Water Quality

Water Quality

Water quality is an essential part of environmental health and keeping the public free from bacteria, and diseases that could be infected in the water that could harm the population.

Coliform bacteria are bacteria that is abundant of harmless microorganisms that live in very big numbers within humans or warm blooded animals inside their intestines which help aid in the process of digestion of food. It is also found in plants and in soil. Coliform has many different types of forms, sixteen species of coliform is to be exact that can be found in humans/warm-blooded animals, plants and soil. Fecal coliform bacteria are a subgroup of coliform bacteria and seems to be the most popular type of coliform bacteria. E. Coli is one of the types of bacteria that can be harmful towards the population that can cause illness or an outbreak if you encounter it.

Ways to prevent having buildup of coliform bacteria in water is the process of how we retrieve water. Retrieving water from wells needs to be in a well that is constructed to standards that should almost little to none coliform bacteria. If any of this bacterium is found inside the well, the well must be inspected and completely cleaned out by a professional. With homeowners, they need to be careful that their water is not contaminated and their filters need to be cleaned and maintained regularly throughout the year so they do not ingest contaminated water which could be harmless or not.

Coliform standard is 5.0%^3 mg/L.

Turbidity is another water hazard among environmental health issues. Turbidity is a measure of how much either one material or more enters the water and makes it unclear or cloudy. Usually the items that cloud the water are sand, dirt, mud, clay, etc. The standard for turbidity is not available/ none. To find turbidity is shining a light through the water to see how clear the water or cloudy it is.

Cryptosporidium is contamination of parasites that are found in water. If you somehow intake the contaminated water there is many symptoms that come along with it, watery diarrhea, dehydration, weight loss, vomiting, nausea, fever, stomach cramps and lack of appetite. Standard for cryptosporidium is TT.

Giardia is microscopic parasite that you can get through contaminated water and causes an infection in your small intestines. This is a problem all over the world, lots of animals, such as dogs and cats frequently can get this infection. This contaminated water can be in pools, spas or bodies of water. The standard for giardia is also zero/TT.

Harmful algal blooms HAB cyanotoxins are usually found in lakes and oceans and are single celled organisms which are called phytoplankton’s. These phytoplanklotn’s can be deadly to animals and humans unfortunately.

Water quality is very important to the population because without water quality many of us could catch awful disease or die from not having clean water and  keeping our bodies safe.




http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/cryptosporidium/symptoms-causes/dxc-20272947

https://water.usgs.gov/edu/turbidity.html

http://web.mit.edu/watsan/methods_waterqualitystandards.html

http://www.odh.ohio.gov/-/media/ODH/ASSETS/Files/eh/Chemical-Fact-sheets/055-Total--Fecal-Coliform-Bacteria.pdf?la=en

LEAD POISONING

Lead poisoning is a very serious concern that affects many people annually, and scarily children as well. This environmental problem can cause many issues within a person’s body. If someone is affect by lead poisoning, they can suffer from behavior disturbance, brain damage or mental retardation, also in children, they can have higher suffering from damage to the brain and nervous system, ADHD, lower IQ, criminal behavior, etc, decreased growth and nervous system, and can suffer from speech problems or hearing problems. If one wants to be tested or to see if they have similar symptoms and want to know if they are poisoned by lead, the best way to figure it out is by a blood test and can see the level of lead in their blood. The younger one is the more vulnerable they become to lead poisoning and its side effects that are possible to come with, children are at a higher risk to receive those side effects, which many of the side effects can affect how they learn and act for the rest of their lives. People can get poisoned by inhalation of particles from certain resources or ingestion. There is so many sources that lead can emit from or be contained in many different sources. These sources can range from paint to food. A big source of lead is from paint in older buildings which is the highest lead source for children in the United States. People need to be more aware of when to switch paint on the age of their home to make sure they don’t get poisoned or their children. In Ohio, States in 2014 there was 153,010 children that were tested for lead poisoning which is only .85% of the total population, while only 3% of the total population come from Ohio to be tested. Also, 1,298 children with confirmed blood lead levels of 10ug/dl or greater in Ohio, obviously, this proves how important is to make sure lead exposure is decreased because of how many children it is affecting and with the great risks it comes with. Other lead sources can even come from drinking water through leached lead containing pipes, faucet, which are usually found in plumbing from an older house. Food and beverages can contain lead to which could have been leaked in through packaging, storing and production and processing. Commercial products also play a role in lead exposure, such as, jewelry, bridge paint, automotive batteries, computers, etc. In the county I am from, Franklin, 235 children with greater of five micrograms per deciliter. Which was a lot higher than I expected. Ways to prevent lead exposure for children is, make sure you are up to date with all appliances, pipes, the date of the paints last change. Make sure that you keep your house well clean of dust because dust holds all different exposures and easily inhaled daily. Another is wash hands and toys, because some toys can contain particles of lead can be on there. Lead poisoning is a very serious environmental and public health concern that Ohio and the united states needs to make more aware of so we can decrease the amount of lead exposure in our daily lives.

http://www.parents.com/baby/safety/lead-poisoning/ways-to-prevent-lead-poisoning/

http://drbenkim.com/articles/lead-poisoning-signs-prevent.htm

http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs379/en/

http://dhhs.ne.gov/publichealth/Pages/LeadSources.aspx

https://www.cdc.gov/nceh/lead/data/national.htm

ZIKA borlandspring EH2000

Zika is a virus disease that is from a certain mosquito species. This virus was founded many, many years ago in Uganda, in the year 1947. It was actually first found in monkeys there in Uganda that were being monitored for yellow fever. Shortly, about five years later, that is when humans got zika as well and had an outbreak. This disease is transmitted by a mosquito bite of the Aedes species of mosquito's. These mosquito's are found majorly in tropical regions of the world. There is a stronger risk of getting bit by these mosquito's is in the early morning and late evening. Also, it is possible for this to be transmitted through sexual and blood transfusion.

Zika has been found in many places in the world; many which contain warm weather. Zika can be found here in the U.S., South America, Mexico, Cuba, Virgin Islands and many other warm regions in between Mexico and South America. These Mosquito's are attracted to warmer weather regions so places that have warm weather for majority of the year they spread there.

If one was to be concerned that they had Zika virus, they should see if they have these signs and symptoms, which are, fever, rash, conjunctivitis, joint pain are the main symptoms. There is also symptoms are headaches and muscle pain. These symptoms are very mild/common symptoms so it is hard to tell if you have Zika. It as well lasts about a couple days to a week in your blood, and there is  a very low percent people who die from this disease.

If one is to be pregnant and gets infected with Zika, it can be very problematic to the fetus's development inside the womb as well as outside. If a mother to be is bitten by the certain mosquito she should see her doctor immediately to try to help stop spread the disease since it will travel to the fetus through the blood stream. If it gets to the fetus, there are birth defects that would affect the baby drastically. One birth defect the fetus could receive from Zika is microcephaly, which broken down means a smaller head. This will affect the growth of the babies head and the brain as well would be smaller in size. Also another side effect with having a mother to be infected with zika is the congenital zika syndrome, which contains following symptoms;

• Severe microcephaly where the skull has partially collapsed
• Decreased brain tissue with a specific pattern of brain damage
• Damage to the back of the eye
• Joints with limited range of motion, such as clubfoot
• Too much muscle tone restricting body movement soon after birth

(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Centers for Disease and Prevention, 17 Jan.

2017. Web. 12 Feb. 2017.)

How to prevent oneself to not be infected with this disease is by trying your best to avoid getting bitten by mosquito's, making sure not having sexual relations with someone else who is carrying the zika disease, and to make sure always wear mosquito protection spray and be careful to were you travel and be aware to where you travel and if it has or had zika virus there before so you can prepare yourself. 

Unfortunately, there is no vaccine for zika virus and no treatment for zika, which is why being precautions of this disease and mosquito's is very important. 

References:

https://www.cdc.gov/zika/

http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/zika/en/

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/305163.php

Word Count: 503 (excluding the bullet points from CDC)

  

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