Assignment

Semester Proposal

A Proposal on the trouble with American’s Water: Newark as a case study

Background Information

The city of Newark, New Jersey has had its public have an outcry over presence of high levels of lead in their tap waters. The residents have resorted to using bottled water due to the unclean water being provided by their federal government. This is a recurring issue in the U.S as earlier the same issue had occurred in Flint in Michigan. There has been a controversy as the officials have been denying this issue. Samples of Newark children under the age of 16 years found that a number of them had lead in their blood. 22% of the drinking water tested also has been found to have levels of lead exceeding the federal standards.

Explanation of the Controversy

This is a dire environmental issue that needs to be investigated and solutions to be provided as quickly as possible. This is because it has an adverse effect to the current and future generations through the children and even the pregnant women. In children it causes them to be anemic, hearing problems, slowed and stunted growth, lower IQ and hyperactive and even behavior and learning problems. It also affects pregnant women thus causing reduced growth of fetus and even premature births. In adults it can cause decreased kidney functions, cardiovascular effects and reproductive problems.

Water is life and clean water is a basic human right that should be provided for by the government. Lack of clean water leads to poor sanitation and also invites diseases hence the government in Newark through its municipality should fast track to ensure that something has been done about the water being provided to its residents. The United States environmental protection agency has set its standards of water that should be provided hence the need for its adherence. This menace can be dealt with if there is replacement of the water pipes. The safe drinking water act provides of less than 0.25% of lead in the water as minimum standards. The water should also be checked through treating it and ensuring the lead levels are brought to its standards. Therefore, the research would be able to come with recommendations to help deal with this environmental issue

List of References

For this research to be successful I would be able to use a number of references. These including the EPA website, a publication on the evaluation of water lead levels during the Flint water crisis by Kelsey Pieper et al in 2018 in the environmental science and technology journal and an article on the trouble with American water by Olga Kazan in the Atlantic journal published in September 11 2019.