Three Detroit Mercy faculty members have co-authored an article that begins a series looking at the Grand Challenges of Engineering in the 21st Century. Their topic: Provide Access to Clean Water.
The article in the spring issue of Tech Century is co-authored by Dr. Gary Kuleck Dean of the College of Engineering & Science, Dr. Alexa Rihana-Abdallah Associate Professor of Architectural, Civil and Environmental Engineering and Dr. Utpal Dutta Professor of Architectural, Civil and Environmental Engineering. Tech Century is a quarterly publication of the Engineering Society of Detroit.
“Most of Earth’s water (>96%) is in salty oceans. Of the fresh water …, most … is tied up in a frozen state or trapped in underground aquifers. Thus, only about o.o3 percent of total water is readily available for use. Furthermore, available fresh water is unevenly distributed with over 50 percent in just nine countries.”
Add to that the fact that the world uses more than 9,000 billion cubic meters of water annually and the fact that even in developed countries water can be contaminated due to aging infrastructure, the use of water (which then becomes polluted) in the increased practice of fracking, and issues related to climate change make protecting what little potable water the Earth has vital in this new century.
The full article on this important topic can be read here.
