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Running head: DRINKING WATERS SAFETY 1

Drinking Waters Safety

Dian Wen

Instructors name: Catherine Shukle

Ivy Tech Summer 2013: English Composition ENGL 111-07H-H1-201310

2013-7-16

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DRINKING WATERS SAFETY 2

Drinking Waters Safety

Drinking and eating are two essential part of people daily life, thus the safety of the water

and food which we consume acts as the most important factor to humans health problems. Can

you affirm for sure the water you are drinking at home is safe? Many people would feel

confused because they may have never thought about this question. The drinking water is

commonly considered to be safe to drink. The issue was investigated is about whether drinking

water is really as safe as most of people think. Many developed countries such as US, do possess

the standards for clean water to ensure the water supply system can provide the safe drinking

water, and then people may also tacitly approve that the water they are drinking every day is safe

enough. However, although safety standards exist, we cannot guarantee that every water filter or

every pipe is clean enough to provide safe drinking water.

Drinking water which is essential to humans health plays a significant role in peoples

daily life. Actually, the definition of the drinking water is water safe enough to be consumed by

humans or used with low risk of immediate or long term harm. Water is an essential element that

peoples bodies needs that is present in liquids, plain water, and foods. Due to the water losses

occur continuously, from skin evaporation, breathing and urine; these losses must be replenished

timely for good health. Keeping water (either plain or in the form of other fluids or foods) is

essential to your body. As well as many advertisements are showing a man who is drinking a cup

of water to convey a concept of health, drawing people an image that it is a good life style to

drinking water, and indicate the water we drink is safe.

Many developed countries such as US, have already established a completely drinking

water supply system. As National Research Council (2006) stated in Drinking water distribution

systems Many water supplies in the United States were subsequently constructed in cities

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primarily for the suppression of fires, but most have been adapted to serve commercial and

residential properties with water (p. 15) Conventional water supply pipeline system in United

States was sized to satisfy the need of fire control with large flows. Due to low frequencies of

fire as a disaster, slow water flow velocities are often caused in the conventional system now,

which results in poor water qualities at the user ends. For this reason, America proposes dual

water supply system s: a small stainless pipeline for drinking water and another large pipeline

(the conventional system) for non-drinking system mainly for fighting fire. In this way, drinking

water quality can be easily satisfied at the user ends. Moreover, the treatment cost for non-

drinking water can be largely reduced. Besides, reclaimed or recycled water from waste water

treatment plants can be introduced into the conventional system, which can thus avoid a large

reclaimed water pipeline.

However, it does not come up to expectations; there are many potential risks of pollution

during the water supply system. North Carolina State University recently investigated two cities

in the tracking survey, the results show that the retention time of water from the waterworks to

the client is up to ten days or more. (Geldreich, 1996) In this case, obviously cannot guarantee

the terminal of water supply network water to keep sufficient chlorine, which creates

opportunities for bacteria to survive. If put enough chlorine to guarantee the disinfection, the

only way to do that is to increase the quantity of chlorine, but the consequences would produce

lots of disinfection byproducts such as THMs (THMs), HAAs(Halo acetic acids), etc.( Miles,

2002) The biofilm grown on Water supply pipe wall is another important reason of the water

pollution. Because there are a lot pipe joints, valves and fire hydrants, and other accessories in

traditional channels, which created good condition for biofilm wall growth. (Percival, 2000) The

biofilm growth would greatly reduce the effect of pipeline chlorine disinfection; the main reason

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is biofilm massive growths will microorganisms in water with chlorine compartment away. In

other words, due to the water stays in the pipes too long, It will lead to biofilm get thicker and

thicker. In the other hand, biofilm which gradually thicken will also impede water flow in the

pipeline; the flow speed is more slowed. Biofilm shedding will affect the water color, turbidity. If

turning into the "Colored" water, it will lead to increase the number of bacteria, and deteriorate

of water quality. In this regard, the researchers said that if residents were able immersive

observed for water pipe wall within the biofilm situation, they prefer to buy bottled pure water

and will not drink tap water. (Miles, 2002)

Government did a lot of efforts to make sure that people can get clean safe water. As

early as 1974, the U.S. Congress had passed the "Safe Drinking Water Act," which clearly

provided protection for the national public drinking water supply and source. This Act was

executed by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and state government. After several

amendments, it currently forms into a complete system of protection of drinking water,

including: the establishment of drinking water source assessment system, corresponding research

on each water source, water sources boundaries, water sources area, degree of pollutant

sensitivity on water supply. US national drinking water standard was implemented in October

2003 formally with legally binding, containing a total of 87 test contents, with the maximum

allowable pollution levels and public health goals for majority harmful pollutants to human

health.

In order to ensure that factory tap water meet the standard, the U.S. Environmental

Protection Department has established a program for water quality sampling. According to the

type of pollutants and water scale, sampling frequency is not the same. If the contaminant found

in the sample exceeds the maximum allowable pollution levels, they will immediately notify the

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users, and to take appropriate remedial measures, and force tracking testing of drinking water

quality. Water supply system must promptly report to the user immediately of any possible health

hazards caused by water pollution incidents, and to inform the public within 24 hours, providing

contamination potential impact on human health and the like. For the pollution incidents which

will not harm human health immediately, the incident must be reported or notified to users by

mail within a year.

Although the standards exist, it still cannot guarantee the water we drink is safe. Actually

the water people always drink are provided through water pipes or bought from supermarket,

people always cannot see the source and the treatment process. Water quality problems appeared

in many parts of the United States, the new reports on domestic pollution by heavy metals are not

the rare cases in the newspapers. A lot of viral organisms can easily against chlorine, and

disinfection process currently used does not work with these virus, these all would cause serious

harm to human health, now many community and industrial facilities cannot deal with the

pollution caused by traffic accidents leak. Besides, the filter systems cannot ensure all the

harmful materials are definitely filtered after the filter. Also, every pipe still cannot be affirmed

to be clean enough.

To summarize, drinking safety water is the base of human health. With the increasingly

serious water pollution and the increasing scarcity of water resources, the safety of drinking

water is becoming a major public health threats in the country. Government paid a lot of efforts

to the protection of drinking water, to ensure the overall safety of the people of drinking water.

The standards of the drinking water quality guarantee the quality and limit the harmful materials

in the drinking water. Although the drinking water is to be thought safe under the standard, the

filter system and many other factors also can make the water contaminated. A drop of water need

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after a long journey to enter every household, any parts have a problem will have a direct impact

on water quality. So that its very important to strengthen the construction quality of drinking

water sources, regularly check and monitor the water quality, and timely clear up the risks of

potential pollution.

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Reference

Geldreich, E. E. (1996). Biological Profiles in Drinking Water. In Microbial quality of water

supply in distribution systems. (pp.103-104)

LeChevallier, M. W., Au, K.-K., & World Health Organization. (2004). Treatment Variability. In

Water treatment and pathogen control: Process efficiency in achieving safe drinking-

water (pp. 75-78).

Miles, A. M., Singer, P. C., et al. (April 01, 2002). Comparison of Trihalomethanes in Tap Water

and Blood. Environmental Science & Technology, 36, 8, 1692-1698.

National Research Council (U.S.)., & National Research Council (U.S.). (2006). Introduction. In

Drinking water distribution systems: Assessing and reducing risks(pp.11-13).

Percival, S. L., Walker, J. T., & Hunter, P. R. (2000). Microbiological aspects of biofilms and

drinking water. (pp. 243-245)

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