Toxic Water

The issue of water quality is very important because of its strong links to health and livelihoods of water users. The NY Times has been writing a series on water called Toxic Waters, which talks about some ways water can become contaminated and its impacts on lives of people in the US. This series examines the links between different types of pollution and water quality, and also shows that for some Americans this is a hindrance on their day-to-day-life. I particularly liked Duhigg's entry on the neglect of water laws because it displays the role of politics in dictating water policy, the detrimental effects of poor water quality on people, and highlights the flaws in current systems of regulation. Also Duhigg's focus on the EPA throughout the series provides readers with a well-needed critique of current environmental policy.

One interesting thing that has been gaining attention recently is the link between water quality and gender "bending". While there seems to be a growing body of work focused on water quality and gender bending in fish and other animals, there have been growing concerns about how this effects men. One Canadian study shows that tiny traces of birth control hormones dumped into a lake (I do not know how environmentally friendly that was) caused a crash in the fish population due to its effects on male fish. Scientists are worried about the implications for human populations since the traces of hormones peed out by women on birth control end up in our drinking water and are so small that they cannot be filtered out.

Toxic Waters and the issue of gender bending leaves us with questions about water quality that are applicable to developed and developing countries. What can we as individuals and communities do to keep our waters clean for our usage? How can we improve regulation and technology? How can we ensure that water provision improves economic, health, and livelihoods aspects of people's lives?