Lack of water is responsible for more deaths in the world than war. It is not that the world does not possess enough water. Globally, water is available in abundance. It is not just located where it is needed. For example, Canada has plenty of water, far more than its people need, while the Middle East and northern Africa- to name just two of many- suffer from perpetual shortages. Moreover, in some developing countries, water supplies are contaminated not only by the people discharging toxic contaminants, but also by arsenic and other naturally occurring poisonous pollutants found in groundwater aquifers. For a healthy, sustainable future for the planet, developing methods of ensuring adequate water supplies pose engineering challenges of the first magnitude. “Overcoming the crisis in water and sanitation is one of the greatest human development challenges of the early 21th century”, a recent U.N. report warns.
From digging wells to building dams, engineers have historically been prime providers of methods for meeting the water supply and quality needs of society. It means that flows of water will be diverted from regions where it is plentiful to where it is scarce. Furthermore, it is just a short-term solution because this method generally will not be able to meet agriculture needs, and sometimes may be an explosive political issue due to the fact that diverting water to some people often means less for others.
Desalination is extracting the salt from seawater. New technologies can require low energy and costs to operate this method. One potentially useful new approach called nano-osmosis would filter out salt with the use of tiny tubes of carbon. Otherwise, other approaches will also be needed.
Recycling of wastewater and sewage treatment is also very important so that water can be used for nonpersonal uses such as irrigation or industrial purposes. In addition, economical distribution of water to rural and low-income areas is also a main issue. Some current projects are striving to produce inexpensive distillation units that can remove contaminants from any water source.
Such approaches will help to address the very real problem of inequitable distribution of water resources. Technological solutions to the world’s water problems must be implemented within systems that recognize and address these inequities.
References:
Gleick, P.H., et al. The world Water 2006-2007: Biennial Report on Freshwater resources. Retrieved September 7, 2008, from Chicago: Island Press.
Website: http://www.sciencealert.com.au/water-recycling-time-to-get-serious.html
2 comments:
Water is one the ongoing debate all over the world. Lack of water is a serious problem nowadays, especially in some places like Middle East, Africa, etc. I agree with you that "Lack of water is responsible for more deaths in the world than war." In addition, water contamination is also big problem.
Thus, desalination and waste water recycling can be two technologies to be considered.
I agree with Nam that water supply is indeed abundant except of the location, which is not accessible to certain countries.
Nam has pointed out two methods of providing fresh water. One is desalination and the other is water recycling. From Nam's article, I learnt that desalination method can be cost effective through the use of nano-osmosis method. This is indeed a great discovery as it can help developing countries to achieve more fresh water. Next is the water recycling method. This method inculcates us to use water wisely and it can cut down unnecessary use of fresh water greatly.
In brief, engineers challenges are never ending. Perhaps it might solve current situation of water shortage, they might need to counter water shortage in future due to greater increasing of population.
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