Our Fresh Water Supply

Current challenges with Fresh Water Supplies  Drug contamination  Invasive Species  Pollution  Reliability  Rising Costs in creating new supplies  Depleting Aquifers  Management of supplies  Conservation

Drugs (Legal and Illegal)  Drugs have been found in our water supply.  Our current filtration system cannot filter these substances out, and they enter our drinking water.  We are now finding that Prozac, Ritalin, Adderall, Dexedrine, just to name a few, have made their way into our water systems.  Both humans and animals are drinking water that contain these chemicals.  Often when medicinal products are recalled (like the recent children’s cold and allergy medicines), many people just flush these substances down the toilet or pour them down the drain thereby contaminating our water supply.

Invasive Species  Invasive species are polluting our water and robbing natural species of their habitats.  They are clogging water pipes which transmit drinking water to metropolitan areas from man-made lakes making the transmission lines unusable. (Zebra Mussels)

Let’s look at a recent story about Zebra Mussels in Lake Texoma.  mussels-pose-threat-to-Texas-lakes html mussels-pose-threat-to-Texas-lakes html mussels-pose-threat-to-Texas-lakes html

Pollution  When water is contaminated to the point that it is not usable, then it is considered polluted.  Sources of pollution – soil and run-off, debris from construction and livestock waste, brush and grass, fertilizers and pesticides washing into streams from rains or irrigation, pathogens caused by sewage and storm drains, mining and processing of radio active materials used for medical and other purposes, etc.

Reliability  Much of the fresh water we have is based on the amount and distribution of rainfall. It is difficult to predict dependable amounts.

Rising Costs  According to Water.org., over one billion people globally do not have access to safe water. The economic and health costs are astounding. Loss productivity is perhaps the greatest loss.

According to Water.org.  “On average, every US dollar invested in water and sanitation provides an economic return of eight US dollars. (1)  An investment of US$11.3 billion per year is needed to meet the drinking water and sanitation target of the Millennium Development Goals, yielding a total payback for US$ 84 billion a year. (10)  Other estimated economic benefits of investing in drinking-water and sanitation (10) : –272 million school attendance days a year –1.5 billion healthy days for children under five years of age –Values of deaths averted, based on discounted future earnings, amounting to US$ 3.6 billion a year –Health-care savings of US$ 7 billion a year for health agencies and US$ 340 million for individuals “