Don't Drink The Water Trivia Quiz

Answer: World Health Organisation / United Nations

The importance of water for a healthy planet can be underpinned by two global organisations, World Health Organisation and the United Nations, which have been working together to ensure enough safe water for every person on Earth. Its importance cannot be overstated.

Water is at the very core of sustainable development and is necessary for food
and energy production, healthy ecosystems, socio-economic development, and, indeed for human survival itself.

Sanitation cannot be treated in isolation from water. Both are critical and interdependent for decreasing the worldwide burden of disease and improving health and education as well as the economic productivity of the global population.

Access to water is a human rights issue. There must be a global agreement to balance the commercial demands for water to ensure there is enough water for communities. All humankind, particularly women and girls, must have access to clean sanitation systems to be able to manage maternity and menstruation issues in safety and with dignity

The photo depicts the United Nations building in New York City.

Answer: Over two billion

Of the 7.8 billion people on Earth in 2020, 5.8 billion had access to safe water. According to the UN, this means these people had access to "improved water sources located on premises, available when needed, and free from contamination".

However, the remaining two billion people did not have access to safely managed water*. These included:

- 1.2 billion people with basic services: an improved water source located within a round trip of 30 minutes
- 282 million people with limited services, or an improved water source requiring more than 30 minutes to collect water
- 368 million people taking water from unprotected wells and springs
- 122 million people collecting untreated surface water from lakes, ponds, rivers and streams

Source - "State of the world's drinking water: An urgent call to action to accelerate progress on ensuring safe drinking water for all" WHO Global Report 2022

Answer: Allowing 5-10 litres of water per day per person

The charter contains all of the above points except the daily 'allowance' should be 50-100 litres per day. Contaminated water commensurate with a lack of basic sanitation is preventing the poorest people in the world from being able to escape from poverty and disease.

From the "WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply and Sanitation" (2017), over 1.2 billion people drink their daily water from sources that are not protected from faecal contamination. Even more drink water from a system without adequate sanitary protection.

Unclean water, combined with poor sanitation, is one of the major causes of child mortality. Childhood diarrhoea is closely correlated with insufficient water supply, inadequate sanitation, water contaminated with communicable disease agents, and poor hygiene. This disease is estimated to cause 1.5 million child deaths per year, mostly among children under five living in developing countries.

The photo depicts two bottles containing approximately 40 L of water.

Answer: Faecal material

At the most basic level, the reason for unsafe water is the lack of separation of water sources from human waste disposal. This may be because the water source and the disposal may be the same vehicle. In some places the two mechanisms are too close together and 'leakage' occurs. In 2020 the World Health Organisation released a goal and target to enable the entire world to have access to clean water by 2030. In 2020, 107 million people gained access to safe drinking water at home. Measures being taken include the separation of water sources from waste disposal as a priority.

Pesticides and industrial wastes are problems found in the water of the more developed countries and most have strategies for removing them with a high, but not total, percentage of removal.

The photo is of a no-longer-used cesspit in Slovakia.

Answer: Hepatitis

The biggest risk in unsafe water is contamination. This can be contamination with chemicals/pollutants or faecal matter. It is not the faecal matter but the micro-organisms in the faecal matter that causes problems. Water acts as a distributor of the organisms.

Bacterial diseases transmitted through drinking water (and the bacteria that cause the disease) include cholera (Vibrio cholerae), typhoid fever and other serious salmonelloses such as Salmonella typhi Bacillary dysentery or shigellosis (Shigella spp.), acute diarrhoeas and gastroenteritis (E. coli) are commonly spread by unclean water.

There are other bacterial pathogens found in contaminated water that cause illness, including campylobacter and aeromonas species.

The photo shows isolated colonies of Salmonella spp. on selective XLD culture media

Answer: True

Traveller's diarrhoea is caused by consuming water contaminated with amoeba protozoa. As well as infecting the large intestine, it can also infect the liver.

Schistosomiasis is caused by parasitic worms that develop in water. These worms can penetrate the skin of those washing or swimming in contaminated water. They can infect the bladder and the liver. The disease affects about 200 million people globally, principally in Africa.

Intestinal worms are parasites that can be transmitted by drinking contaminated water They include whipworms, hookworms, and roundworms. The worms are responsible for delayed growth, anaemia and malnutrition, especially in children. Intestinal worms affect nearly 10% of the population predominantly children. Guinea worm disease is very common in Africa. A person is infected by the worms after drinking water contaminated with worm larvae. The larvae then develop into full-grown adult worms and later exit the body after 12 months. A fully grown Guinea worm can grow to over a metre long. After it leaves the sufferer is left with incapacitating ulcers.

Waterborne viruses that cause gastroenteritis and worse include rotavirus, which is the leading cause of severe infectious diarrhoea in children, with dehydration a high risk associated with infection. Vaccination against rotavirus is available but not worldwide

Hepatitis is a highly infectious viral disease that affects the liver. Hepatitis A is acquired through ingestion of water contaminated with the hepatitis virus or eating food washed with contaminated water. Its symptoms include abdominal pain, depression, fatigue, nausea, weight loss, and fever. Hepatitis B causes the same symptoms but is caused by a radically different virus and is transmitted sexually or through shared drug use.

The photo depicts an electron micrograph of Hepatitis A viruses

Answer: He removed the handle from the well

In August of 1854, in the London suburb of Soho, there was a very serious outbreak of cholera. Physician John Snow wanted to prove his theory that contaminated water was the cause of the outbreak. In 1849 he published an article outlining his theory that cholera was spread by contaminated water. The medical profession did not believe him as the popular belief of the time that cholera was caused by breathing vapours or a "miasma in the atmosphere".

With the 1854 Soho outbreak, he tracked every patient who contracted cholera and where they obtained their water. Every case took their water from the Broad Street well while others that used other wells did not contract cholera. He convinced the town authorities to remove the well handle. The outbreak of cholera immediately trickled to a stop. Authorities still did not believe Snow's theory. It was not until a leaky cesspool was found just three feet from the Broad Street pump that Snow's theory was accepted as fact..

In 1883 a German physician, Robert Koch, isolated the bacterium Vibrio cholerae, which was the "poison" Snow contended caused cholera.

Contemporaneous scientists consider Snow to be the pioneer of public health research in a field that became known as epidemiology.

Answer: Microplastics

Microplastics are found everywhere in the environment and have been detected in both small and large concentrations in salt water, wastewater, freshwater, and drinking water, both bottled and tap water. The data on the frequency of microplastics in drinking water are limited at present. There is no standard definition of what microplastics are but they are frequently defined as plastic particles less than 5 mm in length. Microplastics may enter drinking-water sources in several ways: the major ones being from surface run-off (e.g. after a rain event), and wastewater effluent (both treated and untreated). In freshwater, it has been reported microplastic particle counts ranged from around 0 to 1000 particles/L.

Investigations into the human health risk of ingesting microplastics is ongoing, as long-term studies are necessary. Pressure to remove these particles at treatment plants has come from government sources but the problem that needs to be addressed is stopping them from getting into the environment in the first place.

The photo demonstrates microplastics in a lake in Croatia.

Answer: Grey water is untreated, non-disinfected household wastewater that does not include toilet waste

Grey water cannot include toilet waste due to the risk of it containing microbial pathogens. It can be sourced from showers, baths, and washing machines. It can be safely used to water plants and trees. It should not be used to grow vegetables if the edible part comes in contact with the soil. Grey water must not be used in a sprinkler system. Care needs to be taken to avoid laundry products that contain sodium or sodium compounds, bleach, or boron. (Boron is common in laundry powders).

Recycled water is defined as "highly treated wastewater from various sources such as domestic sewage, industrial wastewater and storm water runoff." (California Department of Water Resources). This water has been cycled through three levels of treatment including filtration and disinfection.

Recycled water can be delivered via sprinkler irrigation methods. It is safe to use to water trees, gardens, vegetables and lawns. All food grown with this type of water should be thoroughly washed with drinking water prior to consumption. Recycled water must not be used for drinking, cooking, or showering.

The photo shows the difference between grey water and recycled water.

Answer: Fluoride

Tooth decay is a major public health issue in industrialised countries, affecting 65-95% of schoolchildren nearly all adults. Water fluoridation (World Health Organization suggests a level of fluoride from 0.5 to 1.5 mg/L) reduces cavities in children, while effectiveness in adults is less understood. In industrialised countries, water fluoridation may be unnecessary because topical fluorides (toothpaste) are widely used, and caries rates have reduced considerably.

The addition of fluoride to drinking water is controversial: The World Health Organization reports that water fluoridation, when 'culturally acceptable', has substantial advantages, while the European Commission found nil benefit to water fluoridation compared with topical use.