Got Water?In this position paper I wrote a letter to the editor on my opinion on our current water supply. We need to understand the importance of water and how pollution creates a bigger problem than we know.

7/14/2010

By Kevin Salinas

Dear Editor,

Got Water?By Kevin Salinas

Any ideas on what happened to all the good water? Yea…I kind of figured you didn’t know either, so then you probably like me, and don’t know why nothing is being done about it? I find this completely unbelievable that we have the technology available and nothing is being done to fix this. The U.S. major concern of water pollution has been taken lightly and the situation has never been more serious than it is now; people are dying and will continue to, if we don’t resolve this major water pollution concern!

Clean water is more important than most Americans know. Financial Times Magazine provides this alarming information, about the necessity of water, from the research collected by the Organic Consumers Association:

Three out of four Americans are dehydrated; dehydration slows down metabolism as much as 3%.

Lack of water intake is the #1 cause of daytime fatigue. 8 glasses of water a day could significantly ease back and

joint pain  A 2% drop in body water can cause short-term memory loss

and trouble focusing. Drinking 5 glasses of water daily will significantly decrease

the likelihood of colon cancer, breast cancer and the development of bladder cancer.

Sources of water pollution are extremely dangerous. Raw sewage flows into the United States from rivers that run through Mexico. Livestock waste and industrial waste also pollute every source of water in the United States, causing disease and the closure of hundreds of beaches every year.

Over the years it has been statistically proven that water pollution is the worldwide leading cause of death and disease. In a recent national report on water quality in the United States, up to 50% of all our water is polluted. Is this alarming or are we waiting until all our water is polluted before we do something about it? I can tell you right now, I’m not one of those persons waiting around to see what happens.

Stop throwing trash and toxic chemicals into our rivers and lakes! My goodness, are we so blind to pollute the same water we drink. There are many sources of ground water that have become completely unusable because of the amount of pollution that has been placed into these bodies of water.

Recent Studies from the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) have found that more than 40% of water pollution in the United States waterways comes from the illegal dumping of used motor oil.

According to the EPA;

One gallon of used oil can contaminate 1 million gallons of fresh water.

As much as 200 million gallons of used motor oil is improperly dumped each year in the U.S.

In a city of 5 million, the used oil that drips onto roads then runs off with rain into rivers and oceans is the equivalent of a tanker spill into the waterways.

We can all visualize the nightmare of water pollution everywhere so we must stop water pollution before it turns too late. There is a shortage in clean drinking water and it is feared that our population may soon see a drought and insufficiency. We should all consider reevaluating what is important to us; it is our children that will be growing up in the next generation of water pollution.