By: Nate Wolf
I had a water emergency at my house this weekend, and I’ve been thinking a lot about water.
Pros and Cons of Water
Pro: It keeps us alive. Con: We need it to stay alive. Pro: It tastes delicious when you’re thirsty. Con: Causes a lot of damage when it floods your basement or your house or your entire city. Pro: You can clean things with it. Con: Since we need it every day, people may have to either spend a lot of money on piping, plumbing fixtures, etc., or walk a couple of hours to the river just to carry back a few gallons. Pro: If you have some barley and hops (whatever hops are) you can make beer with it. Con: It is an important part of the life cycle of several of the world’s most devastating diseases, those diseases that disproportionately affect the world’s poorest people, such as malaria and several of what are known as Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs), including schistosomiasis, onchocerciasis, and lymphatic filariasis. Pro: It makes crops grow. Con: If crops don’t get it, they won’t grow. Con: Drinking bad water can cause other types of diseases, such as cholera or rotavirus (rotavirus also spreads in other ways, making it particularly dangerous). Pro: Water can be used to create energy. Con: Watering crops with infected water is one way to spread roundworm, the most common of all NTDs, affecting an estimated 800 million people around the world1.
» Read more: Some Thoughts About Water
