Water scarcity will be one of the defining features of the 21st century. The U.N. predicts that by 2025 two thirds of the world’s population will suffer water shortages. Here CNN takes a look at what we do with the water we can drink.
FYI, news, What is in our Drinking Water?
A brief history of Safe Drinking Water in the USA
Its been a long time since our Water was pure. Starting in the 1760s in England, when manufacturing became mechanized. Water, steam, wood, and coal powered machines forever changed a number of industries, and suddenly small towns became large cities as people flocked to factories to find work.
iPhones, self-driving cars, and designer clothing wouldn’t exist if not for the Industrial Revolution; historians use it as a time stamp for the transition between the early modern and modern periods.
As wealth increased nearly across the board, the economic standard of living rose dramatically along with the average life expectancy.
But the Industrial Revolution came at a cost to water quality and overall health.
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The 2 most important things to know about drinking water
1) Water (H2o) is Nature’s remedy – the premium fuel your body needs.
All the important juices of the body are composed of fluids, of which water is the basis. Not only is the blood, which is the very essence of physical life, composed largely of water, but also the bile, the gastric juices, the pancreatic fluid and all the other juices of the digestive organs, as well as the saliva, or fluids of which water is the basis.
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The Steam Distillation Process
Algae Blooms, Arsenic, California, Colorado, E-coli, FYI, Hydro-Fracking, Industrial Chemicals, Mining Residue, New York, news, North Carolina, Ohio, Oil Residue, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, What is in our Drinking Water?
How “safe” the Safe Drinking Water Act keeps our tap.
The Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA), originally passed by Congress in 1974 to protect public health by regulating the nation’s public drinking water supply, is the main federal law that ensures the quality of Americans’ drinking water.
Under SDWA, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) sets standards for drinking water quality and oversees the states, localities, and water suppliers who implement those standards.
Arsenic, California, Colorado, E-coli, Hydro-Fracking, Industrial Chemicals, Mining Residue, New York, news, North Carolina, Ohio, Oil Residue, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, What is in our Drinking Water?
21st Century Pollution
In 1976 when the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), our nation’s main chemical safety law was passed, 62,000 chemicals were already in use. All of these chemicals were grandfathered by TSCA; that means they were simply presumed to be safe, and EPA was given no mandate to determine whether they are actually safe. Even to require testing of these chemicals under TSCA, EPA must first provide evidence that the chemical may pose a risk – a toxic Catch-22.