Cambodia
UNEP
Pollution of Public Water
Pollution of Public Water
I. Topic Background
Fresh, clean, and plentiful water provides the foundation for many communities all around the world. We depend on fresh water to survive, but currently we are heading towards a water crisis, even in California. The changing climate patterns are always threatening lakes, rivers, and even the ocean from melting ice caps, and the key sources that we need for drinking water are being overdrawn or polluted. From severe and frequent droughts to flooding across the world, many of the most profound and immediate and pressing impacts of climate change relates to water. More than one-third of all counties will face high risks of water shortages and problems by 2050 as a result of global warming if it is not stopped. Other serious impacts will include sea level rise, saltwater intrusion into freshwater banks, harm to fisheries because of lack of fish, and more frequent hurricanes and extreme storm events. Somalia, Mauritania, Sudan, and Niger are just some of the nations most heavily affected by the pollution of water and/or not being able to obtain such water. Because water is a necessity for life to be created and to exist, this alarms the international community. These people are forced to drink dirty water that carry diseases and infections and do not have access to fresh water.
II. United Nations Involvement
The UN document A/68/264 list ways water is wasted such as through over watering plants, long showers, and waste management. The UN has a long history with the water crisis and has been involved even before the 1980s. On 28 July 2010, through resolution 64/292, the United Nations General Assembly publicly recognized the human right to fre...
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...nt of industrial buildings in an area making sure they don’t pollute the water there. We also plan on implementing filters on the waste that these buildings produce, through air or waste. Finally, we plan on better waste management. Every day, we bake, do laundry, use the restroom, wash our cars, bathe, water our plants, and do many things that require water. We also use water in schools, hospitals and public places. Every home has a toilet is connected to septic tank usually nearby or located outside the house. Each time waste is flushed down the toilet, it goes into this tank, where it is separated from the water used. Biological processes are used to break down the solids and the liquid is then drained out to a drainage system. From this here, it can escape into the soil/ground and/or nearby water bodies. In some countries, they are just deposited into the sea.
Water is one of the most vital components of human life. It is a necessity, a precious resource that humans need to live, that is taken for granted every day. There is no possible way for life to be sustained on Earth without water – it just cannot happen. The human body itself is composed of almost eighty percent water: almost 95 percent of the human brain is water. It is common knowledge that pure water is the best water – for humans, and for plants and animals. Regardless of this piece of knowledge, humans still find ways to disregard the sanctity of pure water and instead, pollute it. The right to water is not officially a human right. However, because “water is a basic need for human development, health, and well-being… it is an internationally accepted human right” (Thompson 3). Water contamination is an epidemic that is so common these days that it is no longer shocking to even hear that water is contaminated. Water contamination negatively effects water that is used on a daily basis. Continuing on in this way will eventually lead to contamination that will make the existence of clean water impossible.
Growing Population, climate change, increasing water demands, drought, and impaired water quality render water supply a critical issue across the world. More than 1 in 9 people around the world, about 750 million, do not have access to safe, clean drinking water, and the problem is expected to worsen. In many parts of the world, water use is linked to energy use and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (any gaseous compound in the atmosphere capable of absorbing infrared radiation, thereby trapping heat in the atmosphere ultimately leading to global warming) because most water is transported hundreds of miles from sources to users.
Both developed and developing countries face issues regarding the safety and security of water sources (Anuar, 2012; Moe, 1991). Poor water quality and quantity has been one of the main contributors to human health related illnesses in developing countries (Moe, 1991). In addition, developed countries, such as Canada have water quality issues that are highlighted through Indigenous health impairments and as a result, advocacy for cleaner water (Anuar, 2012; Rudd, 2016). In Canada, one concern imposing threats to Indigenous health is various forms of water contamination (Gracey and King, 2009).
The temperatures rise and the amount of rainfall decreases which disturbs the natural system of the Earth, causing ice caps to melt, sea levels to rise, plants and animal food sources to deplete which in turn affects humans food sources and agriculture, and natural disasters to occur more often. Similarly, climate change seems to have the greatest impact on the oceans and ecosystems along the coast. Many countries center themselves on their water supply; for instance, throughout history, population has always been the densest along rivers and lakes, but mostly along the coasts. People need water to survive, not only for drinking and their homes, but they also use water to import and export goods, and for transportation. “Many areas of the United States, especially the West, currently face water supply issues. The amount of water available in these areas is already limited, and demand will continue to rise as population grows. The West has experienced less rain over the past 50 years, as well as increases in the severity and length of droughts; this has been especially of concern in the Southwest” (“Climate Change Impacts”). Another concern of climate change is the rising of sea levels, which is caused by ice melting or the shifting of the land and the plates. When the sea level rises, it affects not only all of the human activities, but the quality of their water, as well as the plants
The International Water Resources Association's report predicts that if there is no improvement in water infrastructure in countries, such as the United States and Canada, the world will have severe water shortages in 2025, and the problem is imminent. There are more than 4200 billion cubic meters of sewage discharged into the rivers and lakes every day in the world and it pollutes 550 million cubic meters of fresh water, which is equivalent more than 14% of the river of the global water
Introduction on Water It covers 70% of our planet, makes up 75% of our body, it is necessary for survival and it is declining at a rapid rate (http://www.sscwd.org). It is water. Unfortunately, clean water is rare, almost 1 billion people in developing countries do not have access to water everyday. “Yet, we take it for granted, we waste it, and we even pay too much to drink it from little plastic bottles” (The Water Project). Use of earth’s natural resources should be seen as prosperity, although it is taken for granted, every aspect of daily life revolves around the environment, forcing water conservation to be necessary for future on this planet.
Freshwater is quite scarce, but it is even scarcer than one might think: about seventy percent of all freshwater is frozen in the icecaps of Antarctica and Greenland and is unavailable to humans. Most of the remainder is present as soil moisture or lies in deep underground aquifers as groundwater. It is not economically feasible to extract this waster for use as drinking water. This leaves less than one percent of the world’s fresh water that is available to humans. It includes the water found in lakes, reservoirs, groundwater that is shallow enough to be tapped at an affordable cost. These freshwater sources are the only sources that are frequently replenished by rain and snowfall, and therefore are renewable. At the current rates of consumption, however, this supply of fresh water will not last. Pollution and contamination of freshwater sources exacerbate the problem, further reducing the amount of freshwater available for human consumption. Something must be done if humans want to even survive in the near future: the lack of clean drinking water is already the number one cause of disease in the world today. The first step is worldwide awareness of the water crisis: governments and the citizens they govern worldwide need to know about this problem and be actively involved in solving this problem.
It might be easier to live a healthy life for many people, but for others it can be very challenging. I have tried to be healthy so many times, but I always fell off the wagon. For many days I would “feel” healthy, but in reality I was not the healthiest person mentally or physically. I knew that I had to change my behavior, and become healthier (or at least almost healthy) if I wanted to live a longer life. I began my journey by drinking more water, balancing my eating with exerting, all while trying to stay mentally well.
People don’t appreciated the many advantages that comes with having clean potable water to use, taking it for granted. A lot of clean useful water is wasted by humans all the time that people don’t care about saving water because they have easy access to it. Clean and safe drinkable water resources are getting scarce as the population grows. The world is facing many problems, but the most important needed to survive, is water. Water is getting low in many countries, therefore habitants are suffering the misfortune of not having the reliable source of clean water. Today many countries are having water shortages; meaning rivers, lakes, streams and groundwater are not enough to rely on for supplying water demands. For example, California is facing a drastic water shortage, the natural water resources are not enough to fulfill their water demands. Water shortage affects the agricultural sector, so as a consequence the price for production
The problem of water scarcity has increasingly spread throughout the world as of yet, The UN reports that within the next half- century up to 7 billion people in 60 countries which is more than the whole present population will face water scarcity (Sawin “Water Scarcity could Overwhelm the Next Generation”). As well the demand for freshwater has tripled over the past 50 years, and is continuing to rise as a result of population growth and economic development. 70% of this demand derives from agriculture which shows the influence of water on food supply globally as well not just drinking water (Sawin “Water Scarcity could overwhelm the Next Generation”). But increasing water use is not just a matter of the greater number of people needing it to drink and eat; it also comes from pollution and misuse of water supplies, by either dumping or runoff of bacteria or chemicals into water. This also “causes other pollutions as well such as soil and air pollution, accelerating wetland damage and human caused global warming” (Smith and Thomassey 25). According to UN report, recent estimates suggest that climate change will account for about 20 percent of the increase in global water scarcity in coming decades.
Even though water is constantly being recycled, people should limit the amount of water they consume as we are simply running out. The problem is that we don’t do much about the thousands of gallons of water we lose to factories and nature, not to mention that we spend gallons through consumer uses, and a large portion of fresh water are frozen in the ice caps. I believe that our supply of fresh water is running out and it’s up to us to do something about it. I believe people do a lot of good but also do a lot of harm when it involves water. I should say that water is a basis to survival and we’re running out. While some of the problems are a little bit more in nature’s hands then our, we still have a big impact on water conserves. Nature can play a huge role when it comes to
Domestic households and industrial and agricultural practices often produce wastewater that can cause rivers and lakes to become polluted. This is typically called sewage and wastewater pollution. Sewage is a term for wastewater that usually contains feces, urine, and laundry waste. With there being billions of people on earth, treating sewage is a big priority. Untreated sewage can contam...
Freshwater in the world makes up only a small portion of water on the planet. While the percentage of water in the world is nearly 70%, only 2.5% is consumable. Even further, only <1% is easily accessible to basic human needs. According to National Geographic, “by 2025, an estimated 1.8 billion people will live in areas plagued by water scarcity, with two-thirds of the world's population living in water-stressed regions as a result of use, growth, and climate change.” With this current trend, water will become more immersed in environmental, economic, political, and social changes. Many of these in later years shall need to be addressed as tension rises:
What is pollution? Pollution is a detrimental enemy to all species that walk on earth. It is a product of mankind carbon foot print on the environment. It consists of chemicals or particles in the air that can harm the health of humans, animals, and plants. Pollution occurs when pollutants contaminate the natural surrounding; which brings about changes that affect our normal lifestyles adversely. Pollutants are the key elements of pollution which are generally waste materials of dissimilar forms. Pollution disturbs our ecosystem and the balance in the environment. With innovation and development in our lives pollution has reached its peaks; giving rise to global warming and human illness. When raw materials, water, energy and other resources
Wastewater is the combination of water-carried or liquid wastes starting in the sanitary conveniences of dwellings, industrial or commercial facilities. In addition to this, surface water, groundwater and storm water may also be present. It is any water that has been badly affected in quality by anthropogenic influence. It contains waste from residential, industrial and commercial processes. Municipal water contains industrial wastewater, sewage and gray water. Gray water is the water from sinks and showers. Large industries also produce wastewater.