...How Unsanitary Water is a Global Problem In resolution 64/292, the United Nations General Assembly (2010) stated that “safe and clean drinking water … [was] a human right that is essential for the full enjoyment of life and all human rights” (p.2). This right, however, is not accessible to everyone in the world. So, this paper will look at why unsanitary drinking water is a global problem, examining the problem through the lens of the conflict theory, and some possible solutions. Problems First, this paper will look at factors as to why unsanitary water is a global problem. According to the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund, more than 780 million people still do not have access to safe drinking water in the world (Ramirez-Djumena, 2012, p. 33). While this number technically meets the United Nations Millennium Development Goal Target 7c to “reduce by half, between 1990 and 2015, ‘the proportion of the population without sustainable access to safe drinking-water and basic sanitation,’” there is still more than 40 percent of all inhabitants of sub-Saharan Africa who lack access to safe-drinking water and only 19 out of the 50 countries in that area are on track to meet Target 7c (Bain, 2012, p.228; Ramirez-Djumena, 2012, p.32). Without access to clean drinking water, the inhabitants in these areas are more susceptible to water-born diseases. The World Health Organization reported that due a lack of access to clean water, “1.6 million people die every...
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...DRINKING WATER Drinking water or potable water is water safe enough to be consumed by humans or used with low risk of immediate or long term harm. In most developed countries, the water supplied to households, commerce and industry meets drinking water standards, even though only a very small proportion is actually consumed or used in food preparation. Typical uses (for other than potable purposes) include toilet flushing, washing and landscape irrigation. Over large parts of the world, humans have inadequate access to potable water and use sources contaminated with disease vectors, pathogens or unacceptable levels of toxins or suspended solids. Drinking or using such water in food preparation leads to widespread acute and chronic illnesses and is a major cause of death and misery in many countries. Reduction of waterborne diseases is a major public health goal in developing countries. Water has always been an important and life-sustaining drink to humans and is essential to the survival of all known organisms.[1] Excluding fat, water composes approximately 70% of the human body by mass. It is a crucial component of metabolic processes and serves as a solvent for many bodily solutes. The United States Environmental Protection Agency in risk assessment calculations assumes that the average American adult ingests 2.0 litres per day.[2] Drinking water of a variety of qualities is bottled. Bottled water is sold for public consumption throughout the world. Requirements A fountain...
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...Assignment Topic: China’s Deadly Water Problem And Corporate Social Responsibility Deficiencies (Issues arising from the dead pigs found floating in a Shanghai river) 【Abstract】 There is an old saying in Chinese culture that the appearance of a fat pig at the front door augurs abundance and good fortune. However, the sight of more than 16,000 pig carcasses floating on the Huangpu River portends something else entirely. As Huangpu River is a major source of drinking water for 23 million Shanghai residents, the incident caused mass panic, especially in Shanghai. The following report will firstly illustrate the specific background of the incident, followed by the analysis of the two major issues raised from the incident, which are China’s deadly water problem and corporate responsibility deficiencies. Finally, conclusions will be drawn, and recommendations will be provided to organisations in terms of the management of social responsibility. 【Background of the Issue】 The development of the incident follows the following timeline: * On 7th March 2013, a user on Weibo (known as Chinese Twitter) posted few photos showing that there were lots of dead pigs floating on the river near his home. Suddenly, the post was forwarded by over eight hundred users that caught the public and even the government’s attention. Shanghai Ministry of Environmental Protection promptly started to salvage pig carcasses, however, the number of dead pigs were far more than what had been...
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...clean and drinkable water sources and 2.8 billion of people are affected every year in this planet full of water sources. “783 million people, or 11 per cent of the global population, remain without access to an improved source of clean water”, quoted United Nations 2013. These are the water issues and that had been proved by researchers around the world. This essay discuss the importance of water on human body, how the lives of people in water poor communities around the world are impacted, poor sanitation, health effects on people in water poor communities and opportunities for a better livelihood with water sources. In the first place, water is the most important element of all human needs to keep us alive and live normally. The reason why a human needs to drink water because our body takes up to 55 to 78 percentage of water to work functionally, such as metabolism, regulations of body temperature and more. Humans cannot perform actions in the best situation or live healthily without sufficient amount of water preserved, worse, one will face dehydration or death if no water is accessed within three days or lesser. In order to prevent dehydration, which often happens in summer or when the humidity of air is low, humans have to drink up to 8 glasses of water, or even more than that which highly depending on the condition of body individually (Carolyn O'Neil, July 2011). For example, women that is in pregnant or breastfeeding their child requires a lot of water to keep themselves...
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...Topic: The Bottled Water Industry Specific Purpose Statement: To convince Americans to stop buying bottled water and start drinking from our taps; the bottled water industry his hoaxing us into believing that bottled water is healthier for us and better for our environment. Central Idea: To stop Americans from buying bottled water and to have them start drinking from their taps, because the bottled water industry a hoaxing us into believing that bottled water is healthier for us and better for our environment. _____________________________________________________________________________________ Introduction: “Whiskey is for sippen and water is for fighten” This quote from author Mark Twain, is exactly my mission today. I have done the research and am one of the few people who know and understand the truth behind the bottled water industry. I am here to explain to you why we must fight for the world’s most valued resource, stop purchasing bottled water, and to start drinking from our taps. (Connective: Before I begin to tell you why and how to solve the problem I first would like to expose to you all, the problems hidden within the bottled water industry.) Body: I. Bottled water industries are eliminating the access to clean drinking water. A. Nestle is the world’s largest food processing company. 1. Nestles owns 6 water companies: Poland Spring, Deer Park, Zephyrhills, Ice Mountain, Ozarka, and Arrowhead. ...
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...World. Bottled water has been one of the success stories of the past 20 years. Always popularin some European countries such as France and Italy, fears about contamination of water supplies coupled with rising affluence has resulted in exponential growth in the market in countries where previously people were perfectly happy to drink tap water. The growth in the world population, and consequently increasing pressure on freshwater supplies, means that tap water in many countries is either contaminated or (at best) tastes unpleasant owing to residues from the purification system. The problem for many of the firms in the industry has been the cost of purifying and bottling the water; traditional sources of mineral water, such as the Perrier springs, are inadequate to cope with the potential world supply. Nestles answer to the problem is to source the water in China, where bottling costs are low, and rather than use expensive spring water, to purify ordinary tap water. This renders the water safe to drink, but at a fraction of the overall cost of using spring or mineral water. Nestle initially entered the Asian market by buying out local brands. The company now owns over 50 local brands in Asia, and is lobbying governments in Pakistan, Ghana and the Philippines to allow foreign ownership of local companies: In some Asian countries, notably Thailand, the market has developed to the point where only the very poorest people would drink tap water; Nestle hopes to achieve...
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...Vulnerability of Aila 2009 Affected Women, Ailapur, Khulna, Bangladesh. Atikul Islam Department of Sociology. University of Dhaka. March, 2011. Contents: Introduction: Causes of Aila: Aila of May, 2009: Consequences of Aila: Present situation of Ailapur Village Women: Housing and habitation: Loss of Livelihoods: Change in Livelihoods: Food Crisis: Drinking Water Crisis: Warm cloths crisis: Cold wave and diseases: Sanitation problem: Water borne Diseases: Women specific health problem: Hypertension. Reproductive Health. Gender Violence: Conclusion: Introduction: The Bay of Bengal, a northern and extended arm of the Indian Ocean and covering about 510,000 square km, is probably the "rebellious daughter" of the ocean who often turns too angry and smashes the lives of thousands along its huge coastlines particularly in the months of May and October each year. Actually, the coast of Bangladesh is known as a zone of multiple vulnerabilities. It is prone to severe natural disasters, such as cyclones, storm surges, and floods(The daily star, June 1, 2009). Aila of May 2009 is one of the most vulnerable disasters that causes hundreds of people’s death, massive damage of crops, domestic animals etc. Evan after two years of Aila, Aila affected people particularly women are in vulnerable situation. Their vulnerability are discussed in the below. Sources of data and methodology: The data for this study have been collected from the field Using qualitative...
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...According to UN estimation, one third of the world’s population lives in water shortages areas. Even today, about 1.1 billion people are living without access to safe drinking water (Shaw and Thaitakoo, 2010). In reality, some of the countries in the world have severe water scarcity; especially in African countries. This worst scenario is also knocking at the door of Bangladesh. Particularly, Southwestern region of Bangladesh faces safe drinking water supply due to natural contamination of arsenic in the groundwater, salinity intrusion and drought as well. At present, different governmental officials, international, national and local NGOs, private sectors and community people are trying to overcome the crisis of drinking water individually and/or combined in different ways. But they are focusing a single issue rather than keeping all issues in an integrated way. However, the problem of safe drinking water availability caused by the combined effect of salinity, arsenic, and drought which are intimately inter-linked with each other. Therefore, it is imperative to include all the issues by developing an integrated approach, which will help to find a successful solution for better access of safe drinking water in the affected area. In view of the above mentioned issues, this study developed a holistic approach named “SIPE” that helps to find out/determine safe water adaptability index considering socio-economical, institutional, physicochemical and environmental aspect of the...
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...Flow: For Love of Water Movie Questions Name:__________________________________ ___ Date:________________________ 1. How many people a year die from water-born diseases? 2. How much of the Earth is covered in water? 3. The green revolution brought chemical agriculture to India. What problems accompanied this? 4. What is the main pesticide used in the United States and what type of pesticide is it? 5. What is potable water? 6. What happened when Bolivia privatized the water systems in 1999? 7. How long do some people in South Africa go without clean water? 8. In India how have they made drinking water affordable? How much does getting water this way cost? 9. How big is the global industry of water? 10. Is bottled water safer than tap water? 11. Dams provide a valuable source of hydroelectricity. If you had to choose between keeping dams for clean electricity or getting rid of them for sustained water flow which would you choose and why? 12. How was a forest and farms created in the desert? 13. How much does Nestle pay to extract water from the streams? 14. Will this affect how often you buy bottled water? 15. What are they petitioning the UN for? 16. Name 1 alternative to supply water to small villages. 17. What are the benefits and disadvantages of privatizing water treatment facilities? Do you think that privatization will improve water treatments? 18. Do you...
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...In September 2000, the 189 member countries of the United Nations at that time adopted eight Millennium Development Goals (MDG’s). The eight goals are ambitious, and involve among others halving the number of people without clean water and sanitation by 2015. The challenges in meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDG’s) target for sanitation in Zambia by 2015 are many and include the large numbers of temporary latrines, low capacity for sanitation promotion in the country, weak policies and strategies for sanitation promotion, low support for sanitation in donor supported programs, social resistance to the use of the latrines, and lack of multi-sectoral partnerships for sanitation promotion. This paper endeavours to outline and discuss the sequential platform of activities in the policy process which the policy maker would use to address the problem of poor sanitation in Luangeni Village of Chief Mpezeni’s area. The essay also attempts to establish the seriousness of the problem of poor sanitation in the village by presenting statistical evidence. In order to fully comprehend and come up with solutions concerning the topic under discussion it is imperative that we understand some key concepts to be used in this essay, these include policy, policy makers and sanitation. Development policy making lies within the domain of the state. The word policy however has no single defination in literature, this is so because there are different points of view and diverging opinions and...
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...Aquifers provide drinking water to millions of people in the United States. Aquifers are also a source of water for industrial and agricultural uses. More must be done to protect this resource. Currently we are seeing the depletion and contamination of this precious resource. Chemicals we put on our lawns to chemical spills are leading to the contamination of the United States’ aquifers. Over pumping of the aquifers is also another growing problem. As the population of countries is increasing, so is the amount of water needed to satisfy the population. If countries are not careful about the consumption and contamination of these aquifers, we could be on the verge of losing our water supply that is used for drinking and farming. Contributing factors and those affected Sadly the thing that is contributing most to this problem is the very thing that can fix it and that is humans. Also, it is the people around the world that are affected by the depletion of our aquifers. The increase in the demand for water is directly related to the increased population around the world. Water drilling is far exceeding the ability of the aquifers to replenish themselves. The world is taking too much. Unfortunately, many times it is not known until one sees that the well is actually already dry. What most people do not see is the link between the amount of water we have and food. Seventy percent of all water is used for farming irrigation. The other two sectors of competing water use are residential...
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...Flint, Michigan Water Crisis Currently in the city of Flint, Michigan they are experiencing a crisis—their entire water supply has been contaminated. Since April 2014, after the city changed its water source from the treated Detroit Water and Sewerage Department to water straight from the Flint River, this has exposed the public to great health risks. The heavy lead contamination within the river has been leached from aging pipes and into the water supply, making it dangerous for consumption and use. The NAACP, The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, has stated that they will give 30 days for the problem to be fixed. If the people of Flint speak out and engage in “civil disobedience” after no progress with the situation in the next 30 days, then it will result in the issue being fixed faster. Clean drinking water should not be a problem in the U.S. in this day of age, and it is a shame that it has come down to this in Michigan. In early 2014, Flint made the decision two years ago to switch the water supply to the local water source to save over five million dollars in a two-year period, due to a financial calamity. Unfortunately, things did not work out that way. Two years later, the entire water supply is going to cost over forty-five million dollars to repair and clean from lead contamination caused from aging pipes. A city that has already suffered from poverty and crime now doesn’t have access to safe drinking water. If the state invested $100 a...
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...1.1. Background and motivation Water and drinking water in particular cannot be dispensed with, so must be clean, free of pollution and available all the time to preserve life{1}. However, an estimated 1.2 billion people around the world lack access to safe water and close to 2.5 billion are not provided with adequate sanitation {2}. Consequently, more than half the population of the world is exposed to different types of water borne and water related diseases. Poor sanitation causing major problems in developing countries, leads to water pollution by disease-causing organisms such as salmonella, cholera, shigella, E. coli, and most waterborne diseases. feces and ultimately allowed to find their way into water supplies through seepage...
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...TO CLEAN AND POTABLE WATER AS A HUMAN RIGHT Water is indeed one of our basic needs to survive. I, personally cannot end a day without drinking water. Of course, when we talk about drinking water, it should be clean, safe and abundantly available. I firmly agree to the title given to this article that the access to clean and portable water is a human right. We are all candidate for that matter. As a teacher of Environmental Science subject, one of my favorite lessons under it is the water cycle. Yes, because I could easily attached different scenarios in our real life connecting on that topic. Students easily catch the lesson for they are able to relate it with them as part of their everyday living. Further understanding the topic, I emphasize the word cycle as a continuous process, it never stops, and so does the water. The water, our ancestors have been drinking long long time ago is the same water we are drinking right now. It had undergone the process of water cycle many times. But the big question is that, how come in our present generation, we are experiencing shortages, insufficiencies when it comes to water supply? Here comes the problem on climate change, specifically the El Niño phenomenon. This current environmental issue greatly affects the insufficiency of water we are facing right now. The water cycle is disrupted by the intense high temperature in our environment, leading the dam operators and utility firms to forcefully stop supplying water for irrigation to vast...
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...Discussion 1 Clean drinking water is the basis of life for humans. Humans have a right to clean drinking water (clean meaning free from bacteria, as well as metal and toxic contamination). Animals have a right to safe drinking water as well. When considering water as a resource, it has direct value through utilitarian use. Today more than ever, we not only value clean water as a necessity to sustain life, but there is also quite a market in the selling of water; water for irrigation, human consumption, as well as livestock consumption. Since water is a flow resource, it is affected by activities that have nothing to do with it. For example, a small feedlot may be on top of a hill, when the livestock waste runs to lower ground, it runs in the nearby canal, which then empties into the creek will affect neighboring water tables. This can contaminate the drinking water in the wells. The Federal government has imposed regulations of waste water through the Department of Environment Quality. Early in our history, America was quite delinquent with our management of waste. Perhaps the land seemed vast and lack of scientific knowledge led to poor waste management. Because of these practices, many drinking water sources were contaminated with harmful toxins. The Love Canal was a catalyst that got the federal government involved. “Though the federal government had established a long history of oversight of water resources…it was not until 1965 that the federal government finally put the...
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