Water is the primary medium through which we will feel the effects of climate change. Water availability is becoming less predictable in many places, and increased incidences of flooding threaten to destroy water points and sanitation facilities and contaminate water sources.
In some regions, droughts are exacerbating water scarcity and thereby negatively impacting people’s health and productivity. Ensuring that everyone has access to sustainable water and sanitation services is a critical climate change mitigation strategy for the years ahead.
As climate change wreaks havoc on the Earth’s interconnected natural systems, drought and desertification are swiftly becoming the new normal, everywhere from the United States to Europe and Africa.
Drought in Numbers, a 2022 report from the UN Convention to Combat Desertification, found that since 1970 weather, climate and water hazards have accounted for 50 per cent of all disasters and impact 55 million people globally every year. The report also found that 2.3 billion people face water stress annually.
There are still several communities in advanced countries like Canada and US that have long-term water advisories. This generally happens when a water system is not functioning well for a variety of reasons, for example, because of equipment malfunction and/or operational issues which prevent the system from treating water to the required quality.
While a drinking water advisory is in effect residents must either purchase water, boil water or otherwise ensure their drinking water is purified. The First Nation communities have the highest rate of long-term advisories in Canada.
Desalination is increasing globally. Several countries, such as the Maldives, Malta and the Bahamas, meet all their water needs through the desalination process. Saudi Arabia (population 34 million) gets about 50 per cent of its drinking water from desalination. While there’s no shortage of seawater, it’s important to understand and monitor the impact of the rapidly growing number of desalination plants on the environment. Desalination is the process of removing salts from water and a by-product of the process is toxic brine which can degrade coastal and marine ecosystems unless treated.
In most desalination processes, for every litre of potable water produced, about 1.5 litres of liquid polluted with chlorine and copper are created. When pumped back into the ocean, the toxic brine depletes oxygen and impacts organisms along the food chain.
The world needs a new approach that can reduce the impact of climate change and does not cause new problems like desalination.
Atmospheric water generation (AWG) can address this issue. Sunact AWG uses technology to produce potable water from surrounding air. This provides the potential to expand water availability during shortages, contamination events, and other issues that can interrupt drinking water services.
