an essay on environmental sanitation

ENCYCLOPEDIC ENTRY

Sustainable development goal 6: clean water and sanitation.

The Sustainable Development Goals were adopted by the United Nations in 2015 to work toward a sustainable and poverty-free world by 2030. Goal 6, in particular, seeks to ensure that people have access to clean water and adequate sanitation services worldwide.

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The members of the United Nations (UN) adopted the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2015. These 17 goals are designed to unite nations in the common cause of ensuring the general welfare of all humans by the year 2030. These goals include a focus on ending poverty, tackling climate change , and maintaining high standards of resources.

SDG 6 focuses on ensuring a clean and stable water supply and effective water sanitation for all people by the year 2030. The goal is a reaction to the fact that many people throughout the world lack these basic services. About 40 percent of the world’s population is affected by a lack of water. As global temperatures rise, that total is expected to increase. Already, some of the poorest countries in the world are affected by drought , resulting in famine and malnutrition . Throughout the world, about 1.7 billion people live in a watershed where water is used faster than the watershed can be replenished. According to some estimates, if such trends continue, one in four people, or more, might experience water shortages on a regular basis by the year 2050.

Compounding the problem of water scarcity is the lack of reliable sanitation throughout the world. More than two billion people worldwide lack basic sanitation services, such as simple latrines or toilets. More than 890 million of those people live in regions where “open defecation” occurs. This means that human waste is left in the open. Adding to the issue is the fact that 80 percent of wastewater throughout the planet is emptied into the ocean or rivers without proper waste removal.

Alarmed by these problems, the UN established SDG 6 in an effort to make adequate sanitation and water services available to all people by the year 2030. As many as 800 million people, or more, would require the construction of facilities to provide consistent clean water and waste removal. To succeed in their vision, the UN developed a series of targets. These targets include restoring and protecting river ecosystems throughout the world, eliminating sources of water pollution , and increasing international cooperation to bring services throughout the world.

In an effort to reach the targets outlined by SDG 6, some water companies have installed smart meters in places where water scarcity is a concern. These meters track and charge for every drop of water used in a household, which has led to higher water conservation in countries like The Gambia and Tanzania. The CEO of one such company, eWATERpay, claims that these meters have reduced water waste by 99 percent.

Such efforts take time and require many countries to work together. While some strides have been made, based on information from a 2017 UN study, not enough has been done to ensure that this goal will be met by 2030. Managing these targets properly is the only way to make certain all people will benefit from clean water and effective sanitation in the years ahead.

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Sanitation is essential to children’s survival and development..

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Sanitation is about more than just toilets. Behaviours, facilities and services together provide the hygienic environment children need to fight diseases and grow up healthy.

3.5 billion people still do not have safe sanitation services, while 419 million people practice “open defecation”. 

Poor sanitation puts children at risk of childhood diseases and malnutrition that can impact their overall development, learning and, later in life, economic opportunities. While some parts of the world have improved access to sanitation, millions of children in poor and rural areas have been left behind.

Lack of sanitation can be a barrier to individual prosperity and sustainable development. When children, especially girls, cannot access private and decent sanitation facilities in their schools and learning environments, the right to education is threatened. As adults, wage earners who miss work due to illness may find themselves in financial peril. And when health systems become overwhelmed and productivity levels fall, entire economies suffer.

Without basic sanitation services, people have no choice but to use inadequate communal latrines or to practise open defecation, posing a risk to health and livelihoods.

Even in communities with toilets, waste containment may not be adequate. If they are difficult to clean or not designed or maintained to safely contain, transport and treat excreta, for example, waste might come into contact with people and the environment. These factors make sustainable development nearly impossible.

Open defecation

The practice of defecating in the open (such as in fields, bushes, or by bodies of water) can be devastating for public health.

Exposed faecal matter contaminates food, water and the environment, and can spread serious diseases, such as cholera. Coupled with poor hygiene practices, exposure to faecal matter remains a leading cause of child mortality, morbidity, undernutrition and stunting, and can negatively impact a child's cognitive development. 

Harmful to community health and well-being, open defecation can also undermine individual dignity and safety – especially for girls and women. When forced to travel greater distances from home to reach adequate hygiene facilities, girls are women are put at greater risk of violence.

UNICEF's response

UNICEF is on the ground in more than 100 countries to provide safe sanitation for the world's most vulnerable communities in rural and urban areas, and during emergencies.

We mobilize communities, build markets for sanitation goods and services, and partner with governments to plan and finance sanitation services.

In emergencies, UNICEF provides urgent relief to communities and nations threatened by disrupted services and the risk of disease outbreak.

We also support innovation in sanitation; improving sanitation technology; ensuring basic toilets are affordable, accessible and safe; and finding effective, sustainable solutions for sanitation challenges that harm children.

Ending open defecation

Ongoing investment in sanitation services by households, communities and governments is necessary to shift community behaviour so that ‘toilet use by all’ becomes the new norm.

Many countries are off track to end open defecation by 2030. UNICEF’s commitment to meet this challenge has been mapped in our ‘game plan’ to end open defecation, a strategy for reaching the 26 countries that account for over 90 per cent of global open defection.

We support governments through community- and market-based approaches in rural areas and in urban slums, where most people defecating in the open live. Communities are encouraged to carry out an analysis of existing defecation patterns and to use local resources to build low-cost household toilets and ultimately eliminate the practice.

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Unicef’s game plan to end open defecation, jmp-who sanitation data, the state of the world's sanitation (photo essay), open defecation statistics (who-jmp), world toilet day.

The Route Towards Global Sustainability pp 395–414 Cite as

Environmental Management and Sanitation: Perspectives on Waste

• Israel Adedayo Adeoye 6 ,
• Kayode Hassan Lasisi 7 , 8 , 9 ,
• Temitope Fausat Ajibade 7 , 8 , 9 ,
• Ehizonomhen S. Okonofua 10 ,
• Musbahu Abdullahi Bagwai 11 ,
• Oluwaseyi Aderemi Ajala 12 ,
• Adedamola Oluwafemi Ojo 13 ,
• Bashir Adelodun 14 , 15 &
• Fidelis Odedishemi Ajibade 7 , 9 , 16  
• First Online: 08 February 2023

255 Accesses

1 Citations

The rapid upsurge of industrialization and increasing global population has led to the tremendous generation and indiscriminate disposal of waste without corresponding treatment and management plans. Moreover, the rise in global economic development and living standards of people especially in developed nations has greatly increased the quantity and complexity of generated waste and consequentially, promoting environmental pollution. This chapter outlined some fundamental and theoretical aspects of environmental management and sanitation. The earlier sections considered briefly the concept of waste, its generation, classification and types, and the available treatment and management technologies. Later in this chapter, some challenges facing these management technologies alongside some sustainable measures in ensuring adequate environmental sanitation were highlighted. Finally, possible ways of achieving sustainable development goals (SDGs) via proper environmental management and sustainable practices were put forward.

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Israel Adedayo Adeoye

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Federal University of Technology, Akure, Nigeria

Kayode Hassan Lasisi, Temitope Fausat Ajibade & Fidelis Odedishemi Ajibade

Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiamen, PR China

Kayode Hassan Lasisi & Temitope Fausat Ajibade

University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, PR China

Department of Geomatics, University of Benin, Benin City, Nigeria

Ehizonomhen S. Okonofua

Department of Life Sciences, School of Technology, Kanno State Polytechnic, Kano, Nigeria

Musbahu Abdullahi Bagwai

Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria

Oluwaseyi Aderemi Ajala

Department of Civil Engineering, Yaba College of Technology, Yaba, Lagos, Nigeria

Adedamola Oluwafemi Ojo

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Bashir Adelodun

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Adeoye, I.A. et al. (2023). Environmental Management and Sanitation: Perspectives on Waste. In: Singh, P., Milshina, Y., Batalhão, A., Sharma, S., Hanafiah, M.M. (eds) The Route Towards Global Sustainability. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-10437-4_20

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UNICEF Data : Monitoring the situation of children and women

GOAL 6: CLEAN WATER AND SANITATION

Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all.

Goal 6 aims to ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all. Water and sanitation are critical to the health of people and the planet. Goal 6 not only addresses the issues relating to drinking water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), but also the quality and sustainability of water resources worldwide. Improvements in drinking water, sanitation and hygiene are essential for progress in other areas of development too, such as nutrition, education, health and gender equality.

Millions of people die every year from diseases associated with unsafe drinking water, sanitation and hygiene. Young children are particularly vulnerable – WASH-related diseases remain among the leading causes of death in children under 5, and they contribute to malnutrition and stunting. Each year, 300,000 children under 5 die due to diarrhoea linked to inadequate WASH. Despite significant progress, 2.2 billion people worldwide do not have safely managed drinking water services. Over half the global population, 4.2 billion people, lack safely managed sanitation services.

UNICEF’s contribution towards reaching this goal centres on bringing safe drinking water, sanitation and hygiene services to homes, schools and health centres so that children can grow and learn in a safe environment. UNICEF is co-custodian for global monitoring of three indicators that measure progress towards Goal 6: Indicator 6.1.1 Proportion of population using safely managed drinking water services; Indicator 6.2.1a Proportion of population using safely managed sanitation services; and Indicator 6.2.1b Proportion of population with a hand-washing facility with soap and water available at home.

Child-related SDG indicators

Target 6.1 by 2030, achieve universal and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water for all, proportion of population using safely managed drinking water services.

• Indicator definition
• Computation method
• Comments & limitations

Explore the data

Safely managed drinking water means using an improved source that is accessible on premises, available when needed and free from faecal and priority chemical contamination. As such, the indicator combines information on both whether households have access to improved sources and the level of service they receive.

Proportion of the population using drinking water from an improved source that is accessible on premises, available when needed and free from contamination

Improved drinking water sources include the following: piped water into dwelling, yard or plot; public taps or standpipes; boreholes or tubewells; protected dug wells; protected springs; packaged water; delivered water and rainwater.

A water source is considered to be ‘accessible on premises’ if the point of collection is within the dwelling, yard, or plot.

‘Available when needed’: households are able to access sufficient quantities of water when needed.

‘Free from faecal and priority chemical contamination’: water complies with relevant national or local standards.

In the absence of such standards, reference is made to the WHO Guidelines for Drinking Water Quality ( http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/dwq/guidelines/en/ ).

E. coli or thermotolerant coliforms are the preferred indicator for microbiological quality, and arsenic and fluoride are the priority chemicals for global reporting.

Household surveys and censuses currently provide information on types of basic drinking water sources and also indicate if sources are on premises. These data sources often have information on the availability of water and increasingly on the quality of water at the household level, through direct testing of drinking water for faecal or chemical contamination. These data are combined with data on availability and compliance with drinking water quality standards (faecal and chemical) from administrative reporting or regulatory bodies. The WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene (JMP) estimates drinking water service levels by fitting a regression line to all available national data points in each country. The JMP 2017 update methodology describes in more detail how data on the type of water source used and the level of service received are combined to compute the safely managed drinking water services indicator. ( https://washdata.org/report/jmp-methodology-2017-update )

Data on availability and safety of drinking water are increasingly available through a combination of household surveys and administrative sources including regulators, but definitions have yet to be standardized. Data on faecal and chemical contamination, drawn from household surveys and regulatory databases, will not cover all countries immediately. However, sufficient data were available to make estimates of safely managed drinking water services for 117 countries and four out of eight SDG regions in 2019.

Click on the button below to explore the data behind this indicator.

TARGET 6.2 By 2030, achieve access to adequate and equitable sanitation and hygiene for all and end open defecation, paying special attention to the needs of women and girls and those in vulnerable situations

Proportion of population using safely managed sanitation services.

Safely managed drinking water means using an improved sanitation facility that is not shared with other households and where excreta are either safely disposed of in situ or removed and treated off-site. As such, the indicator combines information on both whether households have access to improved toilets and safe treatment and disposal of the wastes produced.

Proportion of population using an improved sanitation facility that is not shared with other households, from which excreta are safely disposed of in situ or removed and treated off-site

Improved sanitation facilities include the following: flush or pour flush toilets to sewer systems, septic tanks or pit latrines, ventilated improved pit latrines, pit latrines with a slab, and composting toilets.

Safely disposed of in situ: if pit latrines and septic tanks are not emptied and excreta are contained and treated in situ they are considered safely managed. Excreta emptied from septic tanks and pit latrines and buried in a covered pit are also counted as safely disposed of in situ.

Treated offsite: excreta may also be emptied from septic tanks and pit latrines and delivered to a faecal sludge treatment plant, or conveyed in sewers to a wastewater treatment plant. For SDG monitoring, excreta receiving secondary or higher levels of treatment are considered safely managed.

For detailed guidance on safe sanitation see the WHO Guidelines on Sanitation and Health ( https://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/sanitation-waste/sanitation/sanitation-guidelines/en/ )

Method of computation: Household surveys and censuses provide data on use of types of basic sanitation facilities. The percentage of the population using safely managed sanitation services is calculated by combining data on the proportion of the population using different types of basic sanitation facilities with estimates of the proportion of faecal waste which is safely disposed in situ or treated off-site. The WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene (JMP) estimates sanitation service levels by fitting a regression line to all available national data points in each country. The JMP 2017 update methodology describes in more detail how data on the type of sanitation facility used and the disposal and treatment of exreta are combined to compute the safely managed sanitation services indicator. ( https://washdata.org/report/jmp-methodology-2017-update ).

Data on emtpying and disposal of waste from on-site facilities and the treatment of wastewater from sewer connections are increasingly available through a combination of household surveys and administrative sources including regulators, but definitions have yet to be fully standardized. Data on containment, disposal and treatment of faecal sludge and wastewater will not cover all countries immediately. However, sufficient data were available to make estimates of safely managed sanitation services for 96 countries and for six out of eight SDG regions in 2019.

Proportion of population with a handwashing facility with soap and water available at home

A basic handwashing facility means having a fixed or mobile handwashing facility with soap and water available on premises.

Proportion of population with a handwashing facility with soap and water available on premises

A handwashing facility is a device to contain, transport or regulate the flow of water to facilitate handwashing.

Handwashing facilities may be fixed or mobile and include a sink with tap water, buckets with taps, tippy-taps, and jugs or basins designated for handwashing.

Soap includes bar soap, liquid soap, powder detergent, and soapy water but does not include ash, soil, sand or other handwashing agents.

Observing the presence of handwashing facilities with soap and water is is a proxy indicator of actual handwashing practice, which has been found to be more accurate than other proxies such as self-reports of handwashing practices

Household surveys and censuses provide data on the presence of handwashing facilities and soap and water in the home. The WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene (JMP) estimates access to handwashing facilities by fitting a regression line to all available national data points in each country. The JMP 2017 update methodology describes in more detail how data are combined to compute the basic handwashing facility indicator. ( https://washdata.org/report/jmp-methodology-2017-update )

The presence of a handwashing station with soap and water does not guarantee that household members consistently wash hands at key times, but has been accepted as the most suitable proxy. However sufficient data were available to make estimates for 78 countries and for three out of eight SDG regions in 2019.

To achieve SDG 6, governments must invest in their communities and bridge the economic and geographic divides to deliver the human rights to safe water, sanitation and hygiene. UNICEF has four key asks that encourage governments to:

• Reaffirm their commitment to improve access to basic water, sanitation and hygiene services.
• Strengthen partnerships with the national statistics offices towards the collection, analysis and use of disaggregated data and routinely measure progress towards equitable access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene.
• Report progress on national action.
• Ensure the continuity and quality of WASH services during the COVID-19 crisis and sustain affordable access to WASH products and services for the poorest and most vulnerable populations.

Learn more about  UNICEF’s key asks for implementing Goal 6

See more Sustainable Development Goals

ZERO HUNGER

GOOD HEALTH AND WELL-BEING

QUALITY EDUCATION

GENDER EQUALITY

CLEAN WATER AND SANITATION

AFFORDABLE AND CLEAN ENERGY

DECENT WORK AND ECONOMIC GROWTH

REDUCED INEQUALITIES

CLIMATE ACTION

PEACE, JUSTICE AND STRONG INSTITUTIONS

PARTNERSHIPS FOR THE GOALS

Environmental Policy: Water Sanitation Essay

Introduction, innovative solution: a critical review, critical analysis and discussion.

Water pollution has a deeply lasting impact on the global community, affecting public health and the environment. The connection between water pollution and the issues such as health rates and environmental issues might seem tenuous, yet water contamination has a direct impact on people’s health and the safety of habitats, as well as different species. Several factors that may lead to water pollution are typically mentioned as the ones of the greatest impact. These include increased production of domestic waste, active use of pesticides, detergents or any other type of chemicals that interact with the environment aggressively, and industrial waste (Liu et al., 2018). The latter includes wastewater effluents from plants and other production facilities that emit waste (Wang et al., 2018).

In addition to direct consumption of water that has been contaminated and may contain viruses of dangerous infectious diseases, there is a possibility of water trickling further into the soil and contaminating groundwater. The described process affects the environment on a very profound level by increasing the instances of waterborne illnesses among people and animal species. In addition, the quality of soil and the crops that are produced using it drop respectively, causing an ecological catastrophe. Due to the negative effects of pollution, numerous habitats disappear, which causes local endemics to become extinct (Wang et al., 2018). As a result, multiple natural processes are disrupted, which leads to more diseases and even more drastic outcomes for people and local species (Wang et al., 2018). Therefore, the issue of water pollution must be managed using both the support of local authorities and the assistance of citizens.

The application of the new sanitation principles represents a new method of reducing the levels of water pollution and curbing the extent of its negative effects on living organisms. The specified technique implies addressing the issue of water contamination by introducing it to anaerobic treatment (Díaz-Báez & Valderrama-Rincon, 2017). Specifically, the proposed technique implies introducing organic sludge to contaminated water in order to purify it from waste. During the anaerobic treatment of upflow anaerobic sludge blanket digestion (AT in UASB), water is processed with the help of the blanket that forms on the surface of the tank and distils clean water from waste elements (Wang et al., 2018). Along with AT in UASB, the expanded granular sludge bed (EGSB) approach is often proposed as equally effective. In fact, several studies point to the fact that the EGSB-based strategy is likely to yield better results since the specified EGSB can be combined with glucose more effectively (Wang et al., 2018). The described reaction is critical to the degradation of 2,4-dichlorophenol (2,4-DCP), which launches the mechanism of water purification (Díaz-Báez & Valderrama-Rincon, 2017). Nonetheless, the AT in UASB framework as the most accessible one needs to be integrated into the modern system of wastewater management and the reduction of water pollution rates.

The AT in UASB tool as the method for addressing the problem of wastewater has been chosen as an appropriate one for a solid reason. According to recent studies, AT in UASB helps to purify sewage water rather effectively. A comparatively small size of a typical AT in UASB and the small amount of resources that it consumes, including financial expenses, deserve to be named as the key advantages (El Gohary & Aboulfotoh, 2017). Indeed, due to its ergonomic structure and the active use of biofilters, the specified technology can be applied to rural communities, especially the remote areas that experience difficulties with regular access to water (Qian et al., 2106). The application of ASD in UASB with the inclusion of biofilters will lead to a rise in the levels of water sanitation, with the following chances for restoring damaged ecosystems and reducing the rates of groundwater pollution (Yang, Lee, Zheng, & Zang, 2018).

The described technique cannot be seen as fully impeccable due to several constraints, including the probability of leakage in case of inconsistent quality control. However, the performance of a UASB can be controlled more effectively once IT tools for monitoring are introduced to it. With the integration of AT to the UASB and the active management of issues associated with control, one will reduce the level of threat greatly and at the same time create the platform for the further improvement in the quality of water sanitation.

Disadvantages

Unfortunately, the suggested solution is far from being flawless. While wastewater processing has a tangible impact on the degree of contamination, the AT in UASB framework also has several weaknesses. The size of the device and the scale of a project aimed at purifying water is the first problem since the volume of the tank is limited. Although the current volume restrictions still allow for a rather large amount of water to be processed, it does not provide an opportunity to perform the process of purification fast enough (Yang, Zhou, & Li, 2018). In addition, contained-based technology of new sanitation as a concept is rather broad, embracing a large number of technologies some of which are yet to be tested. The lack of tools for maintaining the security levels high and monitoring every aspect of the process of new sanitation also present a large number of concerns to address (Bovio, Cabezas, & Etchebehere, 2019). The technology issue is of particular importance to the overall efficacy of the proposed solution.

The described issue is not as much a disadvantage as it is a characteristic that makes the approach rather difficult to implement. Due to the necessity to integrate the latest and the most innovative tools into the project, it is crucial to provide staff members with updated information and training options for developing relevant skills. However, the process of learning is expected to be quite difficult since monitoring the performance of the equipment and ensuring that it works properly is going to be a challenge for staff members that are unaware of how to manage AT in UASB (Humayun et al., 2019). Thus, the introduction of the policies that encourage organisations and communities to incorporate the specified technology into the target setting in order to improve wastewater treatment and reduce the extent of water contamination requires further changes.

At present, the policy of anaerobic digestion, to which the principles of new sanitation and particularly the use of the AT in UASB belong, has been implemented with a varying degree of success. According to a recent study by Kang et al. (2018), to implement the proposed wastewater management policy, the current environment for cooperation between the bodies of city administration and organisations that produce wastewater is required. However, the current setting is far from being a perfect atmosphere for endorsing the proposed technique. For instance, a recent study establishes that the implementation of the system has been hampered in the UK:

Whilst the Department of Energy is not concerned that AT can provide a more environmentally friendly waste treatment alternative. The UK experience provides an example of a strong advocate integrating departments’ policy setting to realise AT’s full suite of benefits. (Edwards, Othman, & Burn, 2017, p. 824)

Therefore, the inconsistency in the stance taken by the local administration, environmental organisations, and local industrial entrepreneurships and businesses is worthy of noting. The observed obstacle is likely to prevent one from the successful implementation of the specified policy. The expenses associated with the AT in the UASB system and the AT framework, in general, is also of large significance to the overall feasibility of the new system integration.

Furthermore, integrating the policy of an AT in UASB-based water purification technology into the framework of operations within the settings of organisations and communities will require a deep understanding of the current legal standards. For instance, the present-day policy for managing water pollution with the help of the AT in UASB tools in the U.S. can be described as quite vague. According to Edwards et al. (2017), the efficacy of the AT in UASB system hinges on the extent to which the issue is addressed in the existing legal standards. Specifically, the author states that “The upward trend of on-farm AT use for bioenergy is expected to continue as high on-farm AT usage in particular is concentrated in a small number of states” (Edwards et al., 2017, p. 817). The necessity to establish the connection between the legal framework of a particular country with the introduction of AT in UASB tools into its communities and business sector is likely to reduce the speed of the policy integration and the implementation of the technique. Finally, the core disadvantage of the specified model of new sanitation concerns the absence of a framework for encouraging education about the specified concern.

Managing Disadvantages

Although the problems with the instalment of the new sanitation framework and particularly an AT in UASB-based technology in communities, the specified tool has a vast potential as the method of addressing water pollution. The disadvantages mentioned above, especially the one associated with the possibility of leakage, can be managed by introducing IT tools for monitoring and control, as well as the education of staff members. The proposed technique will help to reduce the threat of a leakage. In addition, it is critical to reconsider the present legal framework is supportive of the integration of innovative biotechnology into the UASB management. Finally, cooperation on the administrative level is required. To address the specified concerns, one will need to educate the residents of rural communities and the organisations that practice their business in the target setting about the opportunities that biotechnology holds for UASB and the chances that the described technique can open for water sanitation and overall improvement of the community’s ecological status.

Future Opportunities

Despite its numerous problems and the lack of legal support in a range of states, the technology that implies the use of new sanitation techniques and particularly the application of the AT in UASB method has a massively positive effect on the environment. Therefore, the selected policy that encourages organisations and communities to accept the idea of water purification as the gateway to introducing sustainability to their setting offers huge advantages. The improvement of the overall ecological situation is the primary positive outcome that the proposed strategy and the reinforcement of the current policy implies. By creating the legal and environmental standards that will make it mandatory for every community to utilise the AT in UASB system as the model of water purification, one will be able to manage the problem of water pollution at a much higher level. The resulting change in the ecology of communities will lead to possible restoration of habitats that have been affected by water pollution (Wang et al., 2018).

Moreover, the underlying issue of groundwater contamination will partially be addressed since lower rates of waste will be introduced to the water system and, thus, to groundwater. Studies show that the adoption of AT in UASB-related innovative technologies allows for the recovery of phosphorus during the procedure, as well as the removal of nitrogen from groundwater (Wang et al., 2018), the specified changes introduced to groundwater allow for its further sanitation and, therefore, affect the overall quality of water that people consume. The management of groundwater by using AT in UASB in communities and businesses is also connected closely to the improvement of groundwater status in the long term.

By applying the elements such as granular activated carbon to the AT in UASB environment, one can launch the process of Anammox granulation through uncultured bacterium (Liu et al., 2018). Therefore, the process of groundwater sanitation improves exponentially with the inclusion of UASNB-related technologies and particularly the integration of components that enhance the formation of granules (Edwards et al., 2017). It is worth keeping in mind that the suggested techniques may require additional efforts to be integrated into the selected environment due to legal constraints. For example, the described technique is prohibited in China because of the side ostensible effects that it may have (Wenjie, Huaqin, Joseph, & Yue, 2015). Nonetheless, the current studies indicate that the side effects can be minimised, whereas the positive outcomes for the health rates within a target community and the restoration of its ecosystem are bound to be massive (Edwards et al., 2017). Therefore, the opportunities that the incorporation of the AT in UASB technologies powered by IT tools for monitoring are quite immense.

In addition, the introduction of IT and ICT tools into the management of UASB should be regarded as a crucial opportunity. Although some of the current disadvantages that the proposed method includes can be seen as intrinsic to the designated method of addressing water pollution, it could be improved by reinforcing the control over the sludge management and the introduction of the associated sanitation measures to the target setting. Therefore, one should consider restructuring the current framework for managing UASB and incorporating IT and ICT tools into it to improve its performance. The specified changes are particularly relevant for rural areas, where wastewater management is hampered due to poor infrastructure and the inability to address ecological concerns for economic reasons. The integration of the selected approach into the designated setting will help to reduce not only water pollution but also the contamination of groundwater. As a result, a vast change in the management of the specified environmental issue is expected to occur.

The alterations mentioned above are bound to lead to a gradual improvement in the ecological status of specific areas. For instance, a slow restoration of habitats that have been affected by wastewater and contaminated groundwater is expected to take place. With an improvement in the management of water pollution, one will be able to handle some of the current issues linked to wastewater management. Thus, a certain number of the challenges associated with the promotion of green waste management within organisations and communities will be handled effectively., However, the process of monitoring the performance of AT in UASB should remain consistent to ensure that the described change will not affect target communities and the environment negatively.

The problem of water purification has been affecting the global community for a significant time period, with numerous solutions having been provided over time. However, the principle of new sanitation, which involves the adoption of an AT in UASB, seems to be the most effective for using in small communities and especially rural areas, where access to clean water is restricted. The incorporation of IT tools for monitoring the process of water animation in UASB should be seen as critical due to the necessity to control the possible leakage and prevent the associated issues promptly. As a result, a gradual recovery of not only wastewater but also groundwater affected by the rates of pollution within a target community can be expected. Further changes have to be made to the current framework for UASB technique and the introduction of IT and ICT tools for controlling it. Thus, the process of water pollution can be reversed, with a greater amount of water being sanitised.

Bovio, P., Cabezas, A., & Etchebehere, C. (2019). Preliminary analysis of Chloroflexi populations in full‐scale UASB methanogenic reactors. Journal of Applied Microbiology, 126 (2), 667-683. Web.

Díaz-Báez, M. C., & Valderrama-Rincon, J. D. (2017). Rapid restoration of methanogenesis in an acidified UASB reactor treating 2, 4, 6-trichlorophenol (TCP). Journal of Hazardous Materials, 324 , 599-604. Web.

Edwards, J., Othman, M., & Burn, S. (2015). A review of policy drivers and barriers for the use of anaerobic digestion in Europe, the United States and Australia. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 52 , 815-828. Web.

El Gohary, E. H., & Aboulfotoh, A. M. (2017). Enhancement of upflow anaerobic sludge blanket using submerged biofilters as a pre-treatment. International Journal of Current Engineering and Technology, 7 (5), 1797-1801.

Humayun, M., Hu, Z., Khan, A., Cheng, W., Yuan, Y., Zheng, Z.,… Luo, W. (2019). Highly efficient degradation of 2, 4-dichlorophenol over CeO2/g-C3N4 composites under visible-light irradiation: Detailed reaction pathway and mechanism. Journal of Hazardous Materials, 364 , 635-644. Web.

Kang, D., Hu, Q., Zhang, M., Ding, A., Wang, R., Lu, H.,… Zheng, P. (2018). Deep purification of low-strength ammonium-containing wastewater with ANRE process. Biochemical Engineering Journal, 129 , 57-63. Web.

Liu, F., Zhang, S., Luo, P., Zhuang, X., Chen, X., & Wu, J. (2018). Purification and reuse of non-point source wastewater via Myriophyllum-based integrative biotechnology: A review. Bioresource Technology, 248 , 3-11. Web.

Qian, J., Wei, L., Liu, R., Jiang, F., Hao, X., & Chen, G. H. (2016). An exploratory study on the pathways of Cr (VI) reduction in sulfate-reducing up-flow anaerobic sludge bed (UASB) reactor. Scientific Reports, 6 , 1-12. Web.

Wang, S., Zhang, B., Diao, M., Shi, J., Jiang, Y., Cheng, Y., & Liu, H. (2018). Enhancement of synchronous bio-reductions of vanadium (V) and chromium (VI) by mixed anaerobic culture. Environmental Pollution, 242 , 249-256. Web.

Wenjie, Z. H. A. N. G., Huaqin, W., Joseph, D. R., & Yue, J. (2015). Granular activated carbon as nucleus for formation of Anammox granules in an expanded granular-sludge-bed reactor. Global NEST Journal, 17 (3), 508-514. Web.

Yang, H., Li, D., Zeng, H., & Zhang, J. (2018). Autotrophic nitrogen conversion process and microbial population distribution in biofilter that simultaneously removes Fe, Mn and ammonia from groundwater. International Biodeterioration & Biodegradation, 135 , 53-61. Web.

Yang, J., Zhou, L. Y., & Li, H. (2018). Synergistic effects of acclimated bacterial community and zero valent iron for removing 1, 1, 1‐trichloroethane and 1, 4‐dioxane co‐contaminants in groundwater. Journal of Chemical Technology & Biotechnology, 93 (8), 2244-2251. Web.

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Essay on Clean Water and Sanitation

Students are often asked to write an essay on Clean Water and Sanitation in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Clean Water and Sanitation

Importance of clean water.

Clean water is vital for life. Every living organism needs it for survival. It helps in digestion, removes toxins, and keeps us hydrated. Without clean water, we risk diseases.

Role of Sanitation

Sanitation is as important as clean water. It prevents the spread of germs, ensuring we stay healthy. Good sanitation practices include proper waste disposal and maintaining cleanliness.

Link Between Clean Water and Sanitation

Clean water and sanitation are interconnected. Contaminated water can lead to poor sanitation, and vice versa. Hence, both are essential for a healthy life.

250 Words Essay on Clean Water and Sanitation

Introduction.

Clean water and sanitation are fundamental components of human health and wellbeing. They are deeply intertwined with socioeconomic development, environmental sustainability, and human dignity.

The Importance of Clean Water

Water is the lifeblood of our planet. It is essential for maintaining biodiversity, facilitating agricultural processes, and supporting human life. However, the quality of this precious resource is threatened by pollution, overexploitation, and climate change. Access to clean water is not just about quenching thirst; it’s about ensuring the health of individuals and communities. Waterborne diseases, often a result of poor water quality, account for substantial morbidity and mortality worldwide.

Sanitation: More than Hygiene

Sanitation extends beyond personal hygiene. It involves the management of human waste, solid waste, and wastewater. Proper sanitation practices reduce the incidence of diseases, enhance the quality of life, and contribute to social and economic development. Inadequate sanitation is a pressing issue in many parts of the world, leading to serious public health crises.

Linking Clean Water and Sanitation

The connection between clean water and sanitation is undeniable. Contaminated water sources due to poor sanitation practices can lead to the spread of diseases like cholera, dysentery, and typhoid. Therefore, efforts to improve water quality must go hand in hand with improving sanitation facilities.

The challenges surrounding clean water and sanitation are formidable, but not insurmountable. Through concerted efforts from governments, communities, and individuals, we can ensure access to these fundamental human rights for everyone, thereby paving the way for a healthier, more sustainable world.

500 Words Essay on Clean Water and Sanitation

Clean water and sanitation are fundamental to human health and well-being. Despite being recognized as a human right by the United Nations, millions of people worldwide still lack access to these basic necessities. The importance of clean water and sanitation cannot be overstated, as they play a crucial role in preventing disease, promoting health, and improving overall quality of life.

Water is a vital resource for all forms of life. However, clean and safe drinking water is not universally available. Contaminated water can transmit diseases such as diarrhea, cholera, dysentery, typhoid, and polio, leading to significant morbidity and mortality, particularly in developing countries. Furthermore, the lack of clean water can impede social and economic development, as individuals may spend significant time and effort obtaining water, rather than engaging in productive activities or education.

The Necessity of Sanitation

Sanitation, the provision of facilities and services for the safe disposal of human waste, is equally important. Poor sanitation can lead to the contamination of drinking water sources and the environment, resulting in a range of health problems. Moreover, inadequate sanitation facilities can compromise personal safety and dignity, particularly for women and girls. Improved sanitation contributes to social development by enhancing people’s living conditions and dignity, and to economic development by reducing healthcare costs and improving productivity.

Challenges and Solutions

Despite the critical importance of clean water and sanitation, numerous challenges hinder universal access. These include inadequate infrastructure, lack of funding, and insufficient awareness about the importance of hygiene. Addressing these challenges requires concerted efforts from governments, non-governmental organizations, and communities.

Infrastructure development is crucial for providing clean water and sanitation facilities, particularly in rural and marginalized areas. This includes building water purification systems, sewage treatment plants, and toilets. However, such initiatives require significant financial resources. Therefore, increased investment from both public and private sectors is necessary.

Education and awareness programs can also play a vital role in improving water and sanitation conditions. By educating communities about the importance of hygiene and the risks associated with contaminated water and poor sanitation, we can encourage behavior change and promote the utilization of water and sanitation facilities.

In conclusion, clean water and sanitation are not just basic human needs, but they are also fundamental human rights. Despite the challenges, achieving universal access to clean water and sanitation is possible through infrastructure development, increased funding, and education. By ensuring everyone has access to these basic services, we can significantly improve global health, foster social and economic development, and ultimately, create a more equitable world.

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• v.15(3); Sep-Dec 2011

Health and environmental sanitation in India: Issues for prioritizing control strategies

Ganesh s kumar.

Department of Preventive and Social Medicine, JIPMER, Pondicherry, India

Sitanshu Sekhar Kar

Animesh jain.

1 Department of Community Medicine, Kasturba Medical College, Mangalore, Manipal University, India

Environmental sanitation is a major public health issue in India. Recent interventional studies on environmental sanitation in India highlighted the importance of prioritizing control strategies. Research related to the appropriate cost-effective intervention strategies and their implementation in Indian context is a big challenge. This paper discusses various intervention strategies related to environmental sanitation in India and emphasizes to prioritize it according to the need of country.

INTRODUCTION

Environmental sanitation envisages promotion of health of the community by providing clean environment and breaking the cycle of disease. It depends on various factors that include hygiene status of the people, types of resources available, innovative and appropriate technologies according to the requirement of the community, socioeconomic development of the country, cultural factors related to environmental sanitation, political commitment, capacity building of the concerned sectors, social factors including behavioral pattern of the community, legislative measures adopted, and others. India is still lagging far behind many countries in the field of environmental sanitation.[ 1 ] The unsanitary conditions are appalling in India and need a great sanitary awakening similar to what took place in London in the mid-19 th century.[ 2 ] Improvement in sanitation requires newer strategies and targeted interventions with follow-up evaluation.[ 3 ] The need of the hour is to identify the existing system of environmental sanitation with respect to its structure and functioning and to prioritize the control strategies according to the need of the country. These priorities are particularly important because of issue of water constraints, environment-related health problems, rapid population growth, inequitable distribution of water resources, issues related to administrative problems, urbanization and industrialization, migration of population, and rapid economic growth.

PRESENT SCENARIO

As per estimates, inadequate sanitation cost India almost $54 billion or 6.4% of the country's GDP in 2006. Over 70% of this economic impact or about $38.5 billion was health-related, with diarrhea followed by acute lower respiratory infections accounting for 12% of the health-related impacts.[ 4 ] Evidence suggests that all water and sanitation improvements are cost-beneficial in all developing world subregions.[ 5 ]

Sectoral demands for water are growing rapidly in India owing mainly to urbanization and it is estimated that by 2025, more than 50% of the country's population will live in cities and towns. Population increase, rising incomes, and industrial growth are also responsible for this dramatic shift. National Urban Sanitation Policy 2008 was the recent development in order to rapidly promote sanitation in urban areas of the country. India's Ministry of Urban Development commissioned the survey as part of its National Urban Sanitation Policy in November 2008.[ 6 ] In rural areas, local government institutions in charge of operating and maintaining the infrastructure are seen as weak and lack the financial resources to carry out their functions. In addition, no major city in India is known to have a continuous water supply and an estimated 72% of Indians still lack access to improved sanitation facilities.

INTERVENTION STRATEGIES

A number of innovative approaches to improve water supply and sanitation have been tested in India, in particular in the early 2000s. These include demand-driven approaches in rural water supply since 1999, community-led total sanitation, public–private partnerships to improve the continuity of urban water supply in Karnataka, and the use of microcredit to women in order to improve access to water.[ 7 ]

Total sanitation campaign gives strong emphasis on Information, Education, and Communication (IEC), capacity building and hygiene education for effective behavior change with involvement of panchayati raj institutions (PRIs), community-based organizations and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), etc. The key intervention areas are individual household latrines (IHHL), school sanitation and hygiene education (SSHE), community sanitary complex, Anganwadi toilets supported by Rural Sanitary Marts (RSMs), and production centers (PCs). The main goal of the government of India (GOI) is to eradicate the practice of open defecation by 2010. To give fillip to this endeavor, GOI has launched Nirmal Gram Puraskar to recognize the efforts in terms of cash awards for fully covered PRIs and those individuals and institutions who have contributed significantly in ensuring full sanitation coverage in their area of operation. The project is being implemented in rural areas taking district as a unit of implementation.[ 8 ]

A recent study highlighted that policy shift to include better household water quality management to complement the continuing expansion of coverage and upgrading of services would appear to be a cost-effective health intervention in many developing countries.[ 9 ] Most of the interventions (including multiple interventions, hygiene, and water quality) were found to significantly reduce the levels of diarrheal illness, with the greatest impact being seen for hygiene and household treatment interventions.[ 10 ] Interventions to improve water quality at the household level are more effective than those at the source.[ 11 ] Unfortunately, in developing countries, public health concerns are usually raised on the institutional setting, such as municipal services, hospitals, and environmental sanitation. There is a reluctance to acknowledge the home as a setting of equal importance along with the public institutions in the chain of disease transmission in the community. Managers of home hygiene and community hygiene must act in unison to optimize return from efforts to promote public health.[ 12 ] A survey through in-depth interviews with more than 800 households in the city of Hyderabad in India concluded that, even if provided with market (not concessional) rates of financing, a substantial proportion of poor households would invest in water and sewer network connections.[ 13 ]

The role of the WHO Guidelines for Drinking Water Quality emphasizes an integrated approach to water quality assessment and management from source to consumer. It emphasizes on quality protection and prevention of contamination and advises to be proactive and participatory, and address the needs of those in developing countries who have no access to piped community water supplies. The guidelines emphasize the maintenance of microbial quality to prevent waterborne infectious disease as an essential goal. In addition, they address protection from chemical toxicants and other contaminants of public health concern.[ 14 ]

When sanitation conditions are poor, water quality improvements may have minimal impact regardless of amount of water contamination. If each transmission pathway alone is sufficient to maintain diarrheal disease, single-pathway interventions will have minimal benefit, and ultimately an intervention will be successful only if all sufficient pathways are eliminated. However, when one pathway is critical to maintaining the disease, public health efforts should focus on this critical pathway.[ 6 ] The positive impact of improved water quality is greatest for families living under good sanitary conditions, with the effect statistically significant when sanitation is measured at the community level but not significant when sanitation is measured at the household level. Improving drinking water quality would have no effect in neighborhoods with very poor environmental sanitation; however, in areas with better community sanitation, reducing the concentration of fecal coliforms by two orders of magnitude would lead to a 40% reduction in diarrhea. Providing private excreta disposal would be expected to reduce diarrhea by 42%, while eliminating excreta around the house would lead to a 30% reduction in diarrhea. The findings suggest that improvements in both water supply and sanitation are necessary if infant health in developing countries is to be improved. They also imply that it is not epidemiologic but behavioral, institutional, and economic factors that should correctly determine the priority of interventions.[ 7 ] Another study highlighted that water quality interventions to the point-of-use water treatment were found to be more effective than previously thought, and multiple interventions (consisting of combined water, sanitation, and hygiene measures) were not more effective than interventions with a single focus.[ 15 ] Studies have shown that hand washing can reduce diarrhea episodes by about 30%. This significant reduction is comparable to the effect of providing clean water in low-income areas.[ 16 ]

Lack of safe water supply, poor environmental sanitation, improper disposal of human excreta, and poor personal hygiene help to perpetuate and spread diarrheal diseases in India. Since diarrheal diseases are caused by 20–25 pathogens, vaccination, though an attractive disease prevention strategy, is not feasible. However, as the majority of childhood diarrheas are caused by Vibrio cholerae, Shigellae dysenteriae type 1, rotavirus, and enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli which have a high morbidity and mortality, vaccines against these organisms are essential for the control of epidemics. A strong political will with appropriate budgetary allocation is essential for the control of childhood diarrheal diseases in India.[ 17 ]

COMMUNITY-BASED MANAGEMENT APPROACH

National water policies are shifting to community-based management approach because local authorities are in daily contact with users, of whom about 50% are women. Historically, national policy shifted from attention to distribution of investments in the water sector to reorganization of water agencies and to building up the capacity of private or voluntary agencies. The local context allows for more efficient and effective responses to local conditions. Local institutions and groups are better equipped to solicit local participation. Local water resource planning is very important in strengthening the economic and individual capacity of poor people in underdeveloped areas. Experience in Mahesana, Banaskantha, and Sabarkantha in Gujarat state supports this lesson learned. One of the obstacles in Gujarat to water resource development is identified as increased demand for public water services and inadequate provision of services due to remoteness of the area and financial limitations of central agencies. Infrastructure is also poorly maintained.[ 18 ]

Providing private excreta disposal would be expected to reduce diarrhea by 42%, while eliminating excreta around the house would lead to a 30% reduction in diarrhea. The findings suggest that improvements in both water supply and sanitation are necessary if infant health in developing countries is to be improved. They also imply that it is not epidemiologic but behavioral, institutional, and economic factors that should correctly determine the priority of interventions.[ 19 ]

Morbidity and mortality due to waterborne diseases have not declined commensurate with increase in availability of potable water supply. More importantly, young children bear a huge part of the burden of disease resulting from the lack of hygiene. India still loses between 0.4 and 0.5 million children under 5 years due to diarrhea. While infant mortality and under 5 mortality rates have declined over the years for the country as a whole, in many states, these have stagnated in recent years. One of the reasons is the failure to make significant headway in improving personal and home hygiene, especially in the care of young children and the conditions surrounding birth.

OTHER DEVELOPMENTS

The agriculture sector accounts for between 90 and 95% of surface and ground water in India, while industry and the domestic sector account for the remaining. At the same time, several important measures are being taken to deal with the above issues. On the water resources management front, the National Water Policy, 2002 recognizes the need for well-developed information systems at the national and state levels, places strong emphasis on nonconventional methods for utilization such as interbasin transfers, artificial recharge, desalination of brackish or sea water, as well as traditional water conservation practices such as rainwater harvesting, etc., to increase utilizable water resources. It also advocates watershed management through extensive soil conservation, catchment area treatment, preservation of forests, and increasing forest cover and the construction of check dams. The policy also recognizes the potential need to reorganize and reorient institutional arrangements for the sector and emphasizes the need to maintain existing infrastructure.

While no comprehensive study on equity issues relating to water supply, sanitation, and health has been conducted for the country as a whole, common equity issues that plague the sector in most developing countries also hold true for India. In addition, comprehensive studies on the economic value of the water and sanitation sector in India also do not exist.

It is important to reiterate the need for Rural Water Supply and Sanitation [RWSS] and Urban Water Supply and Sanitation [UWSS] agencies to operate hand-in-hand with their health and education counterparts to jointly monitor indicators of RWSS, UWSS, health, education, poverty, and equity in order to make significant headway in the respective sectors. Existing health promotion and education programmes should be made more effective and geared toward achieving behavior changes needed to improve hygiene.[ 20 ]

URBAN SANITATION

Percent of urban population without proper sanitation in India is 63%. The 11 th five year plan envisages 100% coverage of urban water, urban sewerage, and rural sanitation by 2012. Although investment in water supply and sanitation is likely to see a jump of 221% in the 11 th plan over the 10 th plan, the targets do not take into account both the quality of water being provided, or the sustainability of systems being put in place.[ 21 ] Increasing emphasis on use of information technology applications in urban governance and management to ensure quick access to information, planning, and decision support systems are the primary concern areas related to environmental sanitation. Solid waste management is also increasingly seen as an important area in UWSS. Legislation on municipal waste handling and management has been passed in October 2000. Some strategies on solid waste management include preparation of town-wise master plans, training of municipal staff, IEC and awareness generation, involvement of community-based and nongovernmental organizations, setting up and operation of compost plants via NGOs and the private sector, enhancement of the capacities of some state structures such as State Compost Development Corporations with emphasis on commercial operations and private sector involvement. Variations in housing type, density and settlement layout, poverty status, and access to networked services will lead to different solutions for sanitation in different parts of the city or within the same neighborhood.[ 22 ]

• Prevention of contamination of water in distribution systems,
• Growing water scarcity and the potential for water reuse and conservation,
• Implementing innovative low-cost sanitation system
• Providing sustainable water supplies and sanitation for urban and semiurban areas
• Reducing disparities within the regions in the country
• Sustainability of water and sanitation services.

The public health challenge inherent in meeting the MDG targets is ensuring that improvements result in access to water and sanitation for the critical at-risk populations. Innovative approaches are required to ensure the availability of low-cost, simple, and locally acceptable water and sanitation interventions and integrating these approaches into existing social institutions such as schools, markets, and health facilities.[ 4 ]

Implementation of low-cost sanitation system with lower subsidies, greater household involvement, range of technology choices, options for sanitary complexes for women, rural drainage systems, IEC and awareness building, involvement of NGOs and local groups, availability of finance, human resource development, and emphasis on school sanitation are the important areas to be considered. Also appropriate forms of private participation and public private partnerships, evolution of a sound sector policy in Indian context, and emphasis on sustainability with political commitment are prerequisites to bring the change.

Source of Support: Nil

Conflict of Interest: None declared

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What is Environmental Health and What Critical Issues Impact Our Health?

What is environmental health, areas of environmental health, global environmental health, how you can help protect and improve environmental health.

Water quality, safe housing, healthy food access, and pollution -free transportation all contribute to human health, along with many other factors. Where people live and how they're connecting to the world can affect their health. The environmental health field—with its professionals, policies, and programs—is focused on these factors.

Your health is determined by personal choices (like whether you exercise or get vaccinated ) but also factors like local industry, the age of your home, food deserts , green space in your community, and more. Environmental stressors and advantages help to shape your options.

This article explains what environmental health is and how it can affect you and your community. It describes the work done by professionals and what you can do, too, to improve environmental health.

Environmental health is the  public health  field that monitors and addresses physical, chemical, and biological factors that impact your health though they're not always within your direct control.

Simply put, environmental health is the area of public health that deals with all the different ways the world can impact physical and mental well-being. Examples of impacts include:

• Lead toxicity (poisoning) from the paint or water pipes in older homes and neighborhoods
• Obesity and type 2 diabetes risk in food deserts and food swamps (communities with limited access to grocery stores and healthy food options, but often home to fast food stops)
• Cancer and the impacts of air pollution, heat, ultraviolet radiation, and other carcinogens and climate factors
• Stress, sleep disruptions , hearing loss , and other impacts due to traffic and other environmental noise
• Depression, cognition, and other brain health factors can be affected by green space

If you live in an urban heat island with few trees, it may be hotter than other neighborhoods— affecting a range of issues, from heat-related illness to asthma and heart disease. It's harder to get outside and exercise, too. When your home was built and the materials used, what insects live nearby, and what food you can access affect your health and the health of your family.

Environmental health is one of the largest fields within public health because of the myriad ways external forces can impact how people eat, live, and grow. These forces can be about addressing the natural environment (as in the case for clean water or sanitation), but they can also be the consequence of human beings' actions—including societal norms.

There are a number of initiatives focused on environmental health in the United States. Among them is the Healthy People 2030 agenda, which highlights six key areas that encompass the various ways environmental health is crucial to the health of communities.

Air Quality

Air is non-negotiable for humans. It's needed to survive and air quality can have a significant impact on health.

Poor air quality has been linked to a wide range of health issues, including SIDS, lung cancer , and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease ( COPD ). Air pollution is also linked to low birth weight.

One2019 study found that people exposed to high levels of air pollutants in the early and late states of pregnancy were more likely to have babies with lower birth weights, or with preterm births, than their non-exposed peers.

The Clean Air Act

The Clean Air Act of 1970 marked the first time the federal government took responsibility for protecting the air quality for all U.S. citizens by regulating harmful emissions from things like cars and factories. The act was later expanded in 1990 to address acid rain and ozone depletion.

Water and Sanitation

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an estimated 780 million people worldwide don’t have access to safe drinking water, and a jaw-dropping 1.7 billion (or roughly a fifth of Earth’s population) lack adequate sanitation services like clean bathrooms.

The simple act of filtering and chlorinating water systems in the United States has resulted in significant declines in once-common diseases like typhoid . Historically, clean water is responsible for the bulk of the decline in childhood mortality in the country.

The environmental health impact of safe water can't be overstated. An estimated 2,200 children die every day worldwide of diarrheal diseases linked to improper water and sanitation. The United Nations estimates a return of $4.30 in medical and social costs for every dollar spent on clean water.

Toxic Substances and Hazardous Wastes

Toxicology—that is, the area of science devoted to understanding how chemicals and substances can affect people and their surroundings—is an important field in environmental health. Many of the materials needed to advance industries and technology, like heavy metals or even some plastics, can also hurt the human body and even lead to serious medical conditions.

The Flint, Michigan, water crisis is an example of lead poisoning effects in a community that can lead to long-term health complications, including brain damage in children. Economically disadvantaged kids are often most affected.

The Flint crisis, which exposed more than 100,000 people to unsafe lead levels in drinking water, was a prime example of how environmental health issues often hurt those whose health status is already most at risk.

Homes and Communities

Home and neighborhoods are at the core of environmental health. When a neighborhood has a lot of violence, for example, families or older people might not go outside to exercise. When roads aren't properly maintained, it can result in more car crashes. When sidewalks are in poor condition, people may avoid walking for fear of accidents.

An emerging field of environmental health is that of food access. In neighborhoods without full-service grocery stores, people rely on convenience stores, gas stations, and fast food restaurants. This limits fresh produce options—a vital part of a healthy diet. These food deserts contribute to health disparities for low-income and minority populations especially.

Environmental health professionals are urging communities to establish public gardens where residents can grow and harvest their own fresh produce, improve access to public transportation to full-service grocery stores and farmers markets, and change zoning laws to incentivize retailers to offer healthier food options.

Infrastructure and Surveillance 

A primary piece of any public health strategy is information to identify risks and guide the resources and responses to prevent them. This includes investigating and responding to diseases—a field called  epidemiology —as well as screening for hazards and establishing surveillance programs.

Surveillance activities involve either going out and looking for particular health concerns (active surveillance) or by asking professionals in other fields, such as medicine or agriculture, to alert environmental health agencies when they encounter them (passive surveillance).

An example of this in action is mosquito surveillance and abatement activities. These programs test mosquitoes for certain things, including the presence of dangerous infections like  Zika virus , as well as monitor populations to ensure control measures are working. This information can help health officials know what to watch for in doctors' offices, direct local governments on where and how best to spray for mosquitoes, and alert the public if a mosquito-borne illness is spreading in the area.

In the coming decades, environmental health professionals are bracing for a warmer, wetter climate that will likely prompt or exacerbate threats to public health across the globe.

Disease-carrying mosquitoes can live in areas previously too cold for them to survive, upping the number of people impacted by vector-borne illnesses like dengue and malaria . As sea levels rise, whole coastal cities and island nations face flood risks and disease due to displacement.

Even though health outcomes have improved significantly over the past century—in wealthy nations like the United States in particular—environmental hazards and infectious diseases know no geopolitical boundaries. People today are traveling farther and more often than ever before, and conflicts in areas like Syria, Afghanistan, and South Sudan cause millions to flee their homes.

These increases in cross-border and cross-continental movements have the potential to threaten disease prevention efforts and overextend existing infrastructure. That's why it's crucial that countries look beyond their borders to improve the health of the global population overall.

Environmental health is supported by trained experts who assess nutrition and community health, test water for heavy metals, and do research on how rising heat might change where insects are likely to spread disease. They develop laws, policies, and programs at all levels of government.

And while environmental health doesn't focus on individual impacts and footprints, there's much you can do to help. Consider protecting environmental health and safety by:

• Improving air quality. You can ride your bike, take mass transportation, or work from home instead of driving a car to and from work.
• Testing for toxins. You can test for radon gas, lead paint, or heavy metal exposure in pipes to prevent toxicity. Don't forget your cooking stove, which can be a source of indoor air pollution.
• Cooling your home. You can plant trees, install roofs designed for cooling, and make lifestyle choices (like closing off rooms or running certain appliances after dark) to limit heat impacts.
• Promoting healthy food choices. Plant gardens, shop at local farmer's markets, join a food co-op, and consider eating less meat when opting for a diet that's friendlier to environmental health.

Keep in mind that visibility helps to drive environmental health policy. Talk with your government and local businesses about investing in environmental health to ensure every neighbor has the chance to live, work, and play in a healthy and safe community.

Environmental health professionals focus on factors like industrial air pollution, water quality, healthy food access, and safe housing that impact public health. In many cases, these factors (unlike the personal risk of genetics, for example) are preventable or can be changed to improve public health and overall health equity .

Most communities in the United States are served by environmental health agencies, whether at the local and state level or through federal authorities. You can help to improve environmental health by working closely with these professionals, local businesses, and other stakeholders.

But there's much you can do personally to make lifestyle changes, like limiting plastic waste and reducing energy use, that can limit environmental health risk both for you and the planet.

Neta G, Martin L, Collman G. Advancing environmental health sciences through implementation science . Environ Health . 2022 Dec 23;21(1):136. doi:10.1186/s12940-022-00933-0. 

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.  Sources of lead exposure .

Bevel MS, Tsai MH, Parham A, Andrzejak SE, Jones S, Moore JX. Association of Food Deserts and Food Swamps With Obesity-Related Cancer Mortality in the US . JAMA Oncol . 2023 Jul 1;9(7):909-916. doi:10.1001/jamaoncol.2023.0634. 

Hiatt RA, Beyeler N. Cancer and climate change . Lancet Oncol . 2020 Nov;21(11):e519-e527. doi: 10.1016/S1470-2045(20)30448-4. 

• American Academy of Pediatrics. New AAP policy, technical report offer advice on reducing harms from excessive noise exposures .

Jimenez MP, Elliott EG, DeVille NV, Laden F, Hart JE, Weuve J, et al .  Residential green space and cognitive function in a large cohort of middle-aged women .  JAMA Netw Open.  2022;5(4):e229306. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.9306

Sampath V, Shalakhti O, Veidis E, Efobi JAI, Shamji MH, Agache I, et al . Acute and chronic impacts of heat stress on planetary health . Allergy . 2023 Aug;78(8):2109-2120. doi:10.1111/all.15702. 

Department of Health and Social Services. Healthy People 2030 .

Lee JT. Review of epidemiological studies on air pollution and health effects in children . Clin Exp Pediatr. 2021 Jan;64(1):3-11. doi:10.3345/cep.2019.00843

Liu Y, Xu J, Chen D, Sun P, Ma X. The association between air pollution and preterm birth and low birth weight in Guangdong, China .  BMC Public Health . 2019;19(1):3. doi:10.1186/s12889-018-6307-7

Environmental Protection Agency. Progress Cleaning the Air and Improving People's Health .

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Assessing access to water and sanitation .

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The water people drink .

Alsan M, Goldin C. Watersheds in child mortality: the role of effective water and sewerage infrastructure, 1880–1920 .  Journal of Political Economy . 2019;127(2):586-638. doi:10.1086/700766

Center for Disease Philanthropy. Water, sanitation and hygiene .

• United Nations. Every dollar invested in water, sanitation brings four-fold return in costs .

World Health Organization. Lead poisoning .

Brown J, Acey CS, Anthonj C, Barrington DJ, Beal CD, Capone D, et al . The effects of racism, social exclusion, and discrimination on achieving universal safe water and sanitation in high-income countries. Lancet Glob Health . 2023 Apr;11(4):e606-e614. doi: 10.1016/S2214-109X(23)00006-2. 

Economic Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture. Access to affordable, nutritious food Is limited in “Food Deserts” .

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Zika virus .

World Mosquito Program. Explainer: How climate change is amplifying mosquito-borne diseases .

U.S. National Library of Medicine. The impact of globalization on infectious disease emergence and control: Exploring the consequences and opportunities: Workshop summary .

Environmental Protection Agency. Radon .

Kiefner-Burmeister A, Heilman CC. A Century of Influences on Parental Feeding in America . Curr Nutr Rep . 2023 Dec;12(4):594-602. doi: 10.1007/s13668-023-00499-4. 

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.  What Is Health Equity?

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Environmental Health Services .

Healthy People.gov. Environmental Health . Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion.

National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. Environmental Health Topics .

By Robyn Correll, MPH Correll holds a master of public health degree and has over a decade of experience working in the prevention of infectious diseases.

Essay on Environment and Human Health for Students and Children

500+ words essay on environment and human health.

The environment is all that surrounds us. It can be a living or a non-living thing. It includes many forces that are physical, chemical and other natural forces. These living things live in their environment. They consistently react with it and adapt themselves according to the conditions in their environment. In the environment, there are various interactions between the animals, plants , water, soil and other living and many non-living things present in nature. Since everything is a part of this environment of something else, we use the term environment talking about various things. People in different fields use this term differently.

Importance of Environment

The environment is very important for every living being. No one can survive without the environment. It matters a lot because planet earth is the only home for human beings. It provides food, air, water and millions of other things. Humanity’s entire life-supporting system totally depends on the well-being of all the species living the earth.

We call it the biosphere. Biosphere means one global ecological system under which all living things are depending upon each other relatively. In the ecosystem or overall biosphere, there are some smaller ecosystems like the rainforests , deserts , oceans and the tundra.

An ecosystem has both living and non-living parts. It can be terrestrial or aquatic. It explains the valuing ecosystem services: towards better environmental decision making that is available through the National Academy Press. The non-living things are like soil , water, air, nutrients, and living elements are the plants, micro-organisms , animals and human beings.

A healthy ecosystem consists of all the chemical elements and nutrients that circulate in a cycle while supporting billions of species. The species helps in the process of cycling the elements when they produce any food. It also happens during their eating, going about their lives and even though their deaths. In this process creation of a variety of goods and services takes place that is very useful for human beings.

Get the huge list of more than 500 Essay Topics and Ideas

Human Health Issues

It is very rare for children to get seriously ill without any warning. According to the symptoms of your child, you should contact your children’s pediatrician for advice on a regular basis. Time to time treatment of symptoms or usual illness can prevent your child from getting seriously affected with any disease or making that worse or turning it into an emergency.

A true emergency occurs when you believe a severe injury or any sort of illness is threatening your child or his/her life is in danger, or it might cause any permanent harm. In this scenario, one needs emergency medical treatment immediately as soon as possible. Discuss it with the doctor about what should you do in case of a true emergency.

The use of vaccines is improving the health of the children at a huge level over a very short period. Much infectious illness one is having as a child. For example, chickenpox or polio no longer affects many children in today’s time.

FAQs on Environment and Human Health

Q.1. Name some needs that are fulfilled by the environment:

Ans. There are many needs that are fulfilled by the environment. We get food, shelter, oxygen, water, sunlight, air, and many more things. The most important thing we get from the environment is food. Because we cannot survive without food.

Q.2.What should be done in the case off health illness?

Ans. Firstly, we should diagnose the problem and then go to a doctor and do proper treatment of that particular disease or illness. And then we should cure that disease according to the guidelines of the doctor.

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FACT SHEET: Biden- ⁠ Harris Administration Takes Critical Action to Protect Communities from PFAS Pollution in Drinking   Water

EPA Announces First-Ever National Standard to Address PFAS in Drinking Water, Delivers an Additional $1 Billion through President Biden’s Investing in America Agenda to Combat PFAS Pollution

President Biden believes every community has the right to clean, safe drinking water, free of pollutants that harm people’s health and wellbeing. That is why the President launched a comprehensive action plan and provided billions in funding to protect communities from toxic “forever chemicals” that are linked to a range of severe health problems, including cancers, liver and heart damage, and developmental impacts in children. Found in drinking water, soil, air, and our food supply, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) persist in the environment for long periods of time, posing a serious health threat across rural, suburban, and urban areas.

Today the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is announcing the first-ever national legally enforceable drinking water standard for PFAS , which will protect 100 million people from PFAS exposure , prevent tens of thousands of serious illnesses, and save lives. This action complements the Biden-Harris Administration’s commitment to combatting PFAS pollution and delivering clean water.

President Biden has secured historic levels of funding to meet this new standard. Today, the Biden-Harris Administration is also announcing an additional $1 billion through President Biden’s Investing in America agenda to help every state and territory fund PFAS detection and treatment systems to meet the new standard . This funding is part of the $9 billion in dedicated funding through the President’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to address PFAS and other emerging contaminants in drinking water – the largest-ever investment in tackling PFAS pollution. An additional $12 billion in funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law supports general drinking water investments, including PFAS treatment. The investments are part of the  Justice40 Initiative , which aims to ensure that 40 percent of the overall benefits of certain federal investments flow to disadvantaged communities.

These actions will help tackle PFAS pollution that has devastated communities like Oakdale, outside of St. Paul, Minnesota, where decades of PFAS-containing waste dumped by a chemical plant has contaminated the community’s drinking water. In this area, cancer was found to be a far more likely cause of death in children than in neighboring areas. The funding announced today will build on funding from the President’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law that is already helping communities address PFAS contamination, including a $33 million award for Tucson, Arizona to treat its PFAS-contaminated drinking water wells.

This funding also builds on President Biden’s action plan  to address PFAS pollution , safeguard public health, and advance environmental justice – all while advancing the Biden Cancer Moonshot goal of cutting the cancer death rate by at least half by 2047 and preventing cancer before it starts by protecting communities from known risks associated with PFAS exposure.

As the first-ever Safe Drinking Water Act standard for PFAS – and the first for any new contaminants since 1996 – this rule sets health safeguards and will require public water systems to monitor and reduce the levels of PFAS in our nation’s drinking water, and notify the public of any exceedances of those levels. The rule sets drinking water limits for five individual PFAS, including the most frequently found PFOA and PFOS. Because PFAS can often be found together in mixtures, EPA is also setting a limit for any combination of four PFAS, including GenX Chemicals. This standard will reduce PFAS exposure in our drinking water to the lowest levels that are feasible for effective nationwide implementation.

Today’s announcements advance President Biden’s broader commitment to deliver clean water for every American. The President’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law invests over $50 billion to upgrade water infrastructure – the largest investment in clean water in American history. This includes a historic $15 billion to replace toxic lead pipes and protect children from brain damage, as part of President Biden’s goal of replacing every lead pipe in the country within a decade.

Recent Federal Actions to Protect Communities from PFAS

Under President Biden’s leadership, nearly two dozen federal agencies and offices have made systematic and substantive progress to safeguard public health and protect the environment from PFAS in drinking water and beyond. This work is coordinated by the White House Council on Environmental Quality, which leads the Interagency Policy Committee on PFAS. Other new actions the Biden-Harris Administration has advanced to combat PFAS pollution over the past year include:

Protecting Firefighters from PFAS : The Biden-Harris Administration is committed to protecting firefighters from the harmful effects of PFAS contained in fire suppressing agents and firefighter gear. The Department of Defense is offering PFAS blood tests to military firefighters. The Federal Emergency Management Agency’s U.S. Fire Administration is working to reduce PFAS exposure and promoting access to early cancer screenings and participation in the National Firefighter Registry for Cancer led by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health as part of President Biden’s mission to end cancer as we know it.

Reducing PFAS in Fire Suppressants: The Department of Defense (DoD) qualified three fluorine-free foams to replace fluorinated Aqueous Film Forming Foam for shore-based firefighting activities at military installations, which the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has authorized for civilian airports. The FAA is assisting airports to transition to these new foams , and funding foam testing systems for airports that prevent environmental discharge. These changes will reduce the release of PFAS in the environment and protect the health of firefighters and local communities.

Supporting Healthcare Providers: The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently released the PFAS: Information for Clinicians resource guide. This information gives clinicians up-to-date resources and information they need to help patients with questions and concerns about PFAS exposure and health effects.

Phasing Out PFAS in Food Packaging: The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced the completion of the voluntary market phase-out of PFAS used on paper and paperboard food packaging, eliminating the primary source of dietary exposure to PFAS . FDA can now also test for 30 PFAS in a variety of foods to further protect people from dietary PFAS exposure.

Testing for and Cleaning Up PFAS Pollution: EPA continues to take key actions to address PFAS . For example, EPA is gathering data on 29 PFAS in the nation’s drinking water systems has collaborated with DoD to develop a method to test for 40 PFAS in various media including biosolids, groundwater, and fish tissue. EPA also updated its interim PFAS disposal and destruction guidance and has released a new method to test for 30 volatile fluorine-containing compounds in air including potential products of incomplete combustion of PFAS. DoD recently identified 40 installations where interim cleanup actions to prevent further PFAS migration are underway or will start in FY2024. These actions will address PFAS in groundwater to protect public health and the environment.  

Reducing PFAS in Federal Procurement: EPA and the U.S. General Services Administration announced this week that custodial contracts for federal buildings will now only use cleaning products certified to ecolabels such as EPA’s Safer Choice and certain Green Seal standards, thereby avoiding products that contain intentionally added PFAS. This shift will protect the environment, federal custodial workers, other federal employees, and those visiting government buildings.

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For communities near chemical plants, EPA's new air pollution rule spells relief

Halle Parker

The Fifth Ward Elementary School and residential neighborhoods sit near the Denka Performance Elastomer Plant (back of photo) in Reserve, Louisiana. Less than a half mile away from the elementary school the plant makes synthetic rubber, emitting chloroprene which the EPA's new rule targets. Gerald Herbert/AP hide caption

The Fifth Ward Elementary School and residential neighborhoods sit near the Denka Performance Elastomer Plant (back of photo) in Reserve, Louisiana. Less than a half mile away from the elementary school the plant makes synthetic rubber, emitting chloroprene which the EPA's new rule targets.

The Environmental Protection Agency announced a major rule on Tuesday to reduce toxic air pollution coming from more than 200 chemical plants across the U.S. The move comes as part of the Biden administration's pledge to better protect communities overburdened by pollution. The new standards for petrochemical plants, once implemented, will cut enough cancer-causing emissions to reduce cancer risk by 96% for people living near these industries, according to the EPA.

"This is a game changer any way you look at it," said EPA Administrator Michael Regan at a press event Tuesday. "This is a game changer for the health. It's a game changer for the prosperity. It's a game changer for children in these communities nationwide."

Environmental Protection Agency Director Michael Regan smiles at Louisiana environmental justice advocates before announcing plans for new regulations on the chemical manufacturing industry during a visit to LaPlace, Louisiana last year. Halle Parker/WWNO hide caption

Environmental Protection Agency Director Michael Regan smiles at Louisiana environmental justice advocates before announcing plans for new regulations on the chemical manufacturing industry during a visit to LaPlace, Louisiana last year.

The new rule affects dozens of chemicals, and it's the first time the national emissions standards for hazardous organic pollutants have been amended in 30 years.

Ethylene oxide and chloroprene are the two main pollutants targeted by the rule. They're mostly produced by chemical plants disproportionately located near minority communities in Texas and Louisiana. Even in small amounts, exposure to both chemicals can damage human DNA and cause mutations that can lead to illnesses later in life. Children are especially susceptible.

The EPA will require industries to find the source of pollution for these chemicals and make repairs if annual air concentrations of pollutants exceed standards. The plants will also be required to add fence-line monitoring near communities and share the data publicly.

The strict standards come more than two years after Regan visited communities as part of his Journey for Justice tour. He visited communities throughout the Gulf Coast including Texas and Louisiana.

Regan visited St. John the Baptist Parish during his tour. It's in the heart of Louisiana's Cancer Alley — the nickname for the state's 85-mile industrial corridor located along the Mississippi River — and home to the country's only chloroprene producer, Denka Performance Elastomer. That chemical is used to make neoprene, a synthetic rubber used in things like beer koozies and wetsuits.

The Denka plant is located next to a predominantly Black elementary school where hundreds of students attend. Robert Taylor, who also lives near the plant, has pushed to close it for nearly a decade.

"We couldn't believe the statement that they were being exposed at over 400 times what EPA has set as a safe level of exposure at that time," Taylor said.

Robert Taylor lives about a half-mile from Denka Performance Elastomer, a plant affected by the EPA's new rule, in Reserve, Louisiana. Halle Parker/WWNO hide caption

Robert Taylor lives about a half-mile from Denka Performance Elastomer, a plant affected by the EPA's new rule, in Reserve, Louisiana.

The EPA's new rule, he said, is the first time serious action has been taken to lower his community's risk. Since Regan's tour, the EPA has also sued Denka, alleging the plant's emissions present an "imminent and substantial endangerment" to the health of Taylor's community. The case has yet to go to trial.

Other community activists also applauded the EPA's decision to put stricter standards in place for toxic pollutants. Sharon Lavigne founded the Louisiana-based environmental group Rise St. James in the neighboring parish. Like Taylor, Lavigne said concerns about pollution encroaching on Black communities have gone largely unanswered by public officials at all levels before Regan.

"In St. James Parish, there is a 10-mile radius where a dozen petrochemical facilities operate near the homes of Black residents," Lavigne said. "This is environmental racism."

She said the new monitoring will be key for her community — something they've requested for years.

"When the action levels are exceeded, we want immediate notification in our community as well as the opportunity for us to have input on the steps taken to ensure compliance and reduce air pollution," Lavigne said.

According to an analysis by the Environmental Defense Fund, more than 80% of the industrial plants affected by the new rule were non-compliant with existing laws at some point in the last three years.

The rule also comes as the EPA's legal authority to pursue environmental civil rights violations is threatened by a lawsuit launched by now-Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry after the agency launched a now-defunct investigation into the Cancer Alley.

Ethylene oxide producers will have two years to comply with the new rule which includes extensive upgrades to equipment to avoid emissions, like fixing vents and installing new technology to capture and destroy the pollution before it escapes.

Denka, on the other hand, will have 90 days to comply, with an opportunity for an extension. Jason Hutt, a law partner at Bracewell, represents Denka. He said the company – along with other chemical manufacturers – plans to challenge the EPA's rule.

"It would be really nice if we could get back to the science and not the politics of the situation," Hutt said, "because there's a lot of people's livelihoods and jobs that are at stake in this outcome."

The Denka Performance Elastomer plant sits near farmland in Reserve, Louisiana. It is one of about 200 plants that will be affected by the EPA's new stricter standards on pollution. Halle Parker/WWNO hide caption

The Denka Performance Elastomer plant sits near farmland in Reserve, Louisiana. It is one of about 200 plants that will be affected by the EPA's new stricter standards on pollution.

The EPA's rule, Hutt said, would shutter the Denka plant because the company won't be able to comply with the standards fast enough. That translates, he said, to more than 100 local jobs lost, as well as tax revenue. Denka has also been in a long battle with the EPA, disputing the health impact of chloroprene, arguing the agency is regulating based on "faulty science."

Meanwhile, environmental groups, community activists, and long-time environmental justice leaders are celebrating what they consider a historic move to right past environmental injustices.

"(Regan's) shown a way forward for changing Cancer Alley. Administrator Michael Regan embodies the phrase, 'promises made, promises kept,'" said Deep South Center for Environmental Justice founder Beverly Wright, who also spoke during Tuesday's EPA announcement.

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EPA imposes first national limits on 'forever chemicals' in drinking water

For the first time, the Environmental Protection Agency has established national limits for six types of perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances in drinking water.

The substances, known by the initialism PFAS, are nicknamed "forever chemicals" because they barely degrade and are nearly impossible to destroy , so they can linger permanently in air, water and soil.

As a class of chemicals, PFAS have been associated with a higher risk of certain cancers, heart disease, high cholesterol, thyroid disease , low birth weight and reproductive issues, including decreased fertility. 

Most people in the U.S. have PFAS in their blood , according to the Department of Health and Human Services.

The EPA announced Wednesday that levels of PFOA and PFOS — two types of PFAS commonly used in nonstick or stain-resistant products such as food packaging and firefighting foam — can’t exceed 4 parts per trillion in public drinking water. 

Three additional PFAS chemicals will be restricted to 10 parts per trillion. They are PFNA and PFHxS — older versions of PFAS — and GenX chemicals, a newer generation of chemicals created as a replacement for PFOA.

PFOA and PFOS are the most widely used and studied types of PFAS, according to the EPA. Companies started making them in the 1940s, but the substances were largely phased out of U.S. chemical and product manufacturing in the mid-2000s. However, they persist in the environment and have mostly been replaced by newer types of chemicals within the same class.

The EPA’s new limit reflects the lowest levels of PFOA and PFOS that laboratories can reasonably detect and public water systems can effectively treat. But, according to the agency, water systems should aim to eliminate the chemicals, because there is no safe level of exposure.

Eleven states already have regulatory standards for PFAS in drinking water. The EPA estimated that 6% to 10% of the country’s public water systems — 4,100 to 6,700 systems in total — will need to make changes to meet the new federal limits.

“One hundred million people will be healthier and safer because of this action,” EPA Administrator Michael Regan said Tuesday on a media call, referring to the number of people served by the water systems that will need upgrades.

As of Wednesday, public water systems that don’t monitor for PFAS have three years to start. If they detect PFAS at levels above the EPA limits, they will have two more years to purchase and install new technologies to reduce PFAS in their drinking water.

The EPA estimates that the new limits will prevent thousands of deaths and tens of thousands of serious illnesses.

One of the biggest health concerns associated with PFOA is an increased risk of kidney cancer . Exposure to high levels of PFOS has also been associated with an increased risk of liver cancer .

GenX chemicals have been shown in animal studies to damage the liver, kidneys and immune system, as well as liver and pancreatic tumors. According to studies in rodents, PFNA exposure could lead to developmental issues and PFHxS may disrupt the thyroid system. 

The EPA also set a limit Wednesday for mixtures of at least two of the following chemicals: PFNA, PFHxS, PFBS and GenX. Public water systems can use an equation provided by the EPA to determine whether the cumulative concentrations of the chemicals exceed the agency’s threshold. 

The EPA proposed limits to PFAS in drinking water last year. After it reviewed public comments, it made the limits official Wednesday.

“This is a huge, historic public health win,” said Scott Faber, senior vice president of government affairs for the Environmental Working Group, an activist group that advocates for stricter regulations of drinking water pollutants.

Faber called the new EPA limits “the most important step we’ve taken to improve the safety of our tap water in a generation” and “the single most important step we’ve taken to address PFAS ever.”

Jamie DeWitt, director of the Environmental Health Sciences Center at Oregon State University, said that although the new limits don’t end the problem of PFAS in drinking water, they represent significant progress.

“This is going to give people in contaminated communities at least a sense that the federal government cares about them and cares about their exposure, because I think many people living in PFAS-impacted communities have not felt heard,” she said. 

The EPA said Wednesday that $1 billion in funding is newly available to help states and territories implement PFAS testing and treatment at public water systems and to help owners of private wells do the same. The funding comes from the federal infrastructure law passed in 2021, which set aside $9 billion to address PFAS and other contaminants in water. The money will be distributed as grants.  

Some public water systems have also sued companies that manufacture or previously manufactured PFAS, aiming to hold them accountable for the costs of testing and filtering for PFAS. One such lawsuit resulted in a $1.18 billion settlement last year for 300 drinking water providers nationwide. Another lawsuit awarded $10.5 billion to $12.5 billion , depending on the level of contamination found, to public water systems across the country through 2036.

The most common way to remove PFAS from water is through an activated carbon filter, which traps the chemicals as water passes through. Other options include reverse osmosis or ion exchange resins, which act like tiny magnets that attract PFAS chemicals. 

But even once water is treated for PFAS, it can take a while to see positive impacts, said Anna Reade, director of PFAS advocacy at the National Resources Defense Council, a nonprofit environmental advocacy group. 

“For most of these six chemicals, it’s between two to eight years for the amount in our bodies to decrease by half. So we’re looking at years before we see some substantial decreases in our exposure over time,” she said.

The EPA’s new drinking water limits apply to only a small fraction of the more than 12,000 types of PFAS , so activists are still concerned about overall exposure.

“This is not the final step,” Reade said. “We still have a lot of other PFAS to worry about.”

Aria Bendix is the breaking health reporter for NBC News Digital.

Opinion: In Utah, we’re using responsible A.I. to take on environmental and health crises

We want to apply the transformational potential of a.i. to problems of regional and global significance while also protecting privacy, civil rights and civil liberties..

(Illustration by Christopher Cherrington | The Salt Lake Tribune)

Utah’s reputation as a technology star is on the rise, driven by successful spinouts from our universities, dynamic job growth, a well-educated and talented workforce and strategic support from the state.

Now, as artificial intelligence (A.I.) becomes increasingly integrated in everyday life and applied across myriad fields to address major problems, we have the opportunity to supercharge our rise by showcasing how A.I. can produce innovative solutions and do so responsibly.

The spread of A.I. everywhere, all at once — or so it seems — is rightfully generating concern, from its potential to perpetuate bias to its use to create and spread misinformation and its ability to shatter privacy and intellectual property protections. The challenge before us is to harness the positive aspects of artificial intelligence to facilitate innovation, societal impact and solutions.

This is where the newly launched Responsible AI Initiative at the University of Utah, backed by a $100 million commitment, comes in.

We want to use A.I. to yield viable answers to such problems as environmental sustainability, disease prevention and treatment, mental health, natural disaster prevention and management and other major challenges. We also want to equip our students to fill workforce demands for employees who understand both A.I.’s potential and its pitfalls.

Through the Responsible A.I. Initiative, we aspire to leverage A.I. in ways that model fair, equitable, ethical and transparent applications, overcoming knowledge, technical and social barriers. We want to apply the transformational potential of A.I. to problems of regional and global significance while also protecting privacy, civil rights and civil liberties.

Technology innovation is part of the University of Utah’s DNA. We’ve used a translational approach in the past to have a global impact on emerging technologies, from our role in the creation of the internet to the computer graphics and visualization revolution . Now, we want to take on that leading role again.

To have a transformational impact, we will combine multidisciplinary excellence with state-of-the-art infrastructure. We will bring together education, training and workforce development to prepare the next generation to most effectively and ethically use A.I.. And we will build guardrails into applications of A.I. by bringing computer scientists together in collaboration with scholars from a range of relevant disciplines, including the humanities, social sciences, medicine and law.

We will do this in a way that does not create the “haves” and “have-nots,” democratizing the technology and its impacts.

We are not starting from scratch. We have a foundation of superb achievements in computer science and engineering, visualization and graphics, and multidisciplinary engagement that we will build on, pursuing the brightest talent to join us in this endeavor.

Throughout my career as a computer scientist, I have been drawn to solving challenges. The opportunity to translate technology in a responsible and impactful way is one reason I joined the University of Utah two years ago. And it is the reason I co-chaired the National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource Task Force, in which we developed a model that would support a national A.I. resource that would allow every researcher and institution access to contribute to the A.I. research ecosystem.

AI is driving discovery, innovation and economic growth; it has the potential to transform science and society. But realizing this potential requires that A.I. research and development progress responsibly. That is our mission.

(Photo courtesy of Manish Parashar) Manish Parashar

Manish Parashar is the director of the Scientific Computing and Imaging Institute and the Responsible AI Initiative at the University of Utah.

The Salt Lake Tribune is committed to creating a space where Utahns can share ideas, perspectives and solutions that move our state forward. We rely on your insight to do this. Find out how to share your opinion here , and email us at [email protected] .

Donate to the newsroom now. The Salt Lake Tribune, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) public charity and contributions are tax deductible

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Health Insurers’ Lucrative, Little-Known Alliance: 5 Takeaways

A private-equity-backed firm has helped drive down payments to medical providers, drive up patients’ bills and earn billions for insurers.

By Chris Hamby

Large health insurers are working with a little-known data company to boost their profits, often at the expense of patients and doctors, a New York Times investigation found. A private-equity-backed firm called MultiPlan has helped drive down payments to medical providers and drive up patients’ bills, while earning billions of dollars in fees for itself and insurers.

To investigate this largely hidden facet of the health care industry, The Times interviewed more than 100 patients, doctors, billing specialists, health plan advisers and former MultiPlan employees, and reviewed more than 50,000 pages of documents, including confidential records made public by two federal judges after petitions from The Times.

Here are five takeaways.

The smaller the payout to doctors, the bigger the fees for insurers and MultiPlan

When patients see medical providers outside their plans’ networks, UnitedHealthcare, Cigna, Aetna and other insurers often send the bills to MultiPlan to recommend a payment amount.

MultiPlan and the insurers have a powerful incentive to keep the payments low because their fees get bigger as the payments get smaller.

Here’s how it works.

The most common way Americans get health coverage is through an employer that pays for workers’ medical care itself and uses an insurance company to administer the plan. Providers in the plan’s network have agreed-upon rates, but out-of-network providers often must negotiate payments.

By using MultiPlan’s frugal recommendations, insurers say they are saving employers money. But insurers and MultiPlan also benefit because their fees are typically based on the size of the declared “savings” or “discount” — the difference between the original bill and the amount actually paid.

In some instances, insurers and MultiPlan have collected more for processing a claim than the provider received for treating the patient.

UnitedHealthcare, the largest U.S. insurer by revenue, has reaped about $1 billion in fees annually in recent years from out-of-network savings programs, including its work with MultiPlan, according to legal testimony.

Patients could be on the hook for the unpaid bills

Patients have seen their bills rise after their insurers began routing claims to MultiPlan, as providers charge them for the unpaid balance.

Some patients said they have scaled back or ceased long-term treatment as a result. The predicament can be especially punishing for people who depend on out-of-network specialists, including for mental health or substance abuse treatment.

Patients have limited recourse. If they want to sue, they usually must first complete an administrative appeals process, and even if the case goes forward, they stand to collect relatively modest amounts.

Self-funded plans are mostly exempt from state regulation, and the responsible federal agency says it has just one investigator for every 8,800 health plans.

Some medical providers face big pay cuts

MultiPlan and insurers say they are combating rampant overbilling by some doctors and hospitals, a chronic problem that research has linked to rising health care costs and regulators are examining. But low payments also squeeze small medical practices.

Kelsey Toney, who provides behavioral therapy for children with autism in rural Virginia, saw her pay cut in half for two patients. She has not billed the parents of those children, but said she would not accept new patients with similar insurance.

Other providers said they have begun requiring patients to pay upfront because appealing for higher insurance payments can be time-consuming, infuriating and futile.

Former MultiPlan employees said they had an incentive to lock in unreasonably low amounts: Their bonuses were tied to the size of the reductions.

Employers are charged hefty fees

Insurance companies pitch MultiPlan as a way to keep costs down, but some employers have complained about large and unanticipated fees.

For a New Jersey trucking company called New England Motor Freight, UnitedHealthcare used MultiPlan to reduce a hospital bill from $152,594 to $7,879, then charged the company a $50,650 processing fee.

In the Phoenix area, trustees managing an electricians’ union health plan were surprised to learn that the fees charged by Cigna had risen from around $550,000 in 2016 to $2.6 million in 2019, according to a lawsuit the trustees later filed.

Employers trying to verify the accuracy of insurers’ charges have sometimes faced challenges getting access to their own employees’ data.

Private equity is playing both sides

For years, insurance companies have blamed private-equity-backed hospitals and physician groups for hiking bills and making health care more expensive. But MultiPlan is also backed by private equity.

MultiPlan’s annual revenues have climbed to about $1 billion thanks to its embrace of more aggressive approaches to reducing costs. Its premier offering is an algorithm-driven tool called Data iSight , which consistently recommends the lowest payments to doctors — typically resulting in the highest processing fees.

MultiPlan became publicly traded in 2020, and its largest shareholders include the private equity firm Hellman & Friedman and the Saudi Arabian government’s sovereign wealth fund, regulatory documents show.

Chris Hamby is an investigative reporter for The Times, based in Washington. More about Chris Hamby