...the subject is water and I personally would like to see some solutions for the future concern of usable drinking water for the masses.

Water is important!

Safe, clean drinking water is even more important.

The good news is we are 99.9% of the way there 👍

Ensuring adequate supplies of drinking water

...for this and future generations

All it will take is setting priorities & proper management.

It also has to be a 2 pronged approach.

1. Wastewater must be properly collected to prevent it from contaminating drinking water sources.
   • The mass adoption of sewer systems has been the #1 reason for health improvement in the history of the world.
2. Water must be properly processed to produce clean, safe and pleasant drinking water.
   • Disinfection of drinking water has been the #2 reason for health improvement in the history of the world.

NOTE: The adoption of proper wastewater and water management has been important for worldwide health, even more important than progress in the medical field!

Wastewater is 99.9% water

👎 The bad news is the 0.1% that is NOT water...

• That 0.1% is made up of
  • nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus
  • FOG = Fats Oils & Grease
  • Pathogens = disease causing bacteria & viruses
  • Other solids
    • Properly designed and operated wastewater plants make the wastewater safe to release back to the environment.

Once water is back in the environment,
properly designed and operated water plants make the water safe and pleasant to drink.

My goals as a Chief wastewater plant operator of a small town

• Collect all sewage to a central treatment facility
  • Use whatever processes are necessary to turn wastewater into water that is safe to release back to the environment.
    • This include natural processes and chemicals as needed.

My goals as a Chief water plant operator of a small town

• Provide safe and pleasant drinking water to everyone's tap.
  • People use about 100 gallons of water / day, 365 days / year...
    • while ensuring adequate amounts of water and pressure for emergencies such as fires.

Is there a shortage of clean, safe water?

Quick answer = yes, in some areas of the world

According to a WHO report

844 million people lack even a basic drinking-water service
and
Globally, at least 2 billion people use a drinking water source contaminated with faeces.

According to Richard Jolly, chairman of the Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council

Bringing water and sanitation to all would cost $10 billion a year

One needed step is proper management

I heard about a small town while attending a water treatment school.

• They were seeking funds to build a new water treatment plant.
  • Come to find out they were not metering the water use of each customer.
  • They figured out how much they spent a year and divided that up between all customers.
    • The state agency refused to provide funding to help them build a plant until they installed water meters.
• They finally did install water meters and guess what?
  • Their water usage dropped by over 50%!
    • When people had to pay according to what they used,
      they stopped wasting water.
• They did not have to build a new plant after all!
  Their existing one was quite adequate.

Moral of the story

• People conserve water better when it directly affects their pocketbook!

As fate would have it, I became a utility superintendent of a neighboring town.

• One job I had was to help get funding for a county wide water treatment plant
  • that would provide water to
    • the 3 major towns in the county directly
    • rural customers through the Public Water Supply District
    • and the many small towns which were supplied by the PWSD.

Just so you know, that water plant ended up costing about $4.5 million.

• Everyone's water rates had to be increased to pay for the new plant.
  • The life span of a water plant is 20 years.
  • So the customers ended up paying
    • the actual cost of the water + distribution costs
    • on the loan so it would be paid off in 20 years
    • into a maintenance fund for repairs and upkeep
• Here's the Engineer's web page about the project

Moral of the story

• Water plants can be built to provide water, but the customers must be able to pay for them.
  • EPA expects water rates to end up costing the average user 3% of their paycheck.
  • EPA expects wastewater rates to end up costing the average user 3% of their paycheck.
    • • EPA expects combined water & wastewater rates to end up costing the average user 6% of their paycheck.
• This is feasible in most industrialized countries, where the combined 6% from the average paycheck from all customers can actually finance the project.
  • This is not feasible in 3rd world countries, since income is so low, there is no way 6% could finance the project.

A prime example of "all it takes is money" to solve a water shortage problem.
source = This Scientific American article
Long story short...

• Israel does not have enough fresh water.
  • They spend money to desalinate water.
    • Israel no longer has a fresh water shortage.
  • all it took was properly setting priorities and proper management
    and spending the money to provide for the water.

Shall we start a Steemit charity to help?

I remembered reading about a cheap water well pump being provided to Africa, so I researched it a bit.
Here's what I found...

• The company name is KickStart.
  • Here's their web site
  • 299,957 Pumps Sold
  • 1,100,000 People Out of Poverty
  • 220,000 Businesses Created
  • 500% Average increase in farm income through irrigation
    • Cost MoneyMaker Hip Pump ~$70
      MoneyMaker Max ~$140
• I was a bit surprised to find they no longer talk about using the water for drinking.
  I think they used to.
  • But, they do talk about using it to water livestock.
  • If water is available, it can be made safe for consumption (cooking and drinking) simply by boiling it...
    • I think Steemians could make a huge impact by providing this pump to Africa!
• I think I'll actually set a goal of paying for one of these pumps directly from money earned here on Steemit.
• Care to join me?

There are a few other technologies I've seen.

• FogQuest provides sustainable water solutions
  • http://www.fogquest.org/
    • http://www.fogquest.org/about-fogquest/what-we-do/
• See this article: Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft. "[Drinking Water From Air Humidity(http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090605091856.htm)." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 8 June 2009.

Random ideas:

• Provide water filter pitchers.
• Teach people how to disinfect water.
  • The cheapest and easiest way is to simply boil the water.
    • This makes nearly any water safe to drink and cook with.

Can we ensure adequate supplies of drinking water?

Short answer with a big IF...

YES

IF

we

• decide it is a priority
• use proper management principles
• build wastewater collection systems and treatment facility
• build water treatment facilities & distribution systems
• teach people to take conserving water seriously

At the very least, we can teach people to simply boil water.

Restating some of the stats mentioned in this post...

• 1 out of every 3.8 people do not have access to clean water.
• If this is a true statement...
  It would cost $10 billion / year to provide everyone with clean water.
  • and 2 billion do not have clean water.
    • So, for (10/2 = ) $5/year we could provide a person with clean water.
  • NOTE: The world spends $1+ trillion annually on the military.
    • Surely we could re-prioritize whatever it takes from that budget to bring clean, safe drinking water to the entire world!
      If we spent 1% of the worldwide military budget to provide clean water,
      everyone in the entire world would have clean water!
• We only have to worry about the 0.1% of the unclean water.
  • Solve that problem and water no longer will make people sick.

There is no excuse!
Every person in the world
should have safe, clean drinking water...

About me

I've been using and drinking water my whole life!

• I've been creating wastewater my whole life!
  • I've been involved in the water industry for over a decade now...

I am a licensed water plant and wastewater plant operator with around 15 years experience.

• I am the Chief water plant operator of a small town (1100 population)
  that also supplies another small town (300 population)
  and is a partial supplier to the County Public Water District.
  • I am the Chief wastewater plant operator for this town
    and another small town (300 population)
    • I was once a city manager of a small town (1400 population) as they transitioned from a city owned water plant to a county wide water plant.

About this post

This post is an entry into Round 12 of the IFC or Information Finding Championship.
Started by @apolymask

• Click here for the intro post.
• Click here for more information about this contest
• Here's their discord channel: https://discord.gg/ta6r6se

It's not too late to get in the contest. This is my first entry!

• Many thanks to @plushzilla for suggesting I take a look at it.

Rules for Round 12:

1. Twelfth challenge starts now and is a challenge revolving around the subject of water.
2. Create a blog post for the contest.
3. Title must contain contest round, "Information Finding Championship - Season 1 : Round 12 entry"
4. Leave a link to your post in the comments below.
   NOTE: go to this page... to leave your link in your comment.
5. And you also have to use the #informationfinding tag in your blog post as well.

Image source: Pixabay