Clean water is

Everybodys
Business
For
Hydrology & Water
Quality Modelling

BY; Vincent Lau Hui Chek
Table of Contents

1.0 Introduction ................................................................................................ 1

2.0 Important of Water for human body............................................................ 1

3.0 Important of Water for Plantation and Water Living Things ...................... 2

4.0 Important of Water for industry .................................................................. 3

5.0 Problems ...................................................................................................... 3

6.0 Case Study ................................................................................................... 4

7.0 Discussion and Recommendation ............................................................... 5

8.0 Conclusion ................................................................................................... 6

9.0 Referrence .................................................................................................... 7

Clean Water Is Everybodys Business By: Vincent Lau H C Page 1
1.0 Introduction
Clean water is very important for every living things and industries. Water makes up
more than two thirds of human body weight. Without water living things will die in
few days. Human brain is made up of 95% water, blood contains 82% of water and
lungs contain 90% of water. A mere 2% drop in our bodys water supply can trigger
signs of dehydration which will cause fuzzy short-term memory and will have trouble
with basic math calculation and will have difficulty focusing on smaller print. Mild
dehydration is also one of the most common causes of daytime fatigue. Water is also a
very important mechanics for function of the body. Human body cannot function
properly without it. (Apec 2012)
Plantation will also require lots of clean water to ensure proper growth of plantation.
Besides that, multiple industries also require lots of clean water for production and
reduction of heat.
Water are being reticulated and recycled through water cycle which clean and purified
the water. Precipitation (raining) towards stream, river, ocean and land, surface runoff
on land, infrastructure and building will be collected on drain (manmade) or stream,
which will be collected and end up in river and will be finally drain into ocean.
Evaporation from drain, stream, river and ocean form clouds and transpiration from
plants also formed clouds which will precipitate as rain and repeat the water
reticulation to maintain water balance. (Apec 2012)

2.0 Important of Water for human body
Water serves as a lubricant in digestion and almost all other body processes. Water in
our saliva facilitates chewing and swallowing to ensure that food will slide easily
down the oesophagus. Water makes up part of synovial fluid which made up part of
Clean Water Is Everybodys Business By: Vincent Lau H C Page 2
the synovial joint, which made up two bones articulation smoothly and also absorb
pressure during movement. Less or reduction in synovial fluid will increase friction
and will caused the joint, knee and back pain potentially leading to injuries and
arthritis. Our eyeballs also require lots of lubricants to function well.
Water is also required to regulate body temperature. Human body can control over-
heating through perspiration from sweat glands located beneath the skin through the
evaporation of sweat which produced a cooling effect. Movement of water within our
cellular system also transports vital blood plasma which is 92% made of water. Blood
plasma is a very critical role in buffering the bodys pH, circulating antibodies from
the immune system, and regulating osmotic balance which all helps to maintain
proper body temperature.

3.0 Important of Water for Plantation and Water Living Things
Water and sunlight are required for process of photosynthesis which made up the food
required for plants to growth beside the nutrients from soils. Water is being
transported through transpiration process which pushes and pulls the water from the
roots to leaves. Polluted water which are being uptake by plants will caused pollution
and harm towards the plants and any living things which feed on the polluted plants.
River and sea living required water to survive, polluted water will caused growth
retardation towards the water living things including plants , fishes and shells. Few
rivers in Arizona, America had to found to be heavily polluted by pharmaceutical
products with high contains of estrogens. Ictalurus Punctatus a type of catfish found in
Arizona River are found to have both sexual organs which were believed to be caused
by the excessive amount of estrogens in the water. Such polluted water will caused
Clean Water Is Everybodys Business By: Vincent Lau H C Page 3
harm towards human, if human drink from such polluted water and eat the bisexual
catfish.

4.0 Important of Water for industry
Clean water is very important for production in various industries, mainly foods and
beverages industry. Clean water is required for cleaning various foods before it is
being processed and canned to be sold. Water need to be perfectly filtered to ensure it
is perfectly purified and clean from any micro-organisms before it is being proceeded
and turned into canned drinks.

5.0 Problems
Most tap and well water in US and most developed countries are not safe for drinking
due to heavy industrial and environmental pollution. It had reached a point where all
sources of our drinking water, including municipal water systems, wells, lakes, rivers
and even glaciers contain some level of contamination. Contamination range from
naturally occurring minerals to man-made chemicals and by products, even most of
the pollutants are not in the level which will caused immediate discomfort or sickness
but it is proven that continuous exposure to such pollutants will caused permanent
damages in human system and other living things. Chemicals commonly used to treat
municipal water supplies such as chlorine and fluoride are toxic and will have
significant adverse effects on the human body.
In most part of Australia, clean water supply had being very major issues. Law
enforcement will penalise consumers if they are found to use clean supplied water for
washing vehicles and watering the plants. For such commercial activities, most
Australian will use recycled water collected from rain.
Clean Water Is Everybodys Business By: Vincent Lau H C Page 4
Locally in Kuching, rubbish are still seen floating on most river with all sewage are
being drained into Sarawak River making the river very populated and unsafe for
direct drinking. Wide growth industries, plantation and deforestation had caused the
river to be more polluted. Numbers of river fishes had reduced dramatically such as
Empurau which make the high price reachable to Rm 4000 per KG during peak
season.

6.0 Case Study
Biharamulo District is one of the least developed in Tanzania. It receives irregular
rainfall and has very limited access to the main cities. Topography of hills and valleys
had further reduces the access to essential services especially during rainy seasons. In
2006 it had being concluded that only 10% of people had access to water within the
recommended 400 m walking distance from their homes and 48% of the improved
water points were not functioning, which make an average of one water point served
4,907 people. (Concern 2012)
Hadija Ali 32 years old and her mother Rehema Ramadhani who is 48 years old
stayed in Kabindi Village along with about over 3,200 other villagers. Local
organisation with funding from an international donor only constructed two wells in
the village in year 2008, but the wells were located to far away. Most villagers will
required at least 4 hours of travelling time to the wells. The wells that were built by
the local communities are not safe for drinking, as they will suffer from diarrhoea just
by drinking from the self digged well. (Concern 2012)
Older generation in the village complain about the far distance of the clean water well
build by the organisation and it is very troublesome for most of them to fetch clean
water every day. They all claimed that after fetching the water, they are too tired to do
Clean Water Is Everybodys Business By: Vincent Lau H C Page 5
any other work. Some villagers also complained that most of the kids educations were
affected as the kids will not have time to do any revision and home work after helping
their parents to fetch clean water for daily usage. (Concern 2012)

7.0 Discussion and Recommendation
Despite the help of the organisation, local communities still face problems to access to
the clean water supply. The build well didnt really solve their problems; it had only
diverted their problems to another problem. Clean supply of water is really an
essential for all human survival. (Concern 2012)
Besides Biharamulo District in Tanzania, lots of other countries also faced problems
with proper management of waste in water system which caused shortage of supply of
clean water. Lots of developed cities in Malaysia are also facing the same problems,
local Water Board tend to oped for easy solution by increasing the dosage of chlorine
while treating the water, which make the water taste weird and over exposure to
chlorine will harm human body. (Concern 2012)
River all around the world had being so polluted that most of it is unsafe for direct
consumption. Solid waste are seen floating all over with compilation of solid waste at
river bank during low tide, which caused heavy metal pollution on river water lead to
pollution on river living things. Such heavy pollution will require lots of expensive
filtration machineries to clean and filter the polluted river water. (Leonora 2012)
Education are the most important and primary stage to reduce the pollution of river
water. People should be educated well and not to discard rubbish into drain, stream
and river. Besides that, people should be educated well on performing recycle, reduce
and reuse. This will reduce the garbage and rubbish which require lots of landfills to
dispose the rubbish and garbage. Improper landfills designs will lead to heavy metals
Clean Water Is Everybodys Business By: Vincent Lau H C Page 6
pollution on river water. Besides that, carbon monoxide and dangerous gas emission
will cause acid rain and rain water pollution which will pollute the stream and river
water.
Reduction on the usage of crude oil will help to reduce the carbon monoxide emission
and other dangerous gases emission which will indirectly reduce the pollution towards
the entire water reticulation cycle.
Clean water is everybodys business and with everybody being responsible to look
after the river, we will enjoy clean water, fresh water living things and also unpolluted
plants.

8.0 Conclusion
Reuse, recycle and reducing everyday organic and non-organic waste will play a very
important role in ensuring clean water. Besides that, reducing the usage of crude oil
will also ensure very clean and unpolluted rain water which will reduce the pollution
of our water system. Everybody should play their role and help to reduce the river
pollution. Cleaner water will also mean cleaner and fresher air with unpolluted plants
and other living things. Human especially feed of different types of animals and plants
to get the energy and nutrients required to sustain life, beside water is also a very
important substance for human body to function perfectly.






Clean Water Is Everybodys Business By: Vincent Lau H C Page 7
9.0 Referrence
APEC, Free Drinking Water.com, APEC Water System, viewed 16 December 2012,
http://www.freedrinkingwater.com
Concern Worldwide, Providing accessible clean water in Kabindi Village, Runazi Ward,
Biharamulo District, Northwest Tanzania, viewed 21 December
2012,http://www.concern.net/sites/www.concern.net/files/tanzania_case_study-
_kabindi_village_-_mother_and_daughter_feb_2010.pdf
Health Guidance, Health Guidance for better health, The importance of Clean Water, viewed
21 December 2012, http://www.healthguidance.org/entry/3746/1/The-Importance-of-Clean-
Water.html
Leonora Oppenheim, Case Study Supplyinh Clean Water in Africa, viewed 21 December
2012,http://www.theecologist.org/how_to_make_a_difference/cleaner_air_water_land/36100
4/case_study_supplying_clean_water_in_africa.html
Mangosteen Natural Remedies, Top 11 Benefits of Drinking Water and How, viewed 21
December 2012, http://www.mangosteen-natural-remedies.com/benefits-of-drinking-
water.html
Voice Of America, viewed 20 December 2012, http://editorials.voa.gov