Water Pollution and Drinking Water Scarcity

1403 Words3 Pages

It is scary but true. Water, one hydrogen and two oxygen, is a compound that life on Earth is completely dependent upon. A clean drinking water supply is imperative if life is going to continue. Without a supply of clean drinking water, life would cease to exist. Much of Earth’s water is contaminated with chemicals and more water is being polluted each day. The sad fact is that the pollutants are being dumped into the water by man himself. We are slowly, and knowingly, killing off our own kind.

Industrial processes all over the world are contaminating fresh water sources with biochemical waste. This waste makes its way into homes is causing unspeakable illnesses and in too many cases death. The predominant cause of death from people’s coming into contact with contaminated water is cancer. Clusters of cancer cases are appearing all over our country in towns and cities whose water supply has been contaminated by industrial carcinogens. The unsettling fact is that industrial companies know they are polluting the water, yet they deny their own guilt and keep on contaminating our natural resources. Numerous times industrial carcinogens have been proven to cause cancer in humans as well as animals in the laboratory. Sadly, without evidence that directly links companies to contamination, the technicalities of our judicial system set them free.

There are far too many hazardous chemicals that exist in the environment which are polluting our water. The most common, and perhaps most lethal, are polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs. In Drinking Water and Health, the United States Environmental Protection Agency, or EPA, accounts for PCBs as organic chemicals that are virtually undetectable by the human ...

... middle of paper ...

...

Epstein, Samuel. “Winning the war against cancer?… are they even fighting it?.” Ecologist

Mar./Apr. 1998: 69-80. 17 Mar. 2000

“Families to Split $10 Million in Pollution Case.” New York Times 21 Nov. 1999, sec. 1: 51. Is someone contaminating…your drinking water?. Oklahoma: Ground Water Protection Council. EPA.

King, Jonathan. Troubled Water Emmaus: Rodale, 1985.

MacLean, Pamela A. “Cleaning Up.” California Lawyer Aug. 1996: 24.

Safe, Stephen H., Kavita Ramamoorthy. “Disruptive behavior.” Forum for Applied Research

and Public Policy Fall 1998: 19-23. 20 Mar. 2000

“Sugar Creek Cancer Study.” By Elizabeth Alex. NBC 41 News. KSHB Missouri. 22 March

1999. 6 Apr. 2000

Welkos, Robert W. “Digging for the Truth.” Los Angeles Times 12 Mar. 2000, home edition.:

8. 6 Apr. 2000

Open Document