IndexIntroductionWater problems in AmericaConclusionIntroduction“There are approximately 845 million people who do not have access to convenient or clean water, and every 90 seconds someone dies from a water-related disease” (About Water. org). This is data from developing countries such as Bangladesh, India and nearly a dozen others, according to this site. People today may have the perception that the United States is a country with few water problems while other countries are the only ones affected. You see in social media and commercials that people in developing countries have to walk for hours every day to find drinking water that is usually not even clean, even if this is true, they are not the only ones worried about water problems . The Water.org Foundation was founded 25 years ago by Gary White and actor Matt Damon. Matt Damon appeared in the website's commercial that premiered during the 2018 Super Bowl, explaining that for every Stella Artois glass purchased it will buy water for someone in one of the 13 developing countries it supplies. “Such a simple thing, clean water at your fingertips,” Matt Damon says in the commercial, referring to the “convenience of clean water” in the United States (Artois). In this commercial, Matt Damon compares the United States to developing countries, convincing us to donate money to provide clean water as if our water doesn't need much improvement. What is not said in these commercials is that the United States will need support to provide new water infrastructure, and we will not have the ability to give extra money in that case as water company bills will increase in the coming years. Even though the cost of water is rising to help solve the United States' water problems, some people find it impossible to afford it. “The percentage of U.S. households who find their water bills unaffordable could triple from 11.9% to 35.6%” over the next five years” (Sorrel). Our citizens are donating millions of dollars to these organizations which are undoubtedly beneficial to people in developing countries, but we should instead raise more funds for our country as this could help with the overall increase in bill prices of water which can harm many families. Our water is unsafe most of the time in the United States, but society has the idea that countries like India, Bangladesh, and Ethiopia are the only ones that are truly in danger. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original EssayWater Problems in AmericaThe United States has serious water problems, but many people today don't really know it. Sure, in our area we occasionally see boil water notices, but it also happens in many other cities at the same time. Not to mention, there are places in the United States that have gone without water for months or years due to lead contamination which affects children immensely. In 2017, ASCE awarded America's Grades for drinking water infrastructure in the United States. “The Clean Water Act, passed in 1972, and the Safe Drinking Water Act, passed in 1974, are the two major federal statutes addressing water quality in the United States” (Buckley). These laws prevent pollution to conserve water and waste and other harmful behaviors that can affect our water. Although the government created these laws to make a change, they are not always implemented effectively. This leniency may cause people to be more willing to run the small risk of being penalized for breaking these rules.rules. “Less than 6% of water systems that have broken the law have been fined or punished by state or federal officials” (“Challenges with America's Water Infrastructure”). By doing this, the government allows the people of our country to continue these harmful behaviors that increase the chances of contamination and cut off our water supply. There are many other statistical facts about U.S. water issues that demonstrate that our water is not, in and of itself, clean. “The ASCE estimates that a water main breaks every 2 minutes, or 240,000 breaks per year in the United States “Some water pipes in the United States can be up to 150 years old, most of which are lead pipes, which were banned more than three decades ago. These pipes can cause lead contamination if broken. We talked about how lead can especially affect pregnant women and children, but to what extent? “Although children do not often die from lead poisoning, health experts note, its effects tend to be subtle but insidious. By the time the poisoning becomes apparent... it's too late to repair the permanent brain damage. they have been exposed to hundreds of thousands of people through water, soil and even air. Short-term effects can range from anxiety, tremors, stomach cramps, coma and possibly death. While long-term effects can cause things like anemia, reproductive problems, and nervous system damage. While pregnant women and children under 5 are most at risk, developmental delays and miscarriages are most likely at this stage. “Even a one-time exposure to high levels of lead can have immediate and serious health effects.” Lead can become airborne from years of burning gasoline that contained lead. It has also been reported that lead exposure can alter DNA and affect future generations. “The researchers reported in Scientific Reports last September. Some mothers themselves were born with elevated levels of lead in their blood, meaning their mothers had been exposed to lead. The researchers proposed that if the grandmother had lead in her blood, her grandchildren might demonstrate it.” Fortunately, scientists have understood the effects of lead exposure and have tried to reduce it in every way possible, such as banning lead paint and lead pipes. Even though decades of damage have been done, scientists are supposedly working hard to reduce lead exposure. We must continue to raise awareness and take action so that the government brings forward its plan faster, so we can prevent more damage sooner. Lead can cause numerous permanent problems in thousands of actions such as changing water suppliers, which is what happened in Flint, Michigan, in 2014. During this event, “up to 8,000 children were exposed to this contamination” ( Tabuchi). “Experts warn that lead contamination in water can lead to cancer, gastrointestinal disease, behavioral problems and serious developmental delays in children” (Philip). Since then, Flint residents have had to use bottled water for everything from drinking to toilet water. Finally, four years later, “on April 6, 2018, Michigan declared the water clean as it had remained below the required lead level for 2 years. For this reason, they will cut their free bottled water program, even though residents are skeptical about how long their water will be safe.” (Ahmad). In fact, some places in Flint have exceeded safe lead requirements. “More than 4% of water samples collected in the final phase of testing at Flint Community Schools buildingshad high lead levels. Yet they're still debating whether to cut their free bottled water program. The article also read, “Mayor Weaver believes the state should continue to pay for bottled water until all lead or galvanized water service lines in the city have been replaced, which may require additional two seasons of construction to complete." Even with significant improvement, levels are still too high in some areas. Children are most susceptible to harm from lead contamination, but there are still high levels in places like schools. Before cutting off free water, they should make sure that it is up to standards everywhere, otherwise it may harm more children. This event has caused thousands of children to develop some type of mental or developmental delay, which will affect them for the rest of their lives. If the United States had been more driven to replace water infrastructure, this could have been avoided. It should be a signal that they should fill the gap and start working before more people are affected by lead contamination. Incidents like this also happen in thousands of other cities, including ours, but not as far as Flint, Michigan. In the city of Pittsburgh, 5 boil water notices were issued from January 2017 to January 2018. Two were caused by water main breaks, while the others were due to potentially harmful bacteria in the water (Krauss). We also have other problems, such as high lead levels. “Of samples taken last month by customers themselves at 114 high-risk residential addresses, 90% showed lead at 21 parts per billion (ppb) or less, according to estimated results shared by PWSA.” Our lead contamination rises and falls, the standard considered safe is less than 15 ppb. Mind you, these levels are high but they're not much compared to Flint's ppb level in 2014. "In a water sample taken from the Flint home, a lead level of 13,000 ppb was found." (Dingle). While other places in Flint were up to 800 ppb, which is still astronomically high. Pittsburgh's water is so bad that the PWSA recommends a lead filter for people like pregnant women and children. “At-risk groups should not drink water from a lead pipe without a lead filter, Edwards said. The Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority had been exceeding a key lead threshold for more than a year.” For more than a year, levels of the water have been a little above the norm, yet I don't remember being informed. Our water never seems to be truly safe, even when we are told it is. Dingle lists several incidents of lead contamination: “In the summer of 2015, officials discovered significant lead contamination in drinking water in Jackson, Miss., but waited six months before notifying residents. Mississippi waited six months.” entire to inform the community of unsafe water levels. There are no statistics on how many people have been affected, but exposure to lead contamination for months does not look very good Jackson could have been shot. There are some media that cover the topic of water problems in the United States, such as Chinatown (1974), A Civil Action (1998), and Promised Land (2012). ) which ironically features Matt Damon. These are all fictional films about combating scarcity and contamination in local waters. Although fictional, some are based on real events, and these films accurately portray what happened in these specific places. One of thesefilms based on this topic is the famous film Erin Brockovich (2000) with Julia Roberts. Where Erin (Roberts), a single mother, battles water contaminants that have caused a wave of disease in her town. This is based on the true story of a woman, Erin Brockovich, from her real-life case in 1993. This film raised awareness of what Brockovich fought for, showing all of us how possible it is to make a change. This film was based on his town's fight for local water, but we can connect it to the larger crisis for inspiration to take matters into our own hands like Brockovich did. We can make changes to how we can reduce the economic damage and fight for our pipelines to start being replaced. While there aren't many, these are some films that are about the United States rather than other countries. These films help describe how there are real problems in our country too. Octavia Butler included water scarcity as a struggle in her book, Parable of the Sower. In the novel, the characters have to live with little water due to pollution causing increased global warming, thus causing a reduction in water supplies. This was a significant part of the novel as it was one of their many major struggles, which could become a reality if we do not make a change to our real world. “That is, there is water for human consumption, but the quality of the water it is deadly." In Lauren's world, this all started with climate change and pollution, which is what is happening in our world. Water is a necessity for our health, it is a natural resource that we can distance ourselves from if we do not stop ourselves from continuing our bad economic habits. If we continue, our world may have to experience this reality sooner than we think. Butler probably added this fight for the sake of awareness to show us that this could happen to us if we don't stop our harmful habits. There are organizations that help fight the battle for clean water in developing countries like UNICEF. This organization is popular and often seen in social media ads, common as the famous actress Selena Gomez is one of the ambassadors and promoters since 2009 (UNICEF). While these organizations and many others spread awareness and take action on water issues in other countries, we are not informed about how many issues the United States has on this topic. The idea that the United States has safe water at the convenient turn of a handle is misleading as it is often not clean. This can go hand in hand with identity and power as the United States is perceived as more powerful than other countries as we are seemingly stable enough to give millions of dollars to help others while having problems we face ourselves. Many forms of media help portray the image that the United States is not in need while other countries are, while there is less appearance in the problems the United States faces. The US says it has plans for some water infrastructure over the next ten years, “The US smart water infrastructure market will represent a total investment value of $8.3 billion over the next ten years.” That amount of money could have been raised through advertisements to donate for our country rather than for others, instead of having a significant increase in everyone's bill. One organization dedicated to funding and raising awareness of our country's water issues is "Clean Water Action." Their priorities are water, but also oil and gas, climate change and energy, civic engagement.