17.

3 Public health impacts of water pollution

Waterborne infectious diseases are transmitted primarily through contamination of the water sources with excreta of humans and animals who are either active cases or carriers of disease. Carriers do not show any signs of disease although they have disease-causing agents in their body that can be transferred to others; active cases are people who are displaying visible signs of disease. Use of contaminated water for drinking or cooking, or contact with contaminated water during washing or bathing, may result in infection. he dose or amount ingested that is necessary to cause illness depends on the type of pathogen. !xposure to a single pathogenic organism does not always result in infection and disease. "ometimes many pathogens, perhaps several hundred, must be ingested to cause infection. he minimum infectious dose also varies with the age, health, nutritional and immunological status of the exposed individual. #nfants and young children, people who are debilitated, people who are living in unsanitary conditions, people who are sick and the elderly are at greatest risk of waterborne diseases.

17.4 Indicators of water pollution

he physical, chemical and biological characteristics of water are changed when the water is contaminated with different pollutants. Water is colourless, odourless and tasteless, as you know, but when it is polluted with physical and chemical pollutants the water may have colour, odour and taste.

Question
#f water is completely clear and has no colour or odour, is it safe to drink$

Answer
%ot necessarily, because it may contain microorganisms or dissolved chemicals that cannot be seen. !nd of answer o know whether water is polluted with specific bacterial contaminants, samples should be taken and sent to a laboratory for analysis. &s noted in "tudy "ession '(, E.coli is the standard indicator organism for faecal contamination of water and for the possible presence of faecal pathogens. )or water intended for drinking, the World *ealth +rgani,ation -W*+. recommends that E.coli must not be detectable in any '// ml sample. #n most developing countries like !thiopia the priority is to get from 0bad1 2uality -more than ',/// faecal coliforms per '// ml. to 0moderate1 2uality -less than '/ faecal coliforms per '// ml.. 03ood1 2uality is classed as ,ero faecal coliforms per '//ml.

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17.5 Effects of pollution on water sources

17.5.1 Streams and ri ers
"treams and rivers are not only potential water sources for humans, they are also important a2uatic habitats for many plants and animals. 4ollution can have a damaging effect on a2uatic ecosystems -see 5ox '6.'. as well as potentially on human health.

!o" 17.1 A#uatic ecos$stems

Ecos$stem was defined in "tudy "ession 7. #t means a community of living organisms that interact with each other, plus the environment in which they live and with which they also interact. &n ecosystem therefore includes plants, animals and microorganisms and their physical environment which may be land, trees, soil, ocean, freshwater, etc., and also includes the relationships between all these components. &2uatic ecosystems can be categorised as marine ecosystems in the ocean, and freshwater ecosystems in rivers, lakes and other surface water bodies -)igure '6.7..

)igure '6.7 8akes and rivers are important a2uatic ecosystems supporting many forms of life in and around the water. -4hotos9 4am )urniss. he effect of pollution on streams and rivers depends on the type of pollutant. "ome substances are acutely toxic to a2uatic plants and animals and will cause dead ,ones downstream from the pollutant source in which no living organism is found. +ther pollutants are health concerns to humans, but have little impact on a2uatic communities. +ne of the most common types of freshwater pollutant is biodegradable organic material. When a high concentration of organic material such as raw sewage -human excreta. is discharged into a stream, the levels of dissolved oxygen in the water may fall so low that the water is completely deoxygenated.