Our Health Depends Not Just on Our Lifestyle but Also on the Health of the City We Live In

A healthy lifestyle is crucial for maintaining good health, but have we ever paused to consider the health of the city we live in?

The environment around us plays an equally significant role in shaping our well-being.

The Health of Our City: A Vital Question

• Water Quality: Is the water we drink sourced from clean reservoirs? Polluted water bodies can lead to severe health issues.
• Air Quality: Is the air we breathe of the desired quality?
• Soil Health: How healthy is the soil that produces the food we eat? Contaminated soil directly impacts the quality of our produce.

Urban Environmental Problems

Urban areas often face multiple challenges:

• Polluted lakes, streams, and water bodies.
• Poorly maintained sewerage systems.
• Mismanaged solid waste dumping yards.

These issues not only make cities unpleasant to live in but also pose serious hygiene and health risks.

Impact on Health

Inadequate sanitation systems release obnoxious gases, causing bad odors and air pollution.

Such environments become breeding grounds for insect vectors and pathogens, spreading diseases like diarrhea, malaria, and dengue.

Industrial emissions and vehicle pollution contribute to respiratory problems, even in healthy individuals, with asthma cases on the rise in cities like Delhi and Mumbai.

Water Pollution: A Major Concern

Improper sewage systems and untreated industrial waste often end up in water bodies.

This contaminates the water supply, and in some cases, untreated sewage seeps into underground drinking water sources, spreading waterborne diseases.

Solid Waste Mismanagement

Dumping grounds, if not maintained, lead to bad odors and become a source of disease outbreaks.

The presence of untreated solid waste significantly lowers the hygiene standards of a city.

Addressing the Root Cause

To tackle these issues, we need to focus on:

• Planting more trees to improve air quality.
• Minimizing vehicle emissions through better traffic management and promoting public transport.
• Ensuring proper waste treatment by local municipalities.
• Cleaning and maintaining public spaces regularly.

Scientific Parameters vs. Perception

Environmental monitoring of air, water, and sewage is conducted using precise scientific parameters.

For instance, air quality is measured through the AQI (Air Quality Index) and particulate matter levels.

Similarly, water quality is assessed by metrics like COD (Chemical Oxygen Demand), BOD (Biological Oxygen Demand), hardness, and TDS (Total Dissolved Solids).

However, for most people, perception plays a significant role.

We interpret air quality through odors or the visible presence of dust and smoke.

Drinking water quality is judged by its taste, and foul odors often indicate issues with wastewater.

These perceptible factors often serve as early indicators of problems and must be controlled to ensure environmental health.

Pathogenic Microbes: Invisible Enemy but Detectable

Unlike these perceptible parameters, pathogenic microbes in the environment are invisible to the naked eye.

Their presence can only be identified through laboratory testing.

Yet, we often associate areas with bad odors or unpleasant tastes with the proliferation of harmful microbes.

Such perceptions, while not always scientifically accurate, highlight the importance of vigilance.

Pathogens thrive in conditions we find undesirable, and maintaining cleanliness and hygiene is crucial to minimize their impact.

The Global Microbiome: Nature’s Hidden Protector

Just as our bodies host a complex community of beneficial microbes known as the human microbiome, the environment has its own “Global Microbiome” — a collection of microorganisms essential to the planet’s health.

This global microbiome plays a critical role in maintaining ecological balance by keeping disease-causing microbes in check and reducing their load, as well as by eating up garbage and pollutants.

When this delicate balance is disrupted, environmental and health problems arise.

Beneficial microbes act as natural regulators, supporting the ecosystem’s resilience and aiding in disease prevention.

Also, read Microbes – Friend or Foe

Restoring Balance with Microbial Technologies

To restore the health of cities and ecosystems, microbial and biological technologies are pivotal.

They can help rebalance the global microbiome, ensuring environmental stability, promoting public health, and maintaining hygiene.

In essence, the Global Microbiome is to ecosystems and cities what the human microbiome is to individual health — an indispensable factor in maintaining balance and well-being.

Adopting biological methods for waste treatment and management is essential for building cleaner, more sustainable cities.

Such measures not only protect the environment but also enhance the health of individuals living in these cities.

Cooperation is Key

Local citizens must actively support municipal bodies in maintaining cleanliness.

Practices like segregating waste, reducing littering, and participating in community clean-up drives can make a big difference.

When we work together, we can create cleaner, greener, and healthier cities.

By addressing these urban environmental challenges, we can ensure that the cities we call home support and nurture our health, making them places where both nature and humanity thrive together.

By taking care of the environment, we take care of ourselves.

After all, a city that nurtures its nature also nurtures its people.