Metal Poisoning in the US
This is a quick and dirty brain dump. Perhaps at a later date, I will clean it up and add supporting links.
Some people joke about "The third world country of America" and with good reason: The US has some issues that are very serious and are not typically seen in developed countries.
Two issues that are shockingly widespread are unrecognized parasitic infections and metal poisoning. Metal poisoning is very often due to water supply issues, such as contaminated wells or lead pipes.
Chicago has a lot of lead pipes and this disproportionately impacts poorer neighborhoods. From what I gather, there are "Two Chicagos": The nice, safe, clean upper class mostly White Chicago and the high crime, lead poisoned, dirt poor mostly non-White Chicago. It depends on what neighborhood you are in.
Some of the worst of our water issues are found on Indian Reservations. They often lack adequate infrastructure and federal funding programs are often designed in a manner that makes it hard for such populations to get the funds intended to address such issues because things work differently on the Reservation than in the rest of America and programs tend to be written in a way that works for the rest of America.
So America has a serious issue with metal poisoning and it tends to disporportionately impact poor people who are often People of Color -- Blacks, Natives, Latinos, etc.
I have done two college papers on the widespread arsenic poisoning of wells in Bangladesh. Last I checked, they were pioneering means to treat the water locally and affordably and also identifying which wells were likely to be poisoned.
(TLDR of which wells: Wells of a certain depth were typically safe. Shorter wells and deeper wells were not. It depended on the rock formation that was the source of water for the well in question and this was related to depth.)
If I recall correctly, President Carter addressed the spread of a water-borne parasite in Africa and the way this worked was they sent mesh cloth to villages to pour the water through to filter out the eggs. This was not a good means logistically for locals.
Locals ultimately used the mesh to cover the end of a straw and every individual got their own straw to hang from their neck so they could filter the water through the mesh-covered straw as they drank. The incidence of infection plummeted.
Poor Americans need third-world country inspired solutions to their water issues. In the US, we tend to be snobs who develop rich people solutions and turn our noses up at poor people solutions but this means that for issues of this sort, the people who most desperately need help will never get it.
If your water supply is making you sick, the first thing you need to do is find some means to prevent or reduce further harm from your water supply. If you are very poor, you may need to find a cheap and practical interrim solution that doesn't involve "Well, just upgrade all your lead pipes to new ones!" Especially since if you are renting or something, you may have no authority to do something like that even if you can find some means to fund it.
This post will not include specific solutions to act on. It's just a quick portrait of the problem space and why it is not being resolved even though we are a very wealthy country and it is a shocking travesty that this still goes on.
If you are an individual with "mystery" health ailments and poor or a person of color, consider that your water supply may be poisoning you. Begin reading up to try to figure out what might be in it. Look to relief programs for third world countries for inspiration as to how you might mitigate the situation as immediately as possible in a manner that is affordable.
Some people joke about "The third world country of America" and with good reason: The US has some issues that are very serious and are not typically seen in developed countries.
Two issues that are shockingly widespread are unrecognized parasitic infections and metal poisoning. Metal poisoning is very often due to water supply issues, such as contaminated wells or lead pipes.
Chicago has a lot of lead pipes and this disproportionately impacts poorer neighborhoods. From what I gather, there are "Two Chicagos": The nice, safe, clean upper class mostly White Chicago and the high crime, lead poisoned, dirt poor mostly non-White Chicago. It depends on what neighborhood you are in.
Some of the worst of our water issues are found on Indian Reservations. They often lack adequate infrastructure and federal funding programs are often designed in a manner that makes it hard for such populations to get the funds intended to address such issues because things work differently on the Reservation than in the rest of America and programs tend to be written in a way that works for the rest of America.
So America has a serious issue with metal poisoning and it tends to disporportionately impact poor people who are often People of Color -- Blacks, Natives, Latinos, etc.
I have done two college papers on the widespread arsenic poisoning of wells in Bangladesh. Last I checked, they were pioneering means to treat the water locally and affordably and also identifying which wells were likely to be poisoned.
(TLDR of which wells: Wells of a certain depth were typically safe. Shorter wells and deeper wells were not. It depended on the rock formation that was the source of water for the well in question and this was related to depth.)
If I recall correctly, President Carter addressed the spread of a water-borne parasite in Africa and the way this worked was they sent mesh cloth to villages to pour the water through to filter out the eggs. This was not a good means logistically for locals.
Locals ultimately used the mesh to cover the end of a straw and every individual got their own straw to hang from their neck so they could filter the water through the mesh-covered straw as they drank. The incidence of infection plummeted.
Poor Americans need third-world country inspired solutions to their water issues. In the US, we tend to be snobs who develop rich people solutions and turn our noses up at poor people solutions but this means that for issues of this sort, the people who most desperately need help will never get it.
If your water supply is making you sick, the first thing you need to do is find some means to prevent or reduce further harm from your water supply. If you are very poor, you may need to find a cheap and practical interrim solution that doesn't involve "Well, just upgrade all your lead pipes to new ones!" Especially since if you are renting or something, you may have no authority to do something like that even if you can find some means to fund it.
This post will not include specific solutions to act on. It's just a quick portrait of the problem space and why it is not being resolved even though we are a very wealthy country and it is a shocking travesty that this still goes on.
If you are an individual with "mystery" health ailments and poor or a person of color, consider that your water supply may be poisoning you. Begin reading up to try to figure out what might be in it. Look to relief programs for third world countries for inspiration as to how you might mitigate the situation as immediately as possible in a manner that is affordable.
Some people who live remotely arrange off-grid solutions, such as solar and wind power on site and water catchment systems, re Earthships et al.Related:
That approach might be a better solution for the Navajo Nation and other Native peoples on reservations. There would still be financing challenges, but it's likely cheaper overall and more sustainable than running pipes and cables long distances out to remote locations.
