Table of contentsIntroductionWater problems in AmericaConclusionIntroduction"There are approximately 845 million people who do not have access to safe or clean water and every 90 seconds , someone dies from a water-related illness” (About Water.org). This is data from developing countries like Bangladesh, India and almost a dozen others according to this website. People today may have the impression that the United States is a country with few water problems while other countries are the only ones affected. We see on social media and in advertisements that people in developing countries have to walk for hours every day to find drinking water that is usually not even clean. Even if this is true, they are not the only ones affected by water problems. The Water.org Foundation was founded 25 years ago by Gary White and actor Matt Damon. Matt Damon was featured in the website's ad created during the 2018 Super Bowl, explaining that for every Stella Artois chalice purchased, he will buy water for someone in one of the 13 developing countries he supplies . “Such a simple thing, clean water at the end of a tap,” Matt Damon says in the ad, referring to the “convenience of clean water” in the United States (Artois). In this ad, Matt Damon compares the United States to developing countries, convincing us to give money to provide clean water, as if our water doesn't need major improvement. What is not said in these ads is that the United States will need support to provide new water infrastructure, and we will then not have the opportunity to give additional money because the Water company bills will increase in the coming years. Even though the cost of water is increasing to help solve America's water problems, some people can't afford it. “The percentage of American households who find water bills unaffordable could triple from 11.9% to 35.6%” over the next five years” (Sorrel). Our citizens donate millions of dollars to these organizations, which is undoubtedly great for people in developing countries, but we should instead raise more money for our country, as this could help cope with the increase general increase in the price of water bills which can harm many families. Our water is often unsafe in the United States, but society has the idea that countries like India, Bangladesh, and Ethiopia are the only ones that are truly at risk. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Water Problems in America The United States has serious water problems, but many people don't know it today. Sure, we see boil water advisories in our area from time to time, but it's also happening in many other cities at the same time. Not to mention there are places in the United States that have gone without water for months, even years, due to lead contamination which greatly affects children. In 2017, ASCE rated America's drinking water infrastructure as D (America's Grades). “The Clean Water Act, passed in 1972, and the Safe Drinking Water Act, passed in 1974, are the two primary federal laws dealing with water quality in the United States” (Buckley). These laws prevent pollution to conserve water and waste, as well as other harmful behaviors that can affect our water. Although the government created these laws to bring about change, they are not always implemented effectively. ThisLeniency may encourage people to take the small risk of being penalized for breaking these rules. “Less than 6 percent of water systems that violated the law were fined or punished by state or federal authorities” (“Challenges to America's Water Infrastructure.”). In this way, the government is enabling the people of our country to continue these harmful behaviors that increase the risk of contamination and reduce our water supply. There are several other statistical facts about water problems in the United States that show that our water is not, in itself, clean. “ASCE estimates that a water main breaks every 2 minutes, or 240,000 breaks per year in the United States. In the United States, some water pipes can be up to 150 years old, most of which are lead pipes, banned more than three decades ago. These pipes can cause lead contamination when broken. We've talked about how lead can particularly affect pregnant women and children, but to what extent? Although children do not often die from lead poisoning, health experts note, its effects tend to be subtle but insidious at first. By the time the poisoning becomes apparent…it is too late to repair the permanent brain damage. The poison, she says, "reduces the learning potential of children whose potential has already been reduced by their environment." » Lead has hundreds of thousands of people exposed through water, soil and even air. Short-term effects can range from anxiety, tremors, stomach cramps, coma, and eventually death. While long-term effects can cause phenomena such as anemia, reproductive disorders and damage to the nervous system. While pregnant women and children under the age of 5 are most at risk, at this stage developmental delays and miscarriages are very likely. “Even one-time exposure to high levels of lead can have immediate and serious health effects.” Lead may be present in the air due to years of burning leaded gasoline. It has also been reported that lead exposure can alter DNA and affect future generations. “The researchers reported in Scientific Reports last September. Some mothers themselves were born with elevated blood lead levels, meaning they had been exposed to lead. Researchers proposed that if grandmother had lead in her blood, her grandchildren might show it. Fortunately, scientists have become aware of the effects of lead exposure and have tried to reduce lead in every way possible, including banning lead paint and pipes. Although decades of damage have been done, scientists are apparently working their best to reduce lead exposure. We must continue to raise awareness and take action to get the government to implement its plan more quickly, so we can prevent more damage sooner. Lead can cause a multitude of ongoing problems from thousands of actions like changing water suppliers, which is what is happening. This happened in Flint, Michigan in 2014. During this time, “up to 8,000 children were exposed to this contamination” (Tabuchi). “Experts warn that lead contamination of water can lead to cancers, gastrointestinal illnesses, behavioral problems and serious developmental delays in children” (Philip). Since then, Flint residents have had to use bottled water for everything fromdrinking toilet water. Finally, four years later, “on April 6, 2018, Michigan declared the water clean because it had been below the required lead level for 2 years. For this reason, they are going to eliminate their free bottled water program, even though residents are skeptical about how long their water will be safe. (Ahmad). In fact, some locations in Flint have tested beyond lead safety requirements. “More than 4 percent of water samples collected in the latest round of testing at Flint Community Schools buildings had elevated lead levels. Yet they are still debating whether to eliminate their free bottled water program. The article also writes: "Mayor Weaver believes the state should continue paying for bottled water until all of the city's lead or galvanized water pipes have been replaced, which could take two more construction seasons. Even with significant improvement, levels remain too high in some areas. Children are most susceptible to harm from lead contamination, but lead levels remain high in places like schools. Before they remove their free water, they need to make sure it is up to standard everywhere, otherwise it could harm more children. This event has caused thousands of children to develop some type of mental or developmental delay, which will affect them for the rest of their lives. If the United States had been pushed harder to replace water infrastructure, this could have been avoided. This should be a sign that they should step up and start working before more people are affected by lead contamination. Incidents like this also happen in thousands of other cities, including ours, but not as many as Flint, Michigan. The City of Pittsburgh received five boil water notices between January 2017 and January 2018. Two of them were caused by a water main. breakages, while the rest were due to potentially harmful bacteria present in the water (Krauss). We also face other problems, such as high lead levels. “Among samples collected last month by customers themselves at 114 high-risk residential addresses, 90% showed lead levels of 21 parts per billion (ppb) or less, according to estimated results shared by PWSA. » Our lead contamination increases and decreases, the standard considered safe is less than 15 ppb. Be careful, these levels are high but are not very significant compared to Flint's ppb level in 2014. "In a water sample taken from Flint, a lead level of 13,000 ppb was found." (Dingle). While other locations in Flint ranged up to 800 ppb, which is still astronomically high. Pittsburgh's water is bad enough that the PWSA recommends using a lead filter for people such as pregnant women and children. "At-risk groups should not drink water from a lead pipe without a lead filter, Edwards said. The Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority had been above a key threshold for more than a year. For more than a year one year the water levels were a little above standard, but I don't remember being informed of this. Our water never really seems safe, even when we are told it is. lists several incidents of lead contamination: "In the summer of 2015, authorities discovered significant lead contamination in drinking water in Jackson, Mississippi, but waited six months before notifying residents The list islong. Mississippi waited six full months to notify the community of unsafe water levels. There is no statistical data on how many people are affected, but exposure to lead contamination for months does not look very good. At that time, thousands of children in Pittsburgh and Jackson could have been affected. Some media outlets address the subject of water problems in the United States, such as Chinatown (1974), A Civil Action (1998), and Promised Land (2012). ) which ironically features Matt Damon. These are all fiction films about the fight against the shortage and contamination of local waters. Although they are fictional, some are based on real events and these films accurately depict what happened in those specific locations. One such film based on this topic is the famous film Erin Brockovich (2000) starring Julia Roberts. Where Erin (Roberts), a single mother, fights against the contaminants in the water that have caused many illnesses in her town. This film is based on the true story of a woman, Erin Brockovich, taken from her real-life case in 1993. This film brought awareness to what Brockovich fought for, showing us all how important he is possible to make a change. This film was based on his town's fight for local water, but we can connect it to the larger crisis to get inspired and take matters into our own hands like Brockovich did. We can make changes to reduce economic damage and fight to get our pipelines started to be replaced. Although there aren't many, some films are about the United States rather than other countries. These films also help depict just how many real problems there are in our country. Octavia Butler included water scarcity as a struggle in her book, Parable of the Sower. In the novel, the characters have to live on little water due to pollution which causes an increase in global warming, thus leading to a decrease in water supply. This was an important part of the novel because it was one of their many main struggles, which could become a reality if we don't change our real world. "That is to say, there is water for human consumption, but the water quality is deadly." In Lauren's world, it all started with climate change and pollution, which is what's happening in our own world right now. Water is a necessity for our health, it is a natural resource that we can hunt if we do not refrain from continuing our bad economic habits. If we continue, our world may have to experience this reality sooner than we think. Butler may have added this struggle for awareness reasons to show us that this could happen to us if we don't stop our harmful habits. There are organizations that help fight the battle for clean water in developing countries like UNICEF. This organization is popular and often seen in social media advertisements, as well-known actress Selena Gomez has been one of its ambassadors and promoters since 2009 (UNICEF). While these organizations and many others are raising awareness and taking action on water issues in other countries, we are not informed about the many problems the United States has on this issue. The idea that the United States has access to clean water with the easy turn of a handle is misleading because it is often not clean. This can go hand in hand with identity and power, as the United States is perceived to be more powerful than other countries because we are apparently stable enough to give millions of dollars to help others while we have problems that need to be.