Environmental Issues

One of the most valuable resources in the planet is obviously clean drinking water. In the past years, however, treatment plants and sewage systems around the world have discharged significant amounts of toxics that resulted to the contamination of the supplies of drinking water. In the United States, an analysis of federal data reveals that since 2004 over 20 percent of the water treatment systems in the country have not achieved the standards of safe and healthy tap water (Duhigg  Millions in U.S. Drink Dirty Water, Records Show ). Likewise, since 2006 over 30 percent of all sewer systems in the country, particularly in San Francisco, Philadelphia, San Antonio, Phoenix, Houston, and San Diego, have violated environmental laws. Regulatory records, however, reveal that not more than 6 percent of the aforesaid water systems were ever punished by either federal or state authorities. As a result, the presence of enormous viruses, bacteria, parasites, and other pathogens in drinking water are continually posing serious health risks to the local residents.

Effects to Human Health
The supplies of drinking water in the United States are considered as among the cleanest in the world. Despite this fact, studies have indicated that the contaminants found in countrys drinking water supplies are still associated to millions of diseases and even a number of death cases every year. A study shows that since 2004 drinking water provided to more than 49 million local residents in the country has been found to contain illegal concentrations of chemicals such as uranium and other radioactive or arsenic substances, as well as precarious bacteria normally found in sewage (Duhigg  Millions in U.S. Drink Dirty Water, Records Show ). Although as of the moment it is uncertain how many human illnesses are exactly associated to polluted drinking water, yet many of the most harmful contaminants enumerated by existing laws have already been found to have a link to deadly diseases like cancer.

To illustrate, several scientific studies have strongly indicated that exposure of bacteria, viruses, parasites and other toxics found in drinking water have been causing numerous illnesses to millions of local residences all over the United States. The waterborne outbreaks that occurred in 2001 and 2002 in the country, for instance, were linked to 7 deaths and over 1,000 cases of illness ( Water-Related Environmental Public Health ). The incidents of cancers like prostate and breast cancers in the United States have also risen over the past three decades, and studies have alarmingly indicated that they are likely linked to pollutants found in drinking water. In addition, in a 2007 study published in the Pediatrics journal indicated that the number of children experiencing serious diarrhea in certain states significantly increases every time the local sewers spill over (Duhigg  As Sewers Fill, Waste Poisons Waterways ). Likewise, in 2008 the Archives of Environmental and Occupational Health estimated that more than four million Americans became sick and expected to be sick in California every year by reason of immersing in polluted waters linked to untreated sewage (Duhigg  As Sewers Fill, Waste Poisons Waterways ).

Current and Future Approaches to Solve the Problem
The Safe Drinking Water Act is the fundamental law implemented in the United States that mandate local communities in the country to deliver safe tap water to their residents. The Environmental Protection Agency, on the other hand, is the government agency primarily assigned to enforce the aforesaid law. Alarmingly, despite the existence of the law many treatment plants are still continually dumping untreated waste and numerous sewage systems still overflow. For the past years it has become apparent that the enforcement of the Safe Drinking Water Act is not the top priority of the federal officials. The reluctance of the government to bring actions against violators are apparently based on the fact that violating municipalities are cash-strapped, and the penalties imposed on them would all the same be doled-out from the pockets of the local taxpayers.

Nevertheless, the current Environment Protection Agency administration has made clear that due to the increasing illness incidences linked to contaminated tap water, providing safe water has now become the top priority of the agency. In view of that, the agency has formulated new policies on how to effectively enforce clean water to the countrys 54,700 water systems within this year (Duhigg  Millions in U.S. Drink Dirty Water, Records Show ). In fact, the agencys administrator Lisa Jackson has already declared a wide-ranging upgrade of the Clean Water Act enforcement, particularly the regulation of pollution into the waterways of local communities. Likewise, governments are encouraging sewer-friendly developments, such as environmental responsive infrastructure projects that protect the ground water system. In New York, for instance, the local government has established a tax credit for buildings with absorbent vegetation roofs, and parking lots with plant areas that absorb rainwater (Duhigg  As Sewers Fill, Waste Poisons Waterways ).

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has also initiated prevention activities to help safeguard public health and prevent diseases linked with the exposures to tap water contaminants. The activities include assessment of the effectiveness of household water filtration system, investigation of the health impacts of exposure to polluted ground water, carrying out examination of waterborne disease epidemics, etc. ( Water-Related Environmental Public Health ). On the other hand, private organizations are likewise working with government and other non-government entities, organizations, and individuals throughout the United States to put together a new initiative for sustainable clean drinking water in the future. The Clean Water America Alliance, for instance, is recognizing individuals and organizations for their outstanding achievements and innovations with regard to providing clean drinking water, providing meaningful information to policy-makers and citizens on the status and effects of contaminated water to local communities, as well as supporting the analysis and exploration of critical clean water issues ( Clean Water America Alliance Founders ).

Conclusion
Water is unquestionably a very valuable, but limited resource of the planet. Unfortunately, in the United States, although the supplies of drinking water are considered as among the cleanest in the world, yet studies have indicated that contaminants found in its water supplies are all the same causing millions of diseases and even a number of death cases to its residents every year. Accordingly, both government and non-government organizations in the country are making efforts to regulate water pollution in local communities and providing meaningful information to policy-makers and citizens on the status and consequences of contaminated water in the country. Without doubt, these efforts to accomplish sustainable clean drinking water is very important in view of the fact that the continuous presence of viruses, bacteria, parasites, and other pathogens in drinking water are causing serious health risks to humans.