One of the grand challenges being faced by many people in the world today is access to clean water. The shortage of clean drinking water is, for sure a huge issue, however, with advances in technology and better affordability of this technology, this crisis can be averted. As far as a background know how of the situation is concerned, there is an abundance of water in countries such as Canada or the States, where it provides in excess for the amount of people inhabiting the countries. On the other hand, there are the Middle Eastern and North African countries, which suffer a perpetual shortage of water all around the year. In some countries, water is present at certain times, while it is absent at other, for example, Brazil (Chemical Engineering.org.). There are many reasons behind these shortages- political reasons, natural reasons and economic reasons. However, even developed countries are not behind the challenge of access to clean water because a lot of water is contaminated and wasted because it contains toxins and pollutants. The most common uses of water are drinking, household purposes, agriculture and industrial use. While only 3% of the Earth’s water is usable, it is too, not easy to get access of and to distribute amongst the masses (Chemical Engineering.org.).
This grand challenge of sanitation and providing access to clean water is solved by the genius of engineering. There are various methods by which clean water can be aided to reach far-fetched and deprived areas. The basic most approach for providing clean water is the cleansing of water which is undrinkable and unsafe for use. As per the discipline of Chemical Engineering being pursued by me, there are a number of solutions that can be applied to solve the crisis. Not only does chemical engineering help to provide safe and long-lasting solutions, but it also aims to cut the cost of the process. Chemical engineering can help to remove toxins from contaminated water excluded as wastes from industries, and it can also help to purify raw water. The instrumental thought is to clean the water by treating it (Chemical Engineering.org.). It makes use of all kinds of techniques such as chemical, biological as well as physical. There are various processes involved in the treatment of unclean water such as pressure filtration of water, distillation, centrifugation and employing cutting edge oxidation treatment to water. The advances oxidation methods are safe to use and are an alternative to the heavy use of chlorine added to water for cleansing. The use of ozone, hydrogen peroxide, and UV light has changed the methods of water purification (Chemical Engineering.org.). There are several areas of chemical engineering that can help to solve the issue. These include Thermodynamics, Material Science, Applied Chemistry and Transport Phenomena. Choosing any one of these can help to contribute in many ways to the clean water situation. Chemical engineers also employ the most popular method of desalination. It is a process which is economical, speedier and has active results. The result is nanofiltration of impure water (Chemical Engineering.org.). The idea is to clean large volumes of water and workable for full-scale plants. Nanofiltration also works for water which contains pesticides and insecticides, metallic waste and can also work for hard water (Chemical Engineering.org.).
Hence, chemical engineering can solve the problem from the root, especially in areas where water is available but cannot be utilized because it is unclean and unhygienic. It can help on a large scale as well, by employing the latest and most effective techniques present today.
Work Cited
Chemical Engineering.org. “Chemical engineers in action: Innovation at work.” n.d. Web. 27
