April 22, 2024
By Gabriel Campos
Staff Writer
This article is part of an in-depth reporting project for Earth Day.
Clean drinking water is essential for living, yet two billion people, which is 26% of the world’s population, lack access to it.
According to the World Health Organization, in 2022, 1.7 billion people used a water resource contaminated by feces. This contamination can spread diseases including cholera, dysentery and typhoid.
Biology and environmental science teacher Ms. Manzella, who advises the Environmental Club, said when drinking water causes health issues in a population, it can affect other aspects of life including access to education and economic productivity.
“Those who are severely sick cannot go to school or work and also face increased healthcare costs that they may not be able to afford,” Manzella said. “This can all perpetuate a cycle of poverty, making it hard for the community to prosper.”
Manzella said a concerning example regarding water access can be found in Puerto Rico, where pharmaceutical companies use up significant amounts of groundwater, which would otherwise be used for drinking and sanitation. Not only does industry on the island use up a lot of water but also contaminates it.
“These floods ruin the quality of water as it is no longer safe to drink and could be contaminated.”
According to ABC News, families in Puerto Rico sometimes go two or three days a week without water because water providers remove their access without notice.
Manzella said Americans can contribute to the fight against unsafe drinking water.
“They can do this through voting for government officials who support legislation and policies that protect water sources and, as a consumer, only supporting companies and organizations that have practices in place that do not take away others’ rights to clean water,” Manzella said.
She said climate change, contamination due to pollution, natural disasters, population growth and warfare can all cut off access to a water source or damage infrastructure used to transport or treat it.
Like Manzella, vice president of the Environmental Club senior Nicole Graziani said climate change affects access to clean drinking water because higher temperatures lead to intensified rainfall that causes flooding.
“These floods ruin the quality of water as it is no longer safe to drink and could be contaminated,” Graziani said.
According to New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ Office of Environmental and Climate Justice, low-lying areas with poor stormwater drainage systems can be affected by severe flooding, even if the areas are inland.
Rising sea levels, another aspect of climate change, also contribute to flooding and limit access to clean drinking water. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, this causes saltwater intrusion, which contaminates groundwater used for drinking.
Graziani said contaminated water causes diseases.
“Even if it is unsafe, people drink it anyway because they need it to survive. Intervention is needed to ensure that less people are drinking contaminated water,” Graziani said.
Microbiologically contaminated sources of drinking water cause 505,000 diarrheal deaths a year, according to the World Health Organization.
Graziani said the Environmental Club is working to address water pollution.
“To keep our oceans clean, we do [a] beach cleanup and pick up trash along the shore,” Graziani said. “Another way we bring awareness is by recycling. Ms. Manzella has a box in her classroom to put in candy wrappers, which will be recycled into new plastic. That way, less waste will be in the water.”
History teacher Mr. Tessalone said even in the United States, access to clean drinking water remains a problem.
INFOGRAPHIC BY LILY ANDERSON Sources: The Mayo Clinic, UNICEF, WaterAid America and the World Health Organization
According to the television network PBS, almost half of pipes in the United States contain per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, known as PFAS. This group of long-lasting chemical compounds can lead to severe health problems, including cancer.
“There was a water crisis going on in the United States in Flint, Michigan, where the water was not clean,” Tessalone said.
Residents of Flint say they still face health complications because of the city’s water crisis that arose a decade ago due to contamination from lead and possibly Legionella bacteria.
Tessalone said corporations and governments must work together to make safe drinking water available in affected areas.
“More outreach to those communities [and] more investment in those communities [is needed to] improve the infrastructure and have access to clean drinking water,” said Tessalone.
