NationStates Jolt Archive

Water Quality

The NationStates UN General Assembly,

REALIZING that many third world countries (hereafter referred to as 'impoverished nations') have limited or no acess to clean drinking water.

ALSO REALIZING that the water presents a health hazard in many forms, including microscopic parasites.

NOTING, also, that many of these are island countries with no water at all.

ALSO NOTING that the water may have been posioned by chemical runoff

IN ORDER TO MANTAIN A MORE EQUAL AND SAFE GLOBAL SOCIETY, I HEREBY PROPOSE

I. That a group be formed by the NSUN, called the UNWQI (U.N. Water Quality Inspectors) whos sole purpose is to test and grade the water of member nations. It shall be a non-profit orginization funded by the member countries

II. The group shall be comprised of about forty trained water testers, who will be trained and payed by the NSUN, and several security guards.

III. That this group test every river, stream, lake, ocean and so on for any parasite or such impurity every three years.

IV. The group shall then decide on a rating for the country based on their findings. The scale shall be of three grades: safe, partailly safe or hazardous. (A 'partially safe' rating shall be applied to those water sources where only some are hazardous.)

V. That any nation found with a rating of 'safe' shall be left alone until the next visit. A nation with a 'partially safe' or 'hazardous' rating shall create filtratition and, if coastal, desalinazation facilities. These will purify the water and, at the same time, provide jobs to people that need them. They shall be government run facilities.

EXTENTION OF V. - Those countries that can not afford to create such services will recieve help in constructing and mantaining the facilities by NSUN workers.

VI. Any nation that is found with damaging animals (amoebas, tapeworms, lampreys, etc.) in their inland water systems shall post that th water is contaminated with parasites.

VII. These warnings shall be on signs and posted in a prominent place that is readily visible to anyone wanting to use the river.

VIII. Those nations with water found with chemical drainage and such shall be advised on how to clean it up by the UNWQI as soon as they can.

IN CONCLUSION, the improvement of the quality of the water will boost general health and create a safer nation.




If you want to help with it, go ahead

The NationStates UN General Assembly,

-snip-

IN ORDER TO MANTAIN A MORE EQUAL AND SAFE GLOBAL SOCIETY, I HEREBY PROPOSE

I'm not heads or tails about the content of the proposal, but I think it would help to try to keep the subject constant throughout the text. What I mean is, that at the beginning of your proposal it is "The NSUN General Assembly" speaking, whereas later it is "I" proposing. I think think you should re-write that line (the all-caps line I quoted) to make it more in the same vein as the way you started the thread out. Something like "IN ORDER TO MANTAIN A MORE EQUAL AND SAFE GLOBAL SOCIETY, HEREBY RESOLVES". Perhaps getting rid of the all-caps would make it prettier, too.

Ditto. More pressing, however, is:

II. The group shall be comprised of about forty trained water testers, who will be trained and payed by the NSUN, and several security guards.

III. That this group test every river, stream, lake, ocean and so on for any parasite or such impurity every three years.


How the hell are forty water testers gonna test ever river, stream, lake, ocean in 37,901 UN nation every three years?!? Fatus Maximus's water alone would take them about a year. How about forty water testers PER NATION? Second of all, I'd say limit this proposal to sources of drinking water- there's no way we can afford to filter every body of water on the NSEarth.

We find what the author suggests to be impossible, especially with the amount of people allocated for doing it. Our nation alone has access to nearly 150 worlds (the D'ni wrote Links to thousands of worlds, of which Links to 70 have survived to this day, and those who came after them have added on down through the years, leaving it so that we have only added a measely 30 to that number), all of which are mostly water, that this group would have to test, not including the Reltos (which number close to 3 billion due to our habit of making sure every citizen has one and the large number that have been passed down from parents to children). In addition, this would require the group to have free access to all water sources we have access to, which would give them the rare luxury of being able to visit Myst, a treat that only the Disciples themselves and a small number of guards have the privilage of, and of those only the Disciples are allowed to leave Myst and the exclusive worlds that come with the privilage.

Now, considering that 40 people isn't enough to deal with Earth, how do you propose to deal with our territories off of Earth?

I like Water.

I can't say I'm particularly fond of this proposal...

NOTING, also, that many of these are island countries with no water at all.
...

V. That any nation found with a rating of 'safe' shall be left alone until the next visit. A nation with a 'partially safe' or 'hazardous' rating shall create filtratition and, if coastal, desalinazation facilities. These will purify the water and, at the same time, provide jobs to people that need them. They shall be government run facilities.

EXTENTION OF V. - Those countries that can not afford to create such services will recieve help in constructing and mantaining the facilities by NSUN workers.

Personally, I'm not so keen on helping out a nation that has made the insane choice to live on an island with no water supply if they don't already have the means to survive in those conditions.

Many thanks to Procco for bringing this to the UN floor for discussion.

I agree with the intent behind the proposal, it would be important for water standards to be improved, especially in poorer nations. Hirota's water management policy is so far considered to be reasonably good. The water systems are privately run, but government officials inspect them. We have too many government officials at the moment anyway, and it's good to let them stretch their legs once in a while.

But I don't think the problem lies with the concept, but rather the content of the draft. You've seen the objections regarding specifying a number. I would advising getting rid of this:I. That a group be formed by the NSUN, called the UNWQI (U.N. Water Quality Inspectors) whos sole purpose is to test and grade the water of member nations. It shall be a non-profit orginization funded by the member countries

II. The group shall be comprised of about forty trained water testers, who will be trained and payed by the NSUN, and several security guards

And instead enter something along the lines leaving individual governments to provide inspectors however they wish. I am sure I can refer you to Hirota's relevant officials back at Capitol if anyone wishes to exchange best practices.

But provided the inspections are done to UN standards, then it would not matter who does it.

I'd agree that only drinking water should be tested for its quality.

But I would add that inspections should be made sooner than 3 years if evidence of a health issue is discovered (for example several people who share the same source of water are afflicted with the same condition which suggests an issue with the water source).

With regard to this section:
IN ORDER TO MANTAIN A MORE EQUAL AND SAFE GLOBAL SOCIETY, I HEREBY PROPOSE I think I know why you want it in there - for bragging rights. Don't worry, I am sure nations will see your name under the title and be very impressed ;)

Why does every proposal have inspectors show up, rather then actually do something about the problem? How about a proposal to make something equivalent to Americares or the Peace Corps or something? Nope, you're going to have inspectors running around Vastiva (which is nearly completely covered in frozen water) testing for parasites... wait, things like that have a real problem existing at temperatures where water is a solid year round... nope, have to test anyway.

"Here's your choice, pal. We have the solid icebergs or the geothermal rivers. The first is zero C or lower, the latter are usually over 110 C. Go for it. Did we mention icebergs are the freshest water available on the planet? How about those systems which are dedicated to waste systems, I'm sure you can call them rivers - even though we built them... no, they're not supposed to be drunk. We have to do what to them?"

Here's a concept - have this UN group of inspectors first inspect the nation's water purification systems and/or policies. If the damn things are up to "minimal standards", leave us alone until there is a "policy and/or ability change in the nation to continue meeting those minimal standards".

Let's see...restricts national sovereignty, mandates inane policies like putting signs up in nations that may not need such archaic devices as signs, and creates another expensive and excessive bureaucracy. I'm certainly not seeing any good reason for me to support this.

Nope, you're going to have inspectors running around Vastiva (which is nearly completely covered in frozen water) testing for parasites... wait, things like that have a real problem existing at temperatures where water is a solid year round... nope, have to test anyway.

Not exactly. Parasites can actually survive for very long periods of time in hostile environments.

I think that each nation should have its own water quality monitoring system. The UN should only ceftify and testwater quality inspectors.

Let's see...restricts national sovereignty, mandates inane policies like putting signs up in nations that may not need such archaic devices as signs, and creates another expensive and excessive bureaucracy. I'm certainly not seeing any good reason for me to support this.

All people deserve drinkable water. This resolution only standizes international water standards, so it would actually lower costs.

All people deserve drinkable water. This resolution only standizes international water standards, so it would actually lower costs.

I agree that all people deserve drinkable water, and our nation ensures that our citizens have drinkable water. However, I would prefer the individual nations to decide their own appropriate policies concerning the safety of their water, and not all nations have citizens that survive on water. If it's really that big a deal to you, perhaps you could write a resolution guaranteeing all citizens (or residents, if you are so inclined) of UN member nations the right to have their basic needs met, whatever those needs happen to be given their biological structure.

My second point would be that in order to lower costs most effectively, private industry can be used in many cases.

Breweries, the answer is breweries. In more ways than you realise.

Breweries, the answer is breweries. In more ways than you realise.

Well let's see... hops kills just about everything... so, yep.


Not exactly. Parasites can actually survive for very long periods of time in hostile environments.

"Vastiva - Iced Over Since the Dinosaurs Left".

I think we're safe.