It is unquestionable how the social consciousness of the finite character of natural resources has grown and consolidated in recent decades.
However, a huge civilizational challenge remains towards the implementation of new development strategies that have as their main goal the balance of ecosystems and the preservation of the planet.
Water is a defining element, decisive for all forms of life on the planet.
A sound policy of water resources management either at a national level or at a business or family level is a decisive factor both for economic success but also for improving quality of life and wellbeing.
Of the immense amount of water that covers the planet surface (more than 70% of its extension), only less than 1% will be available for human consumption, with the remaining quantity being in the oceans or in solid state.
Factors that promote increasing imbalances at the level of consumption and pollution have been introduced in the natural cycle of water societies.
The increase in the demand for water, both underground and on the surface, due to current consumption patterns and lifestyles, has led to the overexploitation of natural “deposits” that will take many years to recover and rebalance.
Currently, more than 30% of the world’s population suffers from acute water shortages, and in 25 years it is estimated that almost half of the world’s population will not have access to safe drinking water.
The civilizational challenge that is posed is to reduce our Hydraulic Footprint and its impacts on resources by promoting new forms of rational water management and use.
Eco-management of water
The new engineering and architectural languages associated with new concepts of urban planning and construction will be decisive in winning this challenge for the preservation of the planet.
Over the next 40 years, about 90% of population growth is expected to occur in large urban metropoles.
In the future, water will likely reach market values comparable to those of today’s raw materials such as coal, oil or wood, and legislation should evolve into new ways of penalising its waste.
Essentially, it will be a challenge to be won with new cultures and attitudes of life, in business management or in the management of our family and domestic economies, with a view to an innovative global policy of water resources, reduction in consumption, elimination of waste, recycling and reuse of available water flows.
There are solutions
Today, we already have technical and economically sustained means that allow for the construction of solutions tailored to each urban, industrial, agricultural, business or family reality.
There are elaborate, executed projects, equipment and technology installed with economically and environmentally proven results.
Innovative systems of sanitation, monitoring, filtration and treatment of abstracted water or water networks, which allow a more rational management, reduce consumption, optimise the resources according to their sources of origin and their intended purposes, ecologically appropriate solutions for the valorization of existing resources, giving them new functionalities and qualities of use.
Reduce. Recycle. Reuse.
Integrated systems for the treatment and reuse of waste water, which of diverse nature – urban, industrial, agricultural, tourist buildings – and in equally different scales – agglomerated, dispersed, single family – make possible the primary, secondary and tertiary treatment in an manner appropriated to each context in order to achieve an effective, environmentally sound and ecologically balanced integrated process.
Treat, reuse, combat waste and extend the range of features of the available resources, gardening, washing outdoor spaces, sanitary discharges, as new energy sources.
Solutions made to measure
There is a solution for every situation, with the implementation of integrated sanitation systems for the management, storage, distribution, optimisation, treatment and reuse of our water resources.
By Rui Faria
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Rui Faria is partner of Sustainable Superstore and owner of Hydrokompass, specialist in water treatment and filtration. With over 15 years’ experience installing and improving water treatment systems, he specialises in domestic biological grey water treatment and recycling.
www.sustainable-superstore.com
