Polluted Water: It Affects Botswana Too


Imagine walking miles and miles each day to a river for water, only to bring back unsanitary water for you and your family. The water is filled with bacteria carrying diseases, mining runoff, feces (animal and human), garbage, and many more wretched things. Your throat is parched, but you don't want to get sick. But you don't want to die from dehydration either. So you drink the water. You drink every last drop . Unfortunately, your body has now been contaminated like the 300 million others who don't have access to clean water in southern Africa. In Botswana, Africa, the lack of sanitary water should be stopped because everyone in the world is affected when water is contaminated, the polluted water is harming the aquatic ecosystems and killing animals, and thousands and thousands of people are dying due to 250 million diseases related to water illnesses.

In Botswana, the polluted water affects everyone because it is used for crops. Once the food -which is filled with toxic chemicals if the water used was polluted- has been grown, it is fed to people and livestock. Consequently, when the animals or humans eat the food, they also become contaminated. Similarly, when the animals are butchered/milked, the people then eat/drink the infected food and become diseased themselves. The food can also be exported to other countries. This means the people there can catch the diseases and are also contaminated. The death toll for children is equivalent to crashing 20 jumbo jets every day. Therefore, this vicious cycle must stop, as people everywhere are getting sick and dying. We aren't as helpless as infants, so why aren't we doing anything to stop people from suffering? The managing director of NamWater is Vairo Shivute, who said, “Despite all the signs of doom and gloom... people across the continent are making the most of the water that they can access.” But there's not a lot the people can access.

The polluted water in Botswana is harming aquatic ecosystems and killing more than 100,000 animals each year. Pollution negatively impacts public health and the functioning of ecosystems. For example, toxic and radioactive chemicals from industries are polluting rivers and causing long-term damage to ecosystems. So the plants die and then the herbivores, emaciated and weak, don't have anything to eat, so they die too. Then the carnivores don't have anything to eat so they -last but not least- also die. Likewise, runoff from small mining companies, urban storm water, industrial discharges,and poultry and livestock operations have hurt the water too. Fortunately, people in the Kilimanjaro region of Africa are taking the acidic water from coffee beans -the water is very toxic and can cause severe environmental damage- and turning it into methane. The methane is then used to power machinery on farms. Although this is not enough. Others think that people should strengthen water management and aquatic laws, even though nothing has been changed yet. Also, did you know that there is 15,0000 square kilometers of water in Botswana? But only 14.7 cubic kilometers is clean and renewable -as in, not a lot. If so many people are dying from diseases, think about all of the fish that actually live in the water!

There are 250 million diseases from polluted water. That is a lot! Also, 300 million people in Africa don't have access to clean drinking water, so no wonder there are so many people dying. Consequently, one child dies every fifteen seconds as a result of an illness due to contaminated water. Because of this, Professor Moyo, a freshwater biologist, wrote that, “The degradation of river water quality has resulted in an increased risk to consumers who consume water from the region's water sources.” Without change, the World Health Organization says that water-related diseases could kill 135 million people by 2020. Why aren't we listening to the experts and making changes?

Since so many people are being affected by polluted water in Botswana, Africa, I think that we, the citizens of the earth, should make some drastic changes. If unsanitary water in Africa is contaminating all of the people on earth, harming the many ecosystems and aquatic wildlife, and killing hundreds of thousands of people, don't you think we should help stop this madness? Because we must stop the water pollution in Botswana, if not for the contamination, then for our morals, passion, and concern for others. If we had to live like this, we would want people to help. Why should we sit back and watch people suffer? If we are advocates, we can help. We need to start somewhere. Let's start here.