Wading in Waste
A.
- A merica’s stunning, sinuous coastlines have long exerted an almost mystical pull on the imaginations of the country’s citizens
- According to a recent report by the Natural Resources Defense Council, in 2004 coastal states ordered 19,950 days of closures and pollution advisories affecting 1,234 ocean and freshwater beaches, or about one third of all the beaches regularly monitored by health officials
- Moving downstream with animal feces in storm water runoff or with human waste in sewage overflows and septic-tank leaks, the waterborne microbes can cause liver disease, respiratory infections and potentially fatal gastrointestinal disorders
- The issue has led to conflicts pitting developers and pro-growth politicians against regulatory authorities, commercial and recreational shellfishers, surfers, swimmers, divers and conservationists
- 153 million Americans, or 53 percent of the country’s population—lived in the counties bordering the seacoasts and the Great Lakes, which make up only 17 percent of the continental U.S. land area
- The resulting landscape is dominated by impervious surfaces: parking lots, roads, sidewalks, rooftops and construction sites compacted by heavy equipment: that do not let water soak through
- Storm water runoff carries fertilizers, pesticides, heavy metals and petrochemicals, but it is the disease-causing microbes—the bacteria, viruses and protozoa derived from feces—that pose the principal threat to human health
- microbes pollute shellfish beds and areas used for recreation
- To protect shellfish consumers, state agencies are required to post signs in polluted shellfish beds notifying the public that harvesting clams, mussels or oysters there is illegal
- Microbial pollution also poses a serious danger to people involved in common recreational activities such as swimming, surfing, wading, diving, snorkeling, waterskiing and boating
- several of these microbes have triggered severe disease outbreaks in the U.S. and Canada
- average fecal coliform counts were generally higher in the creeks with more people and with a larger percentage of developed land in their watersheds
- storm water runoff from developed areas may have a multiplier effect on bacterial concentrations downstream
- poorly designed sanitation systems in coastal regions can also contribute to microbial pollution
- Sandy soils along the coast have relatively large spaces between the sand grains
B. There has recently been an increasing number of beaches and shellfish beds that have been contaminated by disease causing micro organisms. These micro organisms usually come from either animal or human waste. The reason for this contamination is causes by the waterborne microbes moving downstream with animal feces. Rain causes water to flow over the surfaces and ends up picking up the bacteria from the feces as well as other pollutants and end up traveling to drains and end up in bodies of water. There are many health risks that come with the microbes within the water. Some of the health risks that they can cause are liver disease, respiratory infections, ear infections, as well as many more other dangerous health risks. There are many organizations and researchers trying to fix this problem and I believe that it should get fixed soon considering all of the damage that this can cause to not just humans, but for the rest of the living organisms that use this water.
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C. After reading this article, it made me want to be very cautious when going into bodies of water. I am very concerned that the bodies of water that people are swimming in and drinking from are becoming polluted with something as disgusting as animal feces. I do believe that we should try and find ways to fix this problem and make it so the water is safer. A viable solution would be to wall off the body of water until it has been safely filtered. Another solution can be to separate the sewer and storm drains so the rain does not cause overflow. This means that the contaminated water would be separated from the body of water it would normal go to. I just believe that there are many easier ways that the government can fix this and we should all stand together to try and inform them about this issue so they can figure out ways to be able to fix it and keep up as well as animals healthy.
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