The topic that I would like to address is access to healthy drinking water, something we pretty much take for granted here in the United States. If we have concerns about the water in our homes we are able to buy bottled water from various companies according to their method of production. Many third world countries are not as blessed. One country I would like to talk about is the Congo. I chose this country because I have had students who have come from the Congo and I wanted to see one more hardship they have had to endure, In 1998 there was a war known to many people as Africa's First World War (Shore. 2016). The war, among many things. was over minerals, water, and food. There was great destruction and due to this the infrastructure is limited at best making it impossible to pipe clean water to any more than 69% of the people. The places that due receive water get it from rusty and decaying pipes. The other 31% of the people drink from ponds and streams with water contaminated with  chemicals, waste, or bacteria. More people die from malaria, diarrhea, or malnutrition than violence in this country (Shore. 2016). There are not enough funds to improve the water pumping system. The well off are able to buy bottled water at $1 a bottle but the lower income families only receive less than $2 a day so this is not a luxury they can afford.
      So how does this pertain to us here in America? As I stated earlier, our water comes from clean pipes and there are no issues....right? Recently it was discovered in some of the schools in my home town district that the drinking and cooking water contains lead that measures beyond the legal limits. This causes great concern to me as both a parent and a teacher. The short term affects of lead ingestion can be delays in normal physical and mental development in babies and young children, slight deficits in the attention span, hearing concerns, and learning abilities in children. The long term affects can cause stroke and kidney disease and cancer. The governor of New York has made a mandatory law that all drinking and cooking water in schools must be tested to ensure lead levels are far below regulated levels. However, lead was found in some schools' water; how long has it been there, how many children have been affected?  I have to ask myself; is this part of the reason we are seeing so many of our inner city children with an IEP?

Resources
APEC Water. Drink water contaminants-lead. Retrieved from www.freedrinkingwater.com/water-contamination/lead-contaminants-removal-water.htm.
Shore, R. (2016) Water crisis-democratic republic of congo/ The Water Project Retrieved from https://thewaterproject.org/water-crisis/water-in-crisis-congo