Premium
WATER RESOURCES AND HUMAN HEALTH: THE VIEWPOINT OF MEDICAL GEOGRAPHY 1
Author(s) -
Burblow Anastasia Van
Publication year - 1982
Publication title -
jawra journal of the american water resources association
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.957
H-Index - 105
eISSN - 1752-1688
pISSN - 1093-474X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1752-1688.1982.tb00084.x
Subject(s) - recreation , human health , disease , human disease , water resources , habitat , trace (psycholinguistics) , human life , surface water , geography , waterborne diseases , environmental planning , ecology , environmental protection , environmental health , biology , environmental science , water quality , environmental engineering , medicine , linguistics , philosophy , humanity , theology , pathology
Medical geography studies both areal patterns of human health and disease and the environmental and cultural factors that contribute to such conditions. In such studies water resources are of major importance, not only because they are essential for life and their scenic beauty is of inspirational value, but also because they are involved, directly or indirectly, in more than 80 percent of all disease. The direct involvements result from various disease causing agents sometimes found in surface or ground water organic ones such as bacteria, worms, etc., which are known as pathogens, and inorganic ones such as trace elements and synthetic toxic chemicals. Surface waters may have indirect effects also, for they may serve as habitats or breeding places for organisms that do not themselves cause human disease but that serve as vectors or hosts for such pathogens. This paper will discuss these various roles of water resources in both endemic and epidemic disease occurrences and ways in which various human activities domestic, economic, recreational, or religious — increase or reduce our exposure to such diseases.