Water quality and hygiene: The Challenges

Water is the most essential material for human survival, after air.

Air is purified adequately by nature but this is not the case with water.

The expression “clean as freshly driven snow” or “pure rainwater” is not true any more.

In the past, rain was nature’s way of providing freshwater; now, however, rain is usually contaminated with various pollutants that we put in the atmosphere.

What Is Potable Water? A simple definition of potable water would be: any

water that is suitable for human consumption.

According to CDC, Over 700 different chemicals have been found in U.S. drinking water when it comes out of the tap.

The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) classifies 129 of these chemicals as being particularly dangerous.

Some important facts about the availability, quality, and purity of water supplies:

• Even though Earth is composed largely of water, freshwater comprises only 3% of the total water available to us. Of that, only 0.06% is easily accessible.

• Over 80 countries in the world suffer from a water deficit.

• Today an estimated 1.2 billion people drink unclean water.

Each year there are about 250 million cases of water-related diseases, with roughly 5–10 million deaths.

Problems of worldwide water pollution Developed Countries Thirty percent of Ireland’s rivers are polluted with

sewage. The Rhine is regarded as being Europe’s dirtiest river. The King River is Australia’s most polluted river,

suffering from a severe acidic condition related to mining operations.

Forty percent of U.S. rivers are too polluted for fishing and swimming.

Developing Countries They have 3 times as many bacteria from human

waste as the global average and 20 times more lead than rivers in industrialized countries.

In 2004, water from half of the tested sections of China’s seven major rivers was found to be undrinkable because of pollution.

At present, nearly 300 million people in China do not have access to safe drinking water.

Around 85% of the total area of Bangladesh has contaminated groundwater.

In Bangladesh, the major contaminant is arsenic, which occurs naturally in soil sediments.

This problem significantly affects in India.