Increasingly frequent extreme weather events urge the development of point-of-use water treatment systems

Abstract

The frequency of extreme weather events, including floods, storms, droughts, extreme temperatures, and wildfires, has intensified globally over recent decades due to climate change, affecting human society profoundly. Among all the impacts of these extreme weather events, the consequences to our reliable water supply have gained increasing attention as they exacerbate the inequities in health and education, especially in marginalized populations. In this perspective, we emphasize that extreme weather events are able to undermine a stable supply of drinking water through a number of approaches, and conventional centralized water treatment is insufficient at addressing these challenges. We urge that greater recognition, increased public awareness, and more efforts on technological innovation on decentralized, especially point-of-use (POU), water treatment should be prioritized to better help tackle the challenges faced by increasingly frequent extreme weather events.

Interfacial engineering boosting the photocatalytic performance of a CdS/C3N5 heterojunction for organic pollutant degradation: mechanism, degradation pathway, and DFT calculation

“…This similarly can be attributed to the relatively low concentration of CdS within the synthesized photocatalysts. Generally, the band gap energy of a semiconductor can be estimated by the following Kubelka–Munk equation: 45–47 αhν = A ( hν − E g ) n /2 where α , h , ν , A and E g are the absorption coefficient, Planck constant, light frequency, proportionality constant and band gap energy, respectively. The band gap energy of the semiconductor is determined by locating the point at which the tangent line of the curve, as defined by the formula above, intersects the X -axis.…”

Wildfire damage and contamination to private drinking water wells

“…Caution should also be extended to well owners that due to limited prior well testing data, the full range of contaminants most often associated with wildfire impacted wells has not yet been confirmed. Certification of point‐of‐use water treatment systems against disaster‐scale water contamination could be evaluated (Wang et al, 2022). Additional rapid response studies should be conducted to assess damage and further identify the most significant post‐fire contaminants.…”

Implementation of household-scale clean water treatment technology for the mountain farming community, Jajar village, Gandusari district, Trenggalek

“…Based on these data, the level of public understanding of the criteria for clean water is quite good, but it is necessary to better understand how to treat water properly before consumption. 14,15 Subsequent research was conducted to find out about the level of public understanding of the consequences caused by consuming water that is not / less feasible. Based on the study results as many as 349 respondents or 99% of respondents answered "know" the consequences and as many as 4 respondents or 1% of respondents answered "don't know".…”