With more people becoming aware of their environmental impact and how it affects the planet, they are directly and indirectly motivating governmental and political policy changes that are only going to increase as we head into the future.
Sustainability is a great way to prevent and reduce an individual's and company's impact on the environment as areas can be targeted to stop the damage occurring in the first place. Every aspect of our daily lives is coming under scrutiny, with the same question asked across every sector. How sustainable are we? The water industry is no different; one of the most critical resources required by the human race, it's vital that water production, purification, and storage is sustainable.
Sustainable water management refers to the process of efficiently providing a safe, reliable and easily accessible water source that can be used for drinking and sanitation. We must protect this source from pollution and contaminants, and this ethos is essential to our natural and human-made waterways, rivers and canals in order to protect the environment. This sounds great on paper, but there are many challenges in achieving efficient water sustainability.
Around the world, country by country, there is a large discrepancy between each nation's ability to achieve sustainable water management. Western nations are faced with the task of replacing ageing infrastructure, a process that is costly and time-consuming, while many poorer and third-world countries have little to no water infrastructure in the first place, relying on wells or rivers as a water source that can present problems with contamination and disease.
Technology and automation are being introduced so that creating safe water sources is easier and more cost-effective. This fusion of human expertise and technological grunt will bring sustainability to many nations in the future, but it is not without its issues. Cyber attacks can shut down water plants, or technology can malfunction and require costly repairs. Automation and robotics may also be unaffordable for many nations, especially those with complicated political structures that could find it challenging to get policies through their respective parliaments.
Water storage solutions are an excellent and cost-effective way of creating sustainable and safe water sources. You can easily test stored water for safety regularly. As the water is self-contained, individual tanks can be quarantined and isolated from the rest of the water supply in the event of a problem too. Thanks to these benefits, it's safe to say water storage will play a large part in the future of sustainable water management.