What does it take to understand the benefits of safe water and wastewater system? Droughts, floods and famines?

Yesterday I found myself having one of those conversations that many in the water profession have. We were talking about the privileges afforded to those of us who live in the United States and benefit from our extensive water and wastewater system. I have to be candid I love those discussions. I am one of those preachers of the Gospel of clean drinking water and sanitation. There is a painting on my wall done by a co-worker depicting hundreds of India’s citizens drawing water from a near empty well with buckets. I look at it frequently and think what an honor it is to do what we do.

We were discussing the recent flooding tragedy in Pakistan and I was struck by the discussion, being not a quite a year from the floods that wreaked such havoc in Cobb, Douglas and Paulding Counties, I found the discussion illustrative of the differences in our countries. The floods here were devastating; I was one of the fortunate. My home was not affected, and I was not charged with the difficult task of speaking with our citizens who had seemingly lost everything. I was fortunate to watch the technical skills, dedication, and technological advances we have put into action to avert a far greater tragedy than the loss of homes. These professionals continued to provide safe drinking water and sanitation. Yes, there were tragic effects; there were lives lost, there was massive property loss, and there were a few public advisories to boil water because systems had been washed out and compromised. The longest lasted 6 days. We had wastewater treatment plants that went down or lost tertiary treatment, but plants were back on line in a week. The amazing and largely unknown part of the floods was what did not happen. As citizens fled the flood waters, water professionals remained at plants inundated with those same waters, were out running temporary services where lines had been washed out or making emergency repairs to ensure continued service. Lastly, they deployed all the technical knowledge at our disposal with a level of dedication every citizen should know about to ensure that the foundation of our way of life, our water treatment and distribution system and wastewater treatment and conveyance systems, remained viable.

It is often what we as American citizens do not know that would make the greatest impact. Look at the reality and aftermath of the Pakistan floods. We never had to call for 15 million water disinfection tablets and receive only 3 million. We did not have to set up special medical centers to stem the outbreak of Cholera, a water-born disease. Our citizens did not have to take to supply drop sites to find bottled water to slake their thirst.

As a water professional I am often challenged by how we make the average citizen understand not the cost of water down to the penny of their bill, but the value of water to their very way of life. Is the message in showing them what they don’t know? The privileges they take for granted. The talk we had yesterday went on for about a half an hour. That means in the developing world 83 children died of water born diseases while we discussed the luxuries afforded to us by the water and wastewater profession in the US. Do our citizens ever mark the time by thinking while I ate my lunch 166 children in the US grew, played, and went to school because of what water professionals do?

Kathy Nguyen
Senior Project Manager
Cobb County Water System