Blueprint for Change: 4 Solutions for Creating Sustainable Access to Clean Drinking Water
Out of all the eco-friendly initiatives that have developed recently, providing sustainable access to clean drinking water is the highest priority. Safely maintained water sources are foundational to communities, and people could not live without them.
Humanity still has a long way to go before everyone can access clean water, but recent advancements have made a huge impact. These efforts are going a long way toward improving the quality of life in affected areas. Here’s more on the global water crisis and a closer look at four of the most important sustainable drinking water initiatives.
The Global Water Crisis by the Numbers
Clean drinking water is a resource that should never be taken for granted. The World Health Organization and United Nations Children’s Fund estimate that more than 2 billion people worldwide cannot access safely maintained water in their homes. Moreover, only 1.2 billion of them have any consistent source.
Even communities in developed countries aren’t immune to the global water crisis. About 3.6 billion people — almost half of the world’s population — don’t have proper sanitation facilities and 2.3 billion don’t have basic water hygiene services. As a result, an average of 1.2 million people die from consuming contaminated water every year.
Insufficient water treatment facilities and distribution networks are largely to blame for this crisis. Industrial pollution has also contaminated urban water sources in major cities worldwide. Countries rely too heavily on their groundwater, which depletes the soil and leads to more water scarcity issues.
Sustainable Solutions for Clean Drinking Water
Despite those depressing statistics, the number of people without access to clean water has decreased by hundreds of millions in recent years thanks to new advancements in water management and purification. Here are the most impactful solutions that have provided sustainable access to clean drinking water in underprivileged communities.
- Rainwater Harvesting
Cities used to carry stormwater runoff into local waterways and treatment plants through the sewer system. This process is known as the greywater infrastructure. The gutters and pipes that make up the sewage system are under more stress than ever due to growing urban populations, so many communities are transitioning to a green infrastructure instead.
Rainwater harvesting is the keystone of green infrastructure because of its flexible scalability. On an individual level, the average residential or commercial building can use a rooftop harvesting system to provide a self-regenerating supply of clean H2O to the people inside.
Neighborhoods can plant rain gardens in local parks, build wetlands near city centers, or reroute their drainage pipes into barrels and cisterns for purification. They can also install permeable pavement solutions in flood-prone communities that treat and store rainwater as it falls. City streets can utilize several of these methods simultaneously.
On a larger scale, countries such as China, India, Brazil and Thailand have implemented national rainwater harvesting systems for entire industries to ease the impact of droughts and urban water scarcity. Instead of trying to extract and purify existing groundwater, more people are making rainwater harvesting their new central focus.
- New Water Treatment Technologies
Water treatment technologies have been upgraded on a local and national scale. Developing low-cost portable water purifiers has been a huge game-changer for isolated communities, allowing them to reliably filter their water without access to electricity or sanitation facilities.
Cities can now filter water and conserve energy simultaneously. A new solar-powered wastewater treatment plant in Gresham, Oregon, generates more electricity than it consumes while purifying toilet water through biogas generation. Washington, D.C., Oakland, California, and many other American cities have also begun utilizing biogas generation.
Meanwhile, more water-scarce nations are putting most of their efforts toward recycling. For example, Singapore’s NEWater initiative uses five state-of-the-art treatment facilities to purify greywater and wastewater. The water goes through a three-step process of microfiltration, reverse osmosis and ultraviolet disinfection.
Natural water treatment solutions are also growing in popularity. For example, bivalve animals — clams, oysters, mussels and scallops — naturally improve water quality by consuming organic matter such as algae, bacteria and heavy metals. Major waterways, such as the Chesapeake Bay, maintain massive bivalve reefs and clusters to help with local filtration.
Reeds, cattails, lily pads and other aquatic plants play a similar role, consuming the nutrients that lead to algae blooms and creating clean oxygen-rich water. They also reduce sediment runoff by stabilizing shorelines with their extensive root systems. This function is especially important for keeping urban pollutants out of the water in coastal cities.
- No-Till Farming
Recent changes in the agriculture sector have been instrumental in providing access to clean drinking water. The key to eco-friendly irrigation is to cause minimal disturbance to the soil so it can retain moisture and nutrients. This enables roots to grow and strengthen, holding the dirt in place and making it more resilient to extreme weather.
Another term for this irrigation strategy is “no-till farming.” Some studies have found it reduces soil erosion by 80%, thus ensuring better water quality due to decreased sediment runoff. This practice has benefited developing nations with largely rural populations the most.
Aside from countries with massive land areas like the U.S. and Russia, smaller agrarian countries such as Pakistan, Kazakhstan and Zambia have significantly increased no-till farming recently. South American countries make up about half of the world’s no-till farming land, taking full advantage of their tropical climates and high amounts of groundwater.
- Community-Based Water Management Initiatives
Most people who lack clean drinking water live in rural and impoverished areas and can’t rely on their national governments to solve the problem. Small-scale water management initiatives provide the most immediate benefits. That’s where nonprofits and non-government organizations come into play.
Nonprofits and NGOs have played crucial roles in providing new water purification technologies to underserved communities. They introduce systems and teach locals through educational campaigns and hands-on workshops. They also advocate for policy changes to increase government funding and awareness of purification technologies.
For example, UNICEF built new latrines and solar-powered water supply systems in 63 schools and 17 health care centers throughout Africa from 2018 to 2021. This organization also revived 225 water sources and created 60 new ones, giving an estimated 138,000 children access to clean drinking water and hygiene resources.
Still a Long Way to Go
New developments in rainwater harvesting, purification technology, no-till agriculture and non-government community involvement have been crucial players in the fight against the global water crisis.
These improvements make a huge difference in people’s lives by improving their health and providing peace of mind. However, there’s still a long way to go. Progress can’t stop until everyone can access clean drinking water, regardless of their living situation.
