Beckman, David S. “The Threats to Our Drinking Water.” The New York Times. The New York Times, 06 Aug. 2014. Web. 07 Sept. 2014.
In the United States people generally do not have to worry about the tap water they drink. However, water supply have been interrupted twice this year. First, in January 300,000 people were exposed to contaminated water supply in Charleston West Virginia. The water was contaminated after a chemical leaked from a ruptured storage tank into El River. Second, 400,000 people were said to be unsafe in Toledo, Ohio. In Lake Erie, there has been a presence of microcystin. Microcystin is a toxin released by algae blooms. Due to this issue a lot of citizens have been going to the stores to buy bottled water. The United States is aware of the fact that water pollution is not a “set it and forget it.” These two events are refocusing the United States on how important it is to protect our waters.
I think that the United States should have not waited for these major events to occur to realize that our water is valuable. There is pollution all over the United States. Water pollution is affecting many people. I think one way to prevent a leakage it to check on it frequently. If people were checking it once every two weeks, they should change it to once a week. It’s small things like this that can help our country from having polluted water. We can’t wait until water is already polluted to do something about it. We should do something ahead of time to prevent it from happening. If we had done something before, 1,000s of people would not have to depend on bottled water, which is something else that is harmful to our environment.
I thought this was really interesting, and did not know that our water supply has been interrupted twice this year. Water is such an important resource because it is what keeps us alive and if there isn’t any clean water then we are all in major trouble. Water is such a prevalent issue right now because of the drought and I think this is a really important issue.
I agree that water pollution should be dealt with proactively. Since California is already in a drought this will probably be an even bigger issue in the future. What exactly were the negative results of water contamination at the example locations provided? Is bottles water that much better?
i had no clue that tap water could harm us. in california there is less water to choose from so we will probably have a higher risk of dirty tap water
It is very frightening to hear that tap water has been contaminated before. We use it in many ways and might get harmed. Could it be that some contamination is due to lack of responsibility of the people caring for the environment?