essay on safe drinking water

Clean Water

Clean and safe water is essential for good health. how did access change over time where do people lack access.

Access to clean water is one of our most basic human needs.

However, one in four people in the world does not have access to safe drinking water, which is a major health risk. Unsafe water is responsible for more than a million deaths each year.

This article looks at data on access to safe water and its implications for health worldwide.

Unsafe water sources are responsible for over one million deaths each year

Unsafe water is one of the world's largest health and environmental problems, particularly for the poorest people .

The Global Burden of Disease is a major global study on the causes and risk factors for death and disease published in the medical journal The Lancet . These estimates of the annual number of deaths attributed to a wide range of risk factors are shown here.

Lack of access to safe water sources is a leading risk factor for infectious diseases, including cholera, diarrhea , dysentery, hepatitis A, typhoid, and polio . 1 It also exacerbates malnutrition and, in particular, childhood stunting . The chart shows that it ranks globally as a significant risk factor for death.

The global distribution of deaths from unsafe water

In low-income countries, unsafe water sources account for a significant share of deaths.

Globally, unsafe water sources account for a few percent of deaths.

In low-income countries, it accounts for around twice as many deaths .

The map here shows the share of annual deaths attributed to unsafe water worldwide.

When we compare the share of deaths attributed to unsafe water over time or between countries, we are not only comparing the extent of water access but its severity in the context of other risk factors for death. Clean water's share depends not only on how many die prematurely from it but also on what else people are dying from and how this is changing.

Death rates are much higher in low-income countries

Death rates from unsafe water sources give us an accurate comparison of differences in mortality impacts between countries and over time. In contrast to the share of deaths that we studied before, death rates are not influenced by how other causes or risk factors for death are changing.

This map shows the death rates from unsafe water sources worldwide. Death rates measure the number of deaths per 100,000 people in a given country or region.

What becomes clear is the significant differences in death rates between countries: rates are high in lower-income countries, particularly across Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. Rates here are often greater than 50 deaths per 100,000 people.

Compare this with death rates across high-income countries: across Europe, rates are below 0.1 deaths per 100,000. That’s a greater than 1000-fold difference.

Therefore, unsafe water sources are limited primarily to low and lower-middle-income countries.

This relationship is clearly shown when we plot death rates versus income, as shown here . There is a strong negative relationship: death rates decline as countries get richer.

Access to safe drinking water

What share of people have access to safe drinking water.

Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Target 6.1 is to: “achieve universal and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water for all” by 2030.

Almost three-quarters of the world's population uses a safely managed water source . One in four people does not use a safe drinking water source.

The following chart breaks down drinking water use globally and across regions and income groups. In countries with the lowest incomes, less than one-third of the population uses safely managed water. Most live in Sub-Saharan Africa.

The world has made progress in recent years, but unfortunately, this has been very slow. In 2015 (at the start of the SDGs), around 70% of the global population had safe drinking water, and this has slowly increased over recent years.

If progress continues at these slow rates, we will not reach the target of universal, equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water by 2030.

In the map shown, we see the share of people worldwide using safe drinking water facilities.

How many people do not have access to safe drinking water?

The map shows the number of people worldwide who do not use safe drinking water facilities.

What share of people do not use an improved water source?

The definition of an improved drinking water source is: “...those that have the potential to deliver safe water by nature of their design and construction, and include: piped water, boreholes or tubewells, protected dug wells, protected springs, rainwater, and packaged or delivered water.” Note that drinking water from an improved source does not ensure that the water is safe or adequate, as these characteristics are not tested at the time of the survey. However, improved drinking water technologies are more likely than unimproved ones to provide safe drinking water and prevent contact with human excreta.

The map shows the share of people worldwide who do not use improved water sources.

The map shows the number of people worldwide who do not use improved water sources.

What determines levels of clean water usage?

Usage of improved water sources increases with income.

The visualization shows the relationship between improved water source usage and gross domestic product (GDP) per capita. We see a general link between income and improved water source usage.

Typically, most countries with more than 90% of households with improved water have an average GDP per capita of over $10,000 to 15,000. Those at lower incomes tend to have a larger share of the population without access.

Although income is an important determinant, the range of levels of usage that occur across countries of similar prosperity further supports the suggestion that other important governance and infrastructural factors contribute.

Rural households often lag in improved water usage

In addition to the significant inequalities in improved water usage between countries, there can also be large differences within countries. In the charts, we plotted the share of the urban versus rural population using improved water sources and safely managed drinking water, respectively. Here, we have also shown a line of parity; if a country lies along this line, then access in rural and urban areas is equal.

Since nearly all points lie above this line, with few exceptions, usage of improved water sources is greater in urban areas than rural ones. This may be partly attributed to an income effect; urbanization is a trend strongly related to  economic growth. 2

The infrastructural challenges of developing municipal water networks in rural areas are also likely to contribute to lower usage levels relative to urbanized populations.

Definitions

Improved water source : "Improved drinking water sources can deliver safe water by nature of their design and construction, and include: piped water, boreholes or tube wells, protected dug wells, protected springs, rainwater, and packaged or delivered water".

Using drinking water from an improved source does not ensure that the water is safe or adequate, as these characteristics are not tested at the time of the survey. However, improved drinking water technologies are more likely than those characterized as unimproved to provide safe drinking water and prevent contact with human excrement.

Safely managed drinking water: "Safely managed drinking water" is defined as an "Improved source located on premises, available when needed, and free from microbiological and priority chemical contamination."

'Basic' drinking water source: an "Improved source within 30 minutes round trip collection time."

'Limited' drinking water source: "Improved source over 30 minutes round trip collection time."

' Unimproved' drinking water source: "Unimproved source that does not protect against contamination."

'No service': access to surface water only.

WHO (2023) – Fact sheet – Sanitation. Updated September 2023. Online here .

Spence, M., Annez, P. C., & Buckley, R. M. (2009).  Urbanization and growth: commission on growth and development . Available online .

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Home > Books > Water Challenges of an Urbanizing World

Safe Drinking Water: Concepts, Benefits, Principles and Standards

Submitted: 15 March 2017 Reviewed: 28 September 2017 Published: 21 March 2018

DOI: 10.5772/intechopen.71352

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Water Challenges of an Urbanizing World

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Water is connected to every forms of life on earth. As a criteria, an adequate, reliable, clean, accessible, acceptable and safe drinking water supply has to be available for various users. The United Nation (UN) and other countries declared access to safe drinking water as a fundamental human right, and an essential step towards improving living standards. Access to water was one of the main goal of Millinium Development Goals (UN-MDGs) and it is also one of the main goal of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The UN-SDG goal 6 states that “Water sustains life, but safe clean drinking water defines civilization”. Despite these facts, there are inequalities in access to safe drinking water in the world. In some countries, sufficient freshwater is not available (physical scarcity); while in other countries, abundant freshwater is available, but it is expensive to use (economic scarcity). The other challenge is the increasing population of the world at an alarming rate, while the available freshwater resources almost remains constant. This chapter presents aspects of safe drinking water - background information, definition of water safety and access, benefits, principles and regulations, factors challenging the sustainable water supply and water quality standards and parameters.

• accessibility
• inequalities
• quality standards

Author Information

Megersa olumana dinka *.

• Department of Civil Engineering Sciences, Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, University of Johannesburg, South Africa

*Address all correspondence to: [email protected]

1. Introduction

Water covers more than two-thirds of the earth’s surface, but mostly salty and undrinkable. The available freshwater resource is only 2.7% of the available water on earth but only 1% of the available freshwater (in lakes, rivers and groundwater) is accessible. Most of the available freshwater resources are inaccessible because they are in the hidden part of the hydrologic cycles (deep aquifers) and in glaciers (frozen in the polar ice), which means safe drinkable water on earth has very small proportion (~3%) in the freshwater resources. Freshwater can also be obtained from the seawater by desalinization process. In some countries, sufficient freshwater is not available ( physical scarcity ). In some countries, abundant freshwater is available, but it is expensive to use ( economic scarcity ).

South Africa receives about 450 mm annual rainfall and is classified as a water-stressed country [ 1 , 2 ]. The available freshwater resource can sustain 80 million people only. Some African countries (Ethiopia, Congo and Papua New Guinea) have excess freshwater resources, but they are having water shortage due to economic reasons. Ethiopia, the second populous countries in Africa, is the water tower of east Africa due to the availability of abundant water (nine major river basins). However, the country is among the few countries in the world affected by chronic water problem. The water scarcity in the world is further aggravated by the reduced water quantity (or an increased water demands) due to population growth and the declining of water quality by pollution.

As a criterion, an adequate, clean and safe drinking water supply has to be available for various users [ 3 ]. There is no universally accepted definition of “safe drinking water.” Safe drinking water is defined as the water that does not represent any significant risk to health over a lifetime of consumption [ 4 ]. The safe drinking water must be delivered that is pure, wholesome, healthful and potable. Safe water is not necessarily pure, it has some impurities in it. It contains some traces of salts such as magnesium, calcium, carbonates, bicarbonates and others. The degree of purity and safety is a relative term and debatable. Clean/pure water has no minerals and it only contains H and O. According to the Monitoring organizations under the supervision of the Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP), “safe drinking water” is defined as water from an “improved water source,” which includes household connections, public standpipes, boreholes, protected dug wells, protected springs and rainwater collections. According to the same organization, “access to safe drinking water” is defined as the availability of at least 20 l per person per day from an “improved” source within 1 km of the user’s dwelling.

Safe drinking (potable) water is the water that can be delivered to the user and is safe for drinking, food preparation, personal hygiene and washing [ 3 ]. The water must meet the required (chemical, biological and physical) quality standards at the point of supply to the users [ 5 ]. Therefore, safe drinking water is a relative term, which depends on the standards and guidelines of a country; the standards set for the different quality parameters are different. The standard of WHO is not exactly the same as that of USA, Canada, European Commission, Russia, India, South Africa, Ethiopia, and so on. The term “safe” depends on the particular resistance ability of an individual. Water that is safe for drinking in some African countries might not be safe in European countries. Some African countries already developed resistance to some of the water-related diseases.

Safe drinking water is anonymously accepted as an international agenda and priority, which is evident from the MDGs and SDGs of the United Nations (UN) initiative and vision (MDGs 7 and SDGs 6). Despite the MDGs effort, still many people lack access to safe drinking water, even lack access to basic water. Globally, more than 1 billion people do not have access to safe drinking water. According to the Third World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) report [ 6 ], contaminated/dirty water is killing more people than cancer, AIDS, wars or accidents. Population of the world is increasing and the available freshwater resources almost remain constant. The number of people without access to safe drinking water is increasing. This is mostly related to the ever-increasing population growth in the developing countries and the inability (or unwillingness) of governments (local and national) to provide adequate water supply facilities in these countries [ 7 ].

2. Drinking water safety and access

2.1. access to safe drinking water.

Water is connected to every form of life on earth and is the basic human need, equally important as air. Water is connected to every aspect of human day-to-day activities directly or indirectly. At a basic level, everyone needs access to safe water in adequate quantities for drinking, cooking, personal hygiene and sanitation facilities that do not compromise health or dignity. Therefore, access to safe and dependable (clean and fresh) water is the fundamental/basic right of humans [ 8 ]. The UN and other countries declared that access to clean, safe drinking water is a basic human right, and an essential step toward improving living standards worldwide. Access to water was one of the main goals of UN-MDGs and it is also one of the main goals of the UN-SDGs. The South African constitution declares “ access to water and food for all ” as the main goal in the constitution following the 1998 National Water Act [ 9 ]. Despite these facts, still there are inequalities in access to safe drinking water in South Africa and in the world, the problem has more impacts on the poor, women and children. There are also inequalities within and among nations [ 6 ]. For instance, the population with access to safe drinking water in Congo was 77% for rural dwellers and 17% for rural dwellers by the year 2002 [ 6 ]. Inequalities in access to water and sanitation are morally unacceptable, but they are prohibited under international law [ 3 ].

Globally, it is estimated that 89% of people have access to water suitable for drinking [ 10 ]. According to UNDP [ 11 ] report, one out of six people do not have access to clean water, that is, about 1.1 billion people lack access to safe drinking water. In some countries, especially in Africa, almost half of the population do not have access to safe drinking water and hence, is afflicted with poor health [ 12 ]. The number of people without safe drinking water is more than the number reported by UNDP [ 11 ]. This is due to the fact that most of the water supply facilities initiated during the MDGs in developing countries are not functioning properly.

2.2. Benefits of safe drinking water

Water of satisfactory quality is the fundamental indicator of health and well-being of a society and hence, crucial for the development of a country. Contaminated water not only has the potential to pose immediate threat to human, but also can affect an individual productive rate [ 13 ]. According to the WHO [ 14 ] report, an estimated 1.1 billion people in the world drink unsafe water. Approximately 3.1% of the global annual death (1.7 million) and 3.7% of the annual burden (disability) (54.2 million) are caused by the use of unsafe water and lack of basic sanitation and hygiene.

Water provides a number of benefits and services for humans and the ecosystem. As reported by OECD [ 15 ], the benefit of water is not documented sufficiently, resulting in low political priority for water issues and in suboptimal levels of investment in water infrastructures. The same document also indicates that the benefit of water is mostly hidden in other technical documents. Most researchers have indicated that the benefit-cost ratio of access to water is more than 2, and in some cases, it can reach 7.0. In developing countries like Africa, the benefit-cost ratio of access to water is very high (more than 5:1 ratio) because it is related to every dimension of developmental activities (agriculture, energy, industry, etc.). In such areas, the return on investment in water services usually result in a substantial economic gains, estimated in the range of 5–28 USD per 1 USD [ 7 ]. In addition to the economic gains, water supply projects have technical, environmental and political gains. Water sector is interconnected with other development sectors (agriculture, energy, industry, etc.) and factors (social, economic, environmental, health, educational, legal and political) at local, national levels, regional and international levels [ 16 ]. In fact, access to safe water has a number of direct and indirect benefits related to health, education, poverty and environment. The UN World Water Development Report [ 7 ] indicated that there is a linkage or nexus between water and sustainable development, far beyond its social, economic and environmental dimensions. The report clearly indicated that access to safe water has a great role in addressing the developmental challenges, such as human health, food and energy security, urbanization and industrial growth, as well as climate changes. Especially, there is a strong nexus between water, food and energy [ 3 ].

The MDGs of the UN targeted to “ halve the population without access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation” in the period from 1990 to 2015. According to the report by WHO and UNICEF [ 17 ] through their Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) for water supply and sanitation, about 2.3 billion people have gained access to an improved drinking water. The report indicates an impressive gain has been made in the past two decades, but much has to be done. The success of MDGs is even doubtful since many of developing countries, especially the poor are still struggling to get access to safe drinking water. As stated in Section 2.1, the number of people without access to safe drinking water is more than the value reported by the UN.

Research has shown that the majority of people without access to safe water are from developing nations [ 18 ]. This shows that many people in the developing world, especially Africa, still depend on unsafe water sources for daily water need and affected by chronic water problems and water-borne diseases. Millions of people die due to water-related diseases like cholera, diarrhea, malaria, dengue fever, and so on. Globally, water-borne diseases kill more than 25,000 people per day and about 5000 children die per day due to water-related diseases (mainly diarrhea) [ 12 ], most of them can be easily prevented. Diarrhea and related diseases kill about 1.8 million children every year, most of them are in developing countries [ 19 ]. It is also estimated that about 1.8 billion people drink water contaminated with Escherichia coli (indicator of fecal contamination) [ 20 ]. In many parts of the world, especially developing countries, water-borne diseases represent the leading cause of death. Thus, access to safe water means a reduction of water-related diseases. It is an opportunity for improved health because it reduces the outbreak of health hazards.

In cognizant to the benefits of water, the newly introduced ambitious Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) by UN in 2014 [ 21 ] considers water as one of the main developmental pillars under SDG 6. In fact, water was also one of the main goals of the UN-MDGs. The UN-SDG 6 states that “ Water sustains life but safe, clean drinking water defines civilization. ” The UN-SDG 6 recommended a dedicated SDG for water under five target areas such as (i) WASH, (ii) water resources, (iii) water governance, (iv) water quality and wastewater management and (v) water-related disasters. This indicates that the benefit-cost ratio of water is very high since it has social, economic, financial and environmental benefits. The benefit of water extends to other developmental activities/sectors such as health, education, agriculture and food production, energy, industry and other social and economic activities [ 7 ]. Therefore, achieving the UN’s SDG 6 seems very hard, especially in the poorest countries like Africa where there are lots of problems and challenges. It requires dramatic improvement to the quality of life and longevity [ 7 ]. If we declare that “access to clean safe drinking water is a basic human right, then providing the necessary education, infrastructure and support to ensure the success of SDG 6 is the responsibility of us all.” In developing countries, improving access to safe water requires the establishment of good governance [ 22 ].

3. Basic principles of safe drinking water supply

3.1. definition of terms.

There are basic standards, norms, criterion and indicators for safe drinking water. There are also policies, strategy and program under safe drinking water. These terms are well defined by Bos et al. [ 3 ]. Norm refers to the standard of development related to the large group of society. Criterion refers to the agreed norm or standard used for the decision. Indicator refers to the measured value of individual water quality parameters. Standard refers to the agreed target/threshold value established as an agreed target, which is set by an authority. There are various water quality standards and criteria in the world. Details of the water quality standards are provided under Section 5.3.

3.2. Water regulations and act

Water regulations are important for the provision of drinking water that is sufficient in quantity, safe, accessible, acceptable, affordable and reliable. Drinking water regulations include controlling of the water supply systems which are water source, water treatment, distribution, use, wastewater and gray water. Countries regulate drinking water differently depending on the quality of their water source. As stated earlier, different countries regulate drinking water differently depending on the quality of their water source.

In South Africa, water sources are monitored by the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS). This was achieved by the implementation of the National Water Act (NWA) 36 of 1998 [ 9 ]. The purpose of the NWA is to ensure that the nation’s water resources are protected, used, developed, conserved, managed and controlled. Local authorities are responsible for the supply of water to residents. This was achieved by the implementation of the Water Services Act (WSA) 108 of 1997. WSA are established to provide the following services [ 9 ]: (1) ensuring the rights of access to basic water supply and sanitation; (2) setting national standards, norms and tariffs; (3) water service development plans; (4) prepare the regulatory framework for water service institutions and intermediaries; (5) establish and disestablish committee for water boards and water services and their powers and duties; (6) monitoring water services and intervention and (7) providing financial assistance to water service institutions.

As a criterion, an adequate, clean and safe drinking water supply has to be available for various users [ 3 ]. Moreover, water has to be accessible for all, including children, elders and disabled ones. Water availability refers to both sufficient quantities and reliability of service provisions. Adequacy refers to both the quality and quantity of water. Reliability refers to continuity of the service provision for the current and future generation, which is covered under the principle of sustainability, system robustness and resilience. Acceptability refers to esthetic value of water – the acceptable appearance, taste and odor of water. It is highly subjective parameter and largely depends critically on the perceptions of the local ecology, culture, education and experience and hence, there is no set clear and objective global acceptability standards. Accessibility to water refers to the accessibility to a reliable supply of water on a continuous basis close to the point of demand: within everyone’s reach: home, school, work, public places. It is related to the distance of water source from the point of demand (30 minutes walk or 0.2 km). That means the water has to be accessible for everyone, including children, elders and disabled ones. The detailed definition of the above water variables can be obtained from Bos et al. [ 3 ].

The role of a drinking water supplier is to provide adequate water for the community and prevent/mitigate risk of water contamination in different elements/points of water supply system such as source, treatment and distribution. They also should assure the delivery of a safe and esthetically pleasing drinking water to the consumer’s point. In general, the prevention, mitigation and elimination of water contamination are the responsibilities of water providers and regulators. Water regulations are also important for the provision of drinking water that is sufficient in quantity, safe, accessible, acceptable, affordable and reliable. Countries regulate drinking water differently depending on the quality of their water source. According to the WHO [ 23 ] and US Environmental Protection Agency [ 24 ], there are guidelines and principles that need to be followed for water to be considered fit for use. The guidelines are as follows: physical, microbial, chemical and radiological. The water quality standards for different countries are summarized under Section 6.1.

4. Potential factors challenging water supply systems

The water supply system (WSS) is a system of hydrologic and hydraulic components, including all buildings and installations, used to meet water requirement of industrial and population centers. It consists of capturing raw water, drainage basin, water capturing and transmission pipes, water treatment plants, treated water transfer pipes, drinking water adduction pipes, pumping stations and pumping, water storage tanks and water distribution networks to the consumers [ 25 , 26 , 27 ]. A conventional water supply system is a combination of complex subsystems, consisting of the water supply catchment, water storage reservoir, water treatment plant and water distribution network [ 26 ]. Water supply and distribution systems typically comprise a combination of source works, treatment facilities, service reservoirs, pumping stations, pipes, valves and so on [ 25 ].

4.1. Sustainable water supply and challenges

In the ambitious vision 2050 of the SDG, sufficient and safe water has to be available for all to support human’s basic needs and ecosystem integrity [ 7 ]. The sustainable development of the world largely depends on the sustainable development of water since other sectors are interrelated with water resources. It requires the progress of the three dimensions of the sustainable development (social, economic and environmental) [ 7 ]. Thus, the vision of SDGs (goal 6) for water requires management of the available water and related resources in an integrated, inclusive and participatory approach. Huge investment is highly needed for infrastructure, treatment plant systems and water recycling [ 29 ].

A WSS may face a number of challenges associated with many factors in provision of quality, efficient, reliable, resilient and sustainable water supply for the present and future generations. Rural areas are facing more financial and technical difficulties than urban areas. According to da Silva et al. [ 29 ], wealthier urban areas have more financial capacity and technical expertise than the poor rural communities to raise the capital needed for water infrastructure. Especially in rural areas with arid environment and great hydrologic variability, reliable and dependable WSS requires energy intensive infrastructure. A study made by Chung et al. [ 30 ] showed that robust optimization approach is a useful tool in reliable WSS design, under uncertainty, that prevents system failure at a certain level of risk.

Achieving the SDG requires huge capital investment and good governance , which is lacking in developing countries. Huge investment is highly needed for infrastructure, treatment plant systems and water recycling [ 28 ]. The sustainable development of water sector is affected by the sustainable development of the other sectors. Unsustainable developmental activities are greatly threatening the quantity and quality of renewable freshwater resources. Various driving forces are threatening the sustainability of WSS such as population increase at alarming rate, high rate of urbanization, significant land cover and climate change, the high demand for new energy supplies and poor governance. These driving factors are causing an increasingly frequent water shortage, floods and droughts, deleterious runoff, coastal hypoxia and depleted aquifers [ 28 ]. They have challenged the success of MDGs and will continue challenging the achievement of the newly set MDGs.

The other challenge of sustainable water supply is the lack of appropriate policies and programs that consider rural diversity. Small rural communities are the most vulnerable to water contamination. Furthermore, they struggle to secure the necessary funds for infrastructure necessary to improve water treatment and delivery systems, and thus fail to meet drinking water quality regulations. Community management is the tendency to provide water to rural areas worldwide. Despite the diversity of rural communities and their water supplies, policies tend to be uniform. A quantitative and qualitative study made in the Colombian Andes on four rural water supplies by considering aspects of infrastructure, training of human resources, revenue collection, water quality and post-construction support [ 31 ]. The study concluded that there is a need to design policies and programs that consider rural diversity to facilitate the sustainable water supply services. According to Kot et al. [ 32 ], policymakers have to align small communities with appropriate water quality goals by considering the contextual and cultural differences among rural communities.

In urban areas, the infrequent and insufficient application of adaptive capacity indicators in urban sustainable water supply systems has led to the challenge of dynamic and uncertain urban water supply systems. This condition is threatening the sustainability of urban water supply systems and raises concerns about the progress of urban water systems for variation and change [ 33 ]. As suggested by Spiller [ 33 ], future research should focus on developing methods and indicators that can define, evaluate and quantify adaptive capacity indicators under the three dimensions of sustainable development ( economic, environmental and technical ). Therefore, there is an urgent need to move toward the use of adaptive capacity indicators.

Moreover, there is an urgent need to move toward sustainable and resilient smart water grids in urban areas. Urban water supply systems are facing challenges of sustainability and resiliency, including water leaks, over-use, quality issues and response to drought and natural disasters [ 34 ]. Information and communications technology could help address these challenges through the development of smart water grids that network and automate monitoring and control devices [ 34 ]. While impressive progress has been made on technological elements (information and communication), the application of a smart water grid has received scant attention, especially in developing countries.

In fast-growing urban regions, water demand and supply modeling is extremely important. An accurate prediction of water demand plays a crucial role for water service providers in the planning, design and water utility asset management of drinking WSS. However, accurate prediction is always challenging due to the fact that predicting models require a simultaneous consideration of a number of factors affecting water demand and supply pattern. Some of the factors include climate changes, economic development, population growth, migration and consumer behavioral patterns [ 35 ].

4.2. Challenging factors for water supply systems

There are a number of factors challenging WSS. Some of the factors are aging infrastructure, water service provision thinking horizons, catchment (mountain)-specific issues, climate change, knowledge gaps with respect to present and future hydrology, accurate water demand prediction, land use/cover change, optimal operation of water supply systems, cost recovery, operating cost, water quality (water pollution), water scarcity, water leaks, low water pressure, over-use, response to drought and natural disasters, rapid urbanization, population growth, migration, demographic changes, economic development, consumer behavioral patterns, efficiency and reliability of a water supply system, self-sufficiency through use of alternative water sources, dynamic and uncertain urban water systems, complex dynamic human-environment coupled systems (non-holistic or siloed management), lack of adaptive capacity indicators to assess sustainability of water systems, scant attention of smart water grids (not supported by information and communications technology), lack of policies and programs that consider rural diversity and cultural differences and neglecting wastewater management are mentioned as challenges to water supply systems for provision of sustainable and reliable water services, which meet acceptable standards for present and future generations [ 14 , 25 , 26 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 , 48 , 49 ].

According to Berg and Danilenko [ 38 ], WSS has faced a number of global challenges in the twenty-first century. The major challenges are population growth, uncertain climate changes, socio-environmental issues, limited water resources, economic crises and continuous aging process. There are a number of problems associated with the continuous aging process, including low pressure, water loss and water quality deterioration [ 36 ]. The major challenges in the provision of safe water and sanitation on a global basis are [ 37 ]: (1) water contamination within distribution systems; (2) increasing water scarcity and shortages; (3) implementing innovative and low-cost sanitation systems; (4) providing sustainable water supply systems and sanitation for megacities; (5) reducing the disparities in access to water and sanitation and (6) developing financially feasible water and sanitation services.

Increasing urban water self-sufficiency: The main drivers for increased self-sufficiency were identified to be direct and indirect lack of water, constrained infrastructure, high-quality water demands and commercial and institutional pressures. Public water service providers should plan to achieve a high level of reliable, stable and dependable water supply, which can be achieved by combining alternative water supply systems with the conventional ones. A case study made by Rygaard et al. [ 39 ] demonstrated an increase in water self-sufficiency ratios to more than 80% when the conventional water supply was supplemented by water recycling, seawater desalination and rainwater harvesting. However, the study indicated that care should be made during the introduction of alternative freshwater sources since it may raise several challenges such as very high-energy requirements (> tenfold ) by the alternative techniques, appearance of trace contaminants in recycled wastewaters and the possible resistance from consumers due to the changes made to the drinking water system. The study concluded that despite the challenges, urban water self-sufficiency concepts in combination with conventional water resources are already helping to reach the goal of urban WSS.

Infrastructure development: Water services are in crisis or approaching crisis conditions due to the neglect of infrastructure, particularly underground water mains and sewers, largely because of political unwillingness to allow charges to be set high enough to achieve sustainable cost recovery. This is true in both developed and developing countries [ 43 ]. In developed countries, the solutions are relatively affordable; what is needed is the political commitment to take action. In developing countries, the situation is more serious due to a combination of neglect and rapidly growing urban populations. Without doubt, infrastructure is essential for sustainable water development. But infrastructure alone will not contribute to the improvement of the quality of life unless it is part of an overall framework: development, economic growth, social equity and environmental protection. As mentioned by the Nobel laureate Amartya Sen [ 45 ], “the absence of infrastructure has a pervasive influence on poverty, but at the same time is not a free-standing factor in lifting people from it.” Thus, the focus should be the use of physical infrastructure as a driver for sustainable development. But infrastructure development takes more time beyond the life of most governments. The thinking of water service providers has to be based on long-term horizons. In order to improve the accountability and social welfare of relatively low-income households, there is a need for more comprehensive frameworks (institutional, legal, regulatory, policy and management) than the existing ones at present [ 45 ]. Venkatachalam [ 47 ] suggested that improving the existing public water supply to a satisfactory level will improve the household’s willingness to pay because the willing households could reap significant benefits from the improved supply. This would help the government agencies to come out with an improved water tariff policy that will cover cost of investment and maintenance.

Urban water pricing ( cost recovery, affordability and water conservation ): Policymakers increasingly consider pricing as an important tool for cost recovery, affordability and water conservation to address water scarcity issues. However, implementing tariff reforms is often difficult in practice due to political factors and the absence of governance structures that can result in quality service provision. Additionally, institutional replication of successful water pricing policies has been difficult due to incomplete information and the contextual uniqueness of local institutions, politics and social relations. Water service provision thinking has to be based on long-term horizons. Infrastructure development takes time beyond the life of most governments. In those countries without such political continuity, there is a need for all political factions to agree on goals, policies and plans. It is unlikely that water can ever be separated from politics, but city political consensus must be attempted [ 53 ].

Climate change : Climate change is affecting the frequency of extreme weather events and hence increasing the uncertainty about water availability and reliability [ 50 ]. A properly planned, developed and managed infrastructure and related institutional capacities are required in order to buffer seasonal climatic variations and address water demand issues. More emphasis should be given to mountain-specific issues. Major priority areas include water governance for transboundary basins, cross-border information systems, establishing a knowledge base for mountain regions and sharing benefit between mountain and downstream communities [ 42 ].

Knowledge gaps: With respect to present and future, hydrology poses a serious constraint for infrastructure development. Changing hydrology will pose special challenges to the design, planning and management of infrastructure [ 42 ]. Land use influences raw surface water quality and treatment costs for drinking water supply [ 51 ]. Anthropogenic disturbances to the environment can compromise valuable ecosystem services, including the provision of potable water. These disturbances decrease water quality, potentially increasing treatment costs for producing drinking water.

Efficiency and reliability of a water supply system: Water inflow is among primary determinants of the successful functioning of the entire water supply system since it influences water storage. Developing an approach to assess the resilience of WSS under limited rainfall provides useful insights into effective system management [ 26 ]. For instance, understanding WSS resilience can support the identification of the minimum/threshold rainfall value by which WSS can maintain its operation without failure. It can also help to understand and identify the sensitivity of the WSS to a changing rainfall amount and distribution pattern. In this regard, the water service providers are well aware of the stability of WSS and know when the system experience a pressure or disruptive influences.

Challenges for water supply and Governance: Cities struggling to keep pace with population and demographic changes are not unique. According to a study conducted in Dublin [ 41 ], collectively there are combinations of factors that create an inordinately challenging situation for those attempting to plan for the city’s current and future water resources needs. Their main challenges related to topography, old infrastructure (the nineteenth century), population growth and development needs, water charges, climate change and water supply history.

5. Drinking water quality

5.1. definition and concepts.

Water is most fundamental in shaping the land and regulating the climate. It is one of the most important resources that profoundly influence life. Water quality is the most fundamental controlling factor when it comes to health and the state of diseases in both humans and animals. According to WHO report [ 23 ], about 80% of all the human diseases in human beings are caused by water.

Depending on the purpose of water quality analysis, water quality can be defined based on a set of biological, physical and chemical variable, which are closely linked to the water’s intended use. As a principle, drinking water is supposed to be free from harmful pathogens and toxic chemicals [ 3 ]. Contamination of freshwater (especially groundwater) sources is one of the main challenges currently faced by the South Africans, more especially in communities who depend almost exclusively on groundwater [ 52 ]. Groundwater is used for domestic, industrial and agricultural water supply in all four corners of the world. Therefore, the presence of contaminants in natural freshwater continues to be one of the most important environmental issues in many areas of the world, more especially in developing countries [ 53 ]. Once the groundwater is contaminated, its quality cannot be restored back easily, the best way is to protect it.

The concept and theory of water quality is very broad since it is influenced by many factors. Water quality is based on the intended uses of water for different purposes, that is, different water uses require different criteria to be satisfied. In water quality analysis, all of the accepted and unaccepted values must be clearly defined for each quality variable. If the quality variables meet the pre-established standards for a given use is considered safe for that use. When water fails to meet these standards, it must be treated if possible before use.

5.2. Description of water quality parameters

5.2.1. physical parameters.

Physical quality parameters are related to total solids content, which is composed of floating matter, settleable matter, colloidal matter and matter in solution. The following physical parameters are determined in water [ 12 ]:

Color : caused by dissolved organic materials from decaying vegetation or landfill leachate.

Taste and odor : can be caused by foreign compounds such as organic compounds, inorganic salts or dissolved gases.

Temperatures : the most desirable drinking water is consistently cool and does not have temperature fluctuation of more than a few degrees. Groundwater generally meets these criteria.

Turbidity : refers to the presence of suspended solid materials in water such as clay, silt, organic material, plankton, and so on.

5.2.2. Chemical parameters

The chemical constituents have more health concerns for drinking water than for the physical constituents. The objectionability of most of the physical parameters are based on esthetic value than health effects. But the main objectionability of some of the chemical constituents is based on esthetic as well as concerns for adverse health effects. Some of the chemical constituents have an ability to cause health problems after prolonged period of time [ 54 ]. That means the chemical constituents have a cumulative effect on humans. The chemical quality parameters of water include alkalinity, biological oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen demand (COD), dissolved gases, nitrogen compounds, pH, phosphorus and solids (organic). Sometimes, chemical characteristics are evidenced by their observed reactions such as in laundering, redox reactions, and so on [ 12 , 54 ].

Below is a list of some of the chemical compounds and elements found in water:

Arsenic : occurs naturally in some geologic formation. It is mostly used in agricultural chemicals in South Africa. In drinking water, it has been linked to lung and urinary bladder cancer.

Chloride : most waters contain some chloride. The amount found can be caused by the leaching of industrial or domestic waters. Chloride should not exceed 100 mg/L in domestic water to be palatable.

Fluoride : is a natural contaminant of water. It is one of those chemicals given high priority by WHO [ 14 ] for their health effects on humans. High F in drinking water usually causes dental and skeletal fluorosis. Excessive F (>2 mg/L) causes a dental disease known as fluorosis (mottling of teeth), while regular consumption in excess may give rise to bone and skeletal fluorosis [ 12 ]. On the other hand, F < 2 mg/L causes dental cavities in children.

Zinc : is found in some natural waters, particularly in areas where zinc ore deposit have been mined. Though it is not considered detrimental to health, but it will impart a bad taste to drinking water.

Iron : small amounts of iron frequently are present in water because of the large amount of iron in the geologic materials. This will cause reddish color to water.

Manganese : naturally occurring manganese is often present in significant amounts in groundwater. Anthropogenic sources include discarded batteries, steel alloy production and agricultural products.

Toxic substances : generally classified as inorganic substances, organic substances and heavy metals. The toxic inorganic substances include nitrates (NO 3 ), cyanides (CN_) and heavy metals. These substances are of major health concern in drinking water. High NO 3 content can cause Methemoglobinemia in infants (“infant cyanosis” or “blue baby syndrome”); while CN can cause oxygen deprivation [ 12 ]. There are more than 120 toxic organic substances [ 24 ], generally exist in the form of pesticides, insecticides and solvents. These compounds produce health effects (acute or chronic). The toxic heavy metals are arsenic (As), barium (Ba), cadmium (Cd), chromium (Cr), lead (Pb), mercury (Hg), selenium (Se) and silver (Ag) [ 12 ]. Like the organic substances, some of these substances are acute poisons (As and Cr) and others produce chronic diseases (Pb, Cd and Hg).

5.2.3. Biological parameters

Biological parameters are the basic quality parameters for the control of diseases caused by pathogenic organisms, which have human origin. Pathogenic organisms found in surface water include bacteria, fungi, algae, protozoa, plants and animals and viruses. Some of these disease-causing organisms (bacteria, fungi, algae, protozoa and viruses) are not identifiable and can only be observed microscopically. Microbiological agents are very important in their relation to public health and may also be significant in the modification of physical and chemical characteristics of water [ 12 ]. Water for drinking and cooking purposes must be free from pathogens. The greatest microbial risks are associated with consumption of water that is contaminated with human or animal feces. Feces can carry pathogenic bacteria, protozoa, helminthes and virus. Pathogens originating from feces are the principle concerns in setting health-based targets for microbial safety. Water-borne diseases are particularly to be avoided because of the capacity of result in the simultaneous infection of large number of people. While water can be a very significant source of infectious organisms, many of the diseases that may be waterborne may also be transmitted by other routes, including person-to-person contact, droplets and aerosols and food intake [ 54 ].

The techniques for comprehensive bacteriological test are complex and time consuming. Different tests have been developed to detect the relative degree of bacterial contaminations in terms of an easily defined quantity. There are two mostly used test methods widely used to estimate the number of microorganism of coliform groups ( Escherichia coli and Aerobacter aerogenes ). These include: total coliforms or E. coli , but the second one is found to be a better indicator of biological contamination compared to the first one [ 12 ].

5.3. Water quality standards

As presented in Section 3.1, standard is defined as a basis for judging the quality. A standard for drinking water quality is thus the reference that will ensure that the delivered water will not pose any threat or harm to human health. The water quality standard is the framework against which a water sample can be considered satisfactory or safe for use [ 54 ]. There are a number of standard guidelines for drinking purposes such as World Health Organization [ 54 ], Commission for European Union [ 55 ], U.S. Environmental Protection Agent [ 24 ], Environmental Canada [ 56 ], Russian Standard [ 57 ], Indian Standard [ 58 , 59 ], South African National Standard [ 60 ] and Ethiopian Standards [ 61 ]. Most developing and other developed countries use the WHO standards for drinking water [ 54 ]. Table 1 summarizes water quality guidelines of different countries.

Table 1.

Comparison of the different drinking water standards.

P – probability (%); HDL – highest desirable limit; MPL – maximum permissible limit; USEPA – United States Environmental Protection Agency; CEU – Commission of European Union; EC – Environmental Canada.

Sources: a WHO [ 54 ], b USEPA [ 24 ], c CEU [ 55 ], d UNESCO/WHO/UNEP [ 56 ], e Health Canada [ 57 ], f ISI [ 58 ] and BIS [ 59 ], g SANS [ 60 ], h ESA [ 61 ]. Note that the values indicated for the different standards other than WHO are the maximum permissible limits.

5.4. Water quality index

It is difficult to quantify the overall suitability of water for drinking based on the various guidelines presented in Table 1 . The interpretation of the various water quality parameters separately is usually a difficult task for general public as well as decision and policy makers. Therefore, the calculation of a general water quality index (WQI) is extremely important in order to communicate the quality of water in a better and understandable ways. There are different approaches of calculating WQI. In this section, a brief description has been provided for the weighted Arithmetic Water Quality Index Method proposed by Tiwari and Mishra [ 62 ] and adopted by others [ 63 , 64 , 65 , 66 , 67 ]. The quality rating (q i ), the sub-index (SI) [ 65 ] and the relative weights (Wi) are calculated using Eqs. (1) – (3) .

where V i and S i are the analytical and the standard value for the i th parameter, respectively, V o is the ideal value of the i th parameter in pure water (V o  = 0, except pH =7.0). The standard value is usually considered as the maximum permissible level set by WHO [ 10 , 14 , 54 ] or as per the standards for different countries presented in Table 1 . W i is the relative weights for various water quality parameters, assumed to be inversely proportional to the recommended standards for the corresponding parameters. w i is the unit weight of each parameter according to its relative importance in the overall quality of water for drinking purposes. The w i values are provided by Tiwari and Mishra [ 62 ], which depend on the number of parameters considered in the calculation of WQI. Note that the ∑W i should be equal to 1.

Finally, the overall WQI ( Eq. (4) ) is calculated for each of the water sources by aggregating the quality rating (q i ) linearly and taking their weighted mean.

WQI classes are as follows: 0–25 (excellent, grade A), 26–50 (good, grade B), 51–75 (poor, grade C), 76–100 (very poor, grade D), >100 (unfit for drinking, Grade E).

6. Conclusion

As water is a basic need for human life, access to clean, safe drinking water is a basic human right. As a criterion, an adequate, reliable, clean, acceptable and safe drinking water supply has to be available for various users. Moreover, everyone needs access to safe water in adequate quantities for drinking, cooking and personal hygiene and sanitation facilities that do not compromise health or dignity. Access to water is one of the most important catalysts given high priority by the UN for sustainable development. Despite these facts, there are inequalities in access to safe drinking water in the world. There are a number of factors challenging the sustainable WSS. Some of the factors are related to infrastructures (aging), clean water issues (quality, scarcity), natural factors (climate change, flood and drought), human factors (population growth, migration, demographic change, economic development, willingness to pay for water supply services, overuse), water management and delivery problems (pressure, leakages, lack of smart water meters, cost recovery, operation costs, etc.).

MDG fails to achieve its goal for access to safe water and sanitation. The chance for the success of the newly set SDG is also not different from that of MDGs, especially in some African countries. Some of the African leaders are reporting a false number of people with access to safe drinking water and sanitation to get a donation from the UN and using the donated money to buy weapons and use it to suppress the right of the people. In developing countries, improving access to safe water requires provision of good quality education and the establishment of good governance. Priorities should be given to the development of a democratic government and community empowerment.

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Water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH)

Safe drinking-water, sanitation and hygiene are crucial to human health and well-being. Safe WASH is not only a prerequisite to health, but contributes to livelihoods, school attendance and dignity and helps to create resilient communities living in healthy environments. Drinking unsafe water impairs health through illnesses such as diarrhoea, and untreated excreta contaminates groundwaters and surface waters used for drinking-water, irrigation, bathing and household purposes.  Chemical contamination of water continues to pose a health burden, whether natural in origin such as arsenic and fluoride, or anthropogenic such as nitrate. Safe and sufficient WASH plays a key role in preventing numerous NTDs such as trachoma, soil-transmitted helminths and schistosomiasis. Diarrhoeal deaths as a result of inadequate WASH were reduced by half during the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) period (1990–2015), with the significant progress on water and sanitation provision playing a key role. Evidence suggests that improving service levels towards safely managed drinking-water or sanitation such as regulated piped water or connections to sewers with wastewater treatment can dramatically improve health by reducing diarrhoeal disease deaths.

Safe drinking-water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) are crucial to human health and well-being. Safe WASH is not only a prerequisite to health, but contributes to livelihoods, school attendance and dignity and helps to create resilient communities living in healthy environments. Drinking unsafe water impairs health through illnesses such as diarrhoea, and untreated excreta contaminates groundwaters and surface waters used for drinking-water, irrigation, bathing and household purposes. This creates a heavy burden on communities. Chemical contamination of water continues to pose a health burden, whether natural in origin such as arsenic and fluoride, or anthropogenic such as nitrate. Safe and sufficient WASH plays a key role in preventing numerous neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) such as trachoma, soil-transmitted helminths and schistosomiasis.

However, poor WASH conditions still account for more than one million diarrhoeal deaths every year and constrain effective prevention and management of other diseases including malnutrition, NTDs and cholera.

Evidence suggests that improving service levels towards safely managed drinking-water or sanitation such as regulated piped water or connections to sewers with wastewater treatment can dramatically improve health by reducing diarrhoeal disease deaths.

WHO develops, updates and disseminates health-based guidance documents and best practice guides, norms and standards that support standard-setting and regulations at national level, particularly for drinking-water safety, effective surveillance approaches, recreational water quality, sanitation safety, safe wastewater use, WASH in health and educational facilities, and WASH monitoring.

WHO empowers countries through multi-sectoral technical cooperation, advice and capacity building to governments, practitioners and partners including on health and WASH sector capacities with respect to their public health oversight roles, national policies and regulatory frameworks, national systems for effective water quality and disease surveillance, including outbreak response, national systems for WASH monitoring, and national WASH target-setting.

WHO provides reliable and credible WASH data to inform policies and programmes including on WASH risk factors and burden of disease, the status of key output indicators for WASH, progress towards relevant WASH-related SDG targets, the enabling environment for WASH including WASH finance, and wastewater and SDG 6 interlinkages.

WHO coordinates with multi-sectoral partners, leads or engages with global and regional platforms, and advocates for WASH to influence political will and policy uptake of effective WASH strategies, increase focus on effective WASH regulations and policies, and expand and strengthen multi-sectoral collaboration at national level.

WHO promotes integration of WASH with other health programmes, for example disease programmes for cholera and NTDs, emergencies programmes, quality care and infection prevention control, especially through WASH in health care facilities, nutrition programmes and antimicrobial resistance programmes. 

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Essay On Importance Of Water

Table of Contents

Short Essay On Importance Of Water

Water is one of the most essential and important resources for life on earth. It plays a critical role in supporting all living organisms, including humans, plants, and animals. Without access to clean, safe water, life on earth would not be possible.

For humans, water is necessary for survival as it makes up approximately 60% of the human body. It is also required for a range of activities, including drinking, cooking, cleaning, and bathing. Additionally, water is essential for agriculture and food production. Irrigation systems, which rely on a constant supply of water, are used to grow crops that feed billions of people around the world.

Water also plays a critical role in maintaining the earth’s ecosystems. It helps regulate the planet’s temperature and supports the growth of vegetation, which in turn provides habitats for countless species of animals. Moreover, water plays a critical role in the water cycle, helping to distribute heat and moisture around the planet.

Unfortunately, access to clean, safe water is a challenge for many people around the world. Approximately 2 billion people do not have access to safe drinking water, and millions die each year from water-borne diseases such as cholera and dysentery. This highlights the importance of ensuring that all people have access to clean water and that efforts are made to protect and conserve this precious resource.

In conclusion, water is an essential and critical resource for life on earth. It is necessary for human survival and plays a vital role in supporting ecosystems and sustaining food production. Ensuring that all people have access to clean, safe water is a global challenge and one that requires sustained efforts to protect and conserve this precious resource.

longEssay On Importance Of Water

Water is one of the most important substances on Earth. It sustains life, from the smallest bacteria to the largest mammals. But how much do we really know about water and its importance? This essay explores why water is so essential to human life and looks at some of the potential risks of not taking proper care of our water resources.

Introduction

It is no secret that water is essential for life. All known forms of life require water to survive. In fact, water makes up about 60% of the human body. Every system in the human body depends on water to function properly.

Water is involved in all aspects of metabolism, including digestion, absorption, and excretion. It also plays a role in temperature regulation and waste removal. In addition, water helps to protect tissues and organs from damage and maintains their structure and function.

Despite its importance, many people do not drink enough water every day. This can lead to dehydration, which can cause a number of health problems. Some of the symptoms of dehydration include fatigue, headache, lightheadedness, and dizziness. Dehydration can also lead to more serious problems such as heat stroke or kidney stones.

It is important to drink plenty of fluids each day, especially during hot weather or when exercising. The best way to stay hydrated is to drink small amounts of water throughout the day rather than large amounts all at once. It is also important to choose beverages that contain electrolytes like sodium and potassium, which help to replace those lost through sweating.

Definition of Water

Water is a clear, colorless, odorless, and tasteless liquid that is essential for the survival of all known forms of life. In chemical terms, water is a compound of hydrogen and oxygen, with a molecular weight of 18.01528. The boiling point of water is 100 °C (212 °F), and its freezing point is 0 °C (32 °F). Water is in liquid form at standard atmospheric pressure at temperatures between 0°C (32°F) and 100°C (212°F). It has a density of 1 gram per cubic centimeter (1 g/cm3) at 4°C (39°F).

Importance of Water for Our Health and Wellbeing

Water is vital for our health and wellbeing. Our bodies are made up of around 60% water, so it’s no surprise that we need to keep topped up in order to function properly. Water has many roles in the body, including:

– Carrying nutrients and oxygen around the body – Flushing out toxins and waste products – Regulating body temperature – Lubricating joints – Helping with digestion

We need to drink around eight glasses of water a day to stay hydrated. This may seem like a lot, but it’s easy to get through if you make sure you have a glass with every meal and snack, and carry a bottle of water with you when you’re out and about.

There are many benefits to staying hydrated, including:

– Improved physical performance – Reduced fatigue and increased energy levels – improved mental function and concentration – better skin health – reduced risk of kidney stones and urinary tract infections.

The Role of Water in Human Society

Water is one of the most important substances on Earth. All living things need water to survive. Water is essential for the proper functioning of all cells, tissues, and organs.

The human body is made up of about 60% water. Every system in the body depends on water. For example, water:

– Carries nutrients and oxygen to all cells

– Flushes toxins out of vital organs

– Regulates body temperature

– Lubricates joints

Without water, the human body would not be able to function properly. People can only survive without water for a few days before they become seriously ill and die.

Water is also important for agriculture. Crops need water to grow. In many parts of the world, irrigation systems are used to bring water to fields where it is needed. Irrigation can be done by hand, but it is often done with machines. Farmers must be careful not to use too much water or their crops will suffer from drought (lack of water). Too little water can also damage crops. Farmers have to know when and how much to water their crops in order to get a good harvest.

The Impact of Climate Change on Water Availability

Water availability is one of the key ways in which climate change can impact us. It is estimated that by the end of the century, global average water availability will decrease by 6%. This means that there will be less water available for drinking, irrigation, and industry. In some regions, water availability could decrease by as much as 30%.

There are a number of reasons for this decrease in water availability. One is that as the atmosphere warms, evaporation rates increase. This means that more water is being drawn out of lakes and rivers and into the atmosphere. Additionally, precipitation patterns are changing. While some areas are seeing increases in rainfall, others are experiencing drought conditions. These changes mean that less water is available to recharge groundwater supplies.

The impacts of climate change on water availability are already being felt around the world. In Australia, for example, a prolonged drought has left many farmers struggling to irrigate their crops. In California, declining snowpack levels have led to reduced river flows and increased water shortages. As climate change continues to impact our planet, it is likely that these types of problems will become more common.

How to Conserve Water

Water is one of the most important natural resources on earth. It is essential for all forms of life and plays a vital role in our environment.

There are many ways to conserve water. Some simple things that everyone can do to save water are:

– Turn the tap off while brushing your teeth – Take shorter showers – Don’t let the water run while washing dishes – Fix any leaks around your home – Use a broom instead of a hose to clean your driveway or sidewalk – Water your plants during the cooler hours of the day – Use a rain barrel to collect rainwater for watering plants – Mulch your garden to help retain moisture All these things will help reduce water consumption and protect this valuable resource.

In conclusion, this essay has highlighted the importance of water in our lives and why it is essential for us to conserve and protect it. Water plays a vital role in sustaining life on Earth and we must take action now to ensure that all humans have access to safe drinking water. We should also strive to reduce our personal consumption of water and make efforts to preserve freshwater resources for future generations. Through greater awareness, conservation initiatives, improved infrastructure, and responsible usage practices we can help secure a thriving future environment with abundant supplies of clean water.

Manisha Dubey Jha is a skilled educational content writer with 5 years of experience. Specializing in essays and paragraphs, she’s dedicated to crafting engaging and informative content that enriches learning experiences.

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Drinking Water Quality and Human Health: An Editorial

Patrick levallois.

1 Direction de la santé environnementale et de la toxicologie, Institut national de la santé publique du Québec, QC G1V 5B3, Canada

2 Département de médecine sociale et préventive, Faculté de médecine, Université Laval, Québec, QC G1V 0A6, Canada

Cristina M. Villanueva

3 ISGlobal, 08003 Barcelona, Spain; [email protected]

4 Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF), 08002 Barcelona, Spain

5 Consortium for Biomedical Research in Epidemiology and Public Health (CIBERESP), Carlos III Institute of Health, 28029 Madrid, Spain

6 IMIM (Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute), 08003 Barcelona, Spain

Drinking water quality is paramount for public health. Despite improvements in recent decades, access to good quality drinking water remains a critical issue. The World Health Organization estimates that almost 10% of the population in the world do not have access to improved drinking water sources [ 1 ], and one of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals is to ensure universal access to water and sanitation by 2030 [ 2 ]. Among other diseases, waterborne infections cause diarrhea, which kills nearly one million people every year. Most are children under the age of five [ 1 ]. At the same time, chemical pollution is an ongoing concern, particularly in industrialized countries and increasingly in low and medium income countries (LMICs). Exposure to chemicals in drinking water may lead to a range of chronic diseases (e.g., cancer and cardiovascular disease), adverse reproductive outcomes and effects on children’s health (e.g., neurodevelopment), among other health effects [ 3 ].

Although drinking water quality is regulated and monitored in many countries, increasing knowledge leads to the need for reviewing standards and guidelines on a nearly permanent basis, both for regulated and newly identified contaminants. Drinking water standards are mostly based on animal toxicity data, and more robust epidemiologic studies with an accurate exposure assessment are rare. The current risk assessment paradigm dealing mostly with one-by-one chemicals dismisses potential synergisms or interactions from exposures to mixtures of contaminants, particularly at the low-exposure range. Thus, evidence is needed on exposure and health effects of mixtures of contaminants in drinking water [ 4 ].

In a special issue on “Drinking Water Quality and Human Health” IJERPH [ 5 ], 20 papers were recently published on different topics related to drinking water. Eight papers were on microbiological contamination, 11 papers on chemical contamination, and one on radioactivity. Five of the eight papers were on microbiology and the one on radioactivity concerned developing countries, but none on chemical quality. In fact, all the papers on chemical contamination were from industrialized countries, illustrating that microbial quality is still the priority in LMICs. However, chemical pollution from a diversity of sources may also affect these settings and research will be necessary in the future.

Concerning microbiological contamination, one paper deals with the quality of well water in Maryland, USA [ 6 ], and it confirms the frequent contamination by fecal indicators and recommends continuous monitoring of such unregulated water. Another paper did a review of Vibrio pathogens, which are an ongoing concern in rural sub-Saharan Africa [ 7 ]. Two papers focus on the importance of global primary prevention. One investigated the effectiveness of Water Safety Plans (WSP) implemented in 12 countries of the Asia-Pacific region [ 8 ]. The other evaluated the lack of intervention to improve Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) in Nigerian communities and its effect on the frequency of common childhood diseases (mainly diarrhea) in children [ 9 ]. The efficacies of two types of intervention were also presented. One was a cost-effective household treatment in a village in South Africa [ 10 ], the other a community intervention in mid-western Nepal [ 11 ]. Finally, two epidemiological studies were conducted in industrialized countries. A time-series study evaluated the association between general indicators of drinking water quality (mainly turbidity) and the occurrence of gastroenteritis in 17 urban sites in the USA and Europe. [ 12 ] The other evaluated the performance of an algorithm to predict the occurrence of waterborne disease outbreaks in France [ 13 ].

On the eleven papers on chemical contamination, three focused on the descriptive characteristics of the contamination: one on nitrite seasonality in Finland [ 14 ], the second on geogenic cation (Na, K, Mg, and Ca) stability in Denmark [ 15 ] and the third on historical variation of THM concentrations in french water networks [ 16 ]. Another paper focused on fluoride exposure assessments using biomonitoring data in the Canadian population [ 17 ]. The other papers targeted the health effects associated with drinking water contamination. An extensive up-to-date review was provided regarding the health effects of nitrate [ 18 ]. A more limited review was on heterogeneity in studies on cancer and disinfection by-products [ 19 ]. A thorough epidemiological study on adverse birth outcomes and atrazine exposure in Ohio found a small link with lower birth weight [ 20 ]. Another more geographical study, found a link between some characteristics of drinking water in Taiwan and chronic kidney diseases [ 21 ]. Finally, the other papers discuss the methods of deriving drinking water standards. One focuses on manganese in Quebec, Canada [ 22 ], another on the screening values for pharmaceuticals in drinking water, in Minnesota, USA [ 23 ]. The latter developed the methodology used in Minnesota to derive guidelines—taking the enhanced exposure of young babies to water chemicals into particular consideration [ 24 ]. Finally, the paper on radioactivity presented a description of Polonium 210 water contamination in Malaysia [ 25 ].

In conclusion, despite several constraints (e.g., time schedule, fees, etc.), co-editors were satisfied to gather 20 papers by worldwide teams on such important topics. Our small experience demonstrates the variety and importance of microbiological and chemical contamination of drinking water and their possible health effects.

Acknowledgments

Authors want to acknowledge the important work of the IJERPH staff and of numbers of anonymous reviewers.

Author Contributions

P.L. wrote a first draft of the editorial and approved the final version. C.M.V. did a critical review and added important complementary information to finalize this editorial.

This editorial work received no special funding.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Essay on Drinking Water

Students are often asked to write an essay on Drinking Water in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Drinking Water

Importance of drinking water.

Water is life’s essential ingredient. Our bodies are about 60% water. Drinking water keeps us hydrated, which is vital for our bodily functions.

Benefits of Drinking Water

Drinking water aids in digestion, nutrient absorption, and maintains body temperature. It also helps in flushing out toxins and keeps our skin healthy.

How Much Water to Drink?

Experts suggest drinking 8-10 glasses of water daily. However, this can vary based on physical activity and climate.

Drinking water is crucial for our health. So, let’s make a habit of consuming enough every day.

250 Words Essay on Drinking Water

The importance of drinking water.

Water is a fundamental element of life. Covering about 70% of the Earth’s surface, it’s also the primary component of the human body. However, the importance of drinking water extends beyond mere existence. It plays a vital role in our physical and mental health, and even in societal development.

Physiological Benefits

Water is the medium of all metabolic processes in the body. It aids in digestion, nutrient absorption, and waste elimination. It regulates body temperature, lubricates joints, and maintains skin health. Dehydration, on the other hand, can lead to fatigue, headaches, and impaired cognitive function.

Mental Health Implications

The brain is approximately 75% water. Hence, adequate hydration is necessary for optimal brain function. Studies suggest that even mild dehydration can affect mood, concentration, and memory. Furthermore, it can exacerbate symptoms of certain mental disorders.

Societal Relevance

Access to clean drinking water is a global concern. It’s not just about health, but also about social equality and economic growth. Water scarcity can lead to conflicts and migration, while waterborne diseases can cripple communities.

In essence, drinking water is not just a basic need, but a cornerstone of human health and societal progress. As we delve deeper into the intricacies of our bodies and societies, the importance of this clear, tasteless liquid becomes even more apparent. We must therefore strive for its conservation and equitable distribution, recognizing it as a critical component of our collective wellbeing.

500 Words Essay on Drinking Water

Introduction.

Water makes up about 60% of the human body, highlighting its role in maintaining bodily functions. It aids in digestion, nutrient absorption, and waste elimination. It also helps regulate body temperature, lubricate joints, and protect sensitive tissues. Dehydration, or the lack of adequate water in the body, can lead to serious health issues such as kidney stones, urinary tract infections, and even cognitive impairment.

Health Benefits of Drinking Water

Drinking sufficient water has numerous health benefits. It boosts skin health and beauty, flushing out toxins and promoting a clear complexion. It aids in weight loss by enhancing metabolism and suppressing appetite. Furthermore, it plays a crucial role in maintaining cardiovascular health by facilitating the flow of oxygen and nutrients in the blood.

Challenges of Water Scarcity

Sustainable water management.

Given the importance and scarcity of water, sustainable water management is imperative. It involves the efficient use of water resources, reducing waste, and promoting conservation. For instance, rainwater harvesting and wastewater treatment can provide alternative sources of water. Additionally, awareness campaigns can educate the public about the importance of water conservation and the dire consequences of wastage.

In conclusion, drinking water is a fundamental human need and a critical component of our health and wellbeing. However, water scarcity is a pressing issue that threatens our ability to meet this basic need. Therefore, it is crucial to prioritize sustainable water management, promoting water conservation, and ensuring equitable access to clean, safe drinking water for all. By doing so, we can safeguard our health and secure a sustainable future for generations to come.

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Drinking Water and Public Health in the United States

• Policy Statements and Advocacy
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• Date: Nov 05 2019
• Policy Number: 20195

Key Words: Water, Environmental Health

The purpose of this policy statement is to guide further debate and decision making by APHA regarding a public policy on safe drinking water. This statement provides the scientific basis and justification for the importance of improving our nation’s drinking water supplies. It also emphasizes the vital role that public health practitioners and policymakers can play in this important public health issue. In addition, it will enable APHA to become a policy leader with respect to safe drinking water. The objectives of this policy statement are to position APHA to: (1) provide expert guidance to the Environmental Protection Agency and relevant agencies on decision making regarding drinking water standards and regulations; (2) improve public health education about drinking water risks, specifically education for public health and health care professionals; and (3) promote sufficient funding for federal and state drinking water programs.

Relationship to Existing APHA Policy Statements

The following APHA policy statements identify contaminants that pollute or otherwise impact drinking water sources in the United States: 20182 (The Environmental and Occupational Health Impacts of Unconventional Oil and Gas Industry), 20037 (Precautionary Moratorium on New Concentrated Animal Feed Operations), 20104 (A Precautionary Approach to Reducing American Exposure to Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals), and 20126 (Anticipating and Addressing Sources of Pollution to Preserve Coastal Watersheds, Coastal Waters, and Human Health). The policy proposed here summarizes these various sources in addition to the information provided in Policy Statement 200015 (Drinking Water Quality and Public Health) and makes specific recommendations to address public health concerns and policies as a means of ensuring safe drinking water for the U.S. population.

Problem Statement

Safe drinking water is essential to ensure public health and is a human right. In the United States, the quality and safety of our drinking water continues to be an important public health issue. From 2003 to 2009, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimated that up to 477,000 people fell ill and approximately 6,900 died from 13 of the most common waterborne infectious diseases in the United States.[1] The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that public drinking water systems are the source of drinking water for 94% of U.S. residents. In 2017, almost 22 million of these individuals drank water from systems that were in violation of public health standards.[2] The CDC reports that, since 2009, the top causes of disease outbreaks related to public water systems have been associated with Campylobacter, Legionella, 4-methylcyclohexanemethanol, Cryptosporidium, Norovirus, cyanotoxins, Escherichia coli, and Giardia.[3] Legionella, which has been on the rise in the United States as an emerging contaminant, was associated with 57% of the 42 drinking water–associated outbreaks and all 13 deaths reported in 2013–2014.[4] More than 13 million households in the United States depend on private well water, which is not monitored under the Safe Drinking Water Act.[2] Drinking water use is shaped by social and cultural beliefs that are further influenced by the diversity of the United States.[5]

Clearly, officially recorded cases of waterborne disease represent only the tip of the iceberg. Most drinking water in the United States is obtained from surface water or groundwater sources, each of which can be contaminated.[6] The surface waters of rivers, streams, lakes, and ponds are under threat from environmental contamination. Water source contamination in the United States most commonly originates from industrial and agricultural sources, human and animal waste, inadequate or damaged treatment and distribution systems, and natural sources such as geological formations, and further effects are attributable to an aging water infrastructure system.[6] Because of this potential level of contamination, surface water usually requires aggressive and sophisticated treatment prior to consumption. Groundwater may be contaminated from a number of natural sources, including arsenic, uranium, and radon resulting from local hydrogeology.[7] In addition, severe contamination of the soil, such as from hazardous waste dumps and leaking underground storage tanks, recent increases in unconventional oil and gas drilling, and extreme flooding events that overwhelm aging sewer systems, agricultural fields, and livestock farms, can lead to locally severe groundwater contamination.[8–10]

Upgrades to water infrastructure systems to meet current needs related to delivering safe drinking water and future needs under changed climate conditions will require major investments.[11] The EPA estimates that $472.6 billion is needed over the next 20 years to maintain and improve the nation’s drinking water infrastructure.[11] Of that investment, $312.6 billion (or 66% of the total) will be required to replace and refurbish aging or deteriorating pipelines alone, $83 billion to improve treatment infrastructure, $47.6 billion for storage infrastructure, and $21.8 billion for source intake structures.[11] In addition, $271 billion will be needed to repair or upgrade publicly owned wastewater conveyance and treatment facilities, combined sewer overflows, and stormwater management systems to protect water quality and public health.[11] These costs are expected to rise due to climate change impacts including lengthening of rainy seasons and extreme precipitation overwhelming reservoirs and sewer systems, particularly in urban areas; shortening and reduction of snow melts that provide source water; and droughts, which reduce water availability and diminish the structural integrity of concrete structures and dams.[12]

Individuals, particularly those living in low-income communities and those in rural, tribal, and immigrant or refugee communities near polluted source waters, fracking sites, and areas with an aging infrastructure that diminishes the capacity to deliver safe drinking water, may face increased exposure to unsafe drinking water. Tap water may be contaminated by chemical and biological hazards that cause acute and chronic diseases. In tribal communities, 1.9% of people lack access to a safe water supply and/or waste disposal facilities, nearly twice the percentage found in the general U.S. population. In addition, 17% of individuals lack general sanitation facilities, which could result in local pollution in communities with low access to health care. The investment to build sanitation facilities in American Indian and Alaska Native homes and communities would result in at least a 20-fold return in health benefits.[13]

The costs described here may create an undue economic burden for low-income and rural populations. In 2016, an estimated 15 million people in the United States experienced a water shutoff due to nonpayment. In addition, privately owned water systems are on average 59% more expensive than public water systems. In places where private systems are the only option, this may place a significant financial burden on low-income populations.[14] In American Indian and Alaska Native populations, existing infrastructure needs would cost an estimated $3.2 billion; an additional $2.4 billion would be needed over the next 20 years to repair or maintain tribal drinking water infrastructure.[15]

Many public water treatment systems and most private well systems are not equipped to treat or remove chemical contaminants such as perfluorinated chemicals, which have become nearly ubiquitous in U.S. water systems.[16] Properly treated water may become contaminated again after it leaves the treatment plant and enters the distribution system if the system is damaged. Outbreaks have been associated with contamination of water within distribution systems when sewage from wastewater pipes has entered drinking water pipes through leaks or improper connections.[2]

Specific contaminants of concern: Waterborne disease outbreaks can occur when water treatment and/or infrastructure systems fail or when untreated water is consumed. Data reported to the CDC from 2008 to 2014 show that bacterial etiological agents are far more prevalent than protozoa or viruses with respect to numbers of outbreaks as well as numbers of cases.[17] The highest numbers of cases reported for bacterial, protozoan, and viral agents involve Salmonella, Cryptosporidium, and norovirus, respectively.

In terms of outbreaks, Legionella, Giardia, and norovirus have the highest prevalence.[17] Groundwaters have been the source of the majority of outbreaks due to bacterial contamination. Most waterborne pathogens cause acute gastrointestinal illness, but some may function differently; for example, Legionella spp. can cause acute respiratory illness. The elderly and children are the most susceptible populations.[18] Infrastructure issues magnify the problem of microbiological contamination of our water supplies, as biofilms growing in distribution networks support the growth of opportunistic pathogens such as Legionella, Pseudomonas, and Mycobacterium.[19,20] Corrosion in older infrastructure contributes significantly to surfaces that can support biofilm growth.[20]

Due to the widespread use of chlorine in drinking water treatment, it is the most common point of exposure to chlorinated disinfection byproducts (DBPs), which are formed by reactions between chlorine and organic molecules.[21] Organics are typically naturally occurring (e.g., tannins come from the decay of natural organic matter such as leaves) and are therefore most likely to be found in surface waters. While a meta-study focusing on trihalomethanes and bladder cancer did not reveal any convincing connection, other DBPs such as haloacetic acids are still suspect in both cancer and noncancer health effects.[22] In addition, some studies have suggested an increased risk of adverse reproductive outcomes, including spontaneous abortions and neural tube defects.[23] In 2006, the EPA set health protective standards when it finalized rules requiring public water systems to comply with established maximum contaminant levels for DBPs and maximum residual disinfectant levels.[24]

Since the removal of lead from gasoline, drinking water has become a more important route of lead exposure for the general population. Lead generally enters drinking water by leaching from lead pipes, lead solder joints, older brass fixtures, and some pumps used for wells. Studies of fountains and other fixtures in offices and schools have shown a potential for high exposures to lead in first-draw samples of water.[25] There may be high amounts of lead in drinking water in older housing, particularly housing with lead distribution pipes. A continued failure to invest in infrastructure, particularly in communities where racial minorities and individuals with lower incomes predominate, has led to public health crises and widening health disparities across race and class, as demonstrated in Washington, D.C., and Flint, Michigan, among other areas.[26,27] Prenatal lead exposures and exposures among youths are known to affect brain development, resulting in lower cognitive function, lower IQ, and increased behavioral problems. Prolonged exposures can also result in hearing loss, tooth decay, spontaneous abortions, renal disease, and cardiovascular disease in adults.[28]

A variety of other metals, including arsenic, cadmium, mercury, and strontium, may be found locally in drinking water supplies. Arsenic in particular has been found in high levels in community and private water supplies, usually as the result of high concentrations in regional geological formations. Arsenic has been associated with bladder, skin, and lung cancers.[29] In 2001, the EPA set the arsenic standard for drinking water at 10 parts per billion.[30]

Nitrates and nitrites contaminate water supplies owing to ground applications of fertilizers and seepage from septic tanks. As a result, concentrations tend to be highest in rural, agricultural areas and may vary widely depending on the season. The number of people served by systems in violation of nitrate and nitrite standards fell from 1.5 million in 1997 to 200,000 in 2014; however, the EPA estimates that the percentage of systems in violation rose from 0.28% to 0.32% between 1994 and 2016.[31] Acute and long-term threats to public health include blue baby syndrome among exposed pregnant women and infants and increased risks for certain cancers and birth defects, respectively.[31]

Radon in water constitutes a threat to health from direct ingestion as well as inhalation from leaks and after water is heated and/or agitated, such as during showering. Alpha particles emitted from radon can cause cancer of the gastrointestinal tract or lung, depending on the route of exposure. Levels of radon vary regionally. Water from New England, the Southeast, and mountain areas may have more radon than water from other regions.[32] The EPA regulates radon in drinking water as an alpha emitter with a limit of 15 pCi/L. Some states have set a lower threshold, including Massachusetts at 10 pCi/L.[33]

Thousands of chemicals that pose potential risks to human health have been found in drinking water sources. A variety of pesticides are routinely found in drinking water at very low concentrations. Tetrachloroethylene, also known as perchloroethylene or “perc,” has been found in high levels in water supplies as a result of leaching from installed polyvinyl chloride water mains. Studies of populations exposed through this route have associated perc exposure with lung cancer and possibly colorectal cancer.[34] Migration of fuel-associated chemicals such as benzene and methyl-ter-butyl ether (MTBE) from underground gasoline storage tanks has also been reported.[35] Unconventional (“frac”) gas and oil exploration and extraction pose threats of contamination to both groundwater and surface drinking water sources. Such processes have been implicated in degradation of water quantity and quality. More than 1,000 chemicals are used in unconventional gas and oil exploration, with many lacking basic toxicity data. However, a number of known or suspected carcinogens, endocrine disruptors, and toxins have been found in drilling fluids and wastewater.[36,37]

An emerging threat to drinking water safety is from per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs). With more than 6,000 individual chemicals, PFASs are used in a variety of products from firefighting foam to nonstick cookware and stain-resistant fabrics.[38] Animal studies have revealed that PFASs are potentially toxic to humans at extremely low doses, and epidemiological evidence shows an increased risk of cancer and effects on neurological development, immune function, and metabolic outcomes. Widespread groundwater contamination has been found near PFAS manufacturing sites in Michigan and elsewhere in the United States.[39]

Endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) found in pharmaceuticals and other products can enter drinking water sources from agricultural sources (e.g., atrazine) and human sources (e.g., personal care products) after upstream wastewater has been released and reenters the drinking water system through downstream intake. Thousands of EDCs enter product markets each year with little or no toxicological testing and have been found to be ubiquitous in humans and ecosystems.[40] Although the effects of long-term exposure from drinking water are unknown, EDCs can affect immune and reproductive development and systems (e.g., early puberty and infertility), cause neurobehavioral and neurodevelopmental changes, and affect human metabolism; they have also been linked to obesity in animal studies and cancers.[40] The most frequently detected compounds include atenolol, atrazine, carbamazepine, estrone, gemfibrozil, meprobamate, naproxen, phenytoin, sulfamethoxazole, tris(2-chloroethyl) phosphate, and trimethoprim.[41] Conventional treatments for wastewater have been found to be largely ineffective in removing EDCs, although partially activated charcoal and ozonation systems have been more successful. However, different compounds require different removal systems. For example, compounds such as DEET (N,N-Diethyl-meta-toluamide), ibuprofen, and gemfibrozil require ozonation to be removed during water treatment, while other compounds, such as atrazine, cannot be removed through current treatment technologies.[42]

Antibiotics have been instrumental in saving millions of lives, but today we are faced with the challenge of antibiotic resistance in our drinking water systems. Antibiotic-resistant bacteria originating from wastewater treatment, health care, agricultural, and industrial facilities often end up in our drinking water supplies. This issue is a global concern, and the World Health Organization has declared antibiotic-resistant bacteria an emerging pollutant and health threat in drinking water.[43]

Susceptible populations: When assessing drinking water quality, it is vital to consider populations that are more susceptible to exposures, including infants and children, immunosuppressed individuals, pregnant women, and the elderly. Neonates, for example, are especially at risk for enteroviruses, lead, mercury, nitrites, and nitrates.[44] Schools, day-care centers, and camps for children can be prone to outbreaks from waterborne Escherichia coli, Shigella, and viral contaminants.[45–49] The immune-suppressed population includes not only people living with AIDS but also transplant patients, people undergoing chemotherapy or taking other immune-suppressing drugs, and those suffering from less common congenital or acquired immune system dysfunction. Cryptosporidiosis is deadly for immune-compromised individuals. Transplant patients are especially susceptible to developing disseminated adenovirus infections.[50] The elderly are at increased risk of infection and disease from microbial contamination as a result of many factors, including reduced immunity, high incidence of frailty from malnutrition or existing chronic illness, and institutional exposure (e.g., exposures at hospitals and nursing homes). They are also at increased risk of dying from waterborne infections. The case fatality rates in nursing homes for certain waterborne pathogens, such as rotavirus and E. coli 0157:H7, can be two orders of magnitude greater than those in the general population. Outbreaks of Norwalk virus and other caliciviruses have been frequently reported in nursing homes.[51]

Evidence-Based Strategies to Address the Problem

It is timely for APHA to be actively engaged in policy activities related to safe drinking water. There are weaknesses in federal statutes and regulations governing the safety of drinking water, and a number of EPA standards are currently being reviewed and revised. There continues to be a significant gap in developing health-protective standards for chemical contaminants, and a lack of investment in water infrastructure combined with the increasing risk to drinking water sources and systems from climate-related damages raises the urgency of action needed to protect the public. Climate change is expected to exacerbate drought conditions in the U.S. West and increase extreme rain events in the eastern part of the country. Such changes not only threaten water availability but, if not managed, increase the risk of pollution of surface water and groundwater sources and damage to critical water treatment and delivery systems.[52] Significant costs are expected to prevent microbial and chemical contamination of source waters, provide continued maintenance of infrastructure required for safe delivery and successful treatment, and maintain protective infrastructure to adapt or mitigate climate impacts.[7]

Current EPA standards for chemical contaminants may not reflect the latest science and therefore may not sufficiently protect public health. For example, lead is known to bioaccumulate and have a number of health impacts, including reduced intelligence scoring in children and impaired reproductive function in adults.[53] The U.S. Primary Drinking Water Regulations standard sets a goal of 0 mg/L for lead but allows up to 0.015 mg/L before action must be taken.[54,55] This is in spite of ample evidence showing that no amount of lead in the blood can be described as safe and centralized water treatment can reliably manage lead to 0.010 mg/L.[55–57] In another example where U.S. water standards are inadequately protective of a vulnerable population, manganese has been shown to have neurological effects in the very young. As a secondary contaminant, manganese has only a nonenforceable guideline value of 0.30 mg/L for aesthetics.[58] Health Canada believes that manganese is much more serious and, in 2019, established a health-based value of 0.12 mg/L.[59] Moreover, although EPA standards aim to protect health, the decision to do so (and to what level) includes consideration of economic factors such as treatment costs.[60] A state can take action on its own to regulate contaminants if the EPA has not acted or has set a level higher than the state considers appropriate.[61] For example, the EPA regulates arsenic at 0.010 mg/L, while New Jersey has set the maximum level at 0.005 mg/L.[62]

Centralized treatment and distribution make it easier to monitor and control most contaminants in finished drinking water. Unfortunately, this is not always an option. Private homeowners, rural communities, and very low-income communities, for example, may simply not have the financial, staffing, or geographic resources to make central treatment/distribution possible. Public water systems are increasingly strained by treatment mandates and may lack the capacity to meet emerging threats. Furthermore, contaminants such as lead do not occur at the source but instead are derived from water’s contact within the distribution system and premise plumbing.[63,64] Applying a final barrier where the water is used is a critical alternative available to end users, regardless of whether they are on a community or private supply.[65,66] Laboratories accredited by the American National Standards Institute test, certify, and list devices that treat specific water contaminants at a dedicated faucet (point of use) or for an entire building (point of entry). Viable technologies include reverse osmosis (e.g., for metals, nitrates/nitrites), carbon in tanks or cartridges (e.g., for organic compounds), aeration (for radon), ultraviolet and hollow fiber membranes (for microbes), and specialized sorbents (for arsenic, perchlorate, MTBE, PFASs). Although it may be cost prohibitive for low-income populations, individuals are thus empowered to take protective action themselves, and some communities are using these options for regulatory compliance while retaining centralized control.[67]

One of the important public health provisions in federal legislation is ensuring people’s right to know what is in their drinking water. Under the Safe Drinking Water Act Amendments of 1996, water utilities are required to issue consumer confidence reports (CCRs) or right-to-know reports that disclose monitoring results for regulated contaminants. CCRs are good informational tools, but they do not give consumers the full picture on drinking water quality and have been shown to have important limitations. Local, state, and community public health experts and advocates can play a significant role in providing valuable research and engaging the public in educational efforts. For example, CCRs provide information only to people drinking from community water supplies; however, it is estimated that 15% of people in the United States (about 45 million residents) get their drinking water from private wells or other individual systems.[68] Only levels for regulated contaminants in public water supplies are reported, and some important contaminants are not regulated. Testing and reporting standards for privately owned water sources, not currently regulated by the EPA, should be required, and public health officials can help bridge the knowledge gap. Such efforts should be supported through government or foundation funding for local health departments or in partnership with institutes of higher education.

The EPA and state regulatory agencies need guidance from public health experts on the setting and implementation of drinking water standards. For example, public health expertise is greatly needed on setting appropriate standards for chemical and microbial contaminants, ensuring the protection of vulnerable populations, protecting drinking water sources, evaluating risk trade-offs between contaminants and between controlling contaminants and controlling costs, and participating in the broader public disclosure about drinking water quality.

Opposing Arguments/Evidence

It is difficult to imagine that anyone would oppose addressing drinking water contaminants; however, there is evidence that such opposition does exist. One of the primary health concerns regarding drinking water is exposure to chemical contaminants. There is increasing evidence of chemical contaminants in drinking water that threaten health and that current public water treatment systems are inadequate to remove. Responsible industries have for decades lobbied against more stringent drinking water quality standards. Recently, oil and gas interests have lobbied against addressing chemical contaminants related to unconventional oil and gas operations.[69] In addition, the Department of Defense has lobbied against appropriately low thresholds for per- and polyfluorinated chemicals.[70,71]. In 2019, the EPA determined that the cost of compliance for a perchlorate limit would not be justifiable, even though Massachusetts already successfully limits exposure to 2 ug/L.[72] In each instance, the argument has been that there is no evidence of health impacts from the chemicals, that measures taken by the industry are protective of human health and adequate to prevent health harmful exposures, or that a limit is too costly to implement. However, evidence of health impacts from exposure to chemicals of concern, for example PFAS chemicals, continues to mount. Proposed federal legislation in 2018 that might have expanded the EPA’s authority to protect water sources was heavily lobbied against by the electric utility, mining, and agricultural industries. Electric utilities spent $121.8 million, mining interests $23 million, and agriculture $126.4 million in 2018 alone.[73] Other industries that spent heavily on lobbying and showed an interest in the legislation included the oil and gas industry ($141.2 million) and the chemical industry ($64.9 million). The pharmaceutical industry has lobbied against local drug take-back laws that would prevent unused pharmaceuticals from being disposed of in trash or waterways.[74]

Meanwhile, these powerful lobbies have largely left the treatment of public water systems to drinking water providers. Community water providers argue that they do not have the funding to upgrade their systems or would unjustly raise costs for low-income consumers. Ultimately, households, local governments that own and manage public water systems, and businesses will be responsible for the additional costs.[75] For example, water mitigation systems range in cost from $500 for charcoal scrubbers that remove 75% of radon from water to $5,000 for aeration systems that remove 95% to 99% of radon.[76] In instances in which the occupants are tenants and not the primary owner, they must rely on property owners to pay for mitigation efforts. This could result in raised rents and an increase in housing expenses, which could in turn serve as a barrier to remediation if landlords are uncooperative.

Action Steps

The American Public Health Association seeks to promote the basic right of all people and all communities to safe and affordable drinking water. APHA urges:

The EPA, the CDC, and state and local environmental protection and health departments to:

• Foster greater involvement of public health professionals as advisors, educators, and advocates on issues related to drinking water and health.
• Promote understanding in public health practice and policy-making of the potential public health impact of drinking water contamination.
• Ensure broader public access to information on drinking water quality, including improvements in consumer right-to-know provisions that will inform people of the quality of their drinking water.
• Support community-based interventions that promote awareness of safe drinking water and initiate collaborative approaches to sustaining safe drinking water.
• Set health-based standards or regulatory rules for contaminants such as lead and copper.
• Prepare response plans for drinking water contamination.
• Strengthen standards to protect water systems from contaminants from source waters to delivery systems, such as plumbing standards that result in zero lead exposure and removal of materials that threaten health from the marketplace.
• Ensure that they are authorized to enter schools and child-care centers without prior notice to assess drinking water quality and access to safe and healthy drinking water sources.

Local, state, and federal governments to:

• Increase funding for research on links between drinking water contamination and disease as a foundation for informed standard setting.
• Increase funding for public health departments and other interested nongovernmental entities to educate the public about drinking water quality and to be prepared for public health emergencies related to drinking water.
• Increase investments in infrastructure improvement, funded through increased taxation of polluting industries or holding those industries responsible for damages and pollution, including specific attention to affected rural and socioeconomically disadvantaged areas.
• Increase funding to support collaborative work among government agencies that are integral to protecting public health across drinking water systems, such as the EPA, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Department of Agriculture, and the Department of Health and Human Services. Special attention and priority should be given to agencies serving vulnerable and economically disadvantaged populations, such as the Indian Health Service.
• Ensure greater accountability of the EPA and state regulatory agencies in the prevention of waterborne diseases, especially among vulnerable populations such as children, the elderly, immune-compromised individuals, low-income communities, and communities of color, and increase authority and funding for investigative and regulatory action.

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3. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Surveillance reports for drinking water-associated disease and outbreaks. Available at: https://www.cdc.gov. Accessed December 27, 2019.

4. Benedict KM, Reses H, Vigar M, et al. Surveillance for waterborne disease outbreaks associated with drinking water—United States, 2013–2014. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2017;66:1216–1221.

5. Postma J, Butterfield P, Odom-Maryon T, et al. Rural children’s exposure to well water contaminants: implications in light of the American Academy of Pediatrics’ recent policy statement. J Am Acad Nurse Pract. 2011;23:258–265.

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7. Ayotte JD, Gronberg JM, Apodaca LE. Trace Elements and Radon in Groundwater Across the United States, 1992–2003. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of the Interior; 2011.

8. DiGiulio DC, Jackson RB. Impact to underground sources of drinking water and domestic wells from production well stimulation and completion practices in the Pavillion, Wyoming, field. Environ Sci Technol. 2016;50:4524–4536.

9. Pichtel, J. Oil and gas production wastewater: soil contamination and pollution prevention. Available at: https://new.hindawi.com. Accessed December 27, 2019.

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18. Reynolds, K. A., Mena, K. D., & Gerba, C. P. Risk of waterborne illness via drinking water in the United States. Rev Environ Contam Toxicol. 2008;192:117–158.

19. Wingender J, Flemming HC. Biofilms in drinking water and their role as reservoir for pathogens. Int J Hyg Environ Health. 2011;214:417–423.

20. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Health risks from microbial growth and biofilms in drinking water distribution systems. Available at: https://www.epa.gov. Accessed December 27, 2019.

21. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, Division of Foodborne, Waterborne, and Environmental Diseases. Safe water system. Available at: https://www.cdc.gov. Accessed December 27, 2019.

22. Cotruvo JA, Amato H. National trends of bladder cancer and trihalomethanes in drinking water: a review and multicountry ecological study. Dose Response. 2019;17:1.

23. Chen Y, Liu C, Huang L, et al. First-trimester blood concentrations of drinking water trihalomethanes and neonatal neurobehavioral development in a Chinese birth cohort. J Hazard Mater. 2019;362:451–457.

24. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Drinking water requirements for states and public water systems. Available at: https://www.epa.gov. Accessed December 27, 2019.

25. Maas R, Patch S, Gagnon A. The dynamics of lead in drinking water in U.S. workplaces and schools. Am Ind Hyg Assoc J. 1994;55:829–832.

26. Meunnig P. The social costs of lead poisonings. Health Aff. 2016;35:1545.

27. Edwards M, Triantafyllidou S, Best D. Elevated blood lead in young children due to lead-contaminated drinking water: Washington, DC, 2001−2004. Environ Sci Technol. 2009;43:1618–1623.

28. Lanphear BP. Low-level environmental lead exposure and children’s intellectual function: an international pooled analysis. Environ Health Perspect. 2005;113:7.

29. Smith AH. Increased mortality from lung cancer and bronchiectasis in young adults after exposure to arsenic in utero and in early childhood. Environ Health Perspect. 2006;114:1293–1296.

30. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. National primary drinking water regulations: arsenic and clarifications to compliance and new source contaminants monitoring. Available at: https://www.federalregister.gov. Accessed December 27, 2019.

31. Pennino MJ, Compton JE, Leibowitz SG. Trends in drinking water nitrate violations across the United States. Environ Sci Technol. 2017;51:13450–13460.

32. Risk Assessment of Radon in Water. Washington, D.C.: National Academy of Sciences; 1999.

33. Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection. Drinking water standards and guidelines. Available at: https://www.mass.gov. Accessed December 27, 2019.

34. Paulu C, Aschengrau A, Ozonoff D. Tetrachloroethylene-contaminated drinking water in Massachusetts and the risk of colon-rectum, lung, and other cancers. Environ Health Perspect. 1999;107:265–271.

35. Stern B, Tardiff R. Risk characterization of methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) in tap water. Risk Anal. 1997;17:727–743.

36. Elliott EG, Ettinger AS, Leaderer BP, Bracken MB, Deziel NC. A systematic evaluation of chemicals in hydraulic-fracturing fluids and wastewater for reproductive and developmental toxicity. J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol. 2017;27:90.

37. Stringfellow WT. Identifying chemicals of concern in hydraulic fracturing fluids used for oil production. Environ Pollution. 2017;31:413–420.

39. Sunderland E, Hu X, Dassuncao C, et al. A review of the pathways of human exposure to poly- and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) and present understanding of health effects. J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol. 2019;29:131–147.

40. Schug TT. Endocrine disruptors: past lessons and future directions. Molecular Endocrinol. 2016;30:833–847.

41. Benotti M, Trenholm R, Vanderford B, et al. Pharmaceuticals and endocrine disrupting compounds in U.S. drinking water. Environ Sci Technol. 2009;43:597–603.

42. Westerhoff P, Yoon Y, Snyder S, Wert E. Fate of endocrine-disruptor, pharmaceutical, and personal care product chemicals during simulated drinking water treatment processes. Environ Sci Technol. 2005;39:6649–6663.

43. Aslan A, Cole Z, Bhattacharya A, Oyibo O. Presence of antibiotic-resistant Escherichia coli in wastewater treatment plant effluents utilized as water reuse for irrigation. Water. 2018;10:805.

44. Abzug D. Human enterovirus infections. Pediatr Infect Dis J. 1996;15:67–71.

45. Mohle-Boetani JC, Stapleton M, Finger R, et al. Communitywide shigellosis: control of an outbreak and risk factors in child day-care centers. Am J Public Health. 1995;85:812–816.

46. Weissman JB, Schmerler A, Weiler P, Filice G, Godbey N, Hansen, I. The role of preschool children and day-care centers in the spread of shigellosis in urban communities. J Pediatr. 1974;84:797–802.

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50. Hierholzer J. Adenoviruses in the immunocompromised host. Clin Microbiol Rev. 1992;5:262–274.

51. Gerba C. Sensitive populations: who is at the greatest risk? Int J Food Microbiol. 1996;30:113–123.

54. Lead in Drinking Water (No. WHO/SDE/WSH/03.04/09). Geneva, Switzerland: World Health Organization; 2003.

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Water Inequality

Lack of safe drinking water and adequate sanitation effects countries around the globe.

Anthropology, Biology, Health, Conservation, Geography, Human Geography, Social Studies

Water Bucket Woman

A woman carries buckets full of water in a small village in northern India.

Photograph by Sean Gallagher

More than 70 percent of Earth’s surface is covered in water, yet lack of access to clean water is one of the most pressing challenges of our time. As of 2015, 29 percent of people globally suffer from lack of access to safely managed drinking water. More than double that number are at risk for water contamination from improper wastewater management. Poor water quality affects various aspects of society, from the spread of disease to crop growth to infant mortality. In some regions of the world, lack of sanitation infrastructure , water treatment facilities, or sanitary latrines lead to dire clean water crises. In several countries around the world, a major contributor to water contamination is open defecation—the practice of using fields, forests, lakes, rivers, or other natural, open areas to deposit feces. Almost one billion people worldwide still practice open defecation rather than using a toilet. It is particularly common in South Asian countries like India and Nepal, where it is practiced by about 32 percent of people in the region. A landlocked country in the Himalayas, Nepal has access to clean water from mountain rivers, but over 20 percent of the population lives below the poverty line. In a disturbing study, 75 percent of drinking water samples from schools in Nepal were contaminated with fecal bacteria. While open defecation is most common in rural communities, it still occurs in areas with sanitation access, indicating a need for awareness campaigns to teach the dangers of the practice. Moreover, pollution from open defecation is further complicated by contamination from natural disasters such as recurring floods. In sub-Saharan Africa, the proportion of the population practicing open defecation is slightly smaller—around 23 percent—but 40 percent of the population lacks safe drinking water. Moreover, the gender inequality in this region is more prominent than in South Asia. In sub-Saharan Africa, more than 25 percent of the population must walk 30 minutes or more to collect water, a burden that falls on women and girls the vast majority of the time. This trend of women tasked with the responsibility of water collection spans many developing nations and takes critical quality time away from income generation, child care, and household chores. Moreover, Africa has a high risk for desertification , which will reduce the availability of fresh water even further, and increase the threat of water inequality in the future. While South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa represent the largest percentage of people that lack access to safe drinking water, the water crisis is not limited to these areas, nor is it limited to developing countries. For example, the Arctic nations are deemed developed, but several suffer from water and sanitation challenges. Alaska in the United States, Russia, and Greenland all contain rural areas that lack safe in-house water and sanitation facilities. Some people living in these areas must not only carry their own water into their homes, they must also remove human waste themselves, collecting it and hauling it out of the home. The process is time consuming and risks contamination of household surfaces and drinking water. Furthermore, hauling water into homes is physically demanding, and storage capacity is limited, so households often function on inadequate water supplies. Several studies have connected these water-quality constraints with high disease rates in Arctic communities. Even in the United States and many nations in Europe, where advanced wastewater treatment facilities and expansive pipelines supply quality water to both cities and rural areas, poor system maintenance, infrastructure failures, and natural disasters reveal the very serious effects of poor water quality (even short-term) on developed nations. In a recent example, drinking water in Flint, Michigan, was inadequately treated beginning in 2014, and residents bathed in, cooked with, and drank water with toxic lead levels. Additionally, some communities in the contiguous United States chronically lack clean water and sanitation. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), in the Navajo Nation, the largest Native American reservation in the United States, almost 8,000 homes lack access to safe drinking water, and 7,500 have insufficient sewer facilities. Luckily, global organizations are committed to addressing the water-quality crisis. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development from the United Nations tackles water inequality within one of its seventeen priority goals, to “ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all.” This initiative is a continuation of the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals from the 2000s, which also included goals to reduce the portion of the population that lacked access to infrastructure for quality water and sanitation. These goals have resulted in access to improved sources of drinking water for more than 90 percent of the world—and the 2030 Agenda seeks to continue to improve these numbers alongside greater strides in the area of sanitation. National Geographic Explorers are also committed to global water equality and are combatting these issues with diverse methods. Explorer Sasha Kramer is helping to implement sustainable sanitation practices in Haiti by recycling human waste into soil. Explorer Ashley Murray develops economically advantageous approaches to improving water quality in Ghana, exploring next-generation technologies and new business models to make waste management profitable. Explorer Alexandra Cousteau, granddaughter of the late and legendary Jacques Cousteau, uses storytelling and digital assets to educate people around the globe about the importance of water quality. Moreover, complementing these examples and the many other Explorer-driven efforts dedicated to improving water quality, Explorer Feliciano dos Santos uses music to educate remote villages in Mozambique about the importance of sanitation and hygiene.

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Why Is Water So Important? Here’s What You Need to Know

How water works in your body, how much water do you need, how to stay hydrated.

Water is a major component of your body, accounting for 50–60% of your total weight. It is vital for many important body functions, from flushing out waste to lubricating your joints.

Your body constantly loses water throughout the day through urinating, sweating, and breathing. You should consume enough water from foods and beverages daily to prevent dehydration .

This article covers research-backed reasons why your body needs water and how much you need each day.

Klaus Vedfelt / Getty Images

All body cells, organs, and tissues require water to function. Generally, a person can only survive without water for a few days.  

It Maintains a Normal Body Temperature

Water regulates our internal temperature by distributing heat throughout the body and cooling it through perspiration (sweat).

When the body becomes too hot, it loses water through sweat . The evaporation of sweat from the skin cools the body, keeping its temperature within a normal range.

If a person becomes dehydrated, they can't produce enough sweat to cool their body. This can cause the body's temperature to reach dangerous levels, leading to heat stroke .

Avoid dehydration by drinking plenty of water if you're working outside or sweating more than usual.

It Protects Your Joints, Spinal Cord, and Other Tissues

Water acts as a lubricant in the mouth (through saliva ) and the eyes (through tears) to help prevent dryness. It's necessary to produce synovial fluid , which lubricates, cushions, and protects the joints.

Water also helps protect the spinal cord and prevents injuries by increasing tissue flexibility and elasticity.

It Transports Nutrients and Gets Rid of Waste

As a major component of blood, water helps transport nutrients and oxygen to cells throughout the body. Water also helps carry waste from the body for excretion through perspiration, urination, and bowel movements.

The kidneys need water to effectively filter waste from the blood and flush it from the body as urine. Staying adequately hydrated helps prevent kidney stones and urinary tract infections (UTIs) , which can harm the kidneys.

Prevents Dehydration

Drinking water daily can help prevent dehydration, a condition that occurs when you lose more fluids than you absorb.

Early signs of dehydration include:

• Feeling thirsty
• Dark-colored urine
• Urinating less than usual

Because water is involved in so many body functions, dehydration can eventually cause life-threatening symptoms, including:

• Rapid breathing
• Rapid heartbeat
• Inability to urinate

People who exercise in the heat, work outdoors, or have certain health conditions that cause them to urinate or sweat more than usual are at a greater risk of dehydration.

It Aids Digestion

Your saliva is primarily made up of water. Saliva is a digestive juice that moistens food, allowing it to move easily through the esophagus into your stomach. Saliva also contains enzymes that help break down starches in food.

As the digestive process continues, water helps break down food, allowing your body to absorb nutrients. Water also makes bowel movements easier.

It Protects Against Chronic Illness and Boosts Longevity

Adequate hydration is linked to healthy aging and longevity. One potential reason for this is that decreased water intake can lead to higher sodium concentrations in the blood, which raises the risk of chronic disease.

Studies suggest that adults who stay hydrated are healthier and less likely to develop chronic diseases, including heart and lung disease . Well-hydrated adults also seem to live longer than adults who don't consume enough fluids.

It Improves Mood and Cognitive Function

Dehydration may cause fatigue and confusion and may be linked to symptoms of anger and depression. In a small study, it was linked to poor cognitive function, potentially affecting attention span and working memory.

One study of young adults looked at the effects of water on cognitive performance and mood after 12 hours of water restriction. Researchers found that 200 milliliters of water improved thirst, anger, fatigue, and overall mood. However, 500 milliliters was optimal, improving mood and cognitive performance.

The amount of water you need depends on several factors, including age, sex, activity level, and health status.

For healthy individuals, the adequate daily water intake is around 11.5 cups for women and about 15.5 cups for men. This includes fluids consumed from all foods and beverages.

Experts estimate that most people get around 20% of their daily water intake from food. This means women should drink about 9 cups of fluid daily, while men should aim for 13 cups to maintain adequate hydration.

People who live in warmer climates, are more physically active, or are experiencing an illness that causes fever and/or diarrhea or vomiting have increased fluid needs.

One easy way to see if you are properly hydrated is to check the color of your urine. If you are drinking enough water, your urine will be pale yellow. If it is dark, you may need to increase your consumption.

Individuals with heart failure or kidney disease may need to limit their fluid intake.

Can You Drink Too Much Water?

Drinking too much water can lead to water intoxication or overhydration, which occurs when the kidneys cannot flush out excess water. This can cause a medical emergency due to decreased sodium concentrations in the blood ( hyponatremia ). To avoid water intoxication, do not drink more than 48 ounces, or six cups, per hour.

If you find it challenging to stay hydrated, here are some helpful tips to keep in mind:

• Keep a reusable water bottle with you and refill it throughout the day
• Choose water or sparkling water instead of sugary beverages
• When you feel thirsty, drink water
• Change things up by squeezing fresh lemon or lime into your water or adding a few berries or cucumber slices
• Snack on water-rich fruits and vegetables , including watermelon, cantaloupe, lettuce, and celery, throughout the day
• Keep track of your water intake by using a water tracker app
• Drink water with all meals

Water is vital for your health. It is necessary for temperature regulation, digestion, nutrient absorption, and body waste removal. Drinking water daily can prevent dehydration, a condition that can cause mood and memory problems, constipation, and kidney stones.

People who work in high temperatures, exercise at high intensities, or are sick are at a greater risk of dehydration. Talk to a healthcare provider or registered dietitian to determine the right amount of water for you.

Zhou HL, Wei MH, Cui Y, et al. Association between water intake and mortality risk-evidence from a national prospective study .  Front Nutr . 2022;9:822119. doi:10.3389/fnut.2022.822119

Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. How much water do you need?

MaineDOT. The importance of hydration .

Johns Hopkins Medicine. Dehydration and heat stroke .

Lorenzo I, Serra-Prat M, Yébenes JC. The role of water homeostasis in muscle function and frailty: a review .  Nutrients . 2019;11(8):1857. doi:10.3390/nu11081857

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Water and healthier drinks .

National Kidney Foundation. 6 tips to be "water wise" for healthy kidneys .

MedlinePlus. Dehydration .

National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. Your digestive system & how it works .

National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. Eating, diet, & nutrition for constipation .

National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. Good hydration linked to healthy aging .

Zhang J, Zhang N, He H, et al. Different amounts of water supplementation improved cognitive performance and mood among young adults after 12 h water restriction in Baoding, China: a randomized controlled trial (RCT) .  Int J Environ Res Public Health . 2020;17(21):7792. doi:10.3390/ijerph17217792

National Kidney Foundation. The dos and don'ts of fluid management for kidney disease .

MedlinePlus. Heart failure .

Joo MA, Kim EY. Hyponatremia caused by excessive intake of water as a form of child abuse .  Ann Pediatr Endocrinol Metab . 2013;18(2):95-98. doi:10.6065/apem.2013.18.2.95

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Heat stress: hydration .

By Lindsey DeSoto, RD, LD Lindsey DeSoto, RD, is a registered dietitian specializing in nutrition and health and wellness content.

Accessibility to Safe Drinking Water Essay

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Water shortage and Food Supply

Addressing the global water shortage, environmental challenges and water shortage, works cited.

Everyone should have access to safe drinking water. It is possible to address the issues that prevent certain people from accessing safe drinking water. The people face challenges as they live in overcrowded slums in urban areas and in refugee camps. There are others who live in the rural areas of the developing countries which are greatly poverty-stricken. Unfortunately, they have no political power to ensure that their right to safe drinking water is enforced.

The leaders have neglected to provide resources for them to access safe drinking water. These people are estimated to be about one billion in the world (Global Water, 2010). International organizations are penetrating these countries and with the financial assistance of donors, they are providing resources for these people in order for them to live a healthy life. There is underground water in even the most arid areas and the government and the international community can assist by digging wells for these communities.

Food supply and water shortage are inter-related. The population has been rapidly increasing causing the demand for food to also increase. In those areas where there is water scarcity, they are not able to participate in agricultural activities. The crop life withers and dies. The livestock also die due to hunger.

There is also the adverse effect on the population. The people become weak and are not even able to participate in farming. Others get water-borne diseases such as cholera and typhoid from utilizing water that is dirty. The limited crop produce that the community could have harvested is not even harvested well due to decreased labour. It is estimated that over three million people suffer and die from water-borne diseases annually (Water.org, 2012). As the water shortage increases, there will be growing food insecurity in the world.

It is possible to ease the global water shortage especially in the developing countries. There are cost-effective ways to do it. It is not enough for the governments to provide food for the poor people but it is important to equip them with the resources to access clean water and participate in farming. This will cause them to stop utilizing dirty water for their activities. There are two main ways to address the problems.

The first is to dig wells in the rural and arid areas to aid the people to have access to water. The other alternative is to treat water and use it in the home. The increasing population in the world requires water saving measures to be applied. There are technologies available to ensure high water quality. The harmful micro-organisms and chemical contaminants are removed. The people can also be educated on efficient and safe distribution techniques to ensure the water does not become dirty.

In periods of water shortages the environment is adversely affected. When it comes to the ecosystem, there will be animal and plant life unable to survive in certain areas. The drought makes it hard to grow certain crops. Animals will travel long distances to look for areas where they can find water.

The change in the ecosystem affects the other animals which rely on the animals and crops as food creating imbalance (World Water Council, 2012). It is therefore important for governments and other international organizations to address the water shortage problems.

Global Water. Why Water . 2010. Web.

Water. The Crisis . 2012. Web.

World Water Council. Water Crisis . 2012. Web.

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IvyPanda . 2018. "Accessibility to Safe Drinking Water." November 20, 2018. https://ivypanda.com/essays/accessibility-to-safe-drinking-water/.

1. IvyPanda . "Accessibility to Safe Drinking Water." November 20, 2018. https://ivypanda.com/essays/accessibility-to-safe-drinking-water/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Accessibility to Safe Drinking Water." November 20, 2018. https://ivypanda.com/essays/accessibility-to-safe-drinking-water/.

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4 Billion People Worldwide Lack Access to Safe Drinking Water, Study Finds

Founded in 2005 as an Ohio-based environmental newspaper, EcoWatch is a digital platform dedicated to publishing quality, science-based content on environmental issues, causes, and solutions.

More than half of people on Earth — approximately 4 billion— lack access to safe drinking water , which is double the number estimated in 2020, a new study by REACH global research program has found.

Launched by University of Nairobi and University of Oxford’s School of Geography and the Environment in 2015, REACH focuses on the improvement of Africa and South Asia ’s water security for the poor.

“[A]n estimated 4.4 billion people lack safe drinking water across 135 low- and middle- income countries, which is more than double the global estimate made in 2020,” the study, published in the journal Science , said. “According to the Human Rights to Water and Sanitation resolution declared by the United Nations, water services must ensure sufficient quantity, safety, reliability, physical proximity, affordability, and nondiscrimination. These goals are challenging in rural areas of Africa and Asia and in sparsely populated regions where safe drinking water services on premises are costly and complicated to maintain.”

The authors of the study identified primary factors affecting the safety of drinking water, including fecal contamination.

“[F]actors such as high annual average temperatures and seasonality of precipitation negatively affect safely managed drinking water. Further, land use , vegetation , and bedrock, which influence the storage and movement of groundwater , affect overall water resource availability,” the authors wrote.

The longitudinal modeling used in the study showed that water demand was influenced by seasonal rainfall patterns — like wet spells during dry seasons or dry spells during wet seasons — which affected seasonal revenue from tariffs paid by users and, in turn, the financial sustainability of drinking water services.

In their consideration of environmental and climatic conditions, the researchers used remote sensing data and household surveys and found that water quality was the main challenge for providing safe water globally, a press release from REACH said.

“It’s clear that the impacts of climate change casts a large shadow. The analysis agrees with wider work on how droughts , floods and pollution are creating significant water quality and operational impacts manifested most acutely for people’s drinking water supplies,” wrote professor Rob Hope, director of REACH, in the press release.

Hope said that access to safe supplies of drinking water meant that safe water was accessible on demand , whenever people needed it. Safe water access also meant having water on the premises, without people having to travel to locate it. The water must also be free of bacteria, harmful chemicals and other contaminants, reported Phys.org.

The researchers used data from nearly 65,000 households worldwide to build their computer simulation, which generated maps for 135 countries that showed where safe drinking water access was available. They compared the maps with UNICEF data to come up with an estimate of how many people around the world cannot access safe drinking water.

The research team found that most people without access lived in East Asia, sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, with the largest obstacles being contaminants and lack of infrastructure. The team discovered that roughly 650 million people in some parts of Africa did not have any water delivery services.

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Hope said that data, service delivery and regulation needed to be strengthened in most countries worldwide, according to the press release. He pointed out the necessity of linking capital spending with services, and that billions had been wasted on building infrastructure globally that was not maintained.

Hope cited the work of Uptime in 16 nations to show that — in most rural contexts — service providers can guarantee reliable supplies of drinking water.

“4 billion people is a sobering number,” Hope said. “There is a danger that policy and investments focus on reaching the most people at the lowest cost, and do not focus on those most in need in more difficult environments.”

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Half the world’s population has no secure access to safe drinking water

A Swiss research team has used new methods to reanalyze data on access to drinking water. Their study doubles previous estimates of the number of people worldwide who lack access to this vital resource.

A woman standing at a watering hole in Borno State, Nigeria.

More than half the human population – 4.4 billion people worldwide – has no secure access to safe drinking water. This is the conclusion of a recent study by Eawag, the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology.

The number is remarkable because it is twice as high as a previous estimate by the World Health Organization and the United Nations Children's Fund. Both organizations are responsible for monitoring access to drinking water. In a 2023 report, the organizations wrote that 2.2 billion people worldwide lacked secure access to drinking water.

Four criteria for a secure supply

The research team used some of the same data as WHO and UNICEF for their study, which was published in the renowned journal Science . Between 2016 and 2020, UNICEF collected data on drinking water supply in 27 low and middle-income countries. More than 60,000 households were surveyed in Kosovo, Nigeria, Laos, Mongolia and other countries. «But we used different calculations,» says Esther Greenwood, the main author of the Eawag study. This explains the large deviation in the results, she adds.

When determining the drinking water supply in a country, four criteria are usually taken into account: water source, availability, accessibility and water quality.

In terms of water source, it is important to determine how a household is able to access drinking water – via tap or well, for instance. According to Greenwood, availability is a subjective criterion. Which circumstances constitute drinking water scarcity may vary from country to country and from income class to income class, she says. Accessibility takes into account how far a person must walk to access drinking water. Finally, it must be considered whether the water is contaminated, by feces, for instance.

The WHO and UNICEF estimate is based on these criteria. However, not all criteria were always taken into account, which makes the data incomplete, according to study author Greenwood. And for a large part of the world's population, no data on drinking water supply was previously available.

Researchers develop a new model

In collaboration with the Crowther Lab at ETH Zurich, the Swiss research team has developed models that provide a more comprehensive picture of the global drinking water supply situation and can estimate previously missing data. To achieve this, they used machine learning, an application of artificial intelligence.

The maps are based on data from the WHO and UNICEF household surveys as well as data from satellite based earth observations. The researchers considered a total of 39 criteria, including information on climate, geology, vegetation and population density. This approach is new. Environmental factors have not previously been taken into account in estimates of drinking water supply.

By using AI, Esther Greenwood's research team was able to estimate access to safe drinking water supplies in 135 low and middle income countries. For about half these countries, there had been no available data on drinking water up to this point.

The data show that in many areas, the water quality in particular is likely to be worse than previously thought. According to the Eawag study, only one in three people in low and middle income countries has access to clean drinking water. Almost half the people in these countries also drink water contaminated with feces, the study found.

The models also show where a secure drinking water supply is most often lacking: in rural areas with little infrastructure, where temperatures are high and it rains heavily, depending on the season. This is the case in countries south of the Sahara, for instance. According to estimates by Greenwood's team, less than 10% of people in that region have access to clean drinking water. The same applies to some regions of Brazil. According to Greenwood, other studies show that heavy rainfall or high temperatures can contribute to the contamination of drinking water.

Monitoring drinking water is key

The Eawag research team hopes that the study will help improve monitoring of water quality. «The number of people who don’t have secure access to [clean drinking water] might be significantly underestimated,» Greenwood says.

According to Eawag, water resources must be better protected to ensure that as many people as possible have secure access to a safe drinking water supply in the future. In many places, rivers and lakes provide sufficient water, the researchers say. However, this water is heavily polluted. According to them, better methods must be developed to treat water so that it is safe to drink. This water must also be tested regularly, they add.

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Importance of Water Essay for Students and Children

500+ words essay on importance of water.

Water is the basic necessity for the functioning of all life forms that exist on earth . It is safe to say that water is the reason behind earth being the only planet to support life. This universal solvent is one of the major resources we have on this planet . It is impossible for life to function without water. After all, it makes for almost 70% of the earth.

However, despite its vast abundance, water is very much limited. It is a non-renewable resource . In addition, we need to realize the fact that although there is an abundance of water, not all of it is safe to consume. We derive some very essential uses from the water on a daily basis.

Significance of water

If we talk about our personal lives, water is the foundation of our existence. The human body needs water for the day to day survival. We may be able to survive without any food for a whole week but without water, we won’t even survive for 3 days. Moreover, our body itself comprises of 70% water. This, in turn, helps our body to function normally.

Thus, the lack of sufficient water or consumption of contaminated water can cause serious health problems for humans. Therefore, the amount and quality of water which we consume is essential for our physical health plus fitness.

Further, our daily activities are incomplete without water. Whether we talk about getting up in the morning to brush or cooking our food, it is equally important. This domestic use of water makes us very dependent on this transparent chemical.

In addition, on a large scale, the industries consume a lot of water. They need water for almost every step of their process. It essential for the production of the goods we use every day.

If we look beyond human uses, we will realize how water plays a major role in every living beings life. It is the home of aquatic animals. From a tiny insect to a whale, every organism needs water to survive.

Therefore, we see how not only human beings but plants and animals too require water. The earth depends on water to function. We cannot be selfish and use it up for our uses without caring about the environment.

Get the huge list of more than 500 Essay Topics and Ideas

A world without water

Water is not only required for our survival but for a healthy and happy life as well. Everyone has seen the scenario of water-deprived countries like Africa, where citizens are leading a miserable life. It is time for everyone to wake up and realize the urgency of conserving water.

In other words, a world without water would make the human race impossible to last. The same can be said for all the animals and plants. In fact, the whole earth will suffer without water.

Firstly, the greenery will soon diminish. When earth won’t get water, all the vegetation will die and turn into barren land. The occurrence of different seasons will soon cease. The earth will be caught in one big endless summer.

Furthermore, the home of aquatic animals will be taken from them. That means no fishes and whales for us to see. Most importantly, all forms of living organisms will go extinct if we do not conserve water right away.

In conclusion, unnecessary usage of water must be stopped at once. Every single person must work to conserve water and restore the balance. If not, we all know what the consequences are going to be.

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JSmol Viewer

A review of the most concerning chemical contaminants in drinking water for human health.

1. Introduction

2. materials and methods, 3. results and discussion, 3.1. priority chemical contaminants, 3.2. screening, 3.3. contamination levels, 3.3.1. arsenic, 3.3.2. nitrate, 3.3.3. fluoride.

3.4. Daily and Annual Potential Exposure

3.5. regional distribution of contamination, 3.6. research trend, 3.7. causes of contamination, 3.8. impact on human health, 4. future perspectives, 5. conclusions, author contributions, data availability statement, conflicts of interest.

Click here to enlarge figure

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Jurczynski, Y.; Passos, R.; Campos, L.C. A Review of the Most Concerning Chemical Contaminants in Drinking Water for Human Health. Sustainability 2024 , 16 , 7107. https://doi.org/10.3390/su16167107

Jurczynski Y, Passos R, Campos LC. A Review of the Most Concerning Chemical Contaminants in Drinking Water for Human Health. Sustainability . 2024; 16(16):7107. https://doi.org/10.3390/su16167107

Jurczynski, Yasemin, Robson Passos, and Luiza C. Campos. 2024. "A Review of the Most Concerning Chemical Contaminants in Drinking Water for Human Health" Sustainability 16, no. 16: 7107. https://doi.org/10.3390/su16167107

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Safe Water, Better Lives For Children In Sudan

A unicef-rehabilitated system brings clean, safe water to households in rural alsabaat, kassala state, sudan..

In Kassala state, Sudan, 12-year-old Shaimaa and her grandmother Fatima share experiences of life before UNICEF rehabilitated a local water plant to provide clean water for their community.

By Proscovia Nakibuuka Mbonye

Fatima painfully recalls life without water.

“We bathed our children once a week, drank and cooked with dirty water, our children were ill, our barrels empty and dry and our children in search of water instead of attending school,” she said.

Fatima's granddaughter, 12-year-old Shaimaa, remembers those days clearly. “We arrived late to school and got punished. At home, we lacked water for washing, cleaning dishes and the house was dirty.”

For over two decades, this was the life of Fatima, Shaimaa and more than 7,000 people (60 percent children) in the remote community of Alsabaat and neighboring villages. Until recently, these communities close to the River Atbara in Kassala state, Sudan relied on a nearby canal as their only source of water.

The canal that stretches over 50 miles from Khasmelgirba Dam contains unsafe water mixed with algae, clearly unhealthy for consumption. People use it to wash clothes and bathe, while animals wander and drink in it, underscoring the risks it posed for the people.

Watch the video:

“Collecting water those days began with clearing the algae, and in the rainy season, we waited for the mud to settle before using it,” recalled one of the elders. Many remember the numerous children who drowned as they tried to fetch water from the deep canal.

“It was the only water source in the village from which both humans and animals drank,” Ibrahim, a community leader, added. “Many times, we found dead animals in the water stream.”

“Many times, we found dead animals in the water stream.” Ibrahim, community leader

For this community, there was no alternative water source until UNICEF, with support from the global thematic fund, rehabilitated a water treatment plant providing sufficient clean and safe water.

Shaimaa, 12, walks to the edge of the canal to demonstrate how she collected water for her family before UNICEF completed a water treatment plant near her home in Kassala state, Sudan.

A new, solarized water treatment plant provides safe water for drinking and cooking, close to home

The new solarized water treatment plant produces 15 cubic meters per hour for an average of 10 working hours a day, pumping water from the canal, channeling it through slow sand filters, then to a large ground tank and into an elevated tank, where it is then pumped to the household level. The latter is a community initiative that has ensured the water is as close to the homes as possible.

Today, the water point is right behind Shaimaa’s house, something she is delighted about.

“Clean water means everything to me,” she said.

“Clean water means everything to me.” Shaimaa, 12

Easy access to safe water close to homes and schools also means children can spend time playing and learning in dignified environments.

The eldest in her family, Shaimaa has shouldered the burden of searching for and collecting water for her family all her life. A few yards from her house, water is flowing. In her family kitchen, the large containers are filled with water, enough to drink and cook. And it is clean.

The elevated tank and the filtration system at the UNICEF-supported water treatment plant in Alsabaat community, River Atbara locality, Kassala state, Sudan.

Time once spent collecting water is now time for learning and playing

In another corner, a group of children collects water and wets their foreheads to cool off under the scorching sun.

“Our lives have greatly improved,” Shaimaa said.” “Life has become better.”

Shaimaa and her peers continue to enjoy the benefits of not having to collect water every day. “In the past we could not play,” she said.

“When our children return home, all the barrels are filled with water for them to bathe whenever they want. They now have time to study and play.” Fatima, Shaimaa’s grandmother

Fatima can’t hide her excitement. “We have never drunk directly from the tap, showered or filled our barrels this way before. When our children return home, all the barrels are filled with water for them to bathe whenever they want. They now have time to study and play. Before, they didn't have time.”

With extreme weather events such as droughts and heat waves so common in Sudan, many communities are water-stressed. With limited water at household level, hygiene practices like handwashing are also compromised, exposing families to hygiene-related diseases. UNICEF and partners are expanding clean water supply through similar projects in five additional communities, benefitting approximately 15,000 people.

In addition to providing clean water sources, UNICEF also ensures community members are trained on the management of the facilities and continuous water quality checks and chlorination to prevent contamination.

Twelve-year-old Shaimaa drinks clean and safe water.

UNICEF’s water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) support in Alsabaat is part of the Mother and Child Cash Transfer plus (MCCT+) interventions that include unconditional cash grants for pregnant women and lactating mothers as well as linkages to critical health services including safe water and proper sanitation practices for optimal growth and development of children during their first 1,000 days.

Learn more about UNICEF's critical WASH support for children and families around the world.

UNICEF won't stop until every child has access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene. Please donate.

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Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS)

Final pfas national primary drinking water regulation.

General Information

Communications toolkit.

• Technical Information  for States, Tribes and Water Systems
• Regulatory Information and Supporting Documents

On April 10, 2024 , EPA announced the final National Primary Drinking Water Regulation (NPDWR) for six PFAS.   To inform the final rule, EPA evaluated over 120,000 comments submitted by the public on the rule proposal, as well as considered input received during multiple consultations and stakeholder engagement activities held both prior to and following the proposed rule. EPA expects that over many years the final rule will prevent PFAS exposure in drinking water for approximately 100 million people, prevent thousands of deaths, and reduce tens of thousands of serious PFAS-attributable illnesses.

EPA is also making unprecedented funding available to help ensure that all people have clean and safe water. In addition to the final rule, EPA announced  $1 billion in newly available through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to help states and territories implement PFAS testing and treatment at public water systems and to help owners of private wells address PFAS contamination.

EPA established legally enforceable levels, called Maximum Contaminant Levels (MCLs), for six PFAS in drinking water: PFOA, PFOS, PFHxS, PFNA, and HFPO-DA as contaminants with individual MCLs, and PFAS mixtures containing at least two or more of PFHxS, PFNA, HFPO-DA, and PFBS using a Hazard Index MCL to account for the combined and co-occurring levels of these PFAS in drinking water. EPA also finalized health-based, non-enforceable Maximum Contaminant Level Goals (MCLGs) for these PFAS. 

The final rule requires:

• Public water systems must monitor for these PFAS and have three years to complete initial monitoring (by 2027), followed by ongoing compliance monitoring. Water systems must also provide the public with information on the levels of these PFAS in their drinking water beginning in 2027.
• Public water systems have five years (by 2029) to implement solutions that reduce these PFAS if monitoring shows that drinking water levels exceed these MCLs.
• Beginning in five years (2029), public water systems that have PFAS in drinking water which violates one or more of these MCLs must take action to reduce levels of these PFAS in their drinking water and must provide notification to the public of the violation. 

Supporting Materials

EPA has developed this toolkit of materials for  entities that need to communicate about PFAS.

• General Fact Sheet: EPA's Final Rule to Limit PFAS in Drinking Water (pdf) (163.6 KB)
• Frequently Asked Questions and Answers: Final PFAS National Primary Drinking Water Regulation (pdf) (219 KB)
• Fact Sheet: Reducing PFAS in Your Drinking Water with a Home Filter (pdf) (147.6 KB)
• Presentation: Overview EPA PFAS NPDWR (pdf) (447.1 KB)
• Press Release:  Biden-Harris Administration Finalizes First-Ever National Drinking Water Standard to Protect 100M People from PFAS Pollution

Information for States, Tribes, and Water Systems

• Frequently Asked Questions and Answers for Drinking Water Primacy Agencies: Final PFAS National Primary Drinking Water Regulation (pdf) (284.6 KB)
• Fact Sheet: Understanding the Final PFAS National Primary Drinking Water Regulation Hazard Index Maximum Contaminant Level (pdf) (211.9 KB)
• Fact Sheet: Benefits and Costs of Reducing PFAS in Drinking Water (pdf) (192 KB)
• Fact Sheet: Small and Rural Water Systems (pdf) (212.3 KB)
• Fact Sheet: PFAS NPDWR Monitoring and Reporting  (pdf) (521.6 KB)
• Fact Sheet: Treatment Options for Removing PFAS in Drinking Water (pdf) (189.6 KB)
• Fact Sheet: Comparison Between EPA's Proposed and Final PFAS NPDWR (pdf) (176.8 KB)

Regulatory Information

• Federal Register Notice: Final PFAS National Primary Drinking Water Regulation
• Federal Register Notice: Final PFAS National Primary Drinking Water Regulation; Correction
• Find additional supporting materials, including all EPA Technical Support Documents informing the final rule and EPA's Response to Public Comments on the Proposed PFAS NPDWR. These documents, as well as all other supporting information for the Final PFAS NPDWR, are available at www.regulations.gov under Docket ID: EPA-HQ-OW-2022-0114. 

EPA held three informational webinars for communities, water systems, and other drinking water professionals about the final PFAS NPDWR. The three webinar webinars were similar, with each intended for specific audiences. 

• General Overview Webinar Presentation: Final PFAS NPDWR (pdf) (500.1 KB)
• Webinar Recording: General Overview of Final PFAS NPDWR
• Drinking Water Utilities and Professionals Technical Overview Webinar on PFAS NPDWR (pdf) (773.9 KB)
• Webinar Recording: Drinking Water Utilities and Professionals Technical Overview of Final PFAS NPDWR
• Small Drinking Water Systems Webinar Presentation on Final PFAS NPDWR (pdf) (573.2 KB)

Under the  Safe Drinking Water Act , EPA has the authority to set enforceable National Primary Drinking Water Regulations (NPDWRs) for drinking water contaminants and require monitoring of public water systems. In March 2021, EPA published  Regulatory Determinations for Contaminants on the Fourth Contaminant Candidate List  which included a final determination to regulate PFOA and PFOS in drinking water. As a part of that final determination, EPA indicated it would also evaluate additional PFAS and consider regulatory actions to address groups of PFAS.

On March 24, 2023, EPA proposed the PFAS NDPWR. Concurrent with the proposed rule, EPA also announced preliminary regulatory determinations for PFHxS, PFNA, HFPO-DA, and PFBS in accordance with the Safe Drinking Water Act regulatory development process. EPA proposed to regulate PFOA and PFOS with individual MCLs and PFHxS, PFNA, HFPO-DA, and PFBS using a Hazard Index which accounts for co-occurring mixtures of these four PFAS. Concurrent with the final PFAS NPDWR announced on April 10, 2024, EPA also announced final individual regulatory determinations for PFHxS, PFNA, and HFPO-DA, and final regulatory determination for mixtures containing two or more of these three PFAS and PFBS. This regulation will also remove many other PFAS when they co-occur with these regulated PFAS. 

Further Information

To learn more about PFAS and to find important background information to support understanding the details of specific actions EPA takes to address PFAS and other emerging events related to PFAS .

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US government report says fluoride at twice the recommended limit is linked to lower IQ in kids

FILE - Water flows from a water fountain in Concord, N.H., on Friday, Jan. 7, 2011. (AP Photo/Jim Cole, File)

FILE - A child rinses a toothbrush in San Francisco on June 18, 2019. (Gabrielle Lurie/San Francisco Chronicle via AP, File)

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NEW YORK (AP) — A U.S. government report expected to stir debate concluded that fluoride in drinking water at twice the recommended limit is linked with lower IQ in children.

The report, based on an analysis of previously published research, marks the first time a federal agency has determined — “with moderate confidence” — that there is a link between higher levels of fluoride exposure and lower IQ in kids. While the report was not designed to evaluate the health effects of fluoride in drinking water alone, it is a striking acknowledgment of a potential neurological risk from high levels of fluoride.

Fluoride strengthens teeth and reduces cavities by replacing minerals lost during normal wear and tear , according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The addition of low levels of fluoride to drinking water has long been considered one of the greatest public health achievements of the last century.

“I think this (report) is crucial in our understanding” of this risk, said Ashley Malin, a University of Florida researcher who has studied the effect of higher fluoride levels in pregnant women on their children. She called it the most rigorously conducted report of its kind.

The long-awaited report released Wednesday comes from the National Toxicology Program, part of the Department of Health and Human Services. It summarizes a review of studies, conducted in Canada, China, India, Iran, Pakistan, and Mexico, that concludes that drinking water containing more than 1.5 milligrams of fluoride per liter is consistently associated with lower IQs in kids.

The report did not try to quantify exactly how many IQ points might be lost at different levels of fluoride exposure. But some of the studies reviewed in the report suggested IQ was 2 to 5 points lower in children who’d had higher exposures.

Since 2015, federal health officials have recommended a fluoridation level of 0.7 milligrams per liter of water, and for five decades before the recommended upper range was 1.2. The World Health Organization has set a safe limit for fluoride in drinking water of 1.5.

The report said that about 0.6% of the U.S. population — about 1.9 million people — are on water systems with naturally occurring fluoride levels of 1.5 milligrams or higher.

“The findings from this report raise the questions about how these people can be protected and what makes the most sense,” Malin said.

The 324-page report did not reach a conclusion about the risks of lower levels of fluoride, saying more study is needed. It also did not answer what high levels of fluoride might do to adults.

The American Dental Association, which champions water fluoridation, had been critical of earlier versions of the new analysis and Malin’s research. Asked for comment, a spokeswoman late Wednesday afternoon emailed that the organization’s experts were still reviewing the report.

Fluoride is a mineral that exists naturally in water and soil. About 80 years ago, scientists discovered that people whose water supplies naturally had more fluoride also had fewer cavities, triggering a push to get more Americans to use fluoride for better dental health.

In 1945, Grand Rapids, Michigan became the first U.S. city to start adding fluoride to tap water. In 1950, federal officials endorsed water fluoridation to prevent tooth decay, and continued to promote it even after fluoride toothpaste brands hit the market several years later. Though fluoride can come from a number of sources, drinking water is the main source for Americans, researchers say.

Officials lowered their recommendation for drinking water fluoride levels in 2015 to address a tooth condition called fluorosis, that can cause splotches on teeth and was becoming more common in U.S. kids.

Separately, the Environmental Protection Agency has maintained a longstanding requirement that water systems cannot have more than 4 milligrams of fluoride per liter. That standard is designed to prevent skeletal fluorosis, a potentially crippling disorder which causes weaker bones, stiffness and pain.

But more and more studies have increasingly pointed to a different problem, suggesting a link between higher levels of fluoride and brain development. Researchers wondered about the impact on developing fetuses and very young children who might ingest water with baby formula. Studies in animals showed fluoride could impact neurochemistry cell function in brain regions responsible for learning, memory, executive function and behavior.

In 2006, the National Research Council, a private nonprofit organization in Washington, D.C., said limited evidence from China pointed to neurological effects in people exposed to high levels of fluoride. It called for more research into the effect of fluoride on intelligence.

After more research continued to raise questions, the National Toxicology Program in 2016 started working on a review of the available studies that could provide guidance on whether new fluoride-limiting measures were needed.

There were earlier drafts but the final document has repeatedly been held up. At one point, a committee of experts said available research did not support an earlier draft’s conclusions.

“Since fluoride is such an important topic to the public and to public health officials, it was imperative that we made every effort to get the science right,” said Rick Woychik, director of the National Toxicology Program, in a statement.

Malin said it makes sense for pregnant women to lower their fluoride intake, not only from water but also from certain types of tea. It might also make sense to have policy discussions about whether to require fluoride-content on beverage labels, she said.

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.