gina McCarthy, administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, the “EPA implemented pollution control programs such as setting wastewater standards for industry” under the Communications Workers of America (McCarthy). One other act is the Safe Drinking Water Act, which limits the amount of certain contaminants in drinking water. Some contaminants are necessary in order to disinfect water and control bacterias; however, in large quantities, it can potentially cause negative health effects, such as diarrhea, vomiting, cramps, or an increased risk of cancer (McCarthy). The way chemicals were determined to be toxic was through research at either the laboratories of scientists or at chemical plants. However, some
Clean water is needed for good human and animal health, but as DoSomething.org states, over 1 billion people worldwide don’t have a means of getting clean drinking water, an...
Have you ever had to walk miles away just to get clean drinking water, or don’t even not have access to clean drinking water? People all over the world, even in North America, don’t have access to clean drinking water or have to walk very far just to drink water. The main areas where this problem is prominent is in third world countries, and this is due to the lack of money and sanitation (Millions Lack Safe Water). Due to this lack of sanitation, water borne diseases can grow and infect people who consume it. Clean water is very important for life, and within this paper I will explain why we need it, how it can affect us, and what it will take to obtain clean water.
Water suppliers do not include many aspects of water quality management as it is often outside of their direct responsibility. It is therefore, for this reason, that collaborative multiagency are involved in the management of water quality. Water safety is most efficiently ensured by preventative actions that take account of the characteristics of the water supply from source to end user. Where some sources and catchments are beyond the water supplier’s jurisdiction, it is necessary to involve other authorities for water quality management for monitoring, reporting, emergency response and communication. (World Health Organization, 2011)
Through history in many antique civilizations pure water has been a major subject. The first environmental rules originating from Roman law rules and were also practical in the Middle Ages in Europe. The recognition that the natural environment was fragile and need a special legal protections. At that time, numerous influences - including a growing awareness of the unity and fragility o...
People from many developing countries are suffering from the scarcity of clean water, while the rest of the country simply take for granted. Habitants of rural poor communities such as Sub-Saharan Africa, are living in a water stressed environment. Residents of these communities have to walk miles at time just to gather water from streams and ponds, even though the water source may contain water-borne disease that can make them very sick. In the rural places that don’t have access to safe clean water, it is very difficult to prevent the spread of viruses. The consumption of contaminated water can be dangerous for health reasons and several people have passed away from these water-borne diseases. Some of these diseases include Cholera, Typhoid, Dysentery, Giardiasis, and Malaria. These unfortunate diseases are currently the cause of numerous deaths, especially in small children. The availability of clean water can prevent many problems in low income communities. The available resources for clean water are very rare, so these water sources need to pass through a process of water sanitation in order to just be sustainable to drink, “The world’s surface is made up of approximately 80% water, which is an indestructible substance. Of this water approximately 97% is salt water, 2% frozen in glaciers, and only 1% is available for drinking water supply using traditional treatment methods” (Thornton). Therefore, properly treated or disinfected