Pollution and Water Quality

According to the United Nations, declining water quality has become a global issue of concern as human populations grow, industrial and agricultural activities expand, and climate change threatens to cause major alterations to the hydrological cycle. Resources available in this sub-theme include manuals describing water quality testing and treatment, reports and assessments of water quality from around the world, methods of maintaining water quality and managing pollution, and other resources that support enabling environments for effective water quality control.

Pollution and Water Quality Resources

How to Test Water Quality? Chemical Tests for Limited Budgets

Publication date:
June 25, 2021
The second installation of the "How to Test Water Quality?" blog posts highlights a small set of tests that provide enough information for accurate water quality monitoring. Typical test formats include test strips, color disk kits, and hand-held digital instruments. The highest priority...Read more
Regional/Country focus:
Global

How to Test Water Quality? Low-Cost, Low-Tech Optioms for Microbial Testing

Publication date:
June 25, 2021
The third and final installation of the "How to Test Water Quality?" blog posts outlines the ideal microbial test for water quality and efficient substitutes that exist now. The post suggests that the most practical solution is to test for an "indicator organism" which indicates...Read more
Regional/Country focus:
Global

World Health Organization Guidelines for drinking-water quality

Publication date:
June 25, 2021
The fourth edition of the World Health Organization's (WHO) Guidelines for drinking-water quality (GDWQ) provides a standardized basis for national or regional drinking-water policies and actions. The Guidelines include recommendations for contextual hazard identification, chemical background...Read more
Regional/Country focus:
Global

A Fight for All: 9 Facts about Santitation in Malaysia

Publication date:
June 25, 2021
Malaysia has greatly improved its basic water and sanitation infrastructure over the past few decades. Nearly 100% of Malaysia’s rural and urban populations have at least some access to basic sanitation services. Much of this growth has been prompted by quick economic growth and an expanding...Read more
Regional/Country focus:
Malaysia

A Twenty-First Century U.S. Water Policy

Publication date:
July 2, 2021
Pacific Institute
Environmental justice is a trending topic among water officials, especially for those who are trying to reorient federal water policy to increase equity. Environmental justice advocates are attempting to correct the decades of water injustices that have targeted disenfranchised communities,...Read more
Regional/Country focus:
United States

Fracking: An Environmental Justice Issue

Publication date:
July 2, 2021
Fracking is a major issue in many environmental justice debates. Fracking is the process of using chemically altered water and sludge mixtures to drill into cracks deep underground and extract oil and natural gas. While fracking is efficient at extracting petroleum products, it can be extremely...Read more
Regional/Country focus:
United States

Environmental Justice: MyEnvironment

Publication date:
July 2, 2021
MyEnvironment is a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) resource that aggregates a variety of environmental quality data. This data contains information on environmental code violations by water resource providers. It also provides mapping resources to locate and visualize areas of...Read more
Regional/Country focus:
United States

Environmental justice and drinking water quality: are there socioeconomic disparities in nitrate levels in U.S. drinking water?

Publication date:
July 2, 2021
Low-income and minority communities often face disproportionately high pollutant exposures. The lead crisis in Flint, Michigan, has sparked concern about broader socioeconomic disparities in exposures to drinking water contaminants. Nitrate is commonly found in drinking water, especially in...Read more
Regional/Country focus:
United States

Pollution Is a Racial Justice Issue. Let’s Fight it that Way.

World Resources Institute
Communities of color and marginalized groups around the world feel the effects of racism through environmental injustice. Whether they are in the United States, Mexico, Thailand, or anywhere else in the world, marginalized peoples must continually fight against the oppressive systems that pollute...Read more
Regional/Country focus:
Global

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