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

The Fight for Water Justice

Publication date:
July 9, 2021
Environmental racism has plagued many communities in the United States for centuries, but it is especially prevalent when it comes to water infrastructure. Many marginalized regions struggle to obtain reliable and clean water sources. On this episode of A Word, host Jason Johnson discusses how the...Read more
Regional/Country focus:
United States

Flint Water Crisis: Everything You Need to Know

Publication date:
July 9, 2021
Natural Resources Defense Council
Flint, Michigan’s experience with government mismanagement and pollution has propelled it to the forefront of many environmental justice conversations. Flint, a majority black city north of Detroit, experienced dangerous decreases in water quality after policymakers took the city’s water system off...Read more
Regional/Country focus:
United States

Dealing With The Soup of Chemicals That Can Get Into Your Drinking Water

Publication date:
July 9, 2021
All the things that go down the drain and end up at the wastewater treatment plant are not removed there. Some of the industrial byproducts that end up in sewers, the agricultural chemicals that runoff farmland, and pharmaceuticals that pass through our bodies all can end up in our streams and...Read more
Regional/Country focus:
United States

Adverse Physical and Mental Health Effects of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Among Gulf Coast Children: An Environmental Justice Perspective

Publication date:
July 9, 2021
This study examines whether racial/ethnic minority and low socioeconomic status affected children's health after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. It explores whether these risk factors affected children's health due to direct physical exposure to crude oil or dispersant household economic...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 13, 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

Making the Invisible Visible: Results of a Community-Led Health Survey Following PFAS Contamination of Drinking Water in Merrimack, New Hampshire

Publication date:
July 13, 2021
In March 2016, citizens of Merrimack, New Hampshire, learned that their public water supply was contaminated with perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA). A subsequent state-led investigation revealed widespread contamination of both public and private well water with PFOA and several related chemicals,...Read more
Regional/Country focus:
United States

Applying a Cumulative Risk Framework to Drinking Water Assessment: A Commentary

Publication date:
July 13, 2021
The health risks of drinking water contaminants and the economic benefits of drinking water standards are typically assessed one chemical at a time, an approach that misses the health impacts of co-occurring contaminants in drinking water. In contrast, a cumulative risk framework has become common...Read more
Regional/Country focus:
United States

WWF Position: Biobased and Biodegradable Plastic

Publication date:
July 16, 2021
Global plastic pollution is an increasingly urgent environmental crisis, and one which has amassed significant public attention in recent years. Plastic pollution threatens aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems around the world. An estimated 8 million tons of plastic waste enter the oceans every year...Read more
Regional/Country focus:
Global

Royal Caribbean and WWF 2018 Partnership Report

Publication date:
July 16, 2021
In 2016, World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and Royal Caribbean Cruises, Ltd., partnered to help ensure the long-term health of the oceans. To support this audacious goal, we took two approaches: improving Royal Caribbean's operations and supply chains and leveraging our influence more broadly among...Read more
Regional/Country focus:
Global

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