The World Health Organization (WHO) reported that at least 2 billion people worldwide consume water from a source contaminated by feces. Such contaminated drinking water causes 829,000 deaths from diarrhea every year. Consequently, the United Nations came up with Sustainable Development Goals, one of which is equitable access to affordable and safe drinking water. As the organization does its part to achieve this target, you also can be part of the solution. To do so, you need to know why it is essential to have clean drinking water at home; thus, we have outlined a few reasons below.
Disease Prevention
Dirty water has bacteria and viruses, resulting in waterborne diseases top of the list being diarrhea, the second leading cause of death in children under five years. Other waterborne diseases include typhoid fever, cholera, dysentery, Hepatitis A, and Salmonella. Luckily, filtering your contaminated water ensures it is safe for drinking by removing toxins. However, you need a high-quality filter because different filters use various technologies; a Berkey water filter removes the harmful microbes and chemicals while retaining the useful minerals your body requires.
Proper Functioning of the Body
Our bodies are made up of 60% water, meaning that we have to maintain that amount in the blood for them to function properly. For this reason, health experts recommend that we take at least 1.8 liters per day. Among the many uses of water in the body are regulating body temperature; you must have noticed that people sweat during physical activity, leading to dehydration. Dehydration results in heat exhaustion and a life-threatening heatstroke. Clean drinking water also facilitates flushing out toxins and waste through a regular bowel movement. Additionally, since water helps in blood circulation, it enhances the transport of nutrients and oxygen to all parts of the body.
Agricultural Uses
While most people assume that water, regardless of its source, can be used to farm, farmers need clean water. Agriculture competes with other water uses at home and accounts for about 70% of global water withdrawals . Since plants require water to grow, it must be clean because contaminated water will negatively affect the end product. Polluted water also washes away the nutrients required for healthy plant growth. As a result, plants are more susceptible to fungal infections and become less drought-resistant. Besides, once the plants absorb the pollutants and humans consume them, they are also adversely affected. For instance, plants with excess nitrates can lead to the blue baby syndrome, because unlike adults who can convert the nitrates into a harmless substance, infants cannot.
More Productivity at Work
Failure to access drinking water at home translates to diseases, resulting in absenteeism from work. While paid sick leave has been concluded not to affect the business because it reduces the spread of infections, absenteeism regularly affects the overall productivity. If you have to take a few days off to recuperate from a waterborne disease, you will not be meeting your deadline. As a result, other employees have to pick up from where you left off to ensure the targets are met. The loss in productivity heavily impacts businesses with unscheduled absenteeism costing them $3,600 annually for each hourly worker. This is because employees take paid sick leave, and those who pick up the slack will be paid overtime.
Creates Job Opportunities
Over the past few years, the number of those employed in the water supply sector has dramatically decreased because new graduates fail to recognize the importance of supplying clean drinking water. Fortunately, as more people embrace the need for safe drinking water, countries like Bangladesh and Benin hope to gain running water by 2025. Therefore, we will experience a rise in job opportunities as graduates rush to be at the forefront in supplying this scarce resource to homes.
Bottom Line
Water is essential to human life, but it has to be clean for it to be beneficial. More countries adopting new water management methods to avoid wastage is a clear indication that they realize how the resource impacts our lives. Having clean drinking water at home has a domino effect; it mostly affects our health and fitness, which leads to better productivity, less incidence of diseases, and saving on hospital bills. So, do you have access to clean drinking water at home? If not, take matters into your own hands; after all, they say health is wealth.