Water pollution
Environmental impact and health risks of water pollution to a child
Water pollution
Water pollution is associated with several health risks to infants. There is both long term and short-term effects on the affected children. We need to understand these health risks to know the consequences of our actions when we expose our children to such form of pollution. The immediate effects include; diarrhea, amoebiasis or cholera, typhoid, respiratory infections and vomiting. It could also cause skin diseases for the child. The long term health effects of this is that it could actually lead to slow growth with various forms of developmental problems which involve learning and behavioral disabilities.
There could be damage to the DNA, liver and kidney damage and damage to the nervous system. This is because of the presence of toxic substances or microorganisms in the contaminated drinking or bathing water. The children exposed to such contaminated water will be exposed to toxic effects of those contaminants on their major developing organs and tissues there causing long-term damage. Children are more exposed to this when compared to adults. They tend to be affected more because of their immature immunity when compared to adult.
Preventive measures
Preventing our children from exposure to water pollution starts with us and our ways of life. Out attitude, ways of life and views all influence how we achieve these measures. Since water pollution is all about contamination, there is a need for us to help prevent such type of contamination. This can be achieved by avoiding disposal of waste into water bodies.
We should develop recycling lifestyles to create environment-friendly products.
We should also learn to prevent the waste of good water by turning off our tap to prevent wastage. This in turn reduces the need for contaminated water.
We must also be conscious of the type of water our children consume and avoid throwing of oily substances or paints into our toilets
Avoid overuse of pesticides and fertilizers, which could also cause a form of contamination to nearby water sources
Ensure that your children do not have access to unclean waters
Educate your child about water pollution and ways of avoiding it. These include; stating importance of water to the body, dangers of contaminated water, importance of not wasting water, not to throw liters around and planting of flowers or more plant in the garden.
Interventions
Interventions should focus on quality control check from time to time. I.e. water from lakes or rivers that are used for intake purposes must be monitored by the controlling agency to check if is fit to drink. This will be done by checking the chemical content or any form of loading of pollutants that might affect the quality.
In cases of emergency spills, the people will be made aware and alternative means will be provide to avoid any form of contact with such water sources.
Personal hygiene is other important preventive measures that help reduce associated risk to exposure. This could be in form of hand washing before eating and proper environmental sanitations (VanDerslic, Popkin & Briscoe, 1994).
Ensuring that your house has proper waste disposal system, maintaining your vehicle to prevent leakages and cleaning of pet waste all help intervene in the reduction of water pollution in your environment.
What you need to know as a parent
Listed below are the important factors that help reduce signs and symptoms associated with cases of water pollution of a child. Those factors include.
Stop all act that lead to water pollution immediately
Paste posters that represent effects of water pollution
Act right by providing the right information for the child and then educating them on the effects of water pollution to children
Clean water act is an example of national policy against storm water pollution. It focus on ensuring that industrial storm water discharge in your region institute a plan that will ensure construction of facilities which will include on-site pollution prevention.
Surveying of microbial quality of drinking water in a local environment is a type of community program to monitor and prevent water pollution. This will be done by the environmental protection agency. The monitoring will be done frequently to monitor the microbial quality (Miranzadeh MB, Heidari M, Mesdaghinia AR, Younesian M, 2008) and (Moniruzzaman M, Akter S, Islam MA, Mia Z, 2011).
Capacity building for first response also helps the affected individual to respond on time to the pollution by informing the appropriate regional bodies or emergency department on the situation. So that necessary interventions can be instituted immediately to prevent fatal consequences.
References
Miranzadeh M, Heidari M, Mesdaghinia A, & Younesian M, (2008). Survey of microbial quality of drinking water in rural areas of Kashan-Iran in second half of 2008. PubMed central.
Retrieved 11 October, 2011 from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21913499?tool=MedlinePlus
Moniruzzaman M, Akter S, Islam MA, & Mia Z, (2011). Microbiological quality of drinking water from dispensers in roadside restaurants of Bangladesh. Pubmed Central.
Retrieved 10 October, 2011 from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21916267?tool=MedlinePlus
VanDerslic, Popkin & Briscoe, (1994).Drinking-water quality, sanitation, and breast-feeding: their interactive effects on infant health. PubMed Central.
Retrieved 11 October, 2011 from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7923538
