Health aspects of water quality.

Abstract

THE terms and have yet to be pragmatically defined. That health is a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of or infirmity is utopian indeed! Even our high standard of living has not made it possible to attain that desirable state; paradoxically, it actually has caused serious degradation of not only water quality but also environmental quality in general, thereby producing newer hazards to human health. The difficulty of defining the word is implicit in its very structure: dis-ease.' From a practical stand, therefore, we must regard as a series of strata or spectral bands depicting progressively higher or improved levels of bodily and mental states, possibly culminating in or Hoyman's optimal health;2 similarly, as the gradational manifestation of the deficiency of one or more factors or conditions necessary and sufficient for attaining the wellness states; such deficiency may result in manifestations ranging from sub-clinical stresses or burdens affecting subtly functional and/or behavioral patterns to acute and chronic, clinically recognizable, pathological states. The quality of water used for drinking, recreation, shellfish culture, agriculture, and food and beverage manufacture is an important health-related environmental factor. The control and improvement of water quality, therefore, should be directed toward the prevention of the deficiency of water-related wellness factors so that the consumer may maintain whatever level of he may be in and, where possible, move from one level to the next higher state of health. If such integrated control of water quality were to be exercised, one should not be entirely sanguine about water that merely meets regulatory standards of quality which are based on individual use considerations! Undoubtedly, prevention and certain beneficial enrichment or treatment of water (e.g., fluoridation, water softening) should continue to be a part of that effort. It should also be recognized that water quality is only one of several environmental factors influencing man's overall state. Hoyman's ecological model of and disease does emphasize the role of environmental factors at every level.2