Sustainable Water Engineering: Theory and Practice

3 Water Quality Issues

Ramesha Chandrappa, Diganta Bhusan Das, Norazanita Shamsuddin and Umarat Santisukkasaem

It is not possible for humans to survive without water of adequate quality. Billions of man-days of labour are lost annually due to waterborne diseases. Many communities are approaching or have reached the limits of available water supplies. Water reclamation and reuse are necessary for survival but conventional knowledge is not sufficient to provide the desired quality of water. Due to advances in science, pollutants have spread across the globe. The pollutants released into air settle after travelling hundreds and thousands of kilometres. Currents in the ocean spread the pollutants accidentally or they are intentionally released into ocean across the globe. New chemicals are formed due to contact between reactants.

Societies across the world have yet to understand completely the issues and science related to water quality. As depicted in Figure 3.1, scientists have not fully understood water quality science. Hence, there is a huge amount of knowledge to be acquired apart from all the practical information, publications and patents that exist. Some knowledge is unpublished but still may exist amongst some individuals or groups of people. Efforts to understand nature fully are not feasible due to financial and practical aspects. It is not possible to study the acute and chronic effects of all chemicals/micro-organisms on human beings at different doses due to ethical ...