Drinking Water

Information about Drinking Water

Drinking water

Drinking water is water that is intended to be ingested by humans. Water of sufficient quality to serve as drinking water is termed potable water whether it is used as such or not. Although many sources are utilized by humans, some contain disease vectors or pathogens and cause long-term health problems if they do not meet certain water quality guidelines. Water that is not harmful for human beings is sometimes called safe water, water which is not contaminated to the extent of being unhealthy. The available supply of drinking water is an important criterion of carrying capacity, the population level that can be supported by planet Earth.

As of the year 2006 (and pre-existing for at least three decades), there is a substantial shortfall in availability of potable water in lesser developed countries, primarily arising from overpopulation. As of the year 2000, 27 percent of the populations of lesser developed countries did not have access to safe drinking water^[1]. Implications for disease propagation are significant. Many nations have water quality regulations for water sold as drinking water, although these are often not strictly enforced outside of the developed world. The World Health Organization sets international standards for drinking water. A broad classification of drinking water safety worldwide can be found in Safe Water for International Travelers.

Typically water supply networks deliver a single quality of water, whether it is to be used for drinking, washing or landscape irrigation; one counterexample is urban China, where drinking water can be optionally delivered by a separate tap. In the United States, public drinking water is governed by the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA). Among other provisions, it protects the right of employees to report potential violations. 42 U.S.C. 300j-9(i). Within 30 days of any retaliation, a whistleblower can file a complaint with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).

The standard test for bacterial contamination is a laboratory analysis of coliform bacteria, a convenient marker for a class of harmful fecal pathogens. The presence of fecal coliforms (like Escherichia coli) serves as an indication of contamination by sewage.

Metabolism

Water is essential for all life on Earth. Humans can survive for several weeks without food, but for only a few days without water. A constant supply is needed to replenish the fluids lost through normal physiological activities, such as respiration, sweating and urination. Water generated from the biochemical metabolism of nutrients provides a significant proportion of the daily water requirements for some arthropods and desert animals, but provides only a small fraction of a human's necessary intake. There are a variety of trace elements present in virtually all potable water, some of which play a role in metabolism; for example sodium, potassium and chloride are common chemicals found in very small amounts in most waters, and these elements play a role (not necessarily major) in body metabolism. Other elements such as fluoride, while beneficial in low concentrations, can cause dental problems and other issues when present at high levels. Water is essential for the growth and maintenance of our bodies, as it's involved in a number of biological processes.

Access to drinking water

As a country’s economy becomes stronger (as its GNP per capita or PPP rise) a larger percentage of its people tend to have access to drinking water and sanitation. Access to drinking water is measured by the number of people who have a reasonable means of getting an adequate amount of water that is safe for drinking, washing, and essential household activities.

It reflects the health of a country’s people and the country’s capacity to collect, clean, and distribute water to consumers. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) more than one billion people in low and middle-income countries lack access to safe water for drinking, personal hygiene and domestic use. These numbers represent more than 20 percent of the world’s people. In addition, close to 3 billion people did not have access to adequate sanitation facilities.

While the occurrence of waterborne diseases in developed countries is generally low due to a generally good system of water treatment, distribution and monitoring, waterborne diseases are among the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in low- and middle-income countries, frequently called developing countries.

According to the United Nations over 1.1 billion people are currently without safe drinking water. For details see data on the website of the Joint Monitoring Program (JMP) on water and sanitation of WHO and UNICEF.

The access to safe drinking water to the populations in several countries is listed below.^[2]

Table 2: Percentage of population with access to safe drinking water
Country	%	Country	%	Country	%	Country	%
Albania	97	Algeria	89	Azerbaijan	78	Brazil	87
Chile	93	Cuba	91	Egypt	97	Iraq	85
Iran	92	Mexico	88	Morocco	80	Peru	80
Syria	80	Sudan	67	South Africa	86	Turkey	82
Tunisia	80	Venezuela	83	Zimbabwe	83

The main reason for poor access to safe water is the inability to finance and to adequately maintain the necessary infrastructure. Overpopulation and scarcity of water resources are contributing factors.

Common places to find safe drinking water after a disaster are

Water heater
Household water pipes
Toilet tank

Many other countries also lack in the amount of safe drinking water that they need to survive. Some of the countries have less than twenty percent of the population that has access to safe drinking water. For example in Africa, with more than seven hundred million people, only forty six percent of people have safe drinking water. The more populous Asia Pacific region with over three billion people, eighty percent of whom with access to drinking water, still leaves some six hundred and twenty seven million people without access to safe drinking water. [1]

The lack of water and the lack of hygiene is one of the biggest problems that many poor countries have encountered in progressing their way of life. The problem has reached such endemic proportions that 2.2 million deaths per annum occur from unsanitary water - ninety percent of these are children under the age of five. [2] One program developed to help people gain access to safe drinking water is the Water Aid program. Working in 17 countries to help provide water, Water Aid is useful in helping the sanitation and hygiene education to some of the world's poorest people.[3]

Drinking water quality monitoring

The standard test for bacterial contamination is a laboratory analysis of coliform bacteria, a convenient marker for a class of harmful fecal pathogens. The presence of fecal coliforms (like Escherichia coli) serves as an indication of contamination by sewage.

References

1. ^ I.A. Shiklomanov, Appraisal and Assessment of World Water Resources, Water International 25(1): 11-32 (2000)
2. ^ Safe Drinking Water (UNICEF website article)

External links

UKWIR Forefront - UK Water Industry Research Reports concerning Drinking Water Quality & Health
OpenWater Project - Instructional content about safe drinking water.
Safe Water for International Travelers - A broad classification of drinking water safety worldwide.
US Environmental Protection Agency Drinking water page
Louisiana Homeland Security Emergency Preparedness.
The Drinking Water Inspectorate - The drinking water regulator in England and Wales.
Safe Water International - Non-Profit committed to creating solutions to unsafe drinking water problems
California Drinking Water Regulations - The drinking water regulator for the State of California.
Safe Drinking Water Is Essential - An online exhibit of the Marian Koshland Science Museum of the National Academy of Sciences that examines the state of the world's water supply and what can be done to improve it.
KnowH2O - A water education initiative from PlayPumps International about drinking water and global water issues.

Water is a common chemical substance that is essential to all known forms of life.^[1] In typical usage, water refers only to its liquid form or state, but the substance also has a solid state, ice, and a gaseous state, water vapor.
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Ingestion is the consumption of a substance by an organism. In animals, it is accomplished by taking the substance in through the mouth into the gastrointestinal tract, such as through eating or drinking.
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disease is an abnormal condition of an organism that impairs bodily functions. In human beings, "disease" is often used more broadly to refer to any condition that causes discomfort, dysfunction, distress, social problems, and/or death to the person afflicted, or similar problems
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In epidemiology, a vector is an organism that does not cause disease itself but which spreads infection by conveying pathogens from one host to another.

A classic example is the anopheles mosquito which acts as a vector for the disease malaria by transmitting the malarial
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A pathogen or infectious agent is a biological agent that causes disease or illness to its host.^[1] The term is most often used for agents that disrupt the normal physiology of a multicellular animal or plant.
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Water quality is the physical, chemical and biological characteristics of water, characterized through the methods of hydrometry. The primary bases for such characterization are parameters which relate to drinking water, safety of human contact and for health of ecosystems.
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The equilibrium maximum of the population of an organism is known as the ecosystem's carrying capacity for that organism. Generally it is the supportable population of an organism, given the food, habitat, water and other necessities available within an ecosystem.
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EARTH was a short-lived Japanese vocal trio which released 6 singles and 1 album between 2000 and 2001. Their greatest hit, their debut single "time after time", peaked at #13 in the Oricon singles chart.
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developing country has a relatively low standard of living, an undeveloped industrial base, and a moderate to low Human Development Index (HDI) score. In developing countries, there is low per capita income, widespread poverty, and low capital formation.
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Overpopulation is a condition when an organism's numbers exceed the carrying capacity of its ecological niche. In common parlance, the term usually refers to the relationship between the human population and its environment, the Earth.
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World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) that acts as a coordinating authority on international public health. Established on 7 April 1948, and headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, the agency inherited the mandate and resources of
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water supply network is a system of engineered hydrologic and hydraulic components, including:

the watershed or geographic area that collects the water, see water purification - sources of drinking water;

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landscape comprises the visible features of an area of land, including physical elements such as landforms, living elements of flora and fauna, abstract elements such as lighting and weather conditions, and human elements, for instance human activity or the built environment.
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Irrigation is the artificial application of water to the soil usually for assisting in growing crops. In crop production it is mainly used to replace missing rainfall in periods of drought, but also to protect plants against frost.
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This page contains Chinese text.
Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Chinese characters.

China (Traditional Chinese:
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Motto
"In God We Trust" (since 1956)
"E Pluribus Unum" ("From Many, One"; Latin, traditional)
Anthem
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The Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) is a United States federal law passed by the U.S. Congress on December 16, 1974. It is the main federal law that ensures safe drinking water for Americans.
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A whistleblower is an employee, former employee, or member of an organization, especially a business or government agency, who reports misconduct
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Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is an agency of the United States Department of Labor. It was created by Congress under the Occupational Safety and Health Act, signed by President Richard M. Nixon, on December 29, 1970.
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Bacteria

Phyla

Actinobacteria
Aquificae
Chlamydiae
Bacteroidetes/Chlorobi
Chloroflexi
Chrysiogenetes
Cyanobacteria
Deferribacteres
Deinococcus-Thermus
Dictyoglomi
Fibrobacteres/Acidobacteria
Firmicutes
Fusobacteria
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Coliform bacteria are a commonly-used bacterial indicator of sanitary quality of foods and water. They are defined as rod-shaped Gram-negative organisms which ferment lactose with the production of acid and gas when incubated at 35 °C.
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Feces, faeces, or fæces (see spelling differences) is a waste product from an animal's digestive tract expelled through the anus (or cloaca) during defecation. The word faeces is the plural of the Latin word fæx meaning "dregs".
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Fecal coliforms (sometimes faecal coliforms) are facultatively-anaerobic, rod-shaped, gram-negative, non-sporulating bacteria. They are capable of growth in the presence of bile salts or similar surface agents, oxidase negative, and produce acid and gas from lactose within
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E. coli

Binomial name
Escherichia coli
(Migula 1895)
Castellani and Chalmers 1919

Escherichia coli (IPA: [ˌɛ.
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Sewage is the mainly liquid waste containing some solids produced by humans which typically consists of washing water, faeces, urine, laundry waste and other material which goes down drains and toilets from households and industry.
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Urination, known by physiologists as micturition, or more simply as voiding, is the process of disposing urine from the urinary bladder through the urethra to the outside of the body.
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Biochemistry is the study of the chemical processes in living organisms.^[1] The word "biochemistry" comes from the Greek word βιοχημεία biochēmeia, which means "the chemistry of life.
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