Water is the most vital source needed for basic survival of not only humans, but animals and plants a well. It is a necessity of life, and our Earth consists 75% of water. However, not just any water can be used, only cleaned purified water. Water is used in an unlimited amount of ways. It is mainly used for drinking, cooking, cleaning, and growing crops. Living in a developed country, we may not see it, but the lack of access to clean water is a major problem in today's society. "About 1 out of every 6 people living today do not have adequate access to water, and more than double that number lack basic sanitation, for which water is needed" ("Provide Access to Clean Water" P.1). This scarcity of clean water has led to diseases and poor health for many people worldwide. Adults and children with no access to clean water are forced to spend hours of the day collecting and transporting water. 1,400 children die from diseases caused by unsafe and non-sanitized water each day. Grateful humans who have access to clean water, such as myself, often neglect the importance of it because we are so used to having access to safe water. Clean water is distributed through water fountains for free in certain parts of the world, but in other areas finding clean water is near impossible. The water challenge has great significance because if a method of providing more sanitary water to certain parts of the world can be discovered, many innocent lives can be saved. .
Of the 14 NAE Grand Challenges, I decided to choose "Provide access to clean water" because it looked straight forward but at the same time seemed most important to living healthy in everyday lives. Engineers are here to design and develop technologies to make living life simpler. The topic of providing access to clean water is interesting because if it is successful, it can affect many things. The problem does not lie in the amount of water available on this earth, but rather the amount of clean water available.
