Report on Water Pollution in the USA

Often, scarcity of water is misunderstood as a lack of access to any water. However, when available and plentiful sources of water become polluted, the quality becomes issue instead of quantity. Water pollution is an invasion of pollutants into water bodies (Yung-tse, et al., 2012). According to a World Bank’s report, above almost seventy percent of the water utilized in the place of Latin America returning to many rivers in the absence of every possible treatment. It points out that industrial waste and sewage are placed back into water sources and rivers like dams and lakes. The issue of water pollution in Latin American is of particular concern as approximately 80% of the overall population seems to reside in areas which are urban and near to rivers which are contaminated. For instance, the Centre of Argentine, Buenos Aires, closely runs to the river of Rio Plata that is a polluted river (Flint, 2014). According to an article published in The Guardian, the Lake Erie is the water source for Toledo, and the lake had sickened with a “microcystin” bacteria’s overload due to algae bloom produced by runoff of phosphorus from farms (annex 3). Crystal Jankowski, in the beginning of August 2014, was in late days of her duration of her pregnancy and it was known to her that she was about due. It was humid and hot in Toledo, Ohio where she lived and she wanted to relax in a cool shower, but she couldn’t take one. Drinking the water was banned for almost a week in the city, and women that are pregnant, children, and elderly were instructed not to shower. The gynecologists instructed pregnant women not even to touch water because it will harm their babies (McGraw, 2019). Phosphorus loads to Lake Erie have been too high (annex 4).

Healthy ecosystems, to thrive, rely on different complex plants, fungi, bacteria, and animals — every other that interacts with the other, directly or indirectly. Additionally, a chain effect can be generated for harming any organization, imperiling the whole aquatic environment. When an algal bloom is caused in a lake or marine environment by water pollution, the newly introduced nutrients’ proliferation stimulates algae and plant growth by which oxygen level is reduced in water. This oxygen dearth, called eutrophication, suffocates animals and plants and “dead zones” can be created where waters are devoid of life (Denchak, 2018). Pollution is one of the top concerns in top economies (annex 1), and half of all rivers of America are too polluted for the health of humans (annex 2).

Marine debris threatens marine ecosystems, which can suffocate, starve, and strangle animals. A lot of marine debris is actually solid like plastic bags and soda cans gets swept into sewers and storm drains and ultimately out to sea, turning the American oceans into trash soup. Phosphorus pollution has been reaching dangerous levels worldwide (Annex 5) and commercial fertilizer use in America was too high until 2011 (annex 6). Waterways in the U.S. have not always been in a compromised state. Streams flowed through a rocks’ natural filtration have been likely suitable for agricultural and pre-colonial domestic use, with acceptable potability for bathing and cooking as well as drinking. As immigrants populations boomed across the American nation, however, healthy resources of water became polluted increasingly from both runoff and dumping of all kinds of waste. Such practices have overall cause decline in the water quality of America as urban sprawl keeps reaching out to most pristine areas (Snyder, 2018).

The economy of the United States has suffered due to far-reaching and diverse effects of water pollution. The property values, tourism, recreational businesses, commercial fishing, and many other sectors of America has been suffering that depends on clean and pure water. Algal blooms and nitrates in the sources of pure ware raise the cost of treatment. In Minnesota, systems which remove nitrate caused an increase in supply costs from 5 to 10 cents per thousand gallons to over $4 per thousand gallons. Cleaning up polluted water bodies costs billions of dollars, and every dollar spent on the protection of drinking water sources saves in costs of water treatment. Tourism loss is another economic impact of water pollution in America; the loss of the industry of tourism is close to $1 billion almost every year, mostly because of the losses in boating activities and fishing, since water bodies are impacted by harmful algal blooms and water pollution. Algal blooms which are harmful hurt the shellfish and fish industries as it kills fish and contaminates shellfish. Tens of millions of dollars is estimated annual losses to such industries from water pollution. Value of a nearby home can be increased by clean water up to 25%. Value of waterfront property declines because of the odor of algal blooms and the unpleasant sight (Environmental Protection Agency, 2019).

Nutrient pollution, a water pollution form, is quite broad, costly, and challenging issues of the US and phosphorus cause it with excess nitrogen in the water and air. Nitrogen and phosphorus are nutrients which are aquatic ecosystems’ natural parts. When an environment had two much nitrogen and phosphorus– normally from a wide human activities range - the water and air can become polluted. Pollution in nutrients in America has impacted many rivers, lakes, streams, coastal waters and bays for many decades, causing serious issues regarding the environment and human health that ultimately impacts the economy. In groundwater, nutrient pollution - which is used by millions of people in America as their source of drinking water – can be damaging at levels which are low. Furthermore, infants are sensitive to a compound based on nitrogen, called nitrates the water which is drinkable. Pollutants are produced due to excess of nitrogen in the present atmosphere such as ozone and ammonia, which can harm the ability of human to breathe, alter plant growth and limit visibility. The excess nitrogen harms the health of forests, waterways, and soils when it comes back from the atmosphere to earth (US Water Alliance, 2017).

Furthermore, water pollution causes negative externality in the form of economic cost. Damage to recreational facilities is caused, particularly around freshwater lakes that can be evaluated by attendance loss and in rent values. Significant weight is taken on a budget of the municipality by costs of water purification, including inspection and treatment. Heavy investments are required in infrastructure for securing uncontaminated and reliable sources for large cities such as pumping stations, dams, treatment plants, and waterworks, etc. (Rodrigue, 2019). Furthermore, the main asset that regulators are concerned with is the environmental quality. However, environmental quality is facing a problem which is due to the public nature of the resources. Water is considered as a public good which is subjected to free riding, it’s not supplied by private firms because of free riding, and this will not make them better off and maximize their profits. Open access resources are most problematic, an asset that is valuable and can deliver an economical value to individuals that use it, but nobody owns it. This applies to environmental goods that belong to this category. Some of the oceans are owned by specific countries. However, areas that are not owned by anybody will be an open-access resource (Yung-tse, et al., 2012).

 Red algae bloom, in August 2018, of Florida’s southwest coast, created a state of emergency, and $1.5 million was promised by the state in emergency funding. Red tide clean-up efforts between 2004 and 2007 cost $11,114 to $250,000 per event to the state and hospital admissions were increased by 50% due to vapors (Achenbach, et al., 2018). Water pollution has multiple economic effects (annex 7).

In economic terms, the food production industry suffered in America due to water pollution when Greenpeace suggested stopping eating meat, eggs, and dairy products from stopping the blooms. The Production of such eatables pollutes rivers, leading to dead zones and blooms while running into the oceans. The oceans are polluted by acidification that increases in carbon dioxide absorbed by the oceans from an atmosphere. As estimated by the scientists, 25% of carbon emitted goes into the oceans that change the water’s chemical makeup; pH level falls that makes water more acidic. The pH level, since the 1800s, has dropped by 0.1 pH units that don't sound high but the scale of pH is logarithmic alike a Richter scale by which earthquakes are measured; it represents 30% increase in acidity as a consequence. Keeping the American economy in consideration, water pollution has been damaging the shellfish industry worth $100 billion in the West Coast of America. In the past 40 years, coral bleaching has nearly fivefold increased; bleaching, in the early 1980s, occurred every 25 to 30 years only and by 2016, it occurs once every 5.9 years. As indicated, acidity levels will be 50% higher by 2100; highest since the era of Miocene 20 million years back. Algae, seagrasses, and kelp may benefit from higher levels of CO2, but acidity erodes the mussels, clams, and shells of oysters, depleting that source of food (Saxer & Rosenbloom, 2018).

Considering the above economic analysis of water pollution in America, different constraints should be formulated to overcome these issues. The key to cleaning up and preventing water pollution is a shift of economy to the pursuit of stability from the pursuit of unending growth. Changing the macroeconomic goal toward maintenance of life-support systems and away from growth would change behave of businesses (causing water pollution), and other respective institutions. A true-cost economy needs to be formulated in America which goal is equitable and sustainable well-being, rather than continuous growth. The actors in a true-cost economy would care more about a future in the medium or long-run than quarterly returns.  For instance, chemical companies would be required to keep themselves engaged in green chemistry, and renewable energy would be produced by utilities. The following graph represents the liability approach for policy options:

The property rights of different water resources need to be introduced in America. Water pollution issues can be completely counteracted by forcing confinements on individuals who use the water for their purposes. Human exercises are compromising the marine ecosystem. In any case, such measures may be exorbitant. If regulators don’t start introducing property rights, resources will be destroyed; even though they are open to everyone, they still have the problem that if one agent uses it, it cannot be used by someone else. For example, pollution in the Pacific where plastics are floating, but it’s nobody’s responsibility to take care of because it’s an open-access resource which will result in a tragedy of the commons. The following image represents the property right approach:

The government of America needs to put taxes on fossil fuels and other toxic substances so that its costs would be too high to pay. The companies should be required to have an eco-auditor just as the companies are required to have a financial auditor. The eco-auditors of the companies should be responsible for assessing whether a company has been externalizing costs and whether production of a company has been harming life-support systems; they should also be obliged to show companies how to avoid water pollution. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was created by the United States government in its present form in 1972 so that negative externalities caused by water and other pollutions that affect the environment and people could be addressed (Blackwelder, 2014). 

For the most part, traditional command-and-control policies have implemented to reduce the water pollution level.  This is possible by limiting the inputs’ types allowed for production, monitoring the actual emissions, and monitoring the production process. Use of voluntary policies is another option that is available as this gives businesses an option to minimize water pollution on their own. Businesses can utilize their research and development to look for the most cost-effective and efficient way to reduce water pollution to the state-desired range; this is possible if the threat of regulation later is there. In addition to these voluntary options and regulatory policies, the EPA can utilize three economic tools in their policies so that water pollution could be reduced (EconPort, 2019). These economic tools are:

·         Taxes: Place taxes on polluting firms or on pollution emitted units. For example, the company must pay “Y” to the state for every “X” chemicals’ amount. The emission standards are represented in the following graph:

·         Subsidies: The company could receive payment in the form of subsidy if the levels of pollution in affected water bodies is less than or equal to the desired amount.

·         Tradable Pollution Permits: Businesses would trade permits if the cost of permits is less than the cost of reducing pollution for buying firm or if the price of the permit is more than the cost of abatement for selling firm (EconPort, 2019). The following  graph represents the Marginal Abatement Cost of Two Sources: