Water sustainability practices are crucial for achieving environmental sustainability goals. Drawing upon the recent COP26 Summit, here is a quick guide to everything you need to know to improve water storage in agricultural, industrial, and commercial settings.
The United Nation’s Water Security and Global Water Agenda explains that there are several elements to water sustainability. Firstly, there must be efficient provision, meaning that every individual must have access to a safe, reliable water supply. Importantly, that supply must be easily accessible, with reliable sanitation. The waterways that enable the provision need to be unpolluted and, where possible, maintained to a quality that minimises leaks. Additionally, measures such as safe rainwater harvesting should be employed to reduce the stress on mains water supplies.
There are many challenges that must be met to enable water sustainability. Part of this is due to antiquated mains infrastructure, which reduces the efficiency of the whole system. In addition to practical issues such as access and increased demand, the reason behind this is largely due to funding. The UN has outlined the need for investment in critical work, which needs to be undertaken on both a global and a local scale, supported by initiatives such as rainwater harvesting. An additional problem is that technologies such as automation - upon which many water providers are reliant for increasing efficiency - are vulnerable. As such, allocating investment and combining resources is crucial for increasing sustainability.
There is no single way to ensure water sustainability. As such, changes need to be guided by policy and planning initiatives. The UK government has a framework for water planning, and each water utilities provider has responded to this with its own sustainability plan. These plans should help to build resilience through methods such as improved collection, treatment, and storage of water. Additionally, companies are being urged to focus on their water efficiency and to employ tactics such as water harvesting to increase it. Policies also emphasise the importance of water quality. For instance, using high-density polyethylene tanks can help to improve water safety by reducing the risk of bacterial and algae growth.
Agricultural and industrial sites are primary contributors to water pollution. They are also heavy users of water, with 70% of global water supporting agriculture. Therefore, farms and similar applications are positioned at the frontline of sustainability. Steps that can be taken include ensuring that all storage tanks are maintained to run safely and efficiently, as well as installing rainwater harvesting systems where possible. By collecting and storing rainwater, sites can reduce the amount of demand they place on mains water supplies, as well as tackling issues such as flooding.
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