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It's a public-health problem, the root of which varies from place to place—
用水污染也是公共卫生问题，但不同地区造成这一问题的根源不尽相同，
old pipes silently poisoning entire cities with lead,
有的是因为老旧管道在无形之中用铅毒害了整座城市的健康，
industrial sites leaking the carcinogenic industrial chemical known as PFAS into the waterways,
有的是工业区有致癌工业化学品PFAS泄漏到了当地的水系统，
uranium seeping into groundwater from where it's been mined.
还有的是铀从开采地渗到了地下水里。
But the downstream effects are strikingly similar:
但无论是哪种原因，这些根源的下游效应都是惊人的相似：
damage to health that exacerbates the trials of poverty and a frayed social safety net.
损害居民健康，加剧当地的贫困问题，进一步损害已经伤痕累累的社会保障体系。
These in turn become years wiped off life expectancy and points lost from IQ scores.
这些后果又会转化成预期寿命的缩短和智商的欠缺。
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30万的纳瓦霍部落分布于犹他州、新墨西哥州和亚利桑那州各地，
residents unknowingly drank and played in water that uranium mining had made extremely hazardous.
部落居民丝毫没有察觉到，自己使用的是被铀矿开采严重污染过的水。
"Growing up, they didn't talk about how dangerous it was," said Melissa Sloan of Tuba City, Ariz.,
“从小到大，他们都没说过那个水有多危险，”
before she died in December of kidney cancer.
去年12月因肾癌去世的亚利桑那州图巴市居民梅丽莎·斯隆曾在离世前说道。
"I drank the water; I bathed in the water.”
“我喝的是那个水；洗澡用的也是那个水。”
A striking number of people, including babies, show traces of uranium in their blood.
在这些地区，血液中检测出铀的人，包括婴儿的人数已经达到了令人咂舌的地步。
Infections develop in those who dare to shower.
敢于洗澡的人则直接出现了感染症状。
Summer Wojcik, a triage nurse at Utah Navajo Health System,
犹他州纳瓦霍卫生系统的分诊护士夏姆·沃伊奇克表示，
says health care providers ask patients with infections if they have access to clean water.
卫生保健系统的工作人员曾询问过感染患者日常使用的是否为清洁水源。
If not, they may keep them in a health care facility for a few days, to improve the odds of healing.
如果没有，他们便可能选择让患者住院，以提高痊愈的几率。
"You'll hear those types of stories all over—infections, cancers," she says.
“你会听到各种五花八门的故事，感染，癌症等等等等，”她说。
"We have got to get fresh water for these people.”
“我们必须要保障这些人用上清洁的淡水。”
Beyond the diseases, contaminated water helps account for social decay.
除了会诱发疾病，污染水还会加剧整个社会的衰落。
Residents on a desperate quest for safe water routinely drive for hours to buy and stash it.
获取安全水源极其困难的居民经常需要驱车到数小时车程之遥的地方买水屯水。
Jeremiah Kerley, 61, says he hitchhikes to Flagstaff to sell his plasma.
现年61岁的杰里米·科利表示，（为了买水）他已经被逼到了搭便车去弗拉格斯塔夫卖血的地步。
"It's a source of income," he says.
“卖血也是收入嘛，”他说。
"I use that to pay for our water.”
“买水就靠那些钱了。”
译文由可可原创，仅供学习交流使用，未经许可请勿转载。
