Water Pollution
Water Pollution is a much bigger problem than most people think. I have grown up in a city where water has been a serious issue for a while now. It is a huge problem all over the world, especial in third world countries. There is not much I can do on my own to change this issue, however by making people more aware of it, together we can make a change. My intention is to raise awareness. I am going to do this through a visual aspect. I am going to make designs that will stand out and attract the audience to look at it and to learn about this issue. By rising peoples awareness about the issue may lead to an unintended consequence of purifying water throughout the world.
We are not safe from water pollution. We sometimes think that we are safe here in the U.S. but there is a lot of problems that we do not know about. In the U.S., lakes are 46% too polluted for fishing, swimming, or aquatic life. In my hometown of Woburn Mass I have witnessed a lot of water pollution. Back when my parents were growing up there were a lot of Tannering factories where they made leather. However, a lot of chemicals are used for this process. A lot of these chemicals got into the water system causing many people to have miscarriages and many people got leukemia. This was a huge problem for the time and pretty well known. Also, our local pond is illegal to swim in, it has been getting better but for the longest time was very polluted.
A lot of this pollution is man made. For example, I found an Article called, "More Radioactive Water Leaks at Japanese Plant". In Tokyo, at least 45 tons of highly radioactive water has leaked from a purification facility, and some of it is believed to have reached the Pacific Ocean. The trouble came in two stages. In the morning, utility workers found that radioactive water was pooling in a catchment next to a purification device. It was later discovered that leaked water was escaping, most likely through a crack in the concrete wall and was reaching an external gutter. In this case, it was an accident that this happened. Accidents happen all the time, however, it has not always been like this. Thc company said that the water had about one million times as much radioactive strontium as the maximum safe level set by the government, but appeared to have already been cleaned of radioactive cesium before leaking out. Both elements are readily absorbed by living issue and can greatly increase the risk of developing cancer. We have yet to see the results of this because it just happened on the fifth, however I am sure we wil
l see some results very soon, probably in the next few weeks.
Another example of an Environmental issue took place in Pennsylvania back in November. It is a 44 square mile plot of steep ravines and grassy lands called the Amwell Township. It is home to some of 4,000 people. most of whom live in villages named Amity, Lone Pine and Prosperity. The township sits atop of one of the largest fields of natural gas in the world. A formation that stretches beneath 575 miles of West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio and New York. About five years ago, leases began to appear in the mailboxes of residents of Amwell Township from Range Resources, a Texas-based oil company seeking to harvest gas through hydraulic fracturing.
"Fracking" is the process of natural-gas drilling that involves pumping vast quantities of water, sand and chemicals thousands of feet into the earth to crack the deep shale deposits and free bubbles of gas from the ancient porous rock. Harvesting his gas promises either to provide Americans with a clean domestic energy source or to despoil rural areas and poison our air and drinking water, depending on who you ask.
So what? We can not live without water so we need to step up and make it last as long as we can. As of right now we are doing a very good job at destroying and polluting our water resource. The Effects of water pollution are varied and depend on watt chemicals are dumped and in what locations. Boston Harbor is strain example of how badly pollution can damage bodies of water. The water is fueled with toxic waste and sewage. There has to be an effort to sustain clean water, and it need to be a fair and equal way of distributing water to multiple societies. In Urban areas, water gets contaminated in many different ways. Some of the more common ways are leaky pipes in areas where the water pipe and sewage line pass close together. Sometimes the water gets polluted at source due to various reasons and mainly due to inflow of sewage into the source.
Chemicals in Drinking Water (Examples)
- Fluoride: Fluoride in the water is essential for protection against dental caries and weakening of the bones, but higher levels can have an adverse effect on health. For e
xample, In india, high fluoride content is found naturally in the water.
- Arsenic: Arsenic occurs naturally or is possibly aggravated by over powering aquifers and by phosphorus from fertilizers. High concentrations of arsenic in water can have an adverse effect on heath. A few years back, high concentrations of this element was found in drinking water in six districts in West Bengal. A majority of people in the area was found suffering from arsenic skin lesions. It was felt that arsenic contamination in the groundwater was due to natural causes. The government is trying to provide an alternative drinking water source and a method through which the arsenic content from water can be removed.
- Lead: Pipes and the service connections of some household plumbing systems contain lead that contaminated the drinking water source.
- Recreational use of water: Untreated sewage, industrial effluents, and agricultural waste are often discharged into the water bodies such as the lakes, coastal areas and rivers endangering their use for recreational purposes such as swimming and canoeing.
Water pollution is suggested to be one of the leading worldwide causes of deaths and diseases, and that it accounts for the deaths of more than 14,000 people daily. An estimated 700 million Indians ha
ve no access to a proper toilet, and 1,000 Indian children die of diarrheal sickness every day. Some 90% of Chinas cities suffer from some degree of water pollution and nearly 500 million people lack access to safe drinking water.
Another good example of some serious water pollution is the Ganges River in India. The Ganges River begins high in the Tibetan plateau and winds wits way 2,500 Kilometers to the Indian Ocean in the Bay of Bengal. The river flows through China, India, Nepal and Bangladesh. The Ganges River basin is both of the most fertile places on earth and also one of the most populated rivers with over 400 million people who are dependent on the river asa lifeline. Along the river water is diverted for irrigation of crops. The river is used for discharge of industrial waste from factories, such as leather makers and pulp mills and raw human sewage. 80% of the pollution that enters the river is raw sewage. The volume of waste is estimated nearly at 1.3 billion liters per day, mostly untreated raw sewage which is a huge factor in the spread of infection and water born diseases.
A huge factor in the pollution of the Ganges is the Industrial corporation. Industrial waste from textile, leather, and paper factories contribute to 15% of the waste dumped into the river yet it has a worse impact on pollution than the raw sewage. Some of the chemicals released into the river include cancer causing dioxins. The reaso
n why this river is so polluted is because India has few environmental regulations which makes it easier for countries to dispose of their waste. There is only one major law thats stands in the way and that is a requirement to pay a small fee for permits to pump pollutants into the river. I think this is one of the most bizarre laws I have ever heard, especially into a river that millions of people bathe in every day.
" An estimated 6 million tons of chemical fertilizers and 9,000 tons of pesticides are added to the Ganges river each year a long with raw sewage." During the 1970's, over 570 fishing villages resided along the Ganges river. Today, fishing is extremely rare because the polluted waters has killed most of the marine life. Fishermen have been left with not job alternatives because the pollution has wiped out the marine life.
No What? So what can we do about this water pollution around the world? There are many alternative solutions to how we can solve this problem. For example, with the Ganges River, some initiatives began to try and clean up the river. For example the "Ganges Action Plan" has been set up under the Indian Government is attempting to build a number of waste treatment facilities with the support of the British and Dutch. India Government has already spent over 33 million Dollars to address the overwhelming sewage problem. At the beginning of 2006 things were beginning to look better. Satellite images were showing increased water clarity in the river.
As of 2006, waterborne diseases are estimated to have caused 1.8 million deaths each year. These deaths are attributed to inadequate public sanitations systems and in these cases, proper water treatments need to be installed. Appropriate technology options in water treatment include both community-scale and household-scale use designs. Military surplus water treatment unites are still seen in developing countries. These are called ERDlators. An ERDLator is a field water treatment device that was created in World War II. It is named "Water Purification Unit, Van-Type, Body Mounted, Electric Driven". This device was introduced into the fields as a mobile unit under harsh field conditions. It provided not only the water needed for survival, but clean potable water for staying healthy.
"One of the most important unites was the water supply platoon. This platoon operated…water purification plants called the Erdalators that could remove silt and suspended matter, filter, and purify even contaminated stream water. Producing from 3,000 gallons per day-- the larger number was achieved using separate large rubberized settling tanks -- one unit could adequately supply an infantry battalion under adverse conditions." United States Marine Corps Engineer.
The world is 80 percent water and it is one of the most important resources that we have. As much water as we have, it can be very scarce at the same time. Drinking water can be the issue. With the population of the human race rising like crazy, its tough to maintain a clean environment when everyone is so clustered together. Being so compacted like this leads to a lot of trash and pollution. So trying to maintain a clean water supply is tough when living like this.
We must try and keep our environment clean and sustainable. We are not going to last too much longer if we keep it up. There are many programs that are working on how to keep water clean. Deer Island in Boston for example is a huge facility that is working on cleaning the harbor up which really needs it. But then you have place like the Ganges River. Where rules do not apply. People dumping bodies into this river, feces, chemicals, sewage and much more. When this is allowed nothing will get better, just way worse.
