M5.2 Importance of Safe Drinking Water

M5.2 Safe Drinking Water Importance

A lot of the world’s diseases and public health issues can be solved by water i.e. having safe and clean water for consumption. The Clean Water Act of 1972 (CWA72) was important for public health because it forced America to have safe water standards for drinking, recreational use, and fishing. It eliminates pollution and waste contamination caused by industrial plant discharge, agricultural run-off, and sewage. All of these waste products can cause a serious threat to human health. The run-offs pollute ground water, rivers, and lakes- all places that humans use on a continued basis.  The CWA72 gave the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) the authority to implement pollution control programs such as setting wastewater standards for industry. The act

makes it unlawful for any person to discharge any pollutant from a point source into navigable waters, unless a permit was obtained under its provisions. The CWA72 also provides funding for the construction of sewage treatment plants under the construction grants program. According to the authors of A Public Health Legal Guide to Safe Drinking Water, “In the U.S., treatment and distribution of safe drinking water has all but eliminated diseases such as cholera, typhoid fever, dysentery and hepatitis A that continue to plague many parts of the world” (Duggal, Frede, Kasky, 2015). Though we as Americans do not face the same problems as the rest of the world in concerns of water contamination, many Americans still fall ill to water diseases. For example, in Sacramento there is still the threat of e. coli in the rivers. In Flint Michigan the waters are poisoned by lead. The CWA72 makes cities accountable to get their water sources up to standards.