Feb
17
Clean Water and the 14 Grand Engineering Challenges for the 21st Century: No Need to Wait
February 17, 2008 | Posted by Michael "Aquadoc" Campana
1 Comment
Gerry Galloway’s excellent post on infrastructure maintenance and upgrade reminded me of the Grand Engineering Challenges announced by the National Academy of Engineering a few days ago. It’s an impressive list: reverse engineer the brain, make solar energy affordable, secure cyberspace, develop fusion energy, etc.
On the list are three grand challenges that could easily be tied directly to water:
- Provide access to clean water
- Manage the nitrogen cycle
- Restore and upgrade urban infrastructure
The first one, especially as it relates to developing regions, is dear to my heart. I’m glad the committee of 18 world-renowned experts saw fit to include this item on their list. However, it is disheartening to realize that in the year 2008, over 1.1 billion people still do not have access to clean water, and about 2.4 billion do not have access to basic sanitation, which of course, impacts water supplies, and ultimately health.
When it comes to clean water for the developing world, the challenge is not so much engineering but political will and allocation of resources. One of the UN’s Millennium Development Goals seeks to reduce by half the number of people without clean water access and basic sanitation by 2015. What this means is that from now until 2015 we will have to bring clean water to about 210,000 people and sanitation to about 450,000 people each day. We are behind in meeting this goal. The money to do this is something on the order of $10-12 billion per year, not a lot of money for a global problem.
We in the developed world can do much better, and have an obligation to do so. We don’t need sophisticated engineering to solve this problem, just the desire.
“Those who say it cannot be done should not interrupt the people doing it.” – Chinese proverb
No related posts.
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
Comments
1 Comment so far
Subscribe
kailangan po namin ito kumyahin
Malinis na tubig at ang 14 Grand Engineering hamon para sa 21st Century: Walang Kailangan Maghintay