Water from wells has a negative impact on health

The high pollution level of the ground-water layer makes 83% of the water in wells unfit to drink as it does not meet the sanitary and epidemiological norms and has a negative impact on the health, Info-Prim Neo reports. {“The water in over 83% of the wells and 50% of the springs cannot be used as drinking water at a time when 17% of the rural population does not have access to centralized aqueduct.”} There are about 150,000 wells in Moldova. The water in most of them does not meet the requirements on hardness, fixed residues, fluorine content, etc. The analysis show that the concentrations of many substances in water are exceeded and this leads to the appearance of hydric illnesses. “The pollution with nitrates is the most dangerous. Large concentrations of nitrates were found in 76% of the wells and 50% of the springs,” said Nicolae Opopol, habilitated doctor of medicine, university lecturer and head of the Hygiene and Epidemiology Department of the State University of Medicine “Nicolae Testimitanu”. “Over 83% of the wells and 50% of the springs cannot be used as source of drinking water at a time when 17% of the rural population does not have access to centralized aqueduct,” Nicolae Opopol said. According to him, the water from polluted wells used in consumption can cause endemic goiter, dental caries, poisoning with nitrates, intestinal infections and other diseases. “The nitrogen compounds can cause very serious diseases, especially in children. The water with nitrates is the cause of tens of deaths among babies. “Used to prepare food and tea for babies, this water provokes serious poisonings that can be fatal,” Opopol said. The statistical data show that one to ten outbreaks of infectious diseases transmitted through water, usually viral hepatitis A, appear every year in rural schools and kindergartens.