SOCIO-ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS AND PUBLIC HEALTH (PS) – Prof.

SHEILA VIEIRA – 1st YEAR

WATER POLLUTION

Someone once said that one of the most fascinating adventures is to follow the water cycle in Nature. Its
reserves on the planet are constant, but this is not a reason to waste it or even pollute it. The water that
we use for the most varied purposes is always the same, that is, it is responsible for the functioning of the large
a machine that is life on Earth; with all of this powered by solar energy.
From space, Earth looks like the Water Planet, as it covers 75% of the Earth's surface, forming the
oceans, rivers, lakes etc. However, only a tiny part of this water - on the order of 113 trillion of
m3is at the disposal of life on Earth. Although it may seem like a very large number, the Earth is at risk of
no longer have clean water, which ultimately means that the great living machine may stop.
Water is never pure in Nature, as it contains dissolved gases, solid salts, and ions. Within this complex
In the mixture, there is a varied collection of plant and animal life, from phytoplankton to zooplankton to the blue whale.
(largest mammal on the planet). Within this range of varied forms of life, there are organisms that depend on
including for completing its life cycle (as occurs with insects). In short, water is a vital component.
the life support system on Earth and therefore must be preserved, but that doesn't always happen. The
your pollution prevents the survival of those beings, also causing serious consequences for the beings
humans.
Water pollution indicates that one or more of its uses have been compromised, potentially affecting humans in some way.
direct, as it is used for drinking, for bathing, for washing clothes and utensils, and
mainly, for your food and that of domestic animals. In addition, it supplies our cities, being
also used in industries and for irrigation of crops. Therefore, the water must have a clean appearance, purity of
I like to be free from pathogenic microorganisms, which is achieved through its treatment, starting from
withdrawal from rivers until reaching urban or rural homes. The water from a river is considered good
quality when it presents less than one thousand fecal coliforms and less than ten pathogenic microorganisms per
liter (like those causing worms, cholera, schistosomiasis, typhoid fever, hepatitis, leptospirosis,
poliomyelitis, etc.). Therefore, to keep the water in these conditions, its contamination must be avoided by
waste, whether agricultural (of chemical or organic nature), sewage, industrial waste, garbage or
sediments coming from erosion.
Regarding agricultural contamination, in the first case, there are residues from the use of pesticides (common in
agriculture), which comes from a practice that is often unnecessary or intensive in the fields, sending
large amounts of toxic substances into the rivers through the rains, the same occurring with
elimination of animal manure raised on pastures. In the second case, there is the use of fertilizers, often
exaggerated, which end up being carried by the rains to the local rivers, resulting in the increase of nutrients
In these points; this allows for an explosion of decomposer bacteria that consume
oxygen, also helping to reduce its concentration in the water, producing sulfide of
hydrogen, a gas with a very strong smell that is toxic in large quantities. This would also affect the ways
higher forms of animal and plant life, which use oxygen in respiration, as well as aerobic bacteria, which
they would be prevented from decomposing organic matter without leaving harmful odors through oxygen consumption.
The waste generated by industries, cities, and agricultural activities is solid or liquid, having a potential
of very large pollution. The waste generated by cities, such as garbage, debris, and toxic products are
carried to the rivers with the help of the rains. The liquid waste carries organic pollutants (which are
easier to control than inorganic ones, when in small quantities). Industries produce
large amount of waste in their processes, with part of it retained by the treatment facilities of
own industry, which retains both solid and liquid waste, and the other part discharged into the environment. In
The waste treatment process also produces another waste called 'leachate', a liquid that
needs treatment and control again. Cities can still be polluted by floods, by garbage and
through the sewer.

Finally, water pollution can occur in various ways, including thermal pollution, which is the discharge of
effluents at high temperatures, physical pollution, which is the discharge of suspended material, biological pollution,
what is the discharge of pathogenic bacteria and viruses, and chemical pollution, which can occur due to deficiency of
oxygen, toxicity and eutrophication.
Eutrophication is caused by erosion and decomposition processes that increase the content of
nutrients, increasing biological productivity, allowing periodic algal proliferations, which make the
turbid water can cause oxygen deficiency due to its rotting, increasing its toxicity.
for the organisms that live in it (such as the fish, which appear dead alongside toxic foam).
Water pollution in wealthy countries is a result of how consumerist society is organized to
to produce and enjoy their wealth, material progress and well-being. In poor countries, pollution is
result of poverty and the absence of education of its inhabitants, who thus have no basis to demand the
your rights as citizens, which tends only to harm them, as this omission in claiming their rights
leads to impunity for industries that pollute more and more, and for rulers who also take advantage of
absence of the education of the people and, in general, turn a blind eye to the issue, as if such pollution did not affect
also to them. Environmental Education precisely aims to reclaim citizenship so that the people become aware.
the necessity of environmental preservation, which directly influences the maintenance of its quality of
life.
Within this context, a large portion of the containment of the 'health of the waters' falls to us Brazilians, as if the
Earth seems like the Water Planet, Brazil could be considered its capital, as it is endowed with an extensive network
of rivers, and privileged by an exceptional climate, which ensures abundant and regular rainfall in almost all
your territory.
Brazil has 15% of all the freshwater available in the world, that is, of the 113 trillion m³.3available
for terrestrial life, 17 trillion have been allocated to our country. In the recycling process, almost the entirety
this water is collected by the nine large Watersheds existing here. As water is necessary for
to continue the economic growth, the Watersheds become geographic areas of
concern of all agents and public and private interests, as they pass through several cities,
agricultural properties and industries. However, the presence of some industrial and agricultural chemicals
(pesticides) can prevent the natural purification of water (recycling) and, in this case, only the construction of
sophisticated treatment systems would allow for the retention of chemical compounds harmful to human health,
to the fish and the vegetation.
The better the water of a river, that is, the more efforts are made to ensure that it is
preserved (with Environmental Education as the main tool for raising public awareness),
the treatment will be better and cheaper, and with that, the population will only benefit. But it seems that the
the general concern of technicians is to increasingly sophisticate water treatments, instead of sticking to
but to the preservation of the springs, from where pure water is taken. This is the reasoning - more irrational - that the
technique can do everything. Highly sophisticated techniques are being developed to allow for reuse of
water in public supply, not realizing that the consumption of a liquid treated to such a degree of
sophistication can be everything, except for the vital nourishment that human beings need. In other words, what good is it
progress if there is no quality of life? The only possible mitigating measure for this problem, in the situation
the state in which water consumption is found, was to mix and provide the population with water of good provenance
with another of worse origin, carefully treated and controlled. See how far we had to go.
Therefore, the immediate goal is to preserve the few intact water sources that still remain so that humanity
may have a supply of drinking water reservoir so that it can survive for the next millennia.