Berger, Sofia.(2016) “ Wastewater Challenges & Opportunities in Latin America”. WWI. Retrieved November 19,2016, from
http://www.waterworld.com/articles/wwi/print/volume-31/issue-5/technology-case-studies/wastewater-challenges-opportunities-in-latin-america.html
Latin America had stalled on wastewater infrastructure and prioritized on clean drinking water. Latin America is one of the world’s richest regions in water resources. Approximately 37 million people don’t have access to a safe supply of drinking water and nearly 110 million people do not have access to sanitation facilities. In Latin America, countries are experiencing significant water loss due to the deteriorated condition of distribution and transmission water mains and services.
Getting clean drinking water is important just as wastewater in Latin America. People are getting sick and dieing because of poor water sanitation. World Bank is an institution that is helping countries with poor water systems. This is important to our environment because most of the world’s water is by Latin America.
I agree with your take on this… it’s surprising to think that the powers that be don’t recognize the potential for waste water to contaminate their drinking water supplies. So here’s my question. The World Bank lends various countries in Latin America hundreds of millions of dollars to build infrastructure for treating waste water. What happens when they can’t afford to pay the money back? Should debts for human welfare be forgiven? (Most of the World Bank is money from US tax payers).
I think everyone having clean water is an important issue that we should all support, however people with wealth are selfish and don’t see the benefit in helping these nations. How do you think we can incentivise investors to invest in these regions? Do you think encouraging investment in areas such as in industry or mining resources, although environmentally unfriendly, is the push those countries need to improve the quality of life?