Water Quality and Environmental Health Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Water Quality and Environmental Health - Essay Example Water is also vital as a habitat for both freshwater and marine plants and animals (Vale, 2006). Pollution of the surface water is one of the global concerns. While in many less industrialized parts of the world, diseases from inadequate water supply and water contamination are a major cause of morbidity and mortality, in United States the concerns towards this precious natural resource is quite different. There are more than 53,000 community water systems providing water to the public in the United States. Public water suppliers process 38 billion gallons of water per day for domestic and public use. Approximately 1.8 million miles of distribution mains carry water in the United States and Canada. About 800,000 water wells are drilled each year in the United States for domestic, farming, commercial, and water testing purposes. Typically, households consume approximately 30% of their water for outdoor use, such as watering the lawn. Inside, toilets use the most water, with an average of 27 gallons per person per day (AWWA, 2006). The availability of freshwater to meet the demands of a growing and increasingly affluent population while sustaining a healthy natural environment is based on several factors such as availability of good quality water, the high costs of developing additional surface-water supplies, the importance of reliable supplies of high-quality water for human and environmental health and economic development; and the shortcomings of institutions for allocating scarce supplies in response to changing supply and demand conditions (Frederick, 1995). The differences between developed and developing countries are many, but few have greater impact on human welfare than the availability of safe drinking water and adequate sanitation. Water- related diseases and illnesses exact devastating impacts on mortality and morbidity; prospects for economic development are also decreased by the diminished health