Millions of Americans still get their drinking water from lead pipes. (n.d.). Retrieved March 09, 2021, from https://www.economist.com/united-states/2020/12/03/millions-of-americans-still-get-their-drinking-water-from-lead-pipes

https://www.economist.com/united-states/2020/12/03/millions-of-americans-still-get-their-drinking-water-from-lead-pipes

Lead poisioning is a threat that has been affecting the water of U.S. citizens for centuries. But recently, chicago has reached an all time low for unhealthiness concerning their tap. About 400,000 service lines are lead contaminated throughout the windy city. Although mayor lori lightfoot has made a mark on the cities unfortunate situation. Around 800 pipes are replaced every year, but to finish the job it would leak into the mid 26th century. Far too long for citizens to wait. Every year children are exposed to this substance, and are threat to mental defficienies and higher health risk as a result of their exposure. Although mayors are quicker to jump on their feet at problems like these than they were a century ago. For example, flint michigan is putting forth 100 million to mitigate this dilemma. And milwaukee is attempting to replace 1,100 lines per year in hopes to emulate cities like lansing, madison, and green bay. All areas who have successfully beat out the lead. Although, this problem is being tackled 500 years for chicago to have clean tap is a unrealistic time frame that needs to be reduced. 

This article highlights one of americas biggest water deficiencies to date. Over 25% of children have been exposed to lead through school pipes, and other sources. In a fast paced environment such as ours, with a rapidly increasing population we have little room for fuckups in terms of our resources. But why is this related to ES? Well, theres a number of reasons. Lets start off with the fact that chicago is an ecosystem. With inhabitants, habitats, natural and artificial resources that need upkeep and have flow. But the disruption to a major resource such as water has detrimental effects on the web that connects all aspects of this environment.
So the better we can understand our short comings when it comes to a life and death resource, the better we can reduce the effects. Overall, showing lead poisonings relation to environmental science. w

Ramsayer, K. (2021, March 04). Scientists complete first global survey of freshwater fluctuation. Retrieved March 09, 2021, from https://phys.org/news/2021-03-scientists-global-survey-freshwater-fluctuation.html

https://phys.org/news/2021-03-scientists-global-survey-freshwater-fluctuation.html

A new form of measurement has been developed, one very applicable to our current climate crisis. To test the human impact on freshwater sources, satellites use lazer light pulses that are sent every second down to earths bodies of water. Once beamed down, they reflect back and give high precision surface measurements. This way, after large activities or projects are enacted with bodies of water we can see it’s increase or decrease. 

This part is more about the articles importance to environmental science rather than its relation, since we already are measuring the environment itself theres no further clarification needed. The reason this invention is so important, is because of the insight it gives us to future endeavors. Our population is growing faster than ever before, and we need to understand it’s impacts on fresh water. Are we loosing more than were generating? Is this rainy season lighter than we expected? Are there any threats being faced towards the great lakes water storage? Questions like these will be answered with this machine. This way, we can better predict and anticipate changes to our water storage. Overall improving our distribution of the human birth right to water. 

Heller, M., & Salzman, J. (2021, March 04). The world’s greatest drinking water. Retrieved March 09, 2021, from https://reason.com/volokh/2021/03/04/the-worlds-greatest-drinking-water/

https://reason.com/volokh/2021/03/04/the-worlds-greatest-drinking-water/

Earlier this year new york faced a threat to what is known as the best drinking water. Their city is well known for their great tasting tap. Despite many peoples beliefs that faucet water is unhealthy, they have maintained their clean water standards until this year. Before, the city had laid pipes from the catskill mountains all the way to city grounds where pristine spring water is available to all. But due to increased fertilizer use, amongst other things their reputation came under threat. Most thought that there would be a new purifying plant needed in order to stop this problem from further effecting citizens, but the mayor of New York had better plans in mind. Instead of spending millions of dollars on a new structure, he devised a proposal to restore the upstreams natural landscape. One quote I found to be influential to my view of this idea was, “a good environment will produce good water.” I have always admired our earth for being able to fully function without the need of extra human interaction. Although we have permanently destroyed its natural state that it once had, clean water is still one aspect that hasn’t changed. Animals continue to consume lake, and stream water without health complication. Giving way to the idea that a functioning ecosystem will produce the right material for its inhabitants to survive. Overall, I found this to be an interesting approach to a delicate problem. Which could have detriment to many if not handled correctly. In the end, this was the right approach. Mayor appleton was able to restore their tap to what it once and always will be. 

This article highlights one of the biggest threats to water, run off. When water comes down from the mountain, it takes everything with it. If fertilizer even graces the presence of that water, it is a whole lot more dangerous to be drinking. Which shows the articles relation to ES. Through keeping the natural state of the ecosystems water refinement, we have jumped into the study of the environment. 

Bloomberg.com. (n.d.). Retrieved March 09, 2021, from https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2021-02-03/how-a-water-crisis-hit-india-s-chennai-one-of-the-world-s-wettest-cities

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2021-02-03/how-a-water-crisis-hit-india-s-chennai-one-of-the-world-s-wettest-cities

The area of chennai is facing one of the worst water shortages to date. In a naturally tropical area, where they receive up to 2 times the amount of rainfall than london and 4 times Los angeles poor planning has destroyed much hope for a thriving environment. As time has passed, with industrialization, urbanization amongst other forms of pollution most water sources have become obsolete. Additionally, as a result of these human activities the area of their known bodies of water has drastically decreased. To scale these effects, the area of cheinais bodies of water went from 12.6 kilometers to nearly 3.2 over the past two centuries. Along with pollution, their ability to support life has also ceased. Although, one of the chenais worst environmental diasasters occurred in 2019, when they reached day zero. The point in time where the area has run out of all water. This caused much mayhem and distress across communities, but also signified their rock bottom status. 

This articles relation to environmental science spurs deeper than rainfall, and drinking water. For the biggest relation I found was to climate change. The article speaks about how the amount of rainfall has decreased by around 10% and temperatures have risen globally by 3 degrees over the past two decades. If this is true, then within 100 years (If we dont act faster than we are towards this dilemma) this area will have close to 60% less rainfall, along with a destroyed ecosystem that can no longer healthily house bodies of water or organic life. Additionally, a rising climate will continue to decrease any hope for regaining any aquatic area back. So you can see that this article has attachment to environmental science through its illustration of a problematic state being further influenced by climate change.

Derks, S. (2021, February 15). An inside look at Cuba’s constant struggle for clean water. Retrieved March 09, 2021, from https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/15/travel/cuba-clean-water.html?searchResultPosition=4

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/15/travel/cuba-clean-water.html?searchResultPosition=4

This article spotlights an aspect of current cuban struggle, in a rural area where there is no clean water. Most is polluted, or lost due to faulty pipes that are still awaiting renovation to be swapped for plastic pipes; These are meant to have less leakage. To combat this challenge, they utilize fish from local rivers or even polluted streams to clean the larvae that is within their water. Here water is only available every 5 days for 2 hours, but to mitigate the effects a man named Alexis Alonso Mendozan is responsible for turning underground sluices to change the direction of water flow. Overall, the concept of water is taken for granted in much of our lives. From the showers we take, to the clear cup of water gracing our lips we are truly blessed to have such a necessity at the tip of our fingers. Here it is an ordeal that concerns every being in need to water. It just goes to show how people are living across the globe. 

The concept of drinking water is something that applies to everyone’s needs. Hydration, hygiene, and health are all things that spur from this substance. But when its availability declines, each of these deteriorate extremely. For the plants, animals, and humans that rely on the areas source it becomes an environmental disaster. Why? Because this is an environment, that has a web of interactions, no matter the amount of cement there is in the ground. So when we come across problems as such, it is crucial to understanding the sciences behind it. Water is being lost for a reason, and an ecosystem is suffering because of it. This shows its importance to ES (environmental science) because of the detriment this problem has to a rural environment. 

Aaron Colonnese Creative Associate Author: Aaron Colonnese Creative Associate, A. C. (2020, August 19). The results are in: At more than 1,300 California schools, there’s lead in the drinking water. Retrieved November 18, 2020, from https://calpirg.org/blogs/blog/cap/results-are-more-1300-california-schools-there%E2%80%99s-lead-drinking-water

data show that over 53 percent of reporting districts have tested positive for excessive levels of lead in water fountains expelled liquid. A “healthy water fountain” would only show 1 ppb of lead, whereas a school in hanford showed 2,000 ppb of lead in their water fountains system. Along with countless other schools that are exposing their students to lethal amounts of lead. To make the situation more catastrophic, scientists estimate that 24 million kids will suffer a loss of Iq due to lead exposure, in the very same place we come to be enriched. This dilemma has been going on for too long; dating back to 2014 in flint michigan the drinking water of the entire city had been contaminated with lead, along with more than 8,000 children under the age of 6 showing exposure. To put an end to this all lead bearing parts were replaced in unified school districts in places such as los angeles and oakland as pilots for this new endeavor. The old service lines were replaced with filters certified to remove lead at every tap that are used for drinking and cooking, which did a splendid job at solving the task at hand. San diegos clay elementary school now tests 1 ppb.

This article served as an eye opener as it should now that I know my body has most likely been exposed to lead multiple times throughout the day as a result of unclean irrigation. For such a wealthy state, it is a shame that our water can cause neurological complications because of exposure to contaminants. Additionally, the use of public faucets and water fountains comes to mind; which only sparks wonder to as whether these show impurities. This articles relation to environmental science is the future impacts it poses. The amount of children who have suffered from lead poisoning could be far greater than we expect, which as said causes a decrease in IQ. If it is, we could be facing the reality of having a less intelligent future generation, in turn will cause for a primitive century of environmental science endeavors.  All as a resulting from the early depletion of a child’s cognitive functioning. 

Jiselle, D., & Vaughan, M. (2020, September 24). Drinking water is contaminated in rural California. Why is it taking so long to fix? Retrieved November 18, 2020, from https://www.fresnobee.com/fresnoland/article244917932.html

For local fresno resident jovita she hasn’t had drinkable tap water for over four years. What had started as a temporary contamination, had turned into an obsolete source of water. It required her landlord to drill a new well, which caused her rent to increase by $100. Yet it still pumps total coliforms and is unsafe for drinking use, making bottled water the only option despite expense. This brought gavin newsomes attention when he toured tombstone fresno, an area with millions of californians lacking useable drinking water. After historical neglect of tackling the situation by the state, newsome signed the safe and affordable water fund establishing a fund of 1.4 billion over 10 years. As of now the agency in charge has written internal policies, built data bases, interactive maps of contaminated wells, and hired/trained staff. Although there has been much progress in making more sources readily available, the poor community has trouble coming up with non costly solutions to their dilemma. Many residents are advocates of them building their own water source, but an extra $50 a month is a large wager for many residing in tombstone. Overall, they have received some help they are still receiving drums of water at no cost, but no hope of a permanent source. Which brings up concern for other communities like tombstone. 

The neglect to poorer communties/smaller water sources tends to be a pattern within most drinking water articles. It just really goes to show the ordinance of who gets the most and best attention from the state, and government. Richer communities get the better care, while poorer communities get forsaken and worsen over time due to their abandonment. But it also shows the paradox that humans have placed, as water quality has far more factors than it did on pangea. Over the thousands of years we have resided on earth, water quality has deteriorated as a byproduct of our success. But only those who can afford will have access to the basic human right, while its a 1 in 8 billion chance you will be born into a family that has such commodities. This article relates to environmental science because of its link to the creation of the safe affordable water fund, a project funded specifically for environmental research to find/create feasible water sources. Additionally, california is often looking for new sources of water, or ways to utilize our current resources for more widespread use. 

Bernstein, J. (2020, September 23).. Retrieved November 18, 2020, from https://news.ucr.edu/articles/2020/08/20/water-contaminant-could-have-neurotoxic-effects-children

Manganese, a naturally occurring metal is found in water sources across the globe, although its regulation is unenforceable because of its status as a secondary contaminant. Manganese is easily removable from irrigation systems in major cities, but over 2 million americans rely on private, uncleaned/tested wells for their drinking water. Meaning that their water quality is a hit or miss until probed. Because of private wells being traditionally more shallow that public because of decreased use, their susceptibility to Manganese is far higher. Which is why UC riverside scientists have received a grant of $230,000 to conduct further research for future solutions to this problem. The team used a synchrotron, a very bright light source to examine the chemistry of model aquifers. They had found low level Manganese, but high level arsenic concentrations in ground water. The conditions to cause these two compounds are very similar, which explains their occurrence. Overall, if arsenic is found the water is unsafe. If Manganese is found, there is a low level threat. ALTHOUGH, it is known for causing neurological disease similar to adult level parkinsons. Which explains their interest in researching methods to treat this contamination. 

This article was insightful and quite easy to read. It introduced me to a new understanding of water quality, as there are levels of contaminants that offer different threats. Although there don’t seem to be a feasible solutions to this dilemma, the 10 years allotted for research + funding seems to be a promising development for a good result. This article is related to environmental science because scientists are constantly testing water sources for contaminants and sources of impurity. But because private wells are generally untested, this would serve as a new area of development in environmental science. Further proving the texts correlation with the area of investigation. 

Becker, R. (2020, November 02). 11 California Assembly races to watch in 2020. Retrieved November 18, 2020, from https://calmatters.org/environment/2020/10/california-wildfires-unsafe-drinking-water/c

The month long siege of fires in napa did a number on local communities and residents, causing damage far more permanent that destroyed houses. Benzene a common chemical product of forest fires, and burning fossil fuels seeped into pipes rendering them useless. A resident Kody petrinine was advised to not use or even boil any tap water, as it could have disastrous health effects. This caused him to take extraordinary precautions such as bathing his infant child in bottled water. Which continued for a prolonged amount of time, keeping petrini and his neighbors in a month long limbo of no water. At the end of september benzene levels were below detectable, but the amount of precursors for a forest fire are getting to large. Climate change has doubled the amount of hot and dry conditions to create a forest fire, along with california’s notoriety for a lack of water is even worse to the mix. Another threat is the increased amount of houses nearby nature in the past two decades, making destruction to land even more likely. Which brings up the topic of runoff from rains occurring after wildfire season, that could be more catastrophic depending on future prep. Additionally, problems with water pressure and hydrant functionality caused even more outrage to the napa residents. Again, bringing up thoughts and concerns towards water distribution methods and wether the city’s development needs to take a turn. As the efficiency of these systems is crucial to fire prone communities such as napa.

 I found this article to be quite grim, but it gave me a deeper perspective on the detrimental problems california has with its water. For such a rich state, with living prices too high to afford, and some of the best education the world can offer we have a lack in the affection needed to take care of our most valuable natural resource. Before reading this text it felt a given to me that things such as hydrant use, and water filtration to be a actively functioning part of californias permanent installations. It has dawned upon me that we are in need of better conduct of how we make future decisions pertaining water. How we use, clean, and apply it to the different sectors of world operation. As we have a paucity in the attention to a important part of human life, and productivity. This articles relation to environmental science because of its focus on wildfires, a cultivator for heathy ecosystems, biodiversity, seed germination, and reduction of organic buildup. All aspects of the environment that have consequences to their skewed interactions, such as contaminated water from ashy runoff. Which shows the need for environmental research to prevent these concerns.