Kelly Rong, Ingrid Lu, Chenghao Liu, Ruotan Zhang
Juanli Carrion
Sustainable System Practices
27 January, 2021
New York City Drinking Water and Safety
1.Research
Introduction
The New York City drinking water supply system, the largest unfiltered water supply in the United States according to the New York State government website, provides about 1.2 billion gallons of high quality drinking water to the population every day. The population includes 8.5 million residents and people living in Westchester, Putnam, Orange and Ulster counties. Although New York City’s water system is known for legally providing the highest quality drinking water, the wicked question of whether or not the water is safe remains investigable due to water containing pollutants and contaminants.
New York City water systems
According to the New York State government website, New York City Watershed Agreement(MOA) was signed in January 1997 as a partnership agreement to protect the natural resources or the NYC watershed located in Southeastern New York State as well as to continue to provide the population with high quality water resources without using costly filtration. The watershed, located in portions of the Hudson Valley and Catskill mountains is composed of 19 reservoirs and three controlled lakes according to the NYC environmental protection website. In order to manage the New York City watershed program(NYCWP), DEC was initiated in 1997 as technical expertise to look after stormwater management, wastewater treatment plant upgrades and construction, community wastewater management, septic system repairs and replacement and more.
Drinking Water
According to World Health Organization, “In 2017, 71% of the global population (5.3 billion people) used a safely managed drinking-water service – that is, one located on premises, available when needed, and free from contamination,” and, “[…]contaminated water can transmit diseases such diarrhoea, cholera, dysentery, typhoid, and polio. Contaminated drinking water is estimated to cause 485 000 diarrhoeal deaths each year.” Thus, inappropriate treatment of the water system or parasites that live or contained in water could put the population at high risks for their health. WHO has also produced a series of water quality guidelines on drinking water, safe use of wastewater and safe treatment of water environments.
Is New York City’s drinking water safe?
The uses of water filtration kits or home water test kits are still promoted in New York City. From an organization website called Waterful, which focuses research on accessing healthy water for the population, provides data overview on New York City water system. According to its data, tap water (or drinking water) in New York City water system contains contaminants such as fluoride, chlorine, bromodichloromet, hane, bromoform, chloroform, hexavalent, chromium, dichloroacetic acid, trihalomethanes and trichloroacetic acid. Pollutants in NYC tap water, which could cause significant health concerns, were due to over two million pounds of toxic water releases in 2018. These contaminants could cause health effects such as bladder cancer, harm to fetal growth, sleepiness, shortness of breath, cancer to liver or reproductive system, skin cancer, and harm to child development.
2. Surveys and Data collection
Survey on Drinking water situation and knowledge
The sample size of the surveys is 30.
- Your age:
| Under 18 | 1 | 3.33% |
| 18-30 years old | 24 | 80% |
| 30-45 years old | 3 | 10% |
| 45-60 years old | 2 | 6.67% |
| Over 60 years old | 0 | 0% |
- The source of your drinking water:
| Boil tap water | 17 | 56.67% |
| Drinking tap water | 4 | 13.33% |
| Buy bottled water | 20 | 66.67% |
| Water Purifier | 12 | 40% |
- Whether there is limescale in your kettle:
| Obvious scale | 10 | 33.33% |
| Limescale is not obvious | 18 | 60% |
| I don‘t care！ | 2 | 6.67% |
- Your drinking water situation:
| Very turbid | 0 | 0% |
| Turbid | 2 | 6.67% |
| So so | 6 | 20% |
| clear | 15 | 50% |
| Super clear | 7 | 23.33% |
- Your daily expenditure on drinking water:
| 0-1$ | 16 | 53.33% |
| 1-5$ | 10 | 33.33% |
| 5-10$ | 2 | 6.67% |
| 10-20$ | 1 | 3.33% |
| >100$ | 1 | 3.33% |
- What water do you use when cooking:
| Tap water | 13 | 43.33% |
| Water purifier | 10 | 33.33% |
| Boiled tap water | 5 | 16.67% |
| Bottled water | 0 | 0% |
| I do not know how to cook 😉 | 2 | 6.67% |
- Do you know the safety standards of drinking water?
| Very well | 1 | 3.33% |
| I know some of standards | 5 | 16.67% |
| a little | 21 | 70% |
| I don’t know | 3 | 10% |
- The impact of the river near your address on your life:
| Unpleasant smell, causing trouble | 10 | 33.33% |
| Unable to walk by the river, enjoy the shade. | 10 | 33.33% |
| Causes algae growth, fish death, making people sick | 9 | 30% |
| No effect | 11 | 36.67% |
| Others | 7 | 23.33% |
- The treatment methods used for the water near your address are:
| Physical methods (dredging bottom mud, mechanical algae removal, water diversion and siltation, etc.) | 5 | 16.67% |
| Chemical methods (coagulation precipitation, adding chemical agents to kill algae, etc.) | 1 | 3.33% |
| Ecological-biological methods (bioremediation technology, land treatment technology, etc.) | 5 | 16.67% |
| I don’t know | 21 | 70% |
| Others | 1 | 3.33% |
- What do you know to improve water quality?
| Physical methods (dredging bottom mud, mechanical algae removal, water diversion and siltation, etc.) | 13 | 43.33% |
| Chemical methods (coagulation precipitation, adding chemical agents to kill algae, etc.) | 14 | 46.67% |
| Ecological-biological methods (bioremediation technology, land treatment technology, etc.) | 17 | 56.67% |
| I don’t know | 7 | 23.33% |
| Others | 1 | 3.33% |
- What is your understanding of water pollution?
| Pungent smell | 23 | 76.67% |
| The water contains excessive calcium and magnesium | 21 | 70% |
| Turbid water | 26 | 86.67% |
| PH | 16 | 53.33% |
| I don’t know | 2 | 6.67% |
- What do you think is the main source of water pollution?
| Wastewater from industrial production | 20 | 66.67% |
| Domestic wastewater | 8 | 26.67% |
| Sudden water pollution | 0 | 0% |
| I don’t know | 2 | 6.67% |
Analysis of survey results
From the age information of all the people surveyed, it can be found that people around the age of 18 to 30 are more willing to pay attention to the safety of drinking water, but not so more informed on the water system, as the other interviewees are.
People will be more inclined to consume ready-made bottled water and boil tap water. But it cannot be ruled out that some people will drink tap water without any process. Although the mineral content of drinking water in New York does not exceed the safe range, 93.33% of the 30 people found scale in the kettle, which indicates high mineral content in the water. Of the 30 interviewees, only two of them found their drinking water is a bit turbid, while most people’s drinking water is very clear. After interviewing the two people who reported the turbid drinking water, both of them said that the turbidity is temporary, and the water will be much more transparent after standing for a period of time. In addition to the duration of the turbidity, we have also found that the turbidity in the water appears to be many small bubbles in the water pipe. In terms of the expenditure on water, people fall into two major groups. Some of them will spend 0-5 dollars a day. People who spend more than $5 on drinking water use water purifiers. Although only four of these 30 people drink tap water directly, 13 of them use tap water for kitchen water. This research shows that people still cannot avoid using tap water in their daily lives, so the safety of tap water is critical. Among the 30 people, only one person is very knowledgeable about drinking water’s safety standards, which shows that the degree of popularization of drinking water safety standards is not very high. In addition, 70% of people do not know how the management department handles and processes tap water. Among the many methods of treating tap water, ecological-biological methods are widely known. However, chemical processes (coagulation precipitation, adding chemical agents to kill algae, etc.) is the widely used method. In general, the level of popularization of drinking water safety standards is not very high.
In the investigation of water quality and pollution, the clarity of the water and whether the mineral content exceeds the standard are issues most people are concerned about.
3.Conclusion
Based on our research and the surveys we have collected. We believe that so far, the biggest problem facing New York’s drinking water sources is sediment in the water and excessive levels of chemicals. Sediment causes more pathogens to be carried and can affect the effectiveness of filters. Secondly, excessive chemicals can also cause varying degrees of harm to the body. Excessive levels of phosphorus can lead to the failure of certain organs in the body. After our survey of 30 people, we found that still 14 percent of people, without any treatment, drink water straight from the tap. And most people judge the cleanliness of a water source simply by observing whether there are stains in the water. However, the substances that really affect our bodies are often the microorganisms that we cannot see. Therefore, we believe that the best solution is by boiling the water. The secondary disinfection of the water source, heated to over 100 degrees, can be a good way to avoid these problems.
Sources
https://www1.nyc.gov/site/dep/water/water-supply.page
https://waterful.org/is-nyc-tap-water-safe-to-drink/
https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/drinking-water
