WATER QUALITY

POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE EFFECTS

• Drinking purified water helps reduce gastrointestinal illnesses (+)
• Longer lasting appliances (+)
• Less mineral deposits, less cleaning (+)
• Contaminations that lead to diseases (-)
• Kills animals and disrupts the food chain (-)
• Organ damage (-)

SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS

• Vomiting
• Diarrhea
• Waterborne diseases
• Cancer
• Skin rashes
• Stains on bathtubs
• Odor
• Unclear water
• Changes in BP and blood sugar levels

SOURCES

• Drinking Water Contaminants. (2016, September 27). Retrieved from https://www.epa.gov/enviro/drinking-water-contaminants
• The Effects of Drinking Dirty and/or Contaminated Water. (2019). Retrieved from https://www.haguewaterofmd.com/effects-drinking-dirty-andor-contaminated-wa...

STATISTICS

• Contaminated drinking water is estimated to cause 502,000 diarrheal deaths each year
• 80% of the worlds wastewater is dumped, untreated, back into lakes, rivers, etc.
• Less than 1% of the earths freshwater is actually accessible to us.

WAYS TO IMPROVE

• Reduce the use of herbicides, pesticides, and fertilizers
• Avoid pouring grease and fat down the drain
• Plant trees to reduce erosion
• Dispose of trash correctly and pick up any litter you see
• Use environmental friendly detergents and soaps

VOCABULARY

• Environmental health: the branch of public health concerned with monitoring environmental factors that affect human health and disease
• Hazards: a source of danger that threatens life/ environment
• Pathogen: a biological agent that causes disease to its host
• Infectious disease: disorders caused by organisms such as bacteria, fungi, or parasites
• Toxicology: the study of how poisonous substances affect an organisms health

STATE PREVENTATIVE MEASURES

• Join the clean water roadmap- 6 state agencies are working to achieve the 25-year life of the clean water fund
• Watershed management- intensively monitoring stream and lake water conditions in each watershed on a rotating bias

LOCAL

• Build buffers to reduce storm water runoff, stabilizing stream banks, and eliminating local flooding
• Improve the drainage system and projects that help to reuse wastewater