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bridges vol. 18, July 2008 / Letter from the Editor Dear Reader, Water - one of the most valuable and precious resources we have. Without water, life as we know it couldn't exist on "the Blue Planet" Earth. Human civilization developed and progressed near water with Mesopotamia, the cradle of civilization, situated between the rivers Tigris and Euphrates, and metropolises such as New York City, Paris, London, and Shanghai rising near waterways and sea accesses that facilitated commerce and trade. Nor should we forget the fact that, without drinking water, a human dies within three to five days. Water is life. In this issue of bridges, we have placed a special focus on water policies and technologies. Were you aware that more than a billion people still lack access to safe drinking water? Given the fact that we currently have the scientific knowledge and the applicable technologies to provide safe drinking water, this is simply an outrage. One of those promising technologies is desalination, turning seawater and saline lake and aquifer waters into potable water. In his article , Mark Shannon, director of the US National Science Foundation Science and Technology Center for Advanced Materials for the Purification of Water with Systems in Urbana, Illinois, explains for bridges the technology behind desalination, as well as its pros and cons. Another serious global problem is human-caused water pollution that impacts the health of freshwater ecosystems and the human communities that rely on their water supply. It was in the 1800s, in the course of the industrial revolution, that the so-called "sanitary revolution" improved peoples' lives by putting in place sewage disposal and water supply systems. Laborers who flocked with their families to the urban areas for work suffered under appalling working and living conditions. The uncontrolled population explosion in the cities led to the spread of disease, and highly infectious diseases such as diphtheria and cholera exacted a huge toll in morbidity and mortality. The champions of the sanitary revolution were John Snow, who showed that cholera was spread by water, and Edwin Chadwick, who came up with the idea of sewage disposal and piping water into homes. Despite the great progress in sanitation in the Western World over the last 200 years, more than 2.5 billion people still lack adequate sanitation. Most of these are in developing countries, where as many as 2 million people, mainly small children, still die annually from water related diseases. Access to the full article is free, but requires you to register. Registration is simple and quick – all we need is your name and a valid e-mail address. We appreciate your interest in bridges. |
