Life on earth is absolutely dependent on availability of clean water for every living being. Any average human being in a temperate climate needs to drink at least 3 Litres of clean potable water every day for a healthy survival. According to World Health Organization (WHO), a person requires 50-100 Litres of clean water daily to meet the most basic needs without triggering any health issues. Unfortunately, the world is facing a dire situation of dwindling clean water supply due to various threats like pollution, water scarcity, water contamination etc.

Do you know how gravely these threats are affecting us? Here’s how water contamination is wreaking havoc with our lives and its possible remedies.

How Severe Is Water Contamination Globally?

Globally, the surface-water sources are often becoming compromised with unrestrained dumping of chemicals, plastics, industrial and domestic wastes as well as other pollutants like oil spills etc. The underground freshwater sources are threatened by untreated water from leaking sewerage pipes and agricultural waste waters full of chemical fertilisers and pesticides. This turns the available potable water into murky toxins for human beings and the environment by severely degrading the water quality.

According to the UN’s World Water Development Report 2017, more than 80% of waste water generated globally is simply discarded into the environment without sufficient treatment. At the same time, natural causes like volcanic activities, acid rains etc. are also contributing to localised water contamination.

Impact of Water Contamination on Our Lives

So what happens when the freshwater is thus polluted? Let’s see.

Water contamination affects our lives through various direct and indirect channels:

• Direct impact:
  • Triggers water scarcity regionally, as well as globally
  • Drinking contaminated water leads to various diseases like cholera, typhoid, jaundice, dysentery etc. Some of these even become epidemics.
  • Polluted water consumption leads to other negative effects on our health, such as cancer, affected nervous system, endocrinal damages, various skin diseases etc. and even death
• Indirect impact:
  • Severe damages to marine ecosystems – loss of marine wildlife
  • Financial losses in businesses dealing with fisheries and other water bodies
  • Shortage of clean water supply over long period of time creates economic crisis by affecting agricultural irrigation, increased cost of water treatment
  • This may even lead to riots over access to clean surface water sources out of desperation

Possible Remedies

The severity of the problem demands speedy and effective solutions to be implemented soonest possible.Let’s look at some simple remedies:

• Ensure there’s no leakage of sewerage or domestic wastes into your local water body – use SWR pipes that are reliable and strong, such as Ori-Plast SWR pipes and Ori-Plast drainage pipes.
• Dumping of untreated waste water and chemical-laced contaminated water into freshwater sources must be prohibited immediately.
• Stop littering of plastics. Even while choosing PVC-O pipes for your house, act responsibly and only choose reputed products like Ori-Plast pipes to ensure good quality materials for long lifespan and recyclability.
• Spread awareness.

Saving the most precious element on earth is anobligation for every responsible human being. Let us all pledge a sustainable future with Ori-Plast limited.