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Water is one of the natural elements that is found in the greatest amount on
planet Earth. It is also responsible for the possibility of developing different
life forms: plants, animals and the human being. The organisms of all living
beings are composed of water in a high proportion, being that this is what
makes up the muscles, organs and different tissues. Therefore, without
water, life is not possible.
Current context
One of the biggest global problems at present is the lack of access to fresh
and potable water for sanitation. If, in addition, we add the problem of water
pollution, the picture worsens. Pollution is caused by spilled waste,
fertilizers, pesticides or chemicals that flow into fresh water and end up
contaminating salt water. On this problem, the NGO InpirAction says:
"More than 1 billion people will suffer in the future water shortages due to
pollution, overpopulation and climate change, which affect the sources of
this essential resource."
In turn, according to the 2016 report of the United Nations on the
development of water resources in the world, almost 80% of the jobs that
make up the global workforce depend on access to an adequate supply of
water and services related to water, including sanitation.
Causes and consequences of water pollution
Water is necessary to grow and process food, it also provides energy to the
industry in order to satisfy a population in constant growth. The inadequate
management of urban, industrial and agricultural wastewater means that
the water that hundreds of millions of people drink is dangerously
contaminated or polluted chemically. Water pollution also causes part of the
aquatic ecosystems to end up disappearing due to the rapid proliferation of
invasive algae that feed on all the nutrients provided by the waste.
An important aspect is the division of water according to its degree of
contamination. The first is polisaprobia: water that is strongly contaminated
with organic carbon, characterized by a population of specific organisms and
usually with a very low concentration and even total absence of oxygen. The
second is the mesosaprobiana: the organisms that live in media with a
moderate amount of organic matter and variable amount of oxygen in
solution, like some chlorophyll algae. Finally, there is the oligosaprobiana:
wastewater discharge areas to a river, where the waters have reached the
appearance and characteristics of their natural state.
Water pollution is generated by different types of discharges: process water,
sewage and white water. The first is a discharge of the production process,
with which its pollutant load will depend on industrial activity. The second
is generated in the toilets and similar to domestic wastewater. And the last,
they are usually called "raw waters" due to their nature prior to
purification. Its importance is that they are the basis of water production for
massive human consumption.
Inadequately managed or inadequately managed water and sanitation
services expose the population to preventable risks to their health: diseases
such as cholera, diarrhea, dysentery, hepatitis A, typhoid fever and
poliomyelitis. This is especially true in the case of hospitals in which both
patients and professionals are exposed to increased risks of infection and
disease when there are no water supply, sanitation and hygiene services.
According to an article of Socio-Sanitary Responsibility in October 2016, an
estimated 842,000 people die every year from diarrhea as a result of water
pollution, insufficient sanitation or poor hand hygiene. This infection is
highly preventable, but it is still responsible for the deaths of 361,000
children under the age of five, deaths that could be avoided if these risk
factors were addressed.
In places where water is not easily accessible, people may find that washing
their hands is not a priority, which increases the likelihood of spreading
diarrhea and other diseases. Diarrhea is the most well-known disease that is
related to food consumption or water pollution. However, there are also
other dangers: almost 240 million people are affected by schistosomiasis, a
serious and chronic disease caused by parasitic worms contracted by
exposure to infested water.
In addition, in many parts of the world, insects that live or breed in the
water are carriers and transmitters of diseases such as dengue. Some of
these insects, called vectors, grow in clean water, and domestic containers of
drinking water can serve as breeding places. Just by covering these
containers it is possible to reduce the breeding of vectors and also reduce
the faecal contamination of water in the domestic environment.
Another cause of water pollution is deforestation in coastal areas and the
growing demand for the construction of gigantic buildings. This causes the
soils in those areas to become vulnerable. In turn, if we add that the paving
does not allow the passage to the filtrations of fluvial waters when it rains,
the ecosystem is seriously damaged. This favors the salty waters filtering
under polluting fresh water.
Solutions to water pollution
Además, en muchas partes del mundo, los insectos que viven o se crían en el
agua son portadores y transmisores de enfermedades como el dengue.
Algunos de estos insectos, denominados vectores, crecen en el agua limpia, y
los contenedores domésticos de agua para bebida pueden servir como
lugares de cría. Tan solo con cubrir estos contenedores es posible reducir la
cría de vectores y reducir también la contaminación fecal del agua en el
ámbito doméstico.