It might be surprising for those who live in privilege countries, but several countries do not have access to potable water. El Salvador is undergoing a water crisis, which is impacting the country’s life expectancy. Out of the countries located in Central America, El Salvador ranks to be one of the poorest countries, which could also be a contributing factor in the life expectancy. The most recent reported population of El Salvador is 6.34 million (2013) with the life expectancy at 72.1 years. In the past years, Salvadorians have been suffering from a water crisis because their water source has become contaminated, mostly by human causes. Compared to countries like the United States, the life expectancy of El Salvador ranks low because of
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This transition could potentially increase the life expectancy because their groundwater is potable. According to Jon Hamilton’s article, “the country has dug deep wells that reach the aquifers because they are protected from the surface pollution” (Hamilton). This shows that El Salvador has taken into account the amount of Salvadorians that are killed due to the contaminated surface water. About 600,000 Salvadorians lacked access to potable water, but with the transition to ground water more people will have access to cleaner water, thus increasing the life expectancy. Although transitioning to groundwater has the potential to increase life expectancy, a portion of the groundwater has started to contaminate. About 10 years ago, a small girl almost dies from drinking water from a local well (Hamilton). This specific well was contaminated from an earthquake that destroyed the well. There have been other incidents where wells are contaminated from local mining sites. Runoff from these sites usually end up in the aquifers. These chemicals can be fatal to their health. The country must take safety precautions to prevent their last resort of potable water to become …show more content…
In the past, the country did not have any established professional filtration systems, but now Salvadorians use basins and Biosand Filters. Before, families would gather buckets to carry back home water that was collected at the local rivers and streams. With the use of basins and Biosand Filters “families in El Salvador are experiencing the health and spiritual benefits of Biosand water filters” (“Six Thousand Water…”). Salvadorians were contacting diseases such as Hepatitis A and E by drinking the contaminated water, putting their lives at risk. With these filters, the water must go through a series of layers of sand and gravel, which catches the infectious bacteria, cleaning the water from the bacteria. A more efficient way the country is going about to sanitize their water, is by establishing water treatment plants of heavily contaminated rivers. According to Rodrigo Alonso, “ El Salvador’s environment and natural resources ministry will invest $300 million US dollars to build four treatment plants to improve water quality in the rivers”(Alonso). These plants will focus on cleaning the most contaminated rivers in the country. This will remove water borne diseases, which have prevented the life expectancy from increasing. Improving the water filtration systems across El Salvador will allow their citizen to live and longer and healthier
This transition could potentially increase the life expectancy because their groundwater is potable. According to Jon Hamilton’s article, “the country has dug deep wells that reach the aquifers because they are protected from the surface pollution” (Hamilton). This shows that El Salvador has taken into account the amount of Salvadorians that are killed due to the contaminated surface water. About 600,000 Salvadorians lacked access to potable water, but with the transition to ground water more people will have access to cleaner water, thus increasing the life expectancy. Although transitioning to groundwater has the potential to increase life expectancy, a portion of the groundwater has started to contaminate. About 10 years ago, a small girl almost dies from drinking water from a local well (Hamilton). This specific well was contaminated from an earthquake that destroyed the well. There have been other incidents where wells are contaminated from local mining sites. Runoff from these sites usually end up in the aquifers. These chemicals can be fatal to their health. The country must take safety precautions to prevent their last resort of potable water to become …show more content…
In the past, the country did not have any established professional filtration systems, but now Salvadorians use basins and Biosand Filters. Before, families would gather buckets to carry back home water that was collected at the local rivers and streams. With the use of basins and Biosand Filters “families in El Salvador are experiencing the health and spiritual benefits of Biosand water filters” (“Six Thousand Water…”). Salvadorians were contacting diseases such as Hepatitis A and E by drinking the contaminated water, putting their lives at risk. With these filters, the water must go through a series of layers of sand and gravel, which catches the infectious bacteria, cleaning the water from the bacteria. A more efficient way the country is going about to sanitize their water, is by establishing water treatment plants of heavily contaminated rivers. According to Rodrigo Alonso, “ El Salvador’s environment and natural resources ministry will invest $300 million US dollars to build four treatment plants to improve water quality in the rivers”(Alonso). These plants will focus on cleaning the most contaminated rivers in the country. This will remove water borne diseases, which have prevented the life expectancy from increasing. Improving the water filtration systems across El Salvador will allow their citizen to live and longer and healthier