Access to clean water is everyone’s fundamental right. However, pollution makes it challenging for people to get good-quality fresh water in their homes.
Almost 700,000 miles of river water in America is polluted by harmful chemicals and waste, and 7.2 million residents develop water-borne diseases every year. That’s because most of the nation’s tap water has huge amounts of chemical residue caused by industrial pollution.
If nothing is done to deal with this contamination, then most of the freshwater basins in America won’t meet the legal safety standards. Thankfully, there’s a glimmer of hope in the form of modern technology that could save America from the ongoing water crisis.
In this blog, we’ll discuss three technologies that could help reduce water pollution and more.
The Most Common Cause of Water Contamination
Oil spills, wastewater leaks, sewage dumping, and agriculture are all contributors to water pollution. Even global warming and radioactive waste pollute various water bodies. However, the major contributor to this contamination is industrial waste.
Big corporations dump their waste into water bodies for disposal, exposing it to toxic chemicals and pollutants. This improper waste management technique sometimes reaches freshwater systems, leading humans to develop chronic health issues.
Let’s take the contamination incident at Camp Lejeune as an example. This Navy base in North Carolina was the victim of illegal waste disposal methods and corporate misconduct.
An off-base dry cleaning company dumped the solvents and degreasers into a nearby water source. This contaminated water soon seeped into the base’s groundwater system. Due to this water runoff, two treatment plants got contaminated with harmful chemicals and volatile organic compounds (VOCs).
For 34 years, over 1 million residents drank and used this contaminated water. As a result, they develop health issues like non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, bladder cancer, multiple myeloma, and other acute diseases.
Unfortunately, the officials didn’t do anything about the hazardous waste disposal methods before the water got contaminated. That’s why the affected veterans and civilians were furious and wanted to file claims with the help of a Camp Lejeune lawsuit. But they couldn’t do that because the government had sovereign immunity.
It was only until the Camp Lejeune Justice Act (CLJA) of 2022 that the victims could finally sue the government. According to TorHoerman Law, the CLJA was a massive step towards recovering disability compensation from the toxic water crisis. Today, plaintiffs are eligible to receive payouts between USD 10,000 and USD 1,000,000.
This incident proves how damaging industrial waste can be to humans. That’s why we need advanced technologies to improve water quality.
3 Advanced Technologies to Improve Water Quality
Contaminated water can transmit cholera, typhoid, dysentery, etc. Thankfully, proper filtration technologies can help reduce the risk of acute respiratory diseases and stomach infections.
Take a look at the recent technologies that aim to efficiently eradicate the clean water crisis:
#1. Nanofiltration
Nanofiltration can easily remove industrial contaminants and manufacturing pollutants from a water tank. Examples include bisphenol-A, phthalates, etc. This purification system is efficient and cost-effective because it can manipulate the atoms in the water.
On a molecular level, the nanotechnology-based purification system can assist with remediation, filtration, and water treatment. For example, the carbon nanotube (CNT) technology used in a filtration system can remove inorganic and organic biological compounds from water.
#2. Photocatalytic Water Purification
Another type of water filtration technology that can change the quality of water is photocatalytic purification systems. In this technology, the purifier uses ultraviolet rays at high speeds or photocatalysts to kill any bacteria, toxins, or germs in the water.
When used mildly, the photocatalysis process can become a cost-effective and sustainable green technology. This process can help get rid of microbes, viruses, crude oil, pesticides, and chemical dyes from the water supplies.
#3. Bioaugmentation
Bioaugmentation is a process of filtration that can help transform wastewater into drinking water. This type of wastewater treatment can also create synthetic fertilizers for better agricultural activities.
In this technology, scientists introduce microorganisms into the wastewater for treatment. These are enzymes and safe bacteria that can remove carbon substrates and oil pollutants from liquids. Eventually, the organisms will break down, eat away, and remove any contaminants.
However, this is a multi-step process. That means someone has to manually remove the microorganisms after the wastewater has been treated.
In conclusion, scientists are trying to find ways to treat water contamination and meet hygiene standards. People might access safe drinking water with the help of bioaugmentation, photocatalytic purifiers, and nanotechnology. Similarly, the Camp Lejeune incident proves that continuous monitoring of possible contamination can help with wastewater treatment and proper sanitation processes.
