More than 1 billion people lack access to safe drinking water WHY?

Minimata, Japan

Minamata Chisso Corporation, in Minamata, Japan –Plastics, drugs, perfumes 1920s, dumped waste in Minamata Bay –Cheaper to pay fishermen than properly dispose of waste 1950s: people had numbness, slurred speech, deformed limbs –Animals (cats, birds) died 1960s: linked to mercury in fish

Fecal contamination Well over 2 million people—mostly children in poor countries—die of diarrhea every year –Almost always a waterborne illness Fecal contamination usually detected by testing for E. coli or fecal coliforms Usually: NOT pathogenic

Pathogens in water Harder to test for than E. coli Include organisms that cause: –Cholera –Typhoid fever –Gastroenteritis –Meningitis –hepatitis

Dhaka, Bangladesh

Agriculture Pesticides being applied to lettuce in California Danger to applicators and many other environmental issues Runoff

Groundwater contamination About 50% of US population gets drinking water from groundwater Much higher in agricultural areas

Atrazine Common herbicide Evidence as recently as 2010 that it affects development of ``amphibian gonads’’  frog gender becomes confused In agricultural communities, evidence of lowered sperm count among men

Point vs. non-point source