[audio:http://wamcradio.org/EarthWise/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/EW-06-06-12-Drinking-Water.mp3|titles=EW 06-06-12 Drinking Water]
What is more precious than safe drinking water? Each year more than 2.2 million people die because they don’t have access to clean water. Children in the developing world are the most vulnerable, with one lost every 20 seconds. When you travel in these regions, you’ll see roadside ditches filled with discarded plastic water bottles. Unfortunately, not everyone can afford them.
In the United States, we are blessed with good drinking water, largely because we protect areas of natural land that filter and cleanse the water in our reservoirs. These are known as watersheds or catchments. But how safe are they?
In the upper Midwest, agricultural lands dominate the landscape. Water draining from these catchments contains nitrate from fertilizer as well as pesticides, such as atrazine, that have documented negative effects on animals. A study by the Environmental Protection Agency showed that 5-10% of Midwestern streams have pesticide levels that exceed public health standards.
And a new EPA study found that during a recent 10-year period most U.S. watersheds showed a sizeable decrease in vegetation, with urbanization claiming land in nearly 1 in 10. This is a concerning trend. When we cover natural areas with hard surfaces, such as pavement, we reduce their ability to absorb rainfall—while increasing runoff that transports oil, pesticides, and other pollutants into our waterways.
Intact ecosystems protect the quality of our drinking water. It is a service that we all benefit from, and one more reason to protect natural areas so they produce a healthy environment for all of us.
Photo, taken on August 25, 2009, courtesy of Barefoot Photographers of Tilonia via Flickr.