Water Quality and Life Expectancy: Parallel Courses in Time
1
Hellenic Union of Municipal Enterprises for Water Supply and Sewerage, Larissa, and HAO-Demeter, Agricultural Research Institution of Crete, 71307 Iraklion, Greece
2
Department of Public Health, University of Helsinki, 00014 Helsinki, Finland
3
Department of Medicine, Democritus University of Thrace, 68131 Alexandroupolis, Greece
4
Capacity Development in Water and Environmental Services (CADWES) Research Team, Tampere University, 33014 Tampere, Finland
5
Institute of African Studies, Shanghai Normal University, Shanghai 201900, China
6
Department of Medicine, University of Crete, 71307 Iraklion, Greece
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Academic Editor: Domenico Cicchella
Water 2021, 13(6), 752; https://doi.org/10.3390/w13060752
Received: 11 February 2021
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Revised: 3 March 2021
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Accepted: 5 March 2021
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Published: 10 March 2021
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Water Scarcity: From Ancient to Modern Times and the Future)
Since ancient times, the need for healthy water has resulted in the development of various kinds of water supply systems. From early history, civilizations have developed water purification devices and treatment methods. The necessity for fresh water has influenced individual lives as well as communities and societies. During the last two hundred years, intensive and effective efforts have been made internationally for sufficient water quantity and quality. At the same time, human life expectancy has increased all over the globe at unprecedented rates. The present work represents an effort to sketch out how water purity and life expectancy have entangled, thus influencing one another. Water properties and characteristics have directly affected life quality and longevity. The dramatic increase in life expectancy has been, indisputably, affected by the improvement in water quality, but also in other concomitant factors, varying temporally and spatially in different parts of the world throughout the centuries. Water technologies and engineering have an unequivocal role on life expectancy. In some cases, they appear to have taken place earlier than the progress of modern medicine. Among these, improved sanitation, personal hygiene, progress in medicine, and better standards of economic living have played the greatest roles.
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Keywords:
contemporary times; historical times; life expectancy; medieval times; population growth; water quality
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MDPI and ACS Style
Angelakis, A.N.; Vuorinen, H.S.; Nikolaidis, C.; Juuti, P.S.; Katko, T.S.; Juuti, R.P.; Zhang, J.; Samonis, G. Water Quality and Life Expectancy: Parallel Courses in Time. Water 2021, 13, 752. https://doi.org/10.3390/w13060752
AMA Style
Angelakis AN, Vuorinen HS, Nikolaidis C, Juuti PS, Katko TS, Juuti RP, Zhang J, Samonis G. Water Quality and Life Expectancy: Parallel Courses in Time. Water. 2021; 13(6):752. https://doi.org/10.3390/w13060752
Chicago/Turabian StyleAngelakis, Andreas N., Heikki S. Vuorinen, Christos Nikolaidis, Petri S. Juuti, Tapio S. Katko, Riikka P. Juuti, Jim Zhang, and George Samonis. 2021. "Water Quality and Life Expectancy: Parallel Courses in Time" Water 13, no. 6: 752. https://doi.org/10.3390/w13060752
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