Crampton Andrea, Ragusa Angela T
School of Biomedical Sciences, Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga, NSW, Australia E-mail:
School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga, NSW, Australia.
J Water Health. 2014 Sep;12(3):484-91. doi: 10.2166/wh.2014.212.
Agricultural runoff into surface water is a problem in Australia, as it is in arguably all agriculturally active countries. While farm practices and resource management measures are employed to reduce downstream effects, they are often either technically insufficient or practically unsustainable. Therefore, consumers may still be exposed to agrichemicals whenever they turn on the tap. For rural residents surrounded by agriculture, the link between agriculture and water quality is easy to make and thus informed decisions about water consumption are possible. Urban residents, however, are removed from agricultural activity and indeed drinking water sources. Urban and rural residents were interviewed to identify perceptions of agriculture's impact on drinking water. Rural residents thought agriculture could impact their water quality and, in many cases, actively avoided it, often preferring tank to surface water sources. Urban residents generally did not perceive agriculture to pose health risks to their drinking water. Although there are more agricultural contaminants recognised in the latest Australian Drinking Water Guidelines than previously, we argue this is insufficient to enhance consumer protection. Health authorities may better serve the public by improving their proactivity and providing communities and water utilities with the capacity to effectively monitor and address agricultural runoff.
农业径流流入地表水在澳大利亚是个问题，在所有有农业活动的国家大概都是如此。虽然采用了农场作业和资源管理措施来减少下游影响，但这些措施往往在技术上不够充分，或者在实际操作中不可持续。因此，消费者每当打开水龙头时仍可能接触到农用化学品。对于被农业包围的农村居民来说，农业与水质之间的联系很容易建立，因此可以就用水问题做出明智的决定。然而，城市居民远离农业活动，实际上也远离饮用水源。对城市和农村居民进行了访谈，以确定他们对农业对饮用水影响的看法。农村居民认为农业会影响他们的水质，在许多情况下，他们会积极避开，通常更喜欢使用水箱水而不是地表水水源。城市居民一般不认为农业会对他们的饮用水构成健康风险。尽管最新的澳大利亚饮用水指南中认可的农业污染物比以前更多，但我们认为这不足以加强对消费者的保护。卫生当局可以通过提高积极性，并为社区和供水企业提供有效监测和应对农业径流的能力，来更好地为公众服务。
