Student information
How engineers save lives around the world by making water clean and safe to drink.
Water is crucial to our health. Without water human life would not be possible. But we live on a planet where 70% of the surface is covered by water, so what’s the problem?
Access to clean water
To start with, only 1% of the water on our planet is safe to drink without going through some kind of purification process. On top of that more than 40% of the world’s population have no access to clean drinking water at all.
In fact, there are a number of problems:
- Disease. Waterborne diseases are the world’s number one killer. Botulism, cholera and hepatitis A are all waterborne and all potentially fatal. Malaria, while not strictly a waterborne disease, also needs water to spread due to the life cycle of the mosquitoes which transmit it.
- Chemical contamination. Water sources can be contaminated with chemicals which are harmful to humans. Some, like arsenic, may occur naturally in certain areas of the world. Others can be the result of human industry.
- Waste water disposal. Humans produce lots of waste water. We use water to flush away much of our sewage. If this waste water is released into water courses which also supply drinking water there can be serious contamination problems.
- Lack of water. In some areas of the world there simply isn’t much drinking water to be had. Many countries extract water from underground reservoirs called aquifers. However, in many places this water is being extracted faster than it can be replenished.
- Flooding. Many areas of the world suffer from catastrophic flooding because they are very low lying and heavy rains burst the banks of rivers. Flooding can also occur in very built up areas where water can no longer be absorbed by the ground due to the layers of concrete and tarmac which cover it.
What’s the solution?
Engineers work to solve or relieve all of these problems. These are just some of the ways they have managed to solve them:
- Filters. Waterborne diseases and chemical contamination can be removed from water supplies by using sophisticated filters. Modern materials such as ion exchange resins, semi permeable membranes and granulated activated carbon have made it possible to produce filters that can remove pretty much any contamination from water.
- Waste water treatment. Waste water disposal systems are constantly improving, with technologies such as ultra violet irradiation and ozone disinfection fairly standard in developed countries.
- Desalination. Lack of water can also be tackled by the construction of desalination plants which produce fresh water from sea water. This is mainly achieved through a process called reverse osmosis (RO).
- Flood defence. Engineers have improved flood defences and our understanding of the nature of flood plains is also helping us to cope with swollen rivers and higher than normal tides.
Watch the World water video to find out more about the ways in which engineers make clean water available to us all.
Interested in working in engineering? Check out the Introduction to engineering for more information about how you could help change people’s lives.
