Water Contamination

Photo taken by Courtney Neth

  There are approximately 450 Burmese people living in refugee camps in Thailand without the health care, toiletries, and clean water that are provided in America. (Thai Freedom, 2010)  According to a study done by Environ Monit Assess in 2008 the drinking water in Thailand has high levels of contamination.  The catastrophic tsunami of 2004 increased levels of salinity in the drinking water causing contamination.    This also caused organisms and bacteria to breed in the water that was once used for drinking. (Collivignarelli, 2008) The refugees obtain the water from rivers and ponds near the camp. Courtney Neth, a student who went on a mission trip to Thailand, reports that the team went swimming one day to gain relief from the heat and humidity. They came out caked in mud and grime.   This is the water that the Burmese have become inured to and use on a daily basis.  Clean water is a basic necessity that no individual should be without and this evident lack of sanitary water has stimulated the movement to build solar powered water purifiers in the refugee camps.

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