Water Challenges and Solutions on a Global Scale

Water is the most crucial material for human survival, after air. Without water, life would not be possible. It is important to know how much water is available to us and how much water is polluted. We need to monitor pollutants vigorously, both at point and nonpoint sources, using advanced analytical techniques that can monitor ultra-trace amounts of contaminants. Water reclamation is an absolute necessity today because we have contaminated our surface water, and even groundwater in some cases, to a point that it is not clean enough for drinking or cooking. Most importantly, water must be used judiciously, and equal treatment must be paid to the reclamation and treatment of contaminated water.

This book provides information on various global water challenges and solutions. We face many water challenges in terms of availability, quality, and sustainability (Chapter 1). There is an urgent need to find ways to make water more sustainable. To achieve this objective, we will have to address scientific, technical, economic, and social issues.

Satinder Ahuja (Ph.D., University of the Sciences in Philadelphia) rose to the position of Senior Research Fellow at Novartis Corporation while simultaneously serving as Adjunct Professor at several universities. As President of Ahuja Consulting, he assures drugs and water quality. He helps solve the problem of arsenic contamination of groundwater worldwide and encourages water quality research at Ahuja Academy of Water Quality.

Kiril D. Hristovski (Ph.D., Civil and Environmental Engineering at Arizona State University) is an Associate Professor in the Engineering and Environmental & Resource Management Programs at the Polytechnic School within the Fulton Schools of Engineering and is a Senior Sustainability Scientist with the Global Institute of Sustainability at Arizona State University. His research focuses on environmental implications and applications of nanomaterials and developing simple and novel water treatment technologies with special emphasis on their use in developing countries.

Bommanna Loganathan is a Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Watershed Studies Institute at Murray State University. His research interests include distribution and temporal trends of persistent, bioaccumulative, and toxic chemicals in the environment and biota. He has published over 85 peer-reviewed articles and 35 papers in international conference proceedings. Dr. Loganathan is a recipient of several teaching and research awards, including the 2013 Max Carman Outstanding Teacher Award.

Dionysios (Dion) Dionysiou is currently a Professor of Environmental Engineering and Science at the University of Cincinnati. He teaches courses and performs research in the areas of drinking water quality and treatment, advanced oxidation technologies and nanotechnologies, and physical-chemical processes for water quality control.

Jailson Bittencourt de Andrade is a full Professor in the Department of General and Inorganic Chemistry, Institute of Chemistry, of the Universidade Federal da Bahia - UFBA and Member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences. His work in scientific research includes analytical, environmental, and inorganic chemistry. Currently, he is the National Secretary of the Secretariat of Policies and Programs in Research and Development at Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation.