All About Water

Water Regulation

Environmental Protection Agency

In the United States, the mission of the Environmental Protection Agency is to uphold standards of public health and protect the environment. The Environmental Protection Agency bases their efforts upon scientific information and enforces protection of the environment and its inhabitants, human, animal, and plants, with fair and effective policies established through the federal government. With the cooperation of communities, businesses, local, federal and tribal entities, the EPA has been a proven success in sustaining the eco-systems of the United States in a productive manner, setting the standard for global environment protection efforts.

Water Regulation

Laws concerning water regulation enacted by the United States Congress are the basis of the regulations and policies of the EPA. Important water regulation of the Environmental Protection Agency have been enacted by the Clean Water Act and Safe Drinking Water Act. Other important legislation includes the laws to control and lessen the impact of hazards to our environment from atomic and fossil energy, conservation and recovery, and issues pertaining to public health.

Clean Water Act

The Clean Water Act allows the Environmental Protection Agency to protect waterways in the United States from the harmful effects of pollution. This water regulation includes man-made and natural ponds and lakes, wetlands and rivers. CWA was enacted in 1972 and mandated the restoration and maintenance of the waterways of the United States by:

• Setting standards for industries to control pollution.
• Requiring states and tribal entities to address water quality and develop pollution control programs.
• Creating processes of development in wetlands to ensure environmental quality.
• Authorizing the EPA to oversee emergency response situations of release of oil or other hazardous substances that are a threat to public welfare.

Safe Drinking Water Act

The Safe Drinking Water Act requires the Environmental Protection Agency to announce and enforce standards to ensure the quality of public drinking water systems. The types of contaminants and standards are extensive and amended regularly to reflect the latest scientific findings. The SWDA is applicable to every public water system in the United States.

Coastal Zone Act Reauthorization Amendments

Coastal Zone Act Reauthorization Amendments requires states and territories to develop nonpoint pollution programs. The CZARA mandates are under the joint auspice of EPA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Public Health Security and Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Act

Public Health Security and Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Act mandates drinking water systems must be periodically assessed for vulnerabilities to terrorist or other intentional malicious acts.

Oil and water don’t mix. The effect of an oil spill on water ecosystems is far-reaching, and while some of the effects can be seen immediately, other impacts take years to be fully understood. Between 1989, when the Exxon Valdez ran aground, spilling 750,000 of Prudhoe crude into Alaska’s Prince William Sound and 2010, when a blowout preventer failed on BP’s Deepwater Horizon rig in the Gulf of Mexico, little has been done to improve spill prevention or cleanup procedures.

The Negative Effects of an Oil Spill

Sea and shore birds and marine life like dolphins, sea turtles, otters, penguins and sea lions are coated with oil as they land on or swim through a spill. A harmful effect of an oil spill is that fur and feathers lose their insulating properties, leading to death from hypothermia. For the animals that survive, long term effects include cancers, infections and spontaneously aborted offspring.

Another effect of an oil spill is fish kills. Fish swim through the spill and become coated with oil. Unable to absorb oxygen through their gills, the fish die. Fish farther from the spill consume contaminated fish and plant life. Contamination of spawning grounds decimates the species’ ability to recover.

Spilled oil then moves with tides and winds, creating large, oxygen-free zones that kill everything in their paths. Oil enters every part of the food chain, from plankton to fish to animals that eat fish, including humans.

Perhaps the worst effect of an oil spill is the destruction of wetlands. Not only did the BP spill destroy nesting grounds for hundreds of species of migrating birds, it destroyed the plants that form the delicate wetland ecosystem. Wetlands are a critical part of dispersing storm surges from hurricanes, leaving port cities like New Orleans even more vulnerable to harm.

How Oil Spills are Cleaned Up

Booms made of absorbent materials are used to keep surface oil in a contained area. Oil is then skimmed or pumped into container ships. Controlled burning has also been done. Chemical dispersants are sprayed to break up oil, causing it to sink to the bottom. None of these methods is particularly effective, and all create an additional effect of an oil spill on water. It is worth noting that cleanup measures are generally developed by oil companies, and have not changed substantially in the years between the Exxon catastrophe and the BP disaster.

Preventing Future Oil Spills

Improved safety and regulation enforcement for both ships and drilling rigs is sorely needed to prevent another catastrophe. An inexpensive redesign of the blowout preventer on BP‘s Deepwater Horizon rig would have prevented the release of 172 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico.

In July, 2010, the United Nations and the World Health Organization recognized access to safe and clean drinking water as a basic human right. The resolution to grant the right to water, which passed unopposed, is seen as an extension of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that expresses the right to an adequate standard of living. The global campaign to raise recognition for the lack of access of much of the world’s population to clean water and sanitation has been ongoing for years. Although most people may agree on the need for address the global water crisis, not everyone agrees that declaring the right to water and the subsequent governmental responsibility is the best way to create access.

A lack of water as a barrier to health and well-being

Although many people living in industrial nations take water and sanitation for granted, an estimated 884 million people lack access to safe drinking water and a total of more than 2.6 billion people do not have access to basic sanitation. Every year, more than two million people die due to a lack of drinking water and diseases caused by contaminated water. Diarrhea, mainly caused by drinking infected water, is the second most important cause of the death of children below the age of five.

Development slower than the growth of population

The need to declare a right to water access has grown as the population of the world has grown without infrastructure and resources developing at an adequate rate to keep that population safe and healthy. Some believe that we have reached peak water. Unfortunately for the poor who live in places where water resources are scarce, access to water is often restricted with bias towards particular races, socioeconomic classes, or cultures. By passing the resolution, the United Nations hopes to put pressure on governments across the world to solve water access problems, including putting an end to discriminatory practices in water distribution.

Is it the government’s job?

Does the declaration of the right to water does require a government’s help. It may, but this newly announced right it does not explicitly provide the means by which any nation might reach the goal of actualizing the right to water. In many cases, the places with the biggest problems are the ones that lack the very organizational resources required to solve those problems.

Should water distribution be privatized?

There are some who believe that the best way to guarantee efficient worldwide water distribution is the privatization of water resources. Private corporations have historically demonstrated their ability to quickly and efficiently create infrastructures for the acquisition and distribution of resources. Private business often has access to expert technical knowledge that some governments may lack, especially in rural or underdeveloped areas. Free market competition also has the effect of improving the quality of the products being offered, a situation that could play into the favor of governments shopping for “water service.”

Water spanning political boundaries

The ability to distribute water fairly and efficiently is also complicated in some places by the fact that water resources often span political boundaries. Even if a government desires to recognize the right to water, its relationship with neighboring nations might impinge upon its ability to do so. Another problem, one that increases in seriousness with each passing year, is that there is simply less water to go around. Poor agricultural practices and the expansion of the world’s deserts have left some places without water to speak of.

How will this right to water be implemented?

Although the resolution of the United Nations is seen by many as a step in the right direction, no one is entirely certain how to proceed towards making it a reality. One thing that seems certain is that the debate and hardship will continue.

Peak water is a concept similar to peak oil. Just as we have reached the peak of the world’s oil supply, and are beginning to run out of oil, the world is also running out of water suitable for human consumption. Already, many of the world’s people lack access to safe, clean drinking water. Many more live in regions where water shortages are imminent. In many places, human use of water has passed the point where nature can replenish it adequately. The result is peak water. The longterm result is a world water shortage.

Water as a renewable resource

Unlike oil, water is a renewable resource. The earth has about the same amount of water today as in the age of the dinosaurs. Year after year, worldwide, rivers, lakes and reservoirs are replenished during the stormy seasons. The reason why we risk running out of water is not that water itself is disappearing, but that water fit for human consumption is being used up faster than nature can replenish it. That is peak water.

The rising rate of water use

Over the last two centuries, how the world uses water has greatly changed. It is astounding how much water it takes to make our stuff, and the rise of industrialism has resulted in many of the world’s rivers and streams being diverted to feed factories, industrial farms, electric plants and growing cities. Groundwater, a primary source of water for many consumers, has been tapped so extensively that some cities are expected to run out of water within the next two decades. Much of the water that remains is polluted. Even where the global water crisis is less keenly felt, peak water has been reached.

More causes of peak water

Climate change and human settlement in areas without enough water for the population are among the key reasons for peak water. Australia is a prime example of this: already arid and supporting a sparse human population when Europeans arrived, the continent is becoming even hotter and drier due to climate change and drought. Inadequate delivery methods are also a contributing factor in the world water shortage. In such rapidly developing countries as India and China, the infrastructure for water delivery is not being built fast enough to keep up with consumer demand. In Britain, the city of London faces a different problem: its water system has not been updated since the Victorian era, and now the pipes are old and the population is much larger.

All humans are affected

No one is exempt from the peak water crisis. While the world’s most arid regions may run out of water in less than two decades, even in wetter areas, peak water has been reached. Between heavy usage of water, the majority of which goes to industry and industrial farming, and pollution of the remaining water including chemicals in the water supply, the world’s drinking water is being used up.