Every year, unsafe water sickens about 1 billion people. And low-income communities are disproportionately at risk because their homes are often closest to the most polluting industries.
Waterborne pathogens, in the form of disease-causing bacteria and viruses from human and animal waste, are a major cause of illness from contaminated drinking water. Diseases spread by unsafe water include Cholera, Giardia and Typhoid. Even in wealthy nations, accidental or illegal release from sewage treatment facilities, as well as runoff from farms and urban areas, contribute harmful pathogens to waterways.
Thousands of people across the United States are sickened every year by Legionnaires' disease (a severe form of pneumonia contracted from water sources like cooling towers and piped water), with cases cropping up from California's Disneyland to Manhattan's Upper East Side. Meanwhile, the plight of residents in Flint, Michigan - where cost-cutting measures and ageing water infrastructure created a lead contamination crisis - offers a stark look at how dangerous chemical and other industrial pollutants in our water can be.
The problem goes far beyond Flint and involves much more than lead, as a wide range of chemical pollutants - from heavy metals such as arsenic and mercury to pesticides and nitrate fertilizers - are getting into our water supplies. Once they are ingested, these toxins can cause a host of health issues, from cancer to hormone disruption to altered brain function. Children and pregnant women are particularly at risk.
Even swimming can pose a risk. Every year, 3.5 million Americans contract health issues such as skin rashes, pinkeye, respiratory infections, and hepatitis from sewage - laden coastal waters, according to EPA estimates.
The lead contamination crisis in Flint was a consequence of: