GA2 Group Summaries

1. Our country of research was Iraq. The two main sources of fresh water come from the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. Unfortunately, roughly 35% of the freshwater in Iraq is polluted. A lot of sewage is dumped into the rivers, spreading numerous bacterias and diseases through the water supply. The state of California has very strict laws dealing with pollution in their water supply, so while they have slight problems with pollution, the problems they face are no where near the magnitude of the problems in Iraq.

2. Haiti faces numerous water issues. One of Haiti's main water issue is water pollution, with pollutants from domestic, agriculture, and industrial waste. Other issues that Haiti faces are the lack of portable water for basic needs and access to water and sanitation facilities are inadequate. A water issue associated with Haiti and Arizona is chemical water pollutants. However, Arizona's cases are much more isolated then Haiti's.

3. The biggest water problems surrounding Poland was pollution from industries. These pollutants ran into rivers where Poland gets a lot of water from and they caused people to get sick. The Great Lakes near Michigan were polluted from industries as well but are cleaned much better before people are able to drink that water.

4. Romania has numerous and severe problems with rural access to safe, usable water, water pollution, and health issues related to water. Though Romania has access to a great deal of fresh water (largely from the Danube River Basin and various inland rivers and lakes), agricultural and industrial pollution is inundating the water with nitrates, phosphorus, arsenic, herbicides and pesticides. Poor plumbing and waste management leads to fecal bacteria getting into rural water supply; this contributes to the spread of infection. Wisconsin, oddly, also has some semi-serious waste-management issues, and industrial pollution has led to unacceptable levels of arsenic in the water in some areas.

5. Our country of research was Nicaragua, which is a third world nation.The general source of fresh water comes from the San Juan river and lake Nicaragua. The status for its water supply is that it is generally unclean. The per capita consumption of water is about a fourth of the per capita consumption of the US, because of the lack of plumbing and other facilities that other first world countries have. If we knew of someone who was going to visit Nicaragua, we would recommend that he stay away from any local water, and try to drink only purified bottled water to prevent him/her from catching any water borne diseases.

6. Greece certainly faces many problems with water pollution. Most of this is due to new industrial plants dumping waste into water sources, which have become so bad that precipitation is now wearing away the ancient ruines. Louisiana has similar problems with water pollution, such as unwated mold, but it is no where near the extent that it has impacted Greece.

7. Our group discussed the water and water-related health problems in Lithuania and Florida. We discovered that due to farmland and sewage water leakage, and poor water treatment, the water in Lithuania is not of a high quality. Our group would recommend that a visitor drink from bottled water, as most tap and well water will come from under-treated ground water. We discovered that Florida has similar problems involving the nitrates and phosphorus that run into the water from farmlands. We would also recommend a secondary filter to tap water.

8. Egypt has pollution problems in their water supply related to construction (cement dust), agriculture (pesticide & herbicide use) and parasitic agents such as the snail that carries Schistosomiasis. They also must share the Nile river, their largest water source with their neighbors which has led to several water treaties in the past. The most notable commonality between Nevada and Egypt is they both must share their largest source of water, the Colorado river and Nile river respectively, peacefully with their neighbors.

9. In Group Activity 2, our group had a particularly difficult country. Morocco is in arid, developing land with a relatively meager water infrastructure. Water is not up to Western standards, and water in rural areas is scarce or non-existent. In fact, Morocco has one of the lowest percentage of accessible drinking water in rural areas in the world. Most is sourced from ground water and reservoirs, such as the Sahela reservoir. Morocco has a usable, albeit antiquated, water system. Their biggest thing holding back the Moroccan's ambitions for a first class water system (apart from the financial toll) is large amounts of pollution being poured into the water from the Petrochemical and textile industries present.

10. Ethiopia’s water is polluted by many dangerous contaminants, and is a health risk to all who consume/use it. Human, industrial, and agricultural wastes are all dumped into the same water supply people use for bathing and consumption, which causes rampant death and disease. Compared to the water quality of the state of Maine, the two are worlds apart. Aside from a few rural towns that have reported minor water contamination, including E. coli and water main breaks, Maine’s water is perfectly clean and safe to drink.

11. We decided to inform our friend of the dangers Brazilian water may have in store. In comparison to water from the United States, it contains many more contaminants. Uranium and other heavy metals have seeped into the water supply from mining, and only 35% of sewage is treated in the nation. We advised this friend to drink bottled water and to be shady about swimming and bathing. Also, do not visit for a long period of time. Disease has spread in Brazil because of its bad treatment practices. Intestinal problems have also occurred because of the minimal treatment of the waste water.

12. We researched the water usage of Kazakhstan and Texas, and discovered a few interesting things about the two. Kazakhstan's water usage per capita is one of the highest in the world, much more than even the United States. This absurdly high water usage is due to a gross under-regulation on water, leading to waste and contamination. Related to that under-regulation is the fact that only about half of Kazakhstan's people have clean water access, and that number will dwindle as Kazakhstan wastes and contaminates more and more water. Because both Kazakhstan and Texas are big agricultural places and relatively dry, both have the threat of a water shortage.

13. Our group decided that the water in Jamaica is not safe to drink. The Jamaica water is contained with sewage and other toxics, and drinking it is causing an outbreak of diseases. This pollution is happening because of an increase in industrial growth.

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15. In researching the water of Madagascar, our group came to the consensus that the country's resources are in dire condition. There is extreme pollution due to deforestation, sewage, and negligence on the part of the government,which leads to rampant health problems. Massachusetts, on the other hand, seems to have exceptional water.