Everything about Drinking Water totally explained
Water of sufficient quality to serve as
drinking water is termed potable water whether it's used as such or not. Although many sources are utilized by humans, some contain
disease vectors or
pathogens and cause long-term health problems if they don't meet certain
water quality guidelines. Water that isn't harmful for human beings is sometimes called safe water, water which isn't contaminated to the extent of being unhealthy. The available supply of drinking water is an important criterion of
carrying capacity, the population level that can be supported by planet
Earth.
Typically
water supply networks deliver single or multiple qualities of water, whether it's to be used for drinking, washing or
landscape irrigation; one counterexample is urban
China, where drinking water can be optionally delivered by a separate tap. In the
United States, public drinking water is governed by the
Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA). Among other provisions, it protects the right of employees to report potential violations. Within 30 days of any retaliation, a
whistleblower can file a complaint with the
Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).
Metabolism
Water is necessary for all life on Earth. Humans can survive for several weeks without food, but for only a few days without water. A constant supply is needed to replenish the fluids lost through normal physiological activities, such as respiration, sweating and
urination. In terms of mineral nutrients intake, it's unclear what the drinking water contribution is. However, inorganic minerals generally enter surface water and ground water due to the Earth's crust. Treatment processes also lead to the presence of some mineral nutrients. Examples include
fluoride,
calcium,
zinc,
manganese,
phosphate, and
sodium compounds. Water generated from the
biochemical metabolism of nutrients provides a significant proportion of the daily water requirements for some
arthropods and
desert animals, but provides only a small fraction of a human's necessary intake. There are a variety of trace elements present in virtually all potable water, some of which play a role in metabolism; for example sodium,
potassium and
chloride are common chemicals found in very small amounts in most waters, and these elements play a role (not necessarily major) in body metabolism. Other elements such as fluoride, while beneficial in low concentrations, can cause dental problems and other issues when present at high levels. Water is essential for the growth and maintenance of our bodies, as it's involved in a number of biological processes.
Requirement
Reference daily intake for water is 3.7 L/day for human males aged 19-30 years
(External Link
). Food contributes 0.5–1 L, and the metabolism of
protein,
fat, and
carbohydrates produces another 0.25–0.4 L. Thus, a person needs to drink approximately 2–3 L of water per day. Average urine output for adults is 1.5 L a day. Breathing, bowel movements, and sweating result in a loss of an additional liter. Twenty percent of water intake comes from food consumption, so drinking 2 L of water, along with normal diet will suffice in replenishing fluids. These assumptions are limited by the condition of the subject, including personal health and physical exercise, but are also affected by temperature and humidity.
There is a persistent myth that people should try to drink 8 cups of water per day
(External Link), but there's no evidence to support that. For example people in hot places will need more water. Instead of aiming for a fixed number a person's thirst is a good guide, and there's no specific number to aim for. A good guideline is that a normal person should urinate 4 times per day, and the urine should be a light yellow color
(External Link), fully clear urine is overdoing it.
The kidneys will adjust to varying levels of water intake, if someone drinks a lot of water the kidneys will produce more diluted urine, even if the person didn't happen to drink a lot, and it takes time for the kidneys to a adjust to the new water intake level. This can cause someone who drinks a lot of water to become dehydrated more easily than someone who routinely drinks less. Survival classes recommend that someone who expects to be in an environment with little water (such as a desert), to
not drink a lot of water, but rather to drink as little as possible for several days before the trip to accustom the kidneys to making concentrated urine. Not doing this caused the death of a man during a survival test
(External Link).
Indicators of Safe Drinking Water
Access to safe drinking water is indicated by the number of people using proper sanitary sources. These improved drinking water sources include household connection, public
standpipe,
borehole condition, protected dug well, protected spring, and rain water collection. Sources that don't encourage improved drinking water to the same extent as previously mentioned include: unprotected well, unprotected spring, rivers or ponds, vender-provided water, bottled water (consequential of limitations in quantity, not quality of water), and tanker truck water. Access to sanitary water comes hand in hand with access to improved sanitation facilities for excreta. These facilities include connection to public sewer, connection to septic system,
pour-flush latrine, and
ventilated improved pit latrine. Unimproved sanitation facilities are: public or shared latrine, open pit latrine, or bucket latrine.
Access to drinking water
Earth's surface consists of 70% water. Water is available almost everywhere if proper methods are used to get it.
As a country’s economy becomes stronger (as its
GNP per capita or
PPP rise) a larger percentage of its people tend to have access to drinking water and sanitation. Access to drinking water is measured by the number of people who have a reasonable means of getting an adequate amount of water that's safe for drinking, washing, and essential household activities.
As of the year 2006 (and pre-existing for at least three decades), there's a substantial shortfall in availability of potable water in
less developed countries, primarily arising from industrial contamination and pollution. As of the year 2000, 27 percent of the populations of lesser developed countries didn't have access to safe drinking water. Implications for
disease propagation are significant. Many nations have
water quality regulations for water sold as drinking water, although these are often not strictly enforced outside of the developed world. The
World Health Organization sets international standards for drinking water. A broad classification of drinking water safety worldwide can be found in
Safe Water for International Travelers.
It reflects the health of a country’s people and the country’s capacity to collect, clean, and distribute water to consumers.
According to the
United Nations'
World Health Organization (WHO) more than one
billion people in low and middle-income countries lack access to safe water for drinking, personal hygiene and domestic use. These numbers represent more than 20 percent of the world’s people. In addition, close to 3 billion people didn't have access to adequate
sanitation facilities. (For details see data on the website of the
Joint Monitoring Program (JMP) on water and sanitation of
WHO and
UNICEF.)
While the occurrence of waterborne diseases in
developed countries is generally low due to a generally good system of water treatment, distribution and monitoring, waterborne diseases are among the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in low- and middle-income countries, frequently called
developing countries.
The access to safe drinking water to the populations in several countries is listed below.
The main reason for poor access to safe water is the inability to finance and to adequately maintain the necessary infrastructure. Overpopulation and scarcity of water resources are contributing factors.
Many other countries also lack in the amount of safe drinking water that they need to survive. Some of the countries have less than twenty percent of the population that has access to safe drinking water. For example in Africa, with more than seven hundred million people, only forty-six percent of people have safe drinking water. The more populous Asia Pacific region with over three billion people, eighty percent of whom with access to drinking water, still leaves some six hundred and twenty seven million people without access to safe drinking water.(External Link)
The lack of water and the lack of hygiene is one of the biggest problems that many poor countries have encountered in progressing their way of living. The problem has reached such endemic proportions that 2.2 million deaths per annum occur from unsanitary water - ninety percent of these are children under the age of five. (External Link) One program developed to help people gain access to safe drinking water is the Water Aid program. Working in 17 countries to help provide water, Water Aid is useful in helping the sanitation and hygiene education to some of the world's poorest people.(External Link)
Diarrhea as a major health effect among children
Diarrhoeal diseases cause ninety percent of all deaths of children under five years old in developing countries. Malnutrition, especially protein-energy malnutrition, can decrease the children's resistance to infections, including water-related diarrhoeal diseases. In 2000-2003, 769,000 children under five years old in sub-Saharan Africa died each year from diarrhoeal diseases. As a result of only thirty-six percent of the population in the sub-Saharan region having access to proper means of sanitation, more than 2000 children's lives are lost every day. In south Asia, 683,000 children under five years old died each year from diarrhoeal disease from 2000-2003. During the same time period, in developed countries, 700 children under five years old died from diarrhoeal disease. Improved water supply reduces diarrhea morbidity by twenty-five percent and improvements in drinking water through proper storage in the home and chlorination reduces diarrhea episodes by thirty-nine percent.
Plans to improve availability of drinking water
One of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) set by the UN includes environmental sustainability. In 2004, only forty-two percent of people in rural areas had access to clean water. Sixty-three percent of the population in sub-Saharan Africa lacked access to basic sanitation facilities (hardly down from the sixty-eight percent in 1990). The effects of climate change add more distress to sub-Saharan Africa. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change estimates that 75-250 million people will have to cope with additional limitations to water access. The results could be terrible for the livelihoods of the disadvantaged and rural economies. Currently the UN isn't on schedule with their plans but estimates that their intended goal won't be reached by 2015.
Bottled water regulation
In the United States, the Environmental Protection Agency sets standards for tap and public water, while the Food and Drug Administration regulates bottled water as a food product, while it must meet EPA tap water standards. However, it should be noted that bottled water isn't necessarily more pure, or more tested than public, tap water Standards regarding safe public water systems are based on the Safe Drinking Water Act
For more information regarding United States regulation of bottled water production, see Code of Federal Regulations CFR129
United States' Bottled water classifications
Bottled water manufacturers in the United States must ensure that their products meet the FDA established standard of identity for bottled water products.. A bottled water product identified under a specific category, such as mineral water, spring water, artesian water, etc., must meet requirements established by the government or be considered misbranded.
Code of Federal Regulations, Section 21, subsection 165.110 defines identity information for categories of bottled water:
- drinking water - The lowest common denominator of potable water categories, meeting the basic EPA/FDA standards
- ground water - The name of water from a subsurface saturated zone that's under a pressure equal to or greater than atmospheric pressure.
- artesian water, also known as artesian well water - The name of water from a well tapping a confined aquifer in which the water level stands at some height above the top of the aquifer. (Water that will rise above the water table if tapped) Artesian water may be collected with the assistance of external force to enhance the natural underground pressure.
- How often is "artesian water" tested to meet these standards? The law says there's no mandatory testing, instead: "On request, plants shall demonstrate to appropriate regulatory officials that the water level stands at some height above the top of the aquifer."
- mineral water - The name of water containing not less than 250 parts per million (ppm) total dissolved solids (TDS), coming from a source tapped at one or more bore holes or springs, originating from a geologically and physically protected underground water source. Mineral water shall be distinguished from other types of water by its constant level and relative proportions of minerals and trace elements at the point of emergence from the source, due account being taken of the cycles of natural fluctuations. No minerals may be added to this water.
- purified water - The name of water that has been produced by distillation, deionization, reverse osmosis, or other suitable processes and that meets the definition of "purified water" in the United States Pharmacopeia, 23d Revision, January 1, 1995. Also may be called.
- Alternatively, the water may be called "deionized water" if the water has been processed by deionization, "distilled water" if it's produced by distillation, or "reverse osmosis water" if the water has been processed by reverse osmosis.
- sparkling water - The name of water that, after treatment and possible replacement of carbon dioxide, contains the same amount of carbon dioxide from the source that it had at emergence from the source.
- spring water - The name of water derived from an underground formation from which water flows naturally to the surface of the earth.
- Spring water shall be collected only at the spring or through a bore hole tapping the underground formation feeding the spring. There shall be a natural force causing the water to flow to the surface through a natural orifice. The location of the spring shall be identified.
Water Contaminants
Parameters for drinking water quality typically fall under two categories: chemical/physical and microbiological. Chemical/physical parameters include heavy metals, trace organics, total suspended solids (TSS), and turbidity. Microbiological parameters include Coliform bacteria, E. coli, and specific pathogenic species of bacteria (such as cholera-causing Vibrio cholerae), viruses, and protozoan parasites.
Chemical parameters tend to pose more of a chronic health risk through buildup of heavy metals although some components like nitrates/nitrites and arsenic may have a more immediate impact. Physical parameters affect the aesthetics and taste of the drinking water and may complicate the removal of microbial pathogens.
Originally, fecal contamination was determined with the presence of coliform bacteria, a convenient marker for a class of harmful fecal pathogens. The presence of fecal coliforms (like E. Coli) serves as an indication of contamination by sewage. Additional contaminants include protozoan oocysts such as Cryptosporidium sp., Giardia lambia, Legionella, and viruses (enteric). Microbial pathogenic parameters are typically of greatest concern because of their immediate health risk.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Drinking Water'.
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