As I was watching my neighbor wash down and off his trees, it really hit me as to me how much we take water for granted: How much we consumers ignore water restrictions. Of the 19 houses on my little court, 12 of them abuse water and ignore San Diego County’s water restrictions. And they use Monsanto! All which washes into the ocean and our groundwater.
World Water Week ended today August 31. World Water Week seeks to bring attention to the worlds water issues. Water is the only thing we cannot live without. It feeds us, it hydrates us and animals, it is not meant to wash down your sidewalk and wash off (not water) your trees. Yet.. our waters are polluted and with the elimination of the Clean Water Act, it is sure to get worse and the costs will rise.
I Just Have to Eco You
- 50% of the worlds major rivers are seriously polluted and or depleted.
- 40% of rivers and lakes in the U.S. surveyed by the EPA are too polluted for swimming or fishing.
- $21 to $51 million in health costs from contamination from polluted runoff at Los Angeles and Orange County beaches alone which sickens approximately one million swimmers every year, resulting in from doctor visits and lost time at work.
- a study demonstrated a relationship between installation of stormwater controls and increased beach attendance at 26 Los Angeles beaches. The study concluded that improving coastal water quality through stronger stormwater controls increased beach attendance by 350,000 to 860,000 people annually at each affected beach, with corresponding benefits to local economies (Huff Post)
- 3.5 Million People per year become ill with contact with sewer overflows. U.S. EPA
- $21 billion spent by American Taxpayers in paying for in cleanup and oversight costs for properties polluted by dangerous wastes, known as Superfund sites, while hundreds of companies responsible for contaminating water paid little to nothing, a News 21 analysis of congressional budget data shows. Troubled Water News
- $20 Billion: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates that the cost of mine cleanup for sites listed as national priorities. The most significant cost associated with this cleanup is long-term water treatment and management.
- From 1999 through 2013, appropriations to the EPA’s Superfund program were cut from about $2 billion to about $1.1 billion, according to a 2015 Government Accountability Office report.
- A recent study estimated the national price tag for fertilizer pollution at $157 billion a year—more than double the value of the entire 2011 US corn harvest. (Mining Truth)
- Costs of treating private drinking water wells. According to one study, this cost was $1.12 billion between 1991 and 2004.
- Public water treatment costs. According to the USDA, the cost of removing nitrates from agricultural sources is about $1.7 billion per year.
- Costs to local fishing and tourism industries. The cost to fisheries has been estimated at over $100 million per year, and the cost to tourism at close to $1 billion.
- Additional health costs. A recent study estimated an additional respiratory disease treatment cost of $23.10 for each kilogram of nitrogen used in the US.
- $5.4 Billion is the total cost of degradation to our drinking water — in terms of treatment costs.
- 40 Million Americans have drugs such as acetaminophen (Tylenol), codeine, cocaine, ibuprofen, Prozac, erythromycin, caffeine, ethinylestradiol, triclosan, Naproxen, nonylphenol, Metformin and nicotine in their drinking water.They have all been detected in rivers, lakes and coastal waters throughout the United Statesand Europe (1, 2)
- In the last three years alone, more than 9,400 of the nation’s 25,000 sewage systems—including those in major cities—have reported violating the law by dumping untreated or partly treated human waste, chemicals and other hazardous materials into rivers and lakes and elsewhere, according to data from state environmental agencies and the Environmental Protection Agency.”
- 2 Billion People in the world are drinking water with fecal matter. (IFL Science)
Dirty Diapers left to drain by a shower in South Mission Beach Jetty on July 9. Unfortunately this is a usual sight.
Human Waste on the streets: The Los Angeles City Council moved forward with a plan Friday to address the problem of human waste being dumped onto streets by recreational vehicles through increasing the availability of RV pumping facilities. (La Times)
Fracking brings with it the potential for spills, blowouts and well failures that contaminate groundwater supplies. (Environment America)
- Dimock, Pennsylvania, Cabot Oil & Gas reported having spent $109,000 on systems to remove methane from well water for 14 local households. The cost to permanently replace drinking water with a new source is estimated at more than $11 million
- Colorado: cleanup of an underground gas seep has been ongoing for eight years at a cost of hundreds of thousands of dollars
- The clearance of forest land in Pennsylvania for fracking is projected to lead to increased delivery of nutrient pollution to the Chesapeake Bay, which already suffers from a vast nutrient-generated dead zone. The cost of reducing the same amount of pollution as could be generated by fracking would be approximately $1.5 million to $4 million per year.
- scientific study has linked natural gas drilling and hydraulic fracturing with a pattern of drinking water contamination so severe that some faucets can be lit on fire. (Pro Publica)
In another study: recent study co-authored by Conservancy scientists Rob McDonald and Carmen Revenga projects that 1 billion city dwellers globally will be living on less than 100 liters of water a day by 2050.
The above was a brief synopsis of our (United States) water issues, add to that the breaking down of our old water conduits, the continuation of illegal dumping on the rise, litter and trash.. it is scary and bottled water is not the answer as that water comes from the same place as your tap water and is NOT regulated and tested.
So what can you do on an individual basis?
- Don’t litter
- Dispose of medications safely, not down the drain and in the toilet.
- Vote… Vote and Vote some more for any clean water acts and anti-fracking acts.
- Vote with your dollar and support those companies who are sustainable.
- Use less
- Reduce your dependence on oil
- Buy organic as much as possible.
- Do not use Monsanto and their products. (Vote with your dollar)
- Clean up around storm drains.
For the record:
According to American Rivers the top 10 Most Polluted Rivers are:
1. Big Sunflower River, MS
- Threat: Army Corps pumping project
- At risk: wetlands and wildlife habitat
- Threat: Mining
- At risk: Clean water, salmon runs, indigenous culture
3. Boundary Waters, MN
- Threat: Mining
- At risk: Clean water, recreation economy
4. Lower Rio Grande, TX
- Threat: Border wall
- At risk: River access, public safety, wildlife habitat
5. South Fork Salmon River, ID
- Threat: Mining
- At risk: Clean water, salmon habitat
6. Mississippi River Gorge, MN
- Threat: Dams
- At risk: Habitat, recreation
7. Smith River, MT
- Threat; Mining
- At risk: Clean water, recreation
8. Colville River, AK
- Threat: Oil and gas development
- At risk: Clean water, wildlife
9. Middle Fork Vermilion River, IL
- Threat: Coal ash pollution
- At risk: Clean water, Wild and Scenic River values
10. Kinnickinnic River, WI
- Threat: Dams
- At risk: Blue-ribbon trout stream
In the news:
- 2014: “On January 9, a chemical — 4-methylcyclohexane methanol, or MCHM — was discovered leaking from a storage tank into the Elk River and from there into Charleston’s water supply. Its licorice smell alerted residents to the contamination and led to a do-not-use order for 300,000 West Virginians, some of whom could not drink or bathe in their water for more than a week,” CNN reported.
- 2014: Shortly after that, North Carolina faced its own major water scare. “At least 30,000 tons of toxic coal ash was released into the Dan River when a pipe broke under the 27-acre (11-hectare) ash pond in a spill discovered on February 2. State officials found a second leak of arsenic-laced discharge from another pipe during their investigation,” Reuters reported.
- 2014: Toledo, Ohio, had to warn residents not to drink or cook with municipal tap water in August 2014, thanks to dangerous levels of cyanobacteria resulting from phosphorus (another fertilizer component)
- 2015: Des Moines, Iowa, the public water utility filed suit in 2015 against three agricultural counties for damages resulting from nitrogen pollution. AndEWG used its Tap Water Database to analyze 2010 to 2015 test results from public water systems nationwide. We found that drinking water for more than 170 million Americans contains radioactive elements at levels that may increase the risk of cancer.
- Indiana alone has spent at least $21 million on the cleanup thus far, or an average of about $500,000 per site, according an analysis of records by The Associated Press. And the work is nowhere near complete. Less known is that the state of Indiana — and, to a smaller extent, Kentucky and Illinois — are still on the hook for millions of dollars to clean up more than 85 contaminated sites across the three states, including underground tanks that leaked toxic chemicals into soil, streams and wells, according to an Associated Press investigation. (CBS News) This is the clean up for the bankrupt Pence family gas stations, Kiel Bros)
Resources
EWG’s latest report and use our interactive map to see if your water system is affected. Radiation in tap water is a serious health threat, especially during pregnancy.
Resource Watch: Water Stress Threatens Worlds Thermal Capacity
Think Progress: 6 Human Activity Threats to Global Water Supply
National Geographic: 10 Most Endangered Rivers in the USA
Union of Concerned Scientists: Subsidizing Waste and Solutions Taxpayer Costs.
Subsidizing Waste highlights four types of fertilizer pollution cost: (Source)
Popular Science: Drugs in Drinking Water