What Is Water Waste In America

     Hazardous wastes are another problem for the water in our world. These wastes are toxic, reactive, corrosive or ignitable. Most problems come from humans not storing the substance properly or not disposing of it correctly. This can be easily proven in 1969, when the Cuyahoga River, in Cleveland, Ohio, caught on fire and burned for sometime. Since this happened environmentalists have taken extreme measures to reduce the amount of pollution that is coming out of the power plants that are on the river and on Lake Erie.

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

All the inhabitants of Flint communities regardless of their location had irreversible, permanent brain damage due to lead-contaminated water. It started when traces of E. coli and total coliform were found in the Flint River. The city addressed this problem by increasing chlorine levels in the water, causing the pipes to corrode, releasing lead into the waters. Total trihalomethanes (TTHM) were also formed in the water (they are carcinogenic to humans).TTHM is a disinfection byproduct that occur when chlorine interacts with organic matter in the water. At this stage, The lead levels in the water was 13,200 ppb. Water is considered hazardous waste at 5,000ppb (NPR 2016). This tragedy goes to show that this toxic runoff, or even the miss-handling of the water resources in a watershed can affect everyone as the downstream water was piped up into the upstream communities.

Water is probably the most important resource we as people have. Humans can survive without food for several weeks, but without water we would die in less than a week. On a slightly less dramatic note, millions of liters of water are needed every day worldwide for washing, irrigating crops, and cooling industrial processes, not to mention leisure industries such as swimming pools and water-sports centers. Despite our dependence on water, we use it as a dumping ground for all sorts of waste, and do very little to protect the water supplies we have.

There are different ways people in the United States waste a lot of natural resources. For instance, just like Allen Billington claims, “We are wasteful people.” News programs and print newspapers show that in fact Americans are the greatest consumers of all. Every year trees around the world are cut down specifically for U.S. different purposes. Such as construction of houses, buildings, furniture, educational supplies, books, pencil and paper. Also, California is experiencing a drought, and some people knowing is becoming very scarce keep on wasting it. These are some of the causes on how people waste so much water, is either by taking long showers, washing their car, washing their hands, laundry and irrigation. In the news they say that the number one use of water in California is through irrigation. Lastly is the way we are destroying little by little the air we breathe through the pollution of cars, refineries, deforestation of fires and factories. All of these aspects have a negative effect on the change of the climate. The three different ways people in the United States are wasting natural resources is from cutting down of trees, the consumption of water in excessively amounts and lastly polluting the air we breathe.

In the modern age of high-speed internet, self-driving cars and VR it’s easy to forget that some places in the world still don’t have fresh water, let alone plumbing. The average person uses between 80 and 100 gallons of water a day. If you drink the recommended 8 glasses per day that’s only 8 oz a glass, or 64 oz in total. Of those 80 to 100 gallons we use an average of 3 every time we flush the toilet, 5 gallons per minute in the shower, 36 gallons for a bath, 8-27 gallons while doing the dishes, 25 gallons for every load of laundry and another 2 gallons a minute if you’re doing any outdoor watering or filling a kiddy pool. By using a newer toilet, you can reduce the gallons per flush to about 1.6 gallons, and when using a water saving shower head you can reduce your use to about 2 gallons per minute. This may not seem like much of a difference, but it can make a big impact.

Imagine being informed that the water with which you bathe, brush your teeth, and cook is the root of many serious and sometimes fatal health problems. Sadly, this is the case for a majority of the citizens in Flint, Michigan. According to an online article titled “This is how toxic Flint’s water really is,” by reporter Christopher Ingraham, the culprit is high concentrations of lead that have leached into tap water from lead-containing pipe systems and fixtures as they slowly corrode. The article also informs that although nearly all citizens were exposed to the hazardous water, some exposures were found to be worse than others (Ingraham). Additionally Ingraham states “A group of Virginia Tech researchers who sampled the water in 271 Flint homes last summer found some contained lead levels high enough to meet the EPA 's definition of ‘toxic waste." With lead being the culprit, and nearly all citizens being exposed to the contaminated water, Flint has found itself in a near epidemic.

For the past three years Flint, Michigan has been making headlines due to what seems like a never-ending water crisis. One day their water seems to be just fine, but then all of a sudden it’s contaminated and dirty; full of lead and fecal particles which will slowly begin to harm more people than imaginable. Hospital admissions skyrocket, school attendance numbers began to drop, and more and more adults are calling off of work because they’ve fallen ill. People begin to go without showers to help keep them “safe” from contamination, bottled water is now being used for not only drinking but also showering, mixing baby formulas, watering plants, etc. Major cost-cutting measures led to contaminated drinking water, lifelong health effects, and

The residents of Flint, Michigan were continuously looking to the government for a solution to this crisis. However, another issue involved in the crisis is that the government was treating the wrong problem.However, many are puzzled as to why numerous residents are ill because the MEDQ rebutted that it would be multiple years before the chlorine would cause dramatic effects. The Detroit Free Press states “children were developing rashes and suffering from mysterious illnesses” (“Flint Water”). Until early 2015, the government believed that the cause to the Flint Water Crisis was due to an excess of antibacterial substances. One particular household observed changes in the smell and taste of their water. This motivated LeeAnne Walters, Flint resident, to have her water tested. The American Chemical Society (ACS) states the results “All 32 samples from the Walters ' home contained lead concentrations above the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency action level of 15 micrograms per liter. Four samples were above 5,000 micrograms per liter, the threshold for hazardous waste. And one sample contained 13,200 micrograms per liter.” Due to this analysis, the EPA believes that the extremely high levels of lead can be the cause of the mysterious illnesses. In the end, the profound cause of the Flint Water Crisis appears to be increased exposure to lead.

Some ways we recycle our water is by using it to water golf fields, ball fields, and parks. We also reuse water but putting it in ponds and other streams for our aquatic wildlife ecosystems. We preserve our water by putting it in underground aquifers. We make our water reusable at water reclamation factories that make them clean enough to put them places safely. In conclusion, we use water a lot so it’s a big priority to make sure we don’t waste it. Without our water, our way of living will become a lot harder. Farm food prices will go up because it’ll cost more to use the water to make the

The way Americans use water all depends on the location and how much water is readily available. California, a dry state with scarce water supply, versus Florida, a tropical state with more water resources, have very different ways of using water throughout the day. For example, Coastal southern California has cutting-edge water usage policies, including mandatory low-flow toilets and strict lawn watering laws (Pickert, 19). Compared to Florida, which has an adequate water supply, Floridians still use more water than what is available, and have very little water usage policies to resolve this issue (Behn, 45). Although there are many issues concerning water usage in Florida and California, there are many ways in which they can be resolved,

Flint, Michigan has made headlines in the news over the past few years for their water crisis. The city thought that they would be able to save money by switching from Detroit City water to water from the Flint River. Unfortunately, they didn’t treat the water in an effort to prevent the pipes from corroding. This allowed lead and bacteria to flow through the pipes and into the homes of Flint residents. Many citizens have been sick and have gotten lead poisoning since then (Kennedy).

An article from Unwater.org and Home-Water-Works.org explains how about six to eight million people died each year due to not having access to clean drinking water. More evidence by Home-Water-Works.org shows that the average American used about 17.2 gallons of water in a given shower. Everyday 5.5 billion gallons of water is used and with that amount of water you can supply those eight million people for 1,380 days and that’s only the amount of water used in a shower per day in the U.S. Given the conservation of water and donation, we can save millions of people. If half a gallon is needed a day and with the donation of about $50 a day, and given half a gallon of water cost about .61 cents, we can save 164

Using less water also puts less pressure on our sewage treatment facilities, and uses less energy for water supply to the grid.

In today’s society, the idea of a limited resource is not a foreign concept. Most people understand that eventually humans will use up many of these resources, such as fossil fuels, and they will cease to exist. However, very rarely does a conversation about limited resources get started over the water. While water itself is not a limited resource, clean drinkable water is becoming scarcer as people continue to use excess water. The documentary “Last Call at the Oasis” highlights how precious water is to survival and just how much miss use of water occurs in the United States alone. Even though the United States has gone down the wrong path with its water consumption methods, it may not be too late to recover. With the proper systems and education in place, the chances of delaying a water crisis increase exponentially.