Dangers of Polluted Water

According to a United Nations report,
“more people now die from contaminated
and polluted water than from all forms
of violence including wars.” The UN reports
that two million tons of waste—agricultural
and industrial, as well as sewage and so
on—are discharged every day into rivers and
seas, spreading illness and damaging ecosystems.
Moreover, every 20 seconds, a child
under the age of five dies from water-related
disease. Says Achim Steiner, executive director
of the UN Environment Programme: “If
the world is to thrive, . . . we need to get collectively
smarter and more intelligent about
how we manage waste.”