It is definitely worth the effort to clean the water effectively. Here are a few reasons why:
1. Prevents disease. Treating wastewater properly kills pathogenic bacteria, viruses, and parasites that can cause serious illnesses in humans. Ensuring clean drinking water and waterways prevents the spread of conditions like cholera, giardiasis, typhoid, and dysentery.
2. Allows water reuse. Wastewater treatment enables water recycling. Treated water can be safely reused for purposes like irrigation, industrial processes, toilet flushing, etc. This conserves limited freshwater supplies.
3. Protects ecosystems. Untreated wastewater containing nutrients, chemicals, and waste can promote toxic algae blooms and create dead zones without oxygen when discharged into waterways. Properly cleaning wastewater prevents ecological damage.
4. Removes other contaminants. Besides killing pathogens and microbes, wastewater treatment also filters out other polluting substances like pesticides, pharmaceuticals, microplastics, and inorganic compounds. This keeps downstream waters safer.
5. Cost-benefit. While wastewater treatment requires substantial infrastructure investments, the WHO estimates every $1 invested in sanitation yields a $5.50 return in saved health costs and improved economic productivity. And the benefits in preserved clean water resources for human and ecological needs are priceless.
In sum, treating wastewater allows for water reuse while protecting human health and environments – which most agree is worth the required efforts and investments to establish effective treatment systems. Maintaining high-quality water resources has many long-term upsides.