On the 28th of July , 2010 the United Nations officially recognized access to water and sanitation a human right yet 1 in 8 people in the World don’t have access to clean water
If you’re like most Americans you might not think very much about the water that you drink or take a shower with but you should. And here’s why...
Even though we need water to survive and can only survive about a week without it we don’t value it as we should and trust our government to take care of it though this should work and we should be able to trust our government with this it isn’t always the case especially in underserved poor communities.
Almost 7 years ago the Flint Michigan Water Crisis started when the city government made the switch from getting their water from the Detroit Water Supply (which was treated by Detroit) to the Flint River allowing the Karegnondi Water Department to treat their water to cut costs.
This ended up backfiring on them severely because they had lead/iron pipes and they neglected adding anti-corrosion Chemicals this was a horrible decision, because River Water can break down the protective layer that those anti-corrosion chemicals build up to keep the lead from getting into the water.
Flint started treating the water themselves and missed this vital step so the protective layer was destroyed and oxygens in the water were able to react with the lead in the pipes & the lead started leaching into their water. Not just that but there was also a bacteria outbreak of legionnaires disease that ended up killing a lot of people. The Outbreak happened because the lead in the water reacted with the Chlorine added to kill that bacteria and turning into other compounds making it useless to its original purpose.
This resulted in a catastrophe for the people of Flint, Michigan people’s hair started falling out, people were seeing adverse side effects, and kids were testing with high amounts of lead in their blood. That is so bad because the effects of lead poisoning are irreversible and much worse in children and unborn children. These heavy metals kill developing brain cells so you can imagine how much that affects a Child. Studies show that effects can include lower IQ scores, poor school performance, inattention, impulsive behavior, aggression and hyperactivity. They increasingly link conduct disorder, delinquency, and criminal behaviors to lead toxicity.
Even though the pipes have now been changed and the water is technically now safe people still distrust this water and Flint, Michigan is the poster child of how easily things can go wrong with our government, a combination of a corrupt state government, poor demographics and lead pipes can lead to disaster.
You might be thinking that this could never happen in a big City like Houston thankfully there is NOT any lead in our water(when tested) but in 2010 some other Chemicals have been found in our tap water although not found in any dangerous amounts it did raise concerns about our water supply and what we’re doing to protect it.
Most of Houston’s water supply (tap water) comes from Lake Houston, the Trinity and San Jacinto River, we have seen quite a bit of development in the Houston Area this definitely can affect the quality of our Surface Waters. Things like Fertilizers, Factory runoff, Paint, boat fuel, and pollutants from Construction can seep into our water with the rain washing it into our bayous and rivers, and in turn polluting the water supply people drink from.
It’s important to protect the land around our water source to protect the quality of water we drink and therefore people’s health. But it can often be tempting to governments to sell underdeveloped land by our sources of water but preserving and protecting that land can potentially save the City a lot of money in the future in treating the Water for those Chemicals and also prevent potential disasters from things Chemical spills getting into our water supply.
Maybe you’re asking “Well what can I do about it?” And it’s actually super simple to make a difference when we are connected as a community. First of all you can start by being careful what you dump into your yard, and maybe stop the over maintenance of our lawn (less fertilizer, let more clovers grow that maintain soil moisture), and staying informed on the developments going on in your local area especially if they’re near a bayou.
If you do notice any development being planned on bayou land please write to your local government officials like the City Planner and Mayor’s Office and post in the forum letting the community know so we can write too because there’s power in numbers. I will include a link for you to find your local government officials as well as contact information. If you don’t have time to e-mail you can also call leaving a complaint.
You can also order a water testing kit and if you notice abnormal levels you can report them to the EPA by calling 1-800-426-4791 or visit their website at this link https://www.epa.gov/waterlabnetwork to coordinate a professional testing of your water.supply. I personally tested my area’s water supply and thankfully it tested negative for lead, Calcium, Chloride, and Sulfate ion.
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