Liter by Liter, Indians
Get Clean Water
By
Amy Yee
The
New York Times, Published March 21, 2012
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/22/business/energy-environment/liter-by-liter-indians-get-cleaner-water.html?_r=1&ref=waterpollution
PICTURE:
This graphic shows what an Indian village pump looks like and how its residents
receive drinking water. Clearly, it does not look safe at all and the Indian government
has a huge problem to fix.
SUMMARY:
In the town of Chuddani, India, 500 homes are finally receiving a lifesaver—clean
water. The people of the town arrive by bike, motorbikes, tractors and on foot
with jars to fill from a filtration plant that rids groundwater of chemicals,
toxins, and bacteria. The filtration plants are quite expensive, $20,000
dollars per building and there are 428 in India. Before the plant was built in
2009, and residents would drink water from the village hand pumps, which might
as well have been poison. This water contained 1,850 milligrams per liter of
dissolved solids, which exceeds the World Health Organization’s acceptable
level of 500. The new filtered water is excellent, with only about 65 milligrams
per liter of dissolved solids (about 3.5% of what it originally was). Dirty
drinking water can cause typhoid, hepatitis and cholera, plus diarrhea, which
causes 1.5 million children, worldwide, to die each year. This is more than
AIDS, measles and malaria…combined. Humans are somewhat at fault for the
life-threatening water, spilling fertilizers, pesticides and other pollutants.
However, more filtration plants are continuously being built to save more and
more lives, liter by liter.
OPINION/REFLECTION:
I agree with the article that India and other third-world countries have an
urgent problem on their hands. We learned in class that water is essential for
all living things, and once it is toxic, it is useless or even
life-threatening. When I drink water, from tap, bottles, or a fountain, I do
not even think about what chemicals are in it because I think it is just basic
water. However, that is why water is good and bad for having the quality of being
a good solvent. Whoever drinks water may not be able to see the toxins they are
in taking, which is completely scary to me. Children worldwide do not know
this, 1.5 million of them, and have to pay the price. The UN should try to
educate the children of the world of safe drinking water, its contents, and how
to safely drink it, then maybe the world now and in the future will not
hesitate to have a sip of clean water.
QUESTIONS:
1.
Should farms/factories have to pay for the fatalities of people that drink from
the water they polluted? Explain.
2.
If the clean water crisis is not fixed soon, what do you think could happen in
the future?
3.
India has one of the largest population, 1.2 billion. Do you think the unsafe
drinking water’s effects will be passed down to the offspring of a growing
population? If yes, what do you think will come of it and if no, why not?
Get Clean Water
By
Amy Yee
The
New York Times, Published March 21, 2012
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/22/business/energy-environment/liter-by-liter-indians-get-cleaner-water.html?_r=1&ref=waterpollution
PICTURE:
This graphic shows what an Indian village pump looks like and how its residents
receive drinking water. Clearly, it does not look safe at all and the Indian government
has a huge problem to fix.
SUMMARY:
In the town of Chuddani, India, 500 homes are finally receiving a lifesaver—clean
water. The people of the town arrive by bike, motorbikes, tractors and on foot
with jars to fill from a filtration plant that rids groundwater of chemicals,
toxins, and bacteria. The filtration plants are quite expensive, $20,000
dollars per building and there are 428 in India. Before the plant was built in
2009, and residents would drink water from the village hand pumps, which might
as well have been poison. This water contained 1,850 milligrams per liter of
dissolved solids, which exceeds the World Health Organization’s acceptable
level of 500. The new filtered water is excellent, with only about 65 milligrams
per liter of dissolved solids (about 3.5% of what it originally was). Dirty
drinking water can cause typhoid, hepatitis and cholera, plus diarrhea, which
causes 1.5 million children, worldwide, to die each year. This is more than
AIDS, measles and malaria…combined. Humans are somewhat at fault for the
life-threatening water, spilling fertilizers, pesticides and other pollutants.
However, more filtration plants are continuously being built to save more and
more lives, liter by liter.
OPINION/REFLECTION:
I agree with the article that India and other third-world countries have an
urgent problem on their hands. We learned in class that water is essential for
all living things, and once it is toxic, it is useless or even
life-threatening. When I drink water, from tap, bottles, or a fountain, I do
not even think about what chemicals are in it because I think it is just basic
water. However, that is why water is good and bad for having the quality of being
a good solvent. Whoever drinks water may not be able to see the toxins they are
in taking, which is completely scary to me. Children worldwide do not know
this, 1.5 million of them, and have to pay the price. The UN should try to
educate the children of the world of safe drinking water, its contents, and how
to safely drink it, then maybe the world now and in the future will not
hesitate to have a sip of clean water.
QUESTIONS:
1.
Should farms/factories have to pay for the fatalities of people that drink from
the water they polluted? Explain.
2.
If the clean water crisis is not fixed soon, what do you think could happen in
the future?
3.
India has one of the largest population, 1.2 billion. Do you think the unsafe
drinking water’s effects will be passed down to the offspring of a growing
population? If yes, what do you think will come of it and if no, why not?
Opinion/Reflection
ReplyDeleteIt's amazing how 1.5 million people die a year from drinking contaminated water. It's even scarier how that's more then combined for AIDs, measles and malaria. We are always taught about how bad AIDs and other diseases are, but we never learn about contaminated water. And this is especially important to teach in third world countries like India. In America, most of us are lucky to be given clean water and not having to give a second thought on where our water came from. In India and other countries however, as you can see in the picture, water isn't delivered to every house through an individual pipe. I know I personally take for granted having clean water and a bathroom. It's surprising how half of India doesn't even have access to hygienic toilets. Everybody in a town has to use one faucet, and most of them aren't purified. With such a large population, India should consider building purifiers for every town.
Answer to question 1
Farms and factories should be responsible for the damages done to people due to water they contaminated. Most people do not even know about purified water, and yet the factories dump toxins into rivers as they please. They should at least inform the locals that the water is polluted. The factories and farms should definitely stop dumping toxins altogether, as it is an unsafe practice. Instead of dumping toxins, the factories should build purifiers to help the locals purify the water the factory already contaminated.
Opinion/Reflection:
ReplyDeleteIt is a great thing that India is having more clean, accessible water for its citizens. With these new water treatment facilities, there will fewer deaths from all the diseases and parasites coming from untreated water. As we talked about in class, without such treatment, the water-borne parasites will continue to drain nutrients and other necessities and potentially kill the host person. Hopefully, the state governments will continue to provide water treatments. Yet, even with the current levels of water treatment, available water still costs users $1.20-$3.00 a month for 20 liters a day. Some refuse to pay this price, opting instead to drink the free—dirty—water. Whether this continued use is a matter of economics (some people cannot afford even the few dollars per day) or ignorance (the people fail to realize the health dangers of using the untreated water), the dangers remain and are serious.
The good news is that more and more water treatment facilities are being built. The bad news is that the progress, though real and significant, nonetheless has a long way to go before the volume and price of potable water becomes truly wide-spread and affordable to all. A few numbers will give a clearer sense of the size of the progress and the problem. One new company, Naandi water, serves 1.5 million people. That means many people now have clean, affordable water who before did not. But when those 1.5 million people are compared to a total Indian population of 1.2 billion wherein many, many millions more still lack potable water, a great problem remains. So the progress is real, but equal and greater progress remains to be achieved.
If the clean water crisis is not fixed soon, what do you think could happen in the future?
Even though the Indian population is large, the population is susceptible to the diseases and parasites carried by polluted, untreated water. Left untreated, this situation will produce a major health crisis. As time goes on, the water will just get worse because pollution and contamination continue, and people cannot just develop immunities to these parasites and diseases. For India, and other third world countries, untreated water, then, will be a limiting factor. If sufficient supplies of drinkable water are not provided, there is a real possibility of a population plunge as a direct consequence of polluted water.
Opinion/Reflection:
ReplyDeleteI cannot believe how people in poorer areas and countries are just getting filtered water. I take clean water for granted while the kids in India think of it as a luxury. Whenever I go to the bathroom or get a drink I never give a thought as to how lucky I am and that kids around the world do not have these luxuries. The water they are drinking is very dangerous to their health from all the bacteria and parasites in there. Drinking dirty or polluted is a very serious problem in India and other poorer countries. Over 1.5 million kids are dying each from drinking contaminated. It is worse than AIDS, measles and malaria combined. The water the kids in India were drinking water with 1,850 milligrams of dissolved solids which is more than three times the maximum amount allowed which is 500. The thing that is really sad about this is that most of the contamination is from us. It is a good thing people in India are building plants to help clean water.
Answer to question 1- Should farms/factories have to pay for the fatalities of people the drink from the water they polluted?
The simple is yes the factories/farms should. I mean who else is to blame? They are the ones pumping chemicals, fertilizers and other wastes into the water the people of Chuddani drink from. The factories and farms should be telling people that the water is unsafe to drink, give information about how to boil it or make filtration plants to clean the water. If the factories don’t do anything to help, more and more people will keep dying from water related diseases.
Opinion/Reflection:
ReplyDeleteWow! India getting clean water seems to be a great deal and I think it is something great to hear. I always thought India had clean water to drink from but after reading this article I am astonished. I am more astonished at the fact 1.5 million children worldwide die from not having clean water. I have clean water to drink from at home but I never thought about how important it is to my everyday life. In class I have learned about tap water contamination and that most taps around here will have very little contaminants. Now looking at India, before clean water was available, seems like India had many contaminants I would be worried about. This especially because India had water that contained 1,850 milligrams per liter of dissolved solids. To have dissolved solids inside water you drink from seems very dangerous and life threatening to drink from. Though the filtration plants cost $20,000 per building I think it is worth it to keep lives safe and alive. I think through seeing what countries like India go through with water we as the United States should show teach children the importance of water.
Expansion: 2.If the clean water crisis is not fixed soon, what do you think could happen in
the future?
I think if the clean water crisis is not fixed soon that there will be a decrease in the number of people in India. India holds about 1.2 billion people but with disease and pollution of the water that can change everything. Even with that many people we are only human so it is obvious human lives could be lost through disease and pollution. As time goes by the water would get even more contaminated and polluted thus people would start dying even quicker. There would be no drinking water available then and somehow they would have to get it from another source. Such as buying it from countries that have sufficient amounts of clean water. So the 1.2 billion people in India could drop down to less then we can imagine without water being cleaned.