Watershed Communities

The author argues that The Great Lakes region is entering an era of unparalleled water tension. Agreeing with this argument, The Great Lakes are just another piece of Earth that us humans are ruining. Since The Great Lakes are one of the largest fresh water sources in the world we are forced to protect against losing it's surface area. 40 million Canadians and Americans live amongst their basin. The author, Peter Annin, brings up clean water scarcity, this is a huge problem around the world and right in our "back yard". The city of Flint's toxic, unusable water has become an embarrassment for all of Michigan.

Water contamination is vastly becoming an alarming issue across the world. We rely on clean water to survive, yet right now we are heading towards a water crisis. Changing climate patterns are threatening lakes and rivers, and key sources that we tap for drinking water are being overdrawn or tainted with pollution (www.nrdc.org). Clean and plentiful water is the cornerstone of prosperous communities. Yet as we enter the 21st century, swelling demand and changing climate patterns are

The current water crisis in Flint, Michigan stems from government officials changing water sources. The government of Flint switched from using the water of Lake Huron, which they had used for over 50 years, to using the water of the Flint River, which had a high level of chloride. The high chloride level eventually led to the corrosion of water pipes allowing unhealthy levels of chlorine and lead contamination. Additionally, irresponsible and unreliable water treatment allowed even more contaminates to enter the city’s water source. All this pollution ultimately ended up in the homes of thousands of people, poisoning families throughout the city. Lead poisoning can have disastrous effects on the human body, with some symptoms including “memory loss, anemia (lack of healthy red blood cells), kidney dysfunction, and in severe

The lead effects in the drinking water have caused a massive public health crisis (“Scientific Opinion on the risks”, 2015). The whole crisis was as a result of poor management practices employed in the Flint water plant. The city decided to switch the

The article, “Lead Levels Remain High in Flint’s Water” by Matt Davenport explores the increased lead contamination in the Flint, Michigan water source. In April of 2014, high levels of bacteria, and fecal matter were detected in the water of Flint, Michigan. While the levels of bacteria decreased, the city’s water still breaks the federal rule for lead levels. A series of tests conducted by Marc A. Edwards was able to show that the city’s contaminated water was corroding pipes, which leached lead into the water. Because Edwards was able to inform the public about the contaminated water source, Michigan officials have taken steps to improve Flint’s water quality. For example, the water-pipes were re-routed to carry water from Detroit instead

The article “Water Works”, published by Orion Magazine and written by environmental specialist Cynthia Barnett intends to inform the reader anyone can make water an important factor. Overlooking it has become common many people in the United States have adapted to through the changes that have occurred in society over time. At the beginning of her article, she describes an area that does not make water care a priority, whereas in another location they make it very evident water is important. The location she describes is gloomy, grey, and is a populated area that has old water systems that are damaging environmental factors. Barnett continuously emphasizes that people are the ones who can help restore nature. This is at a less cost than

In the fourth chapter, “Fouling Our Own Nests,” of Unquenchable: America’s Water Crisis and What to do About It, Robert Glennon discusses the dangers of water contamination that plague many parts of the United States. His main claim that water pollution requires the help of the entire population stems from an unmentioned warrant: contaminating the national water supply with chemicals from individual communities and industries is detrimental to American society. In order to strengthen his argument, Glennon showcases the impacts of local contamination issues on larger populations and utilizes quantitatively intimidating statistics to solidify his position and inspire his readers to fight for better water regulation.

Provide some reasoning from the articles you read/videos you viewed to support the idea that people have a responsibility to protect the integrity of Earth 's water resources. [3]

In Flint Michigan studies show there was a large amount of lead in the water , because of this high turbidity in the water witch means this water is dangerous.

“In September, Virginia Tech researchers released a report saying Flint's water was creating a health threat in old homes that have lead pipes or pipes fused with lead solder. And doctors last week reported high levels of lead in local children's blood samples, also blaming water pipes” (CBSNEWS). Lead is a serious problem as it may cause a serious damage in different organs of the body especially the brain and it is the most known neurotoxin. However, knowing that lead is the source of the problem is an important piece of information which can facilitate reaching the source of lead leaching. In fact, many cities have lead pipes, not only Flint city, and when water sits in those pipes, the lead can leech into the water. So cities usually add corrosion-control chemicals, such as phosphates (PO4), to keep the lead out of the water. However, Flint did not take into account these precautions, and this was a major contributor to the high lead levels and, consequently, health problems, “the public health protection was gone,” Edwards says. (ALANA SEMUELS, 29 Jul. 2015). If we talked about the reason why the water in Flint’s River is difficult to treat, it turns out that it contains high levels of coliform and fecal coliform bacteria. But what makes it more difficult than Lake Huron water is that the Flint River is subject to temperature changes, rain events and high carbon content. An additional indication, is the increased level of trihalomethanes (TTHM), a byproduct of the large amount of chlorine needed to kill bacteria in the river water. For the most part, specific amounts of chlorine are used to treat river water, but the problem is that low levels of chlorine can produce coliform bacteria and, on the other hand, high levels of chlorine may result in Disinfectant Byproducts (DBP), which, in turn, may lead to elevated levels of

It has came to mind that the Big Sioux River located in the Eastern Part of South Dakota is a very polluted river. It is so polluted that its the 13th highest polluted water source in the United States. Therefore the people around this river, this is a very important to the people around because this is there main water source. People may ask why is this river so polluted and its because of the toxic waste from us humans. Every time you go to the bathroom all this waste ends up going into the river and even when you take a shower all the chemicals that go in your hair or for your body from the soap end up going into the river.

Even before this crisis, the people of Flint, Michigan were struggling. To fix this problem the government came up with the plan to end the purchases of drinking water from Detroit and join a country-wide system that supplied water from Lake Huron. Although, this system was not fully built yet, so in the meantime they turned to the Flint River to provide water for the city. The problem with taking water from the Flint River was that the water was corrosive and if the proper chemicals weren’t added, the water could cause damage (Durando, 2016). Since the water wasn’t properly treated or tested, that’s exactly what happened. The water caused lead from the pipes to drain into the city's drinking water, and it all went downhill from

Thesis statement (central idea): Access and availability to fresh water are essential to the survival of the human race. Fresh water is a finite source and once it is gone, we have limited options to replenish it, so we must take action to conserve the fresh water we do have especially at home in the United States.

Water affects our environment in many ways. It affects our drinking water, bathing water, and the water we swim in. How do you pollute the water we use in our environment? As the article, “Water is Life!” says,” Animal waste introduces bacteria to streams.” so if you have an animal don’t let it’s waste run off into the streams, or other water sources. Because those streams may either run into lakes or oceans, and that’s where we may swim or get our drinking or bathing water. “Water is Life!” also says, “Runoff from improperly managed crops introduces fertilizers, herbicides, pesticides, and dirt to streams.” So keep the runoff from your crops managed because the fertilizers, herbicides, pesticides, and dirt are not good for our bodies or our environment. Like i said, if they get into lakes or oceans they might affect

Human has always been in great need of fresh water for many purposes, and there are three main categories of extractive uses of water from its natural system: agricultural irrigation, industrial and commercial activities, and residential activities. In addition to extractive uses, in-stream uses of water are also essential for human in pollution dilution, maintenance of navigation paths, and protection of biodiversity. These water usages can have adverse effects on the quality and quantity of freshwater, and furthermore these impacts may not only threaten ecosystem, but also make transitions in economic and social aspects. From this, it can be seen that society and ecosystems are interdependent. However, traditional environmental scientists tended not to give great weight to the human factor in their studies. However, the growth in global population leads to a rise in demand of freshwater, and now it is unreasonable to deny the truth that humans make huge impacts on water resources. Human-induced environmental contamination creates severe