Discussion Question5: How safe is safe enough?

Transcription

1 Discussion Question5: How safe is safe enough? Describe at least one water contaminant and why its current level of regulation worries you. Comment specifically on what it would take for you to accept a water supply that includes treated wastewater.

2 US Death Rates 2009 Per 100,000 (total) Chance : 1 in The Pick $3 win Overall (birth/death) 1400/ Infant mortality (/ births) 679 Heart disease 195 (604k) All Cancers Accidents 38 Breast cancer 23 Auto 14 Maternal mortality (/ births) 12 (521) Homicide 5.5 Bladder cancer 4.4 (14k) 22,727 EPA risk reduction target ,000 One in a million million Tornado/Lightening.02/ /6.2 million Powerball Lottery million

3 Reduce Risk Factors US CDC Reduce Tobacco Inactivity Poor nutrition Heart disease Stroke Diabetes Cancer Obesity Arthritis Seniors Improve nutrition exercise rest social interaction Reduce smoking blood press. stress weight Regular check ups World WHO underweight; unsafe sex; high blood pressure; tobacco consumption; alcohol consumption; unsafe water, poor sanitation and hygiene; iron deficiency; indoor smoke from solid fuels; high cholesterol; and obesity

4 Death & Taxes Avoid being in the wrong place at the wrong time, avoid hurricanes, tornados and earthquakes don t fly during foul weather Be alert to your surroundings don t text while don t drink and drive follow your gut Social/demographic inequities/injustice

5 Benefits of: Walking/Exercise? makes sense Diet? as long as it is not a fad Marriage? statistically. greater financial stability = less stress? Bottled water? but unregulated Buying Green? makes you feel good, but. Magnets? no evidence to support

6 UK Accident Rates (per million)

7 Many potential uses Toilet to tap do little to reassure public qualms Essentially done already, indirectly Requires greater vigilance May not treat all sources of contamination Water Reuse

8 Class Questions Cost benefit Safety Reuse Chlorination Other contaminants Regulation/Monitoring Filtration

9 Cost Benefit If we choose to purify wastewater to make it potable, how far can we go before the cost of purification outweighs the benefits? Do people care enough about contaminants in their drinking water? I.e. Are most people educated on what kinds of contaminants are in their drinking water?

10 Safety Do you think we will ever be able to have perfectly clean water that causes zero health effects to our body? If so, how might this happen? Is safe drinking water really safe? What clinical studies have been conducted to prove or disprove this assumption? Is there a way to cut out pollutants, chemicals, and toxins from our water to ensure even low levels are eradicated? Do you think at some point the water that we have will not be treatable no matter what we do to decontaminate it for drinking use. How can we treat water so that there is zero trace of chemicals and pharmaceuticals in the water?

11 Reuse At what point is water deemed drinkable? Are there different limits for different locations? Should it be legal/allowed for treated wastewater to be distributed without a label that it is treated wastewater? How could we ensure that wastewater was treated enough in order to potentially use it for potable purposes? If wastewater is not purified for drinking purposes, could it be reused in another beneficial way?

12 Chlorination concerns Are there more efficient and safe ways to disinfect drinking water than the use of chlorine? What will happen in the future if chlorine is NOT taken out of the water? Will these drastic effects take place in the next 20, 30 or 50 years? Should a person s access and length of time to chlorinated water be limited? What a few ways to avoid drinking chlorinated water? Why is chlorine the most common treatment?

13 Other toxins/contaminants What are the leading water contaminants in Arizona? the United States? the (3 rd ) World and how can they be treated? Have there been reported fatal incidents that were related in large part to toxins in public drinking water? Has the amount of contaminants in our water decreased or increased in the last 25 years? Why did Europe outlaw the adding of fluoride? How can the EPA convince the government to outlaw the adding fluoride? How can the EPA outlaw the presence of arsenic in water, and how can the EPA detect the presence of arsenic in our water? What are the LD 50 concentrations of common toxins found in municipally regulated drinking water?

14 Regulation/Monitoring Who decides what are beneficial additives and what are harmful additives? What can be done to have the EPA monitor our drinking water more efficiently? Is there a law or legislation in place to regulate the toxins being put in the water?

15 Filter Technologies Do household water filters really do anything useful to the tap water? Is there a replacement technology for reverse osmosis?