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CHAPTER 2. SOCIAL AND CULTURAL ASPECTS OF EUTROPHICATION

2.2. Global Societies and their Social and Cultural Aspects of Water

Water use by people is essentially similar in any type of global village. Drinking, cooking, and washing are the basic needs for water use. When village life is simple, water use is also simple. Whenever a village develops into a complex life-style, complexity of water use also develops. Villages in a developed society may follow the pattern of water use in their urban life, which sometimes leads to water abuse in many developing societies. Western societies introduced sewage treatment technology and their relationship with water during the middle of the 19th century. This life-style can be applied to only a limited number of global villages, because water scarcity is common in most global villages in developing countries. It is necessary to understand traditional water use by global villages to develop the management strategy for sustainable use of lakes and reservoirs.

European Regions

Introduction of a sewage system to London during the middle of the 19th century is the first instance, in terms of modern sewage technology, which provided drainage of household wastewater including human waste, called "night soil" during those times. Paris, Munich, Hamburg, Berlin, and other major cities in Europe followed with the construction of a similar type of sewage system in which household wastewater, industrial wastewater, and storm water were drained together in a single sewer system, leading to the nearest water bodies. The urban environment was drastically improved by the system in terms of public health. The modern sewage system basically relies upon a modern water supply system that was introduced prior to the sewage system. Although there were many debates on which type of infrastructure should be installed first, water supply or sewage system, for promotion of public health. In Europe, most cities installed their first water supply system followed by a sewage system. The industrial revolution, during the middle of the 19th century, enabled many cities to install the two types of water infrastructure. Eastern European cities followed a similar provision of this water infrastructure.

Western and Eastern European regions have less dense populations than other parts of the world. The basic reasons are factors of climate and the type of agriculture. Precipitation over the regions is approximately 600 to 1,000 mm/year, which is not large when compared to other parts of the world. The temperature during winter is not suitable for growing any vegetation. Therefore agricultural activity is limited to the spring and summer. The crops are mainly barley, wheat, maize, potato, and other vegetables, which are cultivated by rainwater. These factors determine the carrying capacity of the population and leave a necessary amount of water for the modern sewage system that requires the installation of water flushing toilets.

Although there is a variety of ethnic groups in Europe, their life-style and water use are very similar. The basic reason is probably due to the sharing of a common religion, which is Christianity. The Christian society can be divided into Catholic, Protestant, and Greek Orthodox societies in the region. Water plays an important role in a Christian rite that is baptism. The rite does not require a large amount of water, but high purity of water is important. The common acceptance of the value of water and the use of water exists in these different societies. Therefore the introduction of the modern water infrastructure was rapidly accomplished during the period of the industrial revolution. Following the industrial revolution, political change to a democratic society led the people of the region to develop public health consciousness and a scientific approach to solve public health problems.

During the medieval and pre-modern periods, European societies suffered from plagues as many times as societies on other continents. European societies found a way to overcome plagues by promoting scientific medical approaches, including public health practices and food poisoning prevention. Among public practices, a clean and safe water supply, as well as sewage treatment, brought effective solutions to accomplish safe and clean societies. The European society, in spite of safe public water supply systems being promoted, has developed the custom of drinking bottled mineral water. The drinking of bottled water is a cultural phenomenon, not a public health measure.

The current European water-related culture started after public water supply systems became reliable. It still remains in Europe and reflects on other parts of the world where public water supply systems are not well developed. This costly custom solves only the problem of safe drinking water. It does not solve problems of public health and aquatic environment issues including eutrophication problems, endocrine disruption, etc. It should be mentioned that before the installation of the modern sewage system, the practice of sanitation in the region was very primitive: collected human waste was transported in baskets and discharged to streams or used partly for agriculture.

There is an important aspect of water-related culture in relation to food consumption. There are basically three methods of eating, namely, 1) fingers, 2) knife, fork, and spoon, and 3) chopsticks. The European society popularized the second method around the 18th century. They used knife and spoon first, and fork was introduced later. The second and the third methods are less risky compared to the first method in terms of microbial contact with the food. Sanitation practice after defecation is highly related to food consumption methods. Toilet paper became available much later for sanitation practice.

Mediterranean Regions

It is ironical that the old type of water supply and sewage system was well developed during the Roman Empire period over the regions where major cities installed a gravity water supply system and a gravity sewage drainage system, which is almost an equivalent function to the modern water supply and sewage system. The modern system only functions with electric power equipment. However, many cities could not continue the old water system infrastructure during the Middle Ages and the pre-modern period. It is important to know that Istanbul City could keep the old water system infrastructure from the heritage of the Roman Empire until the pre-modern period. At present, all old cities in the Mediterranean regions need complete modernization of water system infrastructure to meet new urban development.

Precipitation in the regions is more limited compared to the other parts of Europe. Among developed societies, the Mediterranean societies are facing simultaneously severe water scarcity and water pollution. The precipitation is between 200 and 400 mm/year. The African side of the Mediterranean countries is the Islamic society where the practice is to minimize the use of water. Personal sanitation is done by left hand using water, not by paper. Since water is limited, there is less relying on the dilution factor for cleaning water pollution. Treatment of disposed water is of the utmost importance. However, wastewater technology has not been well introduced due to several factors including finances, human resources, environmental education of the public, etc.

Asian Regions

Asian regions comprise a variety of geographical characteristics from the Himalayas and Tibetan plateau, the Indian subcontinent, the semiarid Arabian-Iranian area, and the Chinese plains, even extending to islands in the Western Pacific. This large diversity makes it hard to discuss aquatic environment problems in the whole region. Ethnic diversity, as well as religious and cultural diversities are also large, in addition to the geographical diversity. It is very difficult to briefly describe social and cultural aspect of problems related to the aquatic environment in the region.

The semiarid Arabian-Iranian area, as well as the Central Asian area face severe water scarcity. Water is most precious thing for all living things as stated in the Koran: "water, every thing including man made from". Islamic water-related culture developed in those areas following the Koran rule. Under water scarcity, using of water for sanitation, such as after defecation, it is very important to clean the body part by left hand. It is a good practice to clean mouth, hands, face, and feet by water before praying to God. This practice keeps people's health and sanitation. When water is not available, people are allowed to use whatever is available, such as sand, stone, leafs, etc., for cleaning after defecation. However, it is necessary at least once a day to clean with water before praying. It is also important to look at the custom of coffee drinking, rather than raw water drinking, as a sanitation method that was developed for dry climate. Under the Koran rule, Islamic culture developed the most water saving environment than in any other part of the world. However, conscience for avoiding water abuse has not been well developed in many countries.

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