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Martinez

Guadalupe Martinez

11/19/19

Environmental Science

Prof. Foreman

Case Study

Recently, there have been several complaints concerning high levels of lead in American water, specifically in the City of Newark, New Jersey. The residents of Newark City have opted to use bottled water because of the lead contamination in the tapped water. It is so uncommon to find lead at the sources of water, but it gets into water as a result of corrosion of water pipes. The homes that were built in the year 1986 and before have lead fixtures, pipes, and solders. That, however, does not mean that homes that were built afterward don't face the risk of high lead levels in the water they are using. The pipes that are considered lead free have almost eight percent of lead. Lead is a very major hazard in environmental health. Lead is widely used in different commercial products, such as household paint and lead gas. However, lead is very toxic component that affects the ecosystem as well as the human beings living in the ecosystem, especially the young children whose brains are still developing (Schweitze & Nobler, 2018). In the ecosystem, the lead in water can end up in soils because of the corrosion of the leaded pipes. After the soil is corroded, then the plants are highly affected. Lead can as well get into the environment through exhausts of cars. This case study will explore the problems that lead water has in the ecosystem and the possible solutions to those problems.

Disadvantages of Lead Water to the Ecosystem

The first environmental effect of lead water is that the lead gas usually increases the lead concentration in the environment. Lead ends up in the soils and water through the corrosion of the leaded pipes and leaded paints. Lead cannot be broken down, but instead, it is converted into other forms. There are many families in this City that practices fish farming, and they use lead water to carry out the practice. Hence, these water organism faces health problems caused by the presence of lead in the water that they are surviving into. A high level of lead in water is a major problem in the ecosystem as it reduces the number of organisms that survives in the ecosystem specifically, Newark.

Secondly, phytoplankton is usually disturbed when there is interference by lead. Phytoplankton is a very crucial source of oxygen production. This means that lead pollution through water can really affect global balances. Global imbalance brings about problems to the ecosystem (Pieper et, Al., 2018).

The third disadvantage of lead water is the effect that it has on plants. As mentioned in the introduction part, major sources of lead water are the corrosion of the plumbing system. Therefore, there are many places in Newark City that are not rainy. In such places, irrigation is done for farming to take place. When plants absorb lead from the lead water through irrigation, they absorb the lead metal through their leaves. The consumers of planted foods are human beings, and hence, when they consume foods that were grown using lead water, their health is likely to get affected. It causes anemia, stunted growth, hearing problems, and learning problems in children.

The soil organism usually suffers from lead poisoning too. According to research that was conducted recently, it is evident that a very small amount of lead can kill a large number of soil organisms. In the ecosystem, there are small animals in the soils, and hence, when the lead water gets into the soil, these animals are likely to be affected because of the presence of lead in the water. When the small organisms in the soils are affected, then the entire ecosystem is affected, as well.

In summary, lead water affects the ecosystem as it reduces the number of organisms living in that particular ecosystem. This environmental issue is very serious and hence, should be addressed in order to save the ecosystem.

Possible solutions

The people living in Newark have an advantage since they can request a free test for the lead presence in water from the water department of the City. Many other cities also offer these services, and when tap water is tested, people will be able to know the percentage of lead in the water they are using. This will help because people will know whether to irrigate plants or not using their water. This solution favors a good number of people because it is free. However, people who afford can pay for the same services elsewhere.

The second solution to this issue is using cold tap water for drinking. This solution is likely to save human health. As mention in the problem part, many people, especially young children, suffer from lead contamination on their drinking water. Hot and warm water usually has high levels of lead, and hence, when drinking water is boiled, the concentration of lead is likely to get high. This, therefore, means that the effects of lead are lesser when the water is consumed when cold.

People who have fish ponds should ensure that the water they are using in rearing fish is rainwater. This will help in ensuring the health of the fish is not affected. That way, the ecosystem could have been favored as the fish will not be affected by the contamination of lead water.

Lastly, the community of Newark should consider replacing the pipes and the fixtures. It is a costly method, but through that, the problem of lead contamination would have been sorted. The effects of lead-contaminated water are severe and as mentioned above, the source of the contamination is not on the water source but on the transportation system of water. This means that when the pipes and fixtures are replaced, then the problem of the lead contaminated water will be permanently sorted.

The best solution is to replace the pipes and the fixtures. This is a very expensive method but it is worth to note that the government is responsible for that and it is worth replacing the pipes due to the adverse effects of lead contaminated water to both the lives of human beings as well as the ecosystem (Chen et. Al., 2018).

Conclusion

This case study analyzed the problems associated with lead contaminated water and the problems are broadly divided into two; effects of the ecosystem and also effects to the health of the human beings. However, this problem can be sorted when the pipes and other fixtures are replaced in Newark by the government. That is an expensive method but it is the method that is likely to solve the problem of contamination of water by lead permanently.

References

Ng, D. Q., Chen, C. Y., & Lin, Y. P. (2018). A new scenario of lead contamination in potable water distribution systems: galvanic corrosion between lead and stainless steel. Science of the Total Environment, 637, 1423-1431.

Pieper, K. J., Martin, R., Tang, M., Walters, L., Parks, J., Roy, S., ... & Edwards, M. A. (2018). Evaluating water lead levels during the Flint water crisis. Environmental science & technology, 52(15), 8124-8132.

Schweitzer, L., & Noblet, J. (2018). Water contamination and pollution. In Green Chemistry (pp. 261-290). Elsevier.