It is the election year for United States of America. The American citizens elect their President every four year (happened to be leap year), apparently the single most influential and all important person in the World. The debate for the Presidential candidacy of Democratic Party in Flint, Michigan on 6th March in their 7th debate brought out among others one particular point for discussion, which is access to quality water in Flint, a township in Michigan, USA. Michigan is a midwestern state bordering 4 of the Great Lakes in USA. It contains more than 11,000 inland lakes, spread across its lower and upper peninsulas. Its largest city, Detroit, is famed as the seat of the U.S. auto industry, which inspired Diego Rivera’s mural at the Detroit Institute of Arts. The Flint water crisis is a drinking water contamination crisis in Flint, Michigan that started in April 2014. After Flint changed its water source from treated Detroit Water and Sewerage Department (which was sourced from Lake Huron as well as the Detroit River) to the Flint River (to which officials had failed to apply corrosion control treatment), its drinking water had a series of problems that culminated with lead contamination, creating a serious public health danger. The corrosive Flint River water caused lead from ageing pipes to leakage into the water supply, causing extremely elevated levels of the heavy metal. In Flint, between 6,000 and 12,000 children have been exposed to drinking water with high levels of lead and they may experience a range of serious health problems. The water change is also a possible cause of an outbreak of Legionnaires Disease there which has killed 10 people and affected another 77. Legionnaires Disease is a form of atypical pneumonia caused by any type of Legionella bacteria.Ensuring supply of pure water
The water for personal or domestic use must be safe, free from micro-organisms, chemical substances and radiological hazards
Masihul Huq Chowdhury
It is the election year for United States of America. The American citizens elect their President every four year (happened to be leap year), apparently the single most influential and all important person in the World. The debate for the Presidential candidacy of Democratic Party in Flint, Michigan on 6th March in their 7th debate brought out among others one particular point for discussion, which is access to quality water in Flint, a township in Michigan, USA. Michigan is a midwestern state bordering 4 of the Great Lakes in USA. It contains more than 11,000 inland lakes, spread across its lower and upper peninsulas. Its largest city, Detroit, is famed as the seat of the U.S. auto industry, which inspired Diego Riveras mural at the Detroit Institute of Arts. The Flint water crisis is a drinking water contamination crisis in Flint, Michigan that started in April 2014. After Flint changed its water source from treated Detroit Water and Sewerage Department (which was sourced from Lake Huron as well as the Detroit River) to the Flint River (to which officials had failed to apply corrosion control treatment), its drinking water had a series of problems that culminated with lead contamination, creating a serious public health danger. The corrosive Flint River water caused lead from ageing pipes to leakage into the water supply, causing extremely elevated levels of the heavy metal. In Flint, between 6,000 and 12,000 children have been exposed to drinking water with high levels of lead and they may experience a range of serious health problems. The water change is also a possible cause of an outbreak of Legionnaires Disease there which has killed 10 people and affected another 77. Legionnaires Disease is a form of atypical pneumonia caused by any type of Legionella bacteria.
This reminds of a famous Hollywood movie, Erin Brockovich. Erin Brockovich, a 2000 biographical movie is a dramatisation of the true story of Erin Brockovich portrayed by Julia Roberts who fought against the energy corporation Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PGE). The film was a box office success, and critical reaction was positive.Erin Brockovich (born June 22, 1960) is an American legal clerk and environmental activist, who, despite her lack of formal education in the law, was instrumental in building a case against the Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PGE) in 1993. Her successful lawsuit was the subject of the 2000 film.
These incidents pose a general curiosity to understand where do we stand in terms of ensuring the proper supply of pure water to the people of Bangladesh. Bangladesh which is the largest delta in the globe with about 700 rivers including tributaries flow through the country constituting a waterway of total length around 24,140 kilometres (15,000 mi).Most of the countrys land is formed through silt brought by the rivers. These river bodies are not only the source for pure drinking and household water but also the lifeline for the country. That is why we are basically an agrarian economy in the sense with more than 70 percent of the population engaged in farming activities.
Access to pure water is among the basic human rights of any individual as per United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC). On 28 July 2010, through Resolution 64/292, the United Nations General Assembly explicitly recognized the human right to water and sanitation and acknowledged that clean drinking water and sanitation are essential to the realisation of all human rights. The Resolution calls upon States and international organisations to provide financial resources, help capacity-building and technology transfer to help countries, in particular developing countries,to provide safe, clean, accessible and affordable drinking water and sanitation for all. As per the definition, access to pure water includes the following criteria
The water supply for each person must be sufficient and continuous for personal and domestic uses. These uses ordinarily include drinking, personal sanitation, washing of clothes, food preparation, personal and household hygiene. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), between 50 to 100 litres of water per person per day are needed to ensure that most basic needs are met and few health concerns arise. Where do we stand in terms of sufficient supply of water?
The water required ach personal or domestic use must be safe, therefore free from micro-organisms, chemical substances and radiological hazards that constitute a threat to a persons health. Measures of drinking-water safety are usually defined by national and/or local standards for drinking-water quality.
The World Health Organisation (WHO provide a basis for the development of national standards that, if properly implemented, will ensure the safety of drinking-water. Is it really safe to drink tap water or even how sure are we regarding the water that you just bought now from the streets while commuting to your work place?
Water should be of an acceptable colour, odour and taste for each personal or domestic use. All water facilities and services must be culturally appropriate and sensitive to gender, lifecycle and privacy requirements.
Everyone has the right to a water and sanitation service that is physically accessible within, or in the immediate vicinity of the household, educational institution, workplace or health institution. According to WHO, the water source has to be within 1,000 meters of the home and collection time should not exceed 30 minutes.
Water, and water facilities and services, must be affordable for all. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) suggests that water costs should not exceed 3 percent of household income.
Dhaka was built on the bank of river Buriganga. The history of Dhaka is in close knit with the flow of this river. Once it was a mighty river and the Buckland bridge in the Sadarghat area bears the history. Much before that Dhaka was built by Mughal empire and we can see the remnants across the older part of the city at the bank of Buriganga. Once a mighty river is almost dead with the water now contaminated to level of poison in terms of colour, odours losing the purity of water. The plight of the Buriganga symbolizes the general state of many rivers in Bangladesh, a large flat land criss-crossed by hundreds of rivers which faces an uphill battle to keep them navigable and their waters safe for human and aquatic lives.
Water Pollution is the contamination of water bodies (e.g. lakes, rivers, oceans, aquifers and groundwater). This form of environmental degradation occurs when pollutants are directly or indirectly discharged into waterbodies without adequate treatment to remove harmful compounds. Water pollution affects the entire biosphere plants and organisms living in these bodies of water. In almost all cases the effect is damaging not only to individual species and population, but also to the natural biological communities.
The specific contaminants leading to pollution in water include a wide spectrum of chemicals, pathogens and physical changes such as elevated temperature and discoloration. While many of the chemicals and substances that are regulated may be naturally occurring (calcium, sodium, iron, manganese etc.) the concentration is often the key in determining what is a natural component of water and what is a contaminant. High concentrations of naturally occurring substances can have negative impacts on aquatic flora and fauna.
Oxygen depleting substances may be natural materials such as plant matter (e.g. leaves and grass) as well as man-made chemicals. Other natural and anthropogenic substances may cause turbidity (cloudiness) which blocks light and disrupts plant growth, and clogs the gills of some fish species.
Many of the chemical substances are toxic. Pathogens can produce waterborne diseases in either human or animal hosts. Alteration of waters physical chemistry includes acidity (change in pH), electrical conductivity, temperature, and eutrophication. Eutrophication is an increase in the concentration of chemical nutrients in an ecosystem to an extent that increases in the primary productivity of the ecosystem. Depending on the degree of eutrophication, subsequent negative environmental effects such as anoxia (oxygen depletion) and severe reductions in water quality may occur, affecting fish and other animal populations.
Environmental damage usually trails rapid industrialization in developing countries. But Bangladesh is already one of the worlds most environmentally fragile places, densely populated yet braided by river systems, with a labyrinth of low-lying wetlands leading to the Bay of Bengal. Even as pollution threatens agriculture and public health, Bangladesh is acutely vulnerable to climate change, as rising sea levels and changing weather patterns could displace millions of people and sharply reduce crop yields.
Tanneries and pharmaceutical plants are part of the problem, but textile and garment factories, a mainstay of the economy and a crucial source of employment, have the most clout. When the environment ministry appointed a tough-minded official who levied fines against textile and dyeing factories, complaining owners eventually forced his transfer.
The Causes which result to water contamination in Bangladesh can broadly be categorised for the following reasons,
1. Rapid and unplanned urbanization and industrialization, brickfield development, Dying factories, tanneries occupying a major portion of rivers across the major cities including Dhaka, Narayanganj, Chittagong etc.
2. The unhygienic sanitation and sewerage system where open latrines are used by the waterbodies.
3. Lack of proper Effluent Treatment Plant forced disposal of untreated wastes directly in to the rivers.
4. Some rivers are used to rot jute plants by the farmers.
5. Oil spills of boats and different water vessel.
6. Using agrochemicals in agricultural land.
The above causes result in water contamination in the following ways,
1. The dissolved oxygen level of many of the rivers water has reached at lethal level.
2. Due to over spilling of pollutants during the rainy season, the agricultural lands are contaminated that they have lost their crop growing capacity and hence remain unused all the year round.
3. Sometimes the pollutants enter food chain eventually killing birds, fish, and mammals.
4. Pollution is so acute that hardly any hydro-organisms can tolerate it and eventually, fish of many species are found floating dead in the river water. These dead fishes gradually get rotten and highly add to the further pollution of the river water.
5. Due to rotting jute in the river (Chitra) water the water quality of the river is in an inferior position as aquatic creatures are dying for lack of oxygen.
6. The river pollution has also hit the local fishermen hard. Life has become difficult for them as they lost their income source.
7. This also results in the alteration of geomorphic features which can then change in the geometry and sedimentary characteristics of river channels, flood plains and deltas.
8. Industrial pollutants such as lead, cadmium, iron, copper and organic wastes from leaking sewage systems can accumulate in rivers. Referred as bioaccumulation, this process can ruthlessly affect water quality and species survival. More importantly, bioaccumulation of metals in fish, crabs and other edible aquatic species, may cause health problems to enter the food chain. Also, this can destroy the water aeration system, the self-purifying process of rivers.
The government initiatives to improve the situation regarding proper supply of pure water. It may be mentioned here that NGOs and various Development partners have also taken wider plans to address these challenges. The investment in bringing modernisation in the irrigation system has already started paying the dividend. The mass awareness about sanitation and fighting the war against arsenic contamination has started. The drive to ensure compliance regarding installation of effluent treatment plant in the textile sector and the initiative to relocate the tannery industry to a new location will hopefully bring in the positive results.
The other area where the initiative has been taken is the dredging of river beds which will allow navigability on one and the flow of water recovering from impurities. The result of the Democratic Party primaries was a surprise loss for Clinton who was leading over her opponent Sanders by a margin of over 30 percent plus. Industrialisation is definitely a must for economic growth of any nation but this needs to be holistic giving proper attention to environment and ecological balances.
The writer, a banker by profession, has worked both in local and overseas market with various foreign and local banks in different positions
