Impact Of Floods On Water Industry

Floods in Australia have caused a major disruption to Queensland water related industries severely impacting aquatic ecosystems and related services. Foresaw increases in widespread flood risks because of water cycle intensification and land usage change will likely increase the severity and frequency of these impacts on Queensland water related services.

Floods And Water Related Industries

Extreme flooding can cause loss to life, significant destruction to property and to the infrastructure. These effects are easily recognisable and frequently noted every now and then. However, floods also have other effects on people via affecting the available freshwater services, which often go unrecognized since they are slightly evident and difficult to evaluate.

Floods can elicit a number of harmful effects and the major ones are discussed below.

Contamination Of Water Supply

Excess water via floods can severely contaminate drinking water sources, such as springs and wells. When rainfall gets in contact with the ground, in the process it also comes in contact with things like animals’ waste. This heightens the amount of sewage, bacteria and other industrial chemicals and wastes that seep into the water sources or the leaky pipes.

Additionally, excess water makes it more difficult for the water treatment devices to treat it efficiently and effectively. There can be contamination during any step in the water flow process into the water trucks. This puts the consumers at the risk of getting exposed to dangerous toxins that can later result in serious harm to the body such as wound infections, skin rashes, tetanus, gastrointestinal illnesses and death in extreme cases!

Disruption To Clean Cooking And Drinking Water

If the situation is such that only access to contaminated water is possible, consumers are helpless to cook and clean in their houses indefinitely until the water professionals certify that their water is safe for drinking. Depending on the stringency of the flood, this could take many days, or weeks, or months and in some exceptional cases even years. 

Without having access to clean drinking water, consumers increasingly become dependent on bottled water and water services. This dependency is likely to increase dramatically in price during the time of floods. In impoverished and poor communities, this reality and hardship is even more damaging. Because they do not have the basic economic and financial means to “stock up” the bottled water or make water delivery services accessible  in comparison to the more affluent people during such trying times. Moreover, during floods, retail locations are often elusive and water supply becomes drastically low.

How to Prepare?

Here are a few suggestions that water providers and water related services could follow in such times to improve people’s understanding of the best practices during such times:

Communicate Water Quality To The Consumers

The public water providers can provide water quality reports to their consumers on an annual basis. Water professionals must initiate discussions about this report, and allow the consumers to know what to do if a service disruption occurs. Those who depend on private water delivery sources, should be facilitated to have their water tested every year or after every flood invasion.

Inform The Consumers About The Dangers of Flood water

As tempting as it can be, it is suggested that people should avoid drinking, cooking or swimming in flood water due to the bunch of contaminants in it, as well as the increased risk of electrocution. There has been an incessant increase in the viral social media content that popularized this trend. So government officials now need to reiterate the public health severity of this activity, since it can result in drastic illnesses and diseases.

Prepare Emergency Kits

Local governments can assist teach the public about how to best prepare them for floods. This could comprise storing a specific amount of bottled water in times of emergencies and other best practices related to rationing during the extended periods of water related service disruptions. Moreover, for people who may be toiling hard economically, local governments can identify and publicise locales where free bottled water would be made available for people following the flood.

Look to Certified Water Filters

For those who are enthusiastic in screening or otherwise treating water, it is suggested to focus on the water treatment systems that are certified by third-party. Third-party certification organizations provide confidence that the treatment systems are safe to use in various terms. For example, drinking water, are structurally sound, would not leak, and most importantly, they treat the water most effectively as per the manufacturer’s claims.

Be sure to check precisely which contaminants the system is certified to curtail. This can be done by reviewing the product’s literature or its certification listings. Also many of the third-party certified water treatment systems are authorized for use only when it comes to potable water supplies. Hence, these systems aren’t appropriate for usage for treating water during or after a flood.</spa