Health Risks Linked to Water Contamination
The effects of water pollution create various health risks to the people. Thus, contaminated water contains dangerous pathogen which causes infections. People drink water that causes diseases such as diarrhoea, cholera and typhoid among them for lack of safe water to drink. Industries chemicals are also very dangerous to the environment and human beings as well they bring about toxicity.
Ingestion of heavy metals such as lead and mercury may have long term effects. These pollutants can thus affect organs in the body and even the immune system as well as leading to an instance of cancer. Polluted water is very destructive to children and this leads to developmental problems. Thus, due to the issue with safe drinking water, thousands of people get sick every year.
How Water Pollution Affects Human Survival
Among the biggest dangers that water pollutions pose to people, is the imminent threat that it poses to their existence. It is danger to health to consume polluted water as it has severe health implications. Most of the people use water from such sources since they lack clean water to use for their daily needs. These services often lack quality and access to clean water and this helps in causing outbreaks of water borne diseases regularly.
It also affects food security through pollution because crops developed through irrigation with polluted water are affected. Marine life is impacted considerably putting stress on the food chain particularly availability of seafoods. Contamination of freshwaters harms the habitat and thus threats biological diversity with interferences in basic necessities. If no action is taken quickly, the increasing scarcity in clean and safe water supply is going to threaten human life.
The Long-Term Impact of Polluted Water on Communities
Water pollution has negative impacts on the communities, which are experienced in the long run. When sources of water become polluted, then it has impact on their health. Given that children in polluted areas use unsafe water for drinking, they are bound to have stunted growth. Cancer incidences are also realized to be higher among people who come into contact with the water sources with chemical pollutants over a long time.
The following are some of the impacts of water pollution to local economy; Water pollution has led to low yields in agriculture”. People who depend on fishing as their source of income are left jobless or with little income to earn since water bodies become unfavourable habitats for fishing, as life in these water bodies cease to exist. They pointed the fact that polluted waters are equally destructive to the environment, and may take up to thirty years to correct. People living along these water sources suffer from a cycle of disease and poverty, which is unending.
Waterborne Diseases: A Silent Threat to Public Health
- In the backdrop, Water borne diseases continuously attack the basic public health. Inadequate supply of drinking water leads to cholera, dysentery, Diarrhoea and other diseases. These illnesses kill thousands of people every year, particularly the people in the developing nations. The major impact of water borne diseases is felt most by children below the age of five years.
- Contaminated water like the one being caused by the flooding also transmits diseases such as hepatitis A and rotavirus. Such infections lower the immune response and cause a loss of nutrition. People whose source of water is unsafe are always at the risk of being affected by diseases. Waterborne diseases can be prevented if proper sanitation and clean water are availed to everyone to use at all times.
- Water chemical pollution is very disastrous as it has impacts on both human and animal lives. Factories expel their waste into rivers and lakes thereby polluting drinking water sources. Fertilizers, pesticides, and industrial wastes are the examples of a number of chemicals that have dangerous compounds in them.
- These toxins are known to have an adverse effect on the body’s organs such as liver and kidney among others. Carcinogenic pollutants lead to cancer and everyone knows this. Women who take water which contains some of these chemicals have high chances of giving birth to babies with defects.
- Lead and mercury which are top-known heavy metals are known to bring about neurological disorders. Environmental chemical pollution is one of the biggest threats to the health of the people especially in the long run.
Polluted Water: A Growing Danger to Global Health and Well-Being
Water that is contaminated is turning out to be a constant threat to the well-being of citizens of this world. Water pollution is a major show cause of global concern since it is caused by rapid industrialization and urbanization. Over 2 billion citizens of the world have no easy access to a source of safe drinking water. This leads to contraction of diseases and thus lower life expectancy is expected. The contamination of water hampers the production of food and crops thus impacts on food security all across the world. This and wastes in water sources pollute the aquatic ecosystems, and hence affect the bio-diversity. Some continues to use contaminated sources of water which affects their health constantly. Unfortunately, the global community has to act in order to address this continuing and intensifying problem.
Conclusion
Pollution of water resources remains one of the biggest dangers to the survival of humanity. Unclean water causes infectious diseases, which affect people and millions of them all over the world. Long-term exposure to harmful chemicals can cause poor health effects on organs and carcinogenic effects. Contaminated water damages food chains, and this affects production in the agricultural sector and the fishing industry.
Consuming unsafe water and poor sanitation waters puts the people at a health risk and losses their money often. Emergency intervention is necessary to safeguard people's access to safe and clean water. We suggest that both the governments across the world and individuals should act to reduce pollution. They identified the protection of water sources as a very critical factor to humanity and human survival.
