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Clean water is imperative to live. From our drinking water to sanitization, to modern technology such as fracking it is vital. Humans and animals alike require water daily for survival and comfort. Just three days without water and we would all suffer greatly. Clean water should be equally accessible to all humans. Water legislations are personal to humans as it is such an important factor in life. It should be taken on a personal level. From clean drinking water to groundwater and biosolid management. Active involvement in regulating our water quality is essential to our way of life. The fact that we are allowing human beings to drink filthy water is disheartening in our countries priorities. Currently, 323 million people rely on services for clean water in America. However, an estimated 1.6 billion people still do not have adequate access to indoor plumbing and drinking water. Even with our current state of wealth and the (SDWA) safe drinking water act, many are left without necessities.
785 million people globally lack even a basic drinking-water service, including 144 million people who are dependent on surface water. Globally, at least 2 billion people use a drinking water source contaminated with feces. Contaminated water can transmit diseases such as diarrhea, cholera, dysentery, typhoid, and polio. Contaminated drinking water is estimated to cause 485 000 diarrhoeal deaths each year. In 2010, the UN General Assembly explicitly recognized the human right to water and sanitation. Everyone has the right to sufficient, continuous, safe, acceptable, physically accessible, and affordable water for personal and domestic use. An estimated 829 000 people are going to die each year from diarrhea as a result of unsafe drinking-water, sanitation, and hand hygiene. Diarrhea is largely preventable, and the deaths of 297 000 children aged under 5 years could be avoided each year if proper water sanitation and regulations were in place. In places where clean water is not accessible the education of proper handwashing is often not mainstream, therefore increasing the risk of contracting diseases. In America, the CDC and the EPA work diligently to keep us as the top safest water supply in the world. With an estimated one trillion being spent by the time 2025 for expanding and improving infrastructure, they are working day and night to keep Americans safe. Despite this, many Americans still go without access. It took over 200 years from our founding to create water protections. We did not have any protection until 1984, the first attempt. It was called the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (FWPCA). It was the first major law enacted by Congress to address the problems of water pollution in the US. Totaling over 100 bills legislators had attempted to pass legislation over the previous half-century, to no avail. By 1948 urban growth and industrial production fueled by World War II had led to apparent, and often notable, pollution of the country’s rivers, streams, and lakes, pressuring Congress to finally handle the issue. Unfortunately, the act was very flimsy and accomplished little. It did not generally prohibit pollution, gave only limited authority to the federal government, and provided extremely tedious enforcement.
It took almost 25 years for a law regarding water to be created. The Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) was created in 1972, in addition to being more specific, it was more stringent than its predecessor. It allows the EPA to set statewide sanders for drinking water across the nation. Any public water system is held to this standard. Clean water is used not only for drinking but also for cleaning, agriculture, bathing, cooking and much more. We only use 4% of our water supply for drinking and shocking 33% for sanitary use comparatively. Water is critical to almost everything in our daily lives, which highlights the importance of the Safe Drinking Water Act. Currently, Trump is restricting the jurisdiction of the Clean Water Act (CWA). This decision is cheered by many but heavily ridiculed also. The repeal of the act known as the ‘Waters of America’ act prevented contamination of water from a list of chemicals. The efforts have focused heavily on eliminating restrictions on fossil fuel pollution, including coal-fired power plants, automobile tailpipes, and methane emissions, but have also touched on asbestos and chemical hazards like pesticides.
One significant and quickly damaging side effect of the clean water repeal is that polluters will no longer need a permit to dispose of potentially unregulated substances into many wetlands and streams. The rollback, which is expected to take effect very soon. has far beyond reaching consequences due to the pollution that will now be allowed to harm our environment. This narrowing of policy is worrying to many due to the current state of control being mainly republican. The concern is that reform will not be possible due to the shift in ideological shifts from socialist to corporate interest. A professor of environmental law Patrick Parenteau at the Vermont Law School said that, for conservative states and leaders who believe the Clean Water Act has been restricting and tedious for farmers and industry, “this is an opportunity to drive a stake through the heart of federal water protection.” Trump’s reasoning for the rollback is that restricting farmers leaves them less time to build the instructor. However, environmentalists warn of the long term unrestricted damage to our natural resources. With the importance of a clean environment, this is very concerning due to our already waining supply and growing population.
A city that encountered a difficult legal battle over contaminated water in Flint Michigan, Ohio’s neighboring state. Due to lead in the water, it is now undrinkable and will burn the skin. It has left families with nowhere to go and irreversible health problems. Problems such as damaged DNA, lowered IQ, damaged nerves, lack of physical growth in children, impaired learning abilities, impaired hearing, impaired vision, impaired reading and much more. State health director Nick Lyon is being represented by private attorneys and they have cost taxpayers more than $1.6 million to defend Gov. Rick Snyder’s high-ranking member of the cabinet. His trial isn’t even set yet and they are facing involuntary manslaughter charges stemming from Flint’s water crisis. The majority of Busch’s legal bills stem from dozens of lawsuits filed by residents of Flint over the leaching of lead into Flint’s drinking water system. Alongside the damage from led 90 people have died due to Legionnaires disease. This has been linked to contaminants in the river water. All 90 people became ill within the eighteen months of exposure to the new water source. There has been much criticism of the state’s slow response to warning residents, this has caused suspicion of a higher death toll than the confirmed 90.
Evidence suggests from the preliminary investigation that Busch and other DEQ employees covered up Flint’s water problems; he was also charged criminally and suspended with pay for more than two years ago in April. Involuntary manslaughter charges against Busch last summer were added when a flood occurred at the same time he charged Lyon, the highest-ranking member of the Snyder administration to be charged. This case is extremely relevant to the SDWA because it was entirely preventable. The cause of the contaminated water was due to a switching of resources. The main water supply was moved from the great lakes to the local river without proper corrosion control and regulation. This resulted in the lead pipes being exposed to the drinking water. Nearly 100,000 people have been impacted by this health crisis. Residents can now sue the state and EPA, claiming to slow response to the crisis. It has been determined that state and local officials lead the residents to believe everything was fine, contrary to EPA awareness of erosion in the pipelines. Currently, legal action is still being determined and the EPA refuses to comment. Another example of miss-handled drinking water was in Modesto California. In 1998 the city of Modesto filed a lawsuit that was formed against various dry cleaners, the creators of the equipment and the manufacturer’s distributors of the solvent. The lawsuit claimed the defendants had caused the groundwater, sewer system, soil, and easements to become contaminated with (PCE) perchloroethylene a toxic chlorinated solvent.
For a long time, Modesto has struggled against corporations such as Dow Chemical. Dow and other manufacturers knew that the chemical perchloroethylene — known as perc or PCE — was poisonous but still told cleaners to pour it into the sewer. This is negligence, a failure to do what any other decent person might do. Eventually, this resulted in the plaintiff’s being rewarded with reprimands for three dry cleaning sites including an award for punitive damages against three defendants. In Puerto Rico, in 2015 a large majority of residents gained water from sources that do not meet the Safe Drinking Water Act. Nearly 70% drank from water contaminated with coliform bacteria, disinfection by-products, and more. On top of this hurricane, Maria created a humanitarian crisis alongside the already harsh conditions. This horrific event forced people to drink toxic water. Many ended up in emergency rooms or worse, dead. Even now all residents are advised to boil their water. As climate change continues to change our world, hurricane season seems to be extending. Puerto Rico is likely to experience more and more dire weather. Americans, therefore, must invest in better water and energy access, which currently is negligible at best.
The hurricane flooded many residential areas. With the high water, toxins such as fecal matter and no access to hygiene resources the flooding was extremely dangerous. Contaminated water, lack of food and lack of help resulted in the estimated deaths of 2,975 people. Another aspect of water regulation that must be addressed is groundwater contamination. This goes hand in hand with clean drinking water because many rural cities obtain drinking water via the ground. When our wells and underground water reserves are poisoned we stand to not only limit our water cycle but also damage crops, land, animals and the ecosystem as a whole. A major contributor to polluted groundwater is our agricultural methods of using excess nitrates. We use nitrates in farming to help plants grow, without nitrates we could not produce enough food for our planet. However due to run off and many other factors the nitrates tend to end up in local water supply. An excess of nitrates in water will choke out any oxygen. This will slowly kill local wildlife and even algie. Eventually, all that will remain is green-blue algae. This algae is toxic and can kill animals and make humans sick. Recently there have been warnings about this alga in our local water. Traces have been found in pets and any fur parents do not realize the very real danger. The toxin (cyanobacteria) can cause seizures, panting, excessive drooling, respiratory failure, diarrhea, disorientation, vomiting, liver failure, and ultimately death.
This is found in lakes that you would think nothing of on a hot summer day just trying to cool off and swim. I have seen many posts and videos posted on social media sites are warning pet owners of this dangerous algae. The videos show dogs and people swimming in lakes and then having to rush their pets to the vet. In some sad cases, the pet does not survive. In Wilmington, North Carolina, three dogs died after going for a swim in a local pond. While another also became ill in Lake Allatoona. They became ill due to consuming the water and a lack of awareness about how to respond and spot algae. The EPA is approaching this issue from many fronts. The clean water act to reviewing state standards they are attempting to gain further understanding and communication amongst producers and civilians regarding this issue. They are trying to establish national primary drinking water regulations for nitrate and nitrite. As well as introducing toxic cyanobacteria on the drinking water priority contaminant candidate list and proposing that they are monitored under the unregulated contaminant monitoring rule
In conclusion, the importance of clean water for all cannot be overstated. As regulations are rolled back, climate change limits access to resources and water becomes more scarce the value of this fact becomes more apparent. Even today all who have read this paper have most likely used water. With 90 or more deaths in Flint and irreversible medical damage, 2000 plus in Puerto Rico and current roll back clean water in America seems havoc. To support water legislation and regulation is to support the future. Hopefully with the right choices generations after us can enjoy equal access to water. If not, we could be leaving our children with severe health issues, a lack of biodiversity and even at worst no water at all. We must consider carefully how we want our future to look. We must consider the deep personal importance of protecting our water and supporting the laws that do so.
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