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It's a public-health problem, the root of which varies from place to place—
用水污染也是公共衛生問題，但不同地區造成這一問題的根源不盡相同，
old pipes silently poisoning entire cities with lead,
有的是因為老舊管道在無形之中用鉛毒害了整座城市的健康，
industrial sites leaking the carcinogenic industrial chemical known as PFAS into the waterways,
有的是工業區有致癌工業化學品PFAS泄漏到了當地的水系統，
uranium seeping into groundwater from where it's been mined.
還有的是鈾從開采地滲到了地下水里。
But the downstream effects are strikingly similar:
但無論是哪種原因，這些根源的下游效應都是驚人的相似：
damage to health that exacerbates the trials of poverty and a frayed social safety net.
損害居民健康，加劇當地的貧困問題，進一步損害已經傷痕累累的社會保障體系。
These in turn become years wiped off life expectancy and points lost from IQ scores.
這些后果又會轉化成預期壽命的縮短和智商的欠缺。
In the Navajo Nation, where more than 300,000 people reside in a territory that stretches across parts of Utah, New Mexico and Arizona,
人口超30萬的納瓦霍部落分布于猶他州、新墨西哥州和亞利桑那州各地，
residents unknowingly drank and played in water that uranium mining had made extremely hazardous.
部落居民絲毫沒有察覺到，自己使用的是被鈾礦開采嚴重污染過的水。
"Growing up, they didn't talk about how dangerous it was," said Melissa Sloan of Tuba City, Ariz.,
“從小到大，他們都沒說過那個水有多危險，”
before she died in December of kidney cancer.
去年12月因腎癌去世的亞利桑那州圖巴市居民梅麗莎·斯隆曾在離世前說道。
"I drank the water; I bathed in the water.”
“我喝的是那個水；洗澡用的也是那個水?！?/p>
A striking number of people, including babies, show traces of uranium in their blood.
在這些地區，血液中檢測出鈾的人，包括嬰兒的人數已經達到了令人咂舌的地步。
Infections develop in those who dare to shower.
敢于洗澡的人則直接出現了感染癥狀。
Summer Wojcik, a triage nurse at Utah Navajo Health System,
猶他州納瓦霍衛生系統的分診護士夏姆·沃伊奇克表示，
says health care providers ask patients with infections if they have access to clean water.
衛生保健系統的工作人員曾詢問過感染患者日常使用的是否為清潔水源。
If not, they may keep them in a health care facility for a few days, to improve the odds of healing.
如果沒有，他們便可能選擇讓患者住院，以提高痊愈的幾率。
"You'll hear those types of stories all over—infections, cancers," she says.
“你會聽到各種五花八門的故事，感染，癌癥等等等等，”她說。
"We have got to get fresh water for these people.”
“我們必須要保障這些人用上清潔的淡水?！?/p>
Beyond the diseases, contaminated water helps account for social decay.
除了會誘發疾病，污染水還會加劇整個社會的衰落。
Residents on a desperate quest for safe water routinely drive for hours to buy and stash it.
獲取安全水源極其困難的居民經常需要驅車到數小時車程之遙的地方買水屯水。
Jeremiah Kerley, 61, says he hitchhikes to Flagstaff to sell his plasma.
現年61歲的杰里米·科利表示，（為了買水）他已經被逼到了搭便車去弗拉格斯塔夫賣血的地步。
"It's a source of income," he says.
“賣血也是收入嘛，”他說。
"I use that to pay for our water.”
“買水就靠那些錢了。”
譯文由可可原創，僅供學習交流使用，未經許可請勿轉載。
