WATER QUALITY

WATER QUALITY

Water is an essential substance to the environment and its constituents, including the economy of the world. Although the water is vital for drinking it varies depending on the conditions of the water source. The water, safe for drinking, should be treated accordingly and must meet the requirements of the Environmental Protection Agency. In most cases, water supply is done through a community system under environmental regulations.

Our community has its own system of water supply, which supplies more than 1000 households. Annual reports are presented concerning the quality of the water we drink. In the last two years, the reports that have been presented create awareness to the community about the safe water. The reports contain different information which includes but not limited to about the source of water, contaminants levels, and other standards of water quality as well as the violation of contaminant level (Power, 2017). From the reports in our community, it is shown that there was no violation of the regulations on the standard level of contamination. After conducting different contamination tests, one of the reports shows that at some extent, our drinking water was not to the required standard, but then the problem was rectified instantly. The major aspects that were discussed in the reports include the source of the water, the constituents of the water and comparison to the standards that states allow (A. Kornberg, 2018).

The main sources of water in our community are from drilled wells, ponds, springs and rivers etc. Contaminants include microbial compounds, organic compounds and inorganic, among others may be present in these sources of water. The reports show that the location of water sources and the amount of water collected from those sources. However, the two reports display the types of contaminants that we’re tested, which include but not limited to nitrates, inorganic compounds, radiological compounds, copper, and coliform. Finally, the reports indicate how the contaminants are removed and show the degree standards of water quality and whether there was any violation. Possible measures set to avoid violating the regulations were also indicated.

Our health is very important; hence we should ensure that we always use quality water in our homes. Our community water system is trying as much as possible to ensure that we are provided with safe water at all times. However, in realizing this, there is an issue that always arises. The main issue of water quality in our community is pollution. It is the major threat to human health as far as water is a concern; hence possible measures should be set to curb this problem. In most cases, the main source of pollution in every society is from human activities (Alrumman, 2016). In our community, the source of water pollution involves point sources, natural sources and non-point sources.

Point sources are single-source pollution and include discharge from the industries within and outside our community. The effluents discharged from those industries may either be legal or illegal, but both carry contaminants. Although the discharges may be treated and regulated by the EPA, they still contaminate the water. Another source of water pollution in our community is the non-point source which takes a larger percentage and includes human activities, especially agricultural. More than half of the people in our community rely on the groundwater through drilled wells. Fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides are the main pollutants of groundwater. These contaminants get into the aquifer, and once in, it is very difficult to remove; almost impossible. Apart from these sources, there are also natural sources of pollution which include organic compounds from plants (mostly nutrients), sea salt and dust from deserts. Moreover, during volcanic eruptions and forest fires, some natural contaminants are discharged into water (Mallik, 2018).

The contaminants in the water have various effects on the environment and human health. Every year, more than one million deaths are experienced worldwide, and not less than one billion are sickened. Communities with low income are the most affected with waterborne diseases caused by water pathogen. Our community is not an exception since it falls under the low-income communities. Human and animal wastes are the main source of viral and bacterial diseases in the water. The waterborne diseases that always affect our community include cholera and typhoid. Wealthy nations, however, are not very safe due to illegal releases to water which in turn pollute the water and can cause illness. For example, in the U.S (especially California), many people become ill from Legionnaires disease from water sources such as piped water (Gurjar, 2018). On the other side, water pollutants in the lakes and oceans influence the growth of algae which causes eutrophication creating dead zones. Waterways like rivers as well are contaminated by toxic chemicals and metals which risk aquatic lives. Marine debris and ocean acidification, on the other hand, threatens the Marine environment (Wang, 2016).