AI-generated summary
Water scarcity is an urgent global issue, exacerbated by desertification, rising temperatures, and pollution of aquifers. Freshwater represents only 3% of the planet’s water, with accessible freshwater a mere 0.036%. To address this, advanced technologies focused on water capture and reuse are critical, as highlighted in the Future Trends Forum report. These technologies must also respect planetary boundaries, such as minimizing atmospheric particulate pollution, combating ocean acidification, and protecting freshwater resources from depletion and contamination.
Effective water management hinges on three strategies: reducing waste, protecting existing water supplies, and capturing new sources. Reducing water waste involves using smart technologies like flow meters, leak detection systems, and efficient appliances, alongside regulatory measures. Protecting water includes traditional methods like storm tanks, advanced purification (notably osmosis), leak monitoring, and nature-based solutions such as sponge cities that enhance groundwater infiltration. Capturing additional water requires innovative approaches like infiltration wells to recharge aquifers, atmospheric water harvesting in cloud-rich areas, and energy-intensive seawater desalination, vital for arid regions.
In sum, combating water scarcity demands a mix of political will and technological innovation to optimize water use, safeguard current supplies, and develop new sources. These efforts, integrating digital tools, nature-based solutions, and advanced filtration, are essential for ensuring sustainable water availability amid growing environmental challenges.
Water is a scarce resource, can technology help humanity preserve this basic component of life?
On the planet, water is limited, especially fresh water (3%) or accessible fresh water (0.036% of the total). In a process of global desertification, rising temperatures and aquifer pollution, how can water scarcity be combated with advanced technologies? As stated in the Future Trends Forum report dedicated to water and its challenges, advanced technologies for capture and reuse will be key players.
Solving planetary boundaries
Liquid water is a terrestrial resource that is affected by the so-called planetary boundaries, barriers that we should not overcome as a species if we want the planet to remain in the balance that allows us to exist. Although all limits affect this basic resource, there are several that are key:
- Limit 3. Particulate pollution in the atmosphere. In addition to rivers, most water extraction technologies come from atmospheric water condensation, so it is advisable to avoid plastics and microplastics in the air. The key technology here is the design of completely biodegradable polymers.
- Limit 4. Ocean acidification. Much of the drinking water and water for cultivation comes from the evaporation of water from seas and oceans, and increasingly drinking water comes from desalination plants. To avoid the reduction of the pH of the seas, it is imperative to develop carbon capturers, as well as of course to drastically reduce global emissions, to 8% per year.
And, of course:
- Limit 7. Fresh water available. This limit is altered when aquifers are polluted or depleted (water stress), when livestock poisoning surface water or when desertification evaporates rivers. Its multiple technological solutions, which will be seen below, are complex, but in general they follow three lines: not wasting water, protecting what you already have and capturing more.
How can we avoid (mis)wasting water?
Choosing what water is spent or invested in is more of a political solution than a technical one, although technology can help. For example, you can start by measuring how much water is used in which processes, which requires conduits with flow meters, if possible connected to the internet and with real-time signals to detect water leaks.
Non-digital elements such as aerators or toilets with double flushing are also beginning to be included in building regulations as they have been shown to avoid the use of domestic water; and in matters of urban maintenance, soil moisture sensors are used to open drip irrigation to avoid wasting water, as well as temperature sensors to avoid watering when water may evaporate.
Protect the water you already have
An old technology that still works very well is storm tanks, gray infrastructure that consists of large spaces under cities that are filled with torrential rains to be able to use that water in the future. The technology of purification and filtering (especially osmosis technology) is being key to making the one that is already available drinkable.
Other solutions include monitoring leaks in tanks, covering reservoirs with a cover that prevents water from evaporating or designing sponge cities that help infiltrate water into the subsoil. Although it is not a way of ‘storing’ water in a closed volume, it has been shown that this infiltration favours the evapotranspiration of vegetation and this, in turn, the non-torrential rains of the short water cycle. It’s a nature-based solution that we discovered thanks to technology.
Of course, investing in more efficient machinery, from washing machines that use less water to industrial cutting machines that cool with other liquids, is a basic aspect of this approach.
Capturing more water, the great technological challenge of the liquid element
Even with the solutions mentioned above, humanity is going to have to look for water in places where it didn’t get it before. In general terms, from three places:
Infiltration wells
It is not a new technology, although this type of construction benefits from new materials and technologies. It consists, in essence, of building huge slopes that allow rainwater to end up in certain places from which it can later be rescued. Venice used this system for centuries, as the water in the lagoon was too toxic to drink, although the new approach is much more ambitious because it seeks to recharge aquifers instead of extracting their water.
Harvesting clouds, condensing atmosphere and filtering the sea
In addition to storing rainfall, the two most important emerging technologies to provide drinking water to humanity are atmospheric water harvesting and seawater filtration. The first can be carried out, in mountains with clouds, by means of networks that allow the deposition of microdroplets, and where it is not possible, with water condensers whose energy comes from renewable sources. For example, a wind turbine that powers a heat pump in which a cold end helps to condense droplets.
Filtering seawater requires more energy and special care for the by-product (brine) but it is also the most reliable. By passing salt water through multiple physical and chemical processes, from high-pressure filters to evaporators, it is possible to decant completely drinkable water. This is very useful in populations that inhabit desert regions.
Water scarcity is a global challenge that requires innovative solutions. Technology offers valuable tools to optimize water use, from the efficient management of water resources to the development of advanced treatment systems. By adopting these solutions, we can mitigate the effects of water scarcity and ensure a sustainable future for all.
