Lingling Hou, an assistant professor at the Chinese Academy of Science, insists that soil erosion is the process that creates “a set of potential pollutants including the resulting sediments and contaminants to flow down to the water within the soil and results in qualitative water stress” (5). Fidele Karamage, the researcher from the Chinese Academy of Science, gives the case of the Nyabarongo River in Rwanda as an example. The soil erosion polluted water with much high turbidity compared to the standard limit by the World Health Organization (WHO) Drinking Water Guideline, the standard that determines the water quality that is acceptable for lifelong consumption. Since turbidity measures the degree to which the water loses its transparency, this demonstrates how the high turbidity negatively impacts the water quality. In Karamage’s research, the water also demonstrated 28.79 mg/L of Nitrate-Nitrogen, while the standard limit by the WHO Drinking Water Guideline measures 11 mg/L. Because excessive Nitrate-Nitrogen drinking has a direct relationship with colorectal cancer, thyroid disease, and neural tube defects, this shows that erosion led to the water quality aggravation to the extent of where it deters human health and cannot be consumed in an African developing country (Ward et al. 1557). Annie Mwayi Mapulanga, an Agricultural Economist in the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Management, agrees on how soil erosion causes water stress with the case study of Malawi (8251). Mapulanga’s study shows that the erosion allowed only 11% of the rural citizens in Malawi to have sufficient water, and placed 35% to use unprotected wells or stream water as a source of drinking water. Because soil erosion deteriorates water quality enough to expose people to different kinds of diseases, it shows how aggravated ground status leads to qualitative water stress to the extent where it shouldn’t be consumed. Thus, as soil erosion reduces the 5 quantity of total consumable freshwater in developing countries in Africa and Asia, it remains crucial to consider the environmental cause of water stress.
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Writer: Grace Jun
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