New York City’s drinking water is often referred to as “the champagne of tap water”, and although it does not sparkle, it has another unique property: It contains microscopic crustaceansThe tiny creatures are barely visible to the naked eye, and when spotted in a freshly poured cup, they resemble small white specks of dust. Despite their size, the crustaceans – also known as copepods – play an important role in ensuring the city’s water supply. This is because copepods Mosquito larvae often found floating in the water, of course Improving quality and taste— a particularly important task considering that New York City has the largest unfiltered water system in the United States

The residents of the Big Apple get most of their water from the Catskill and Delaware watersheds, which cover about 1.2 billion gallons of drinking water per day to more than 9 million city residents and those in the surrounding suburbs. While the water is not filtered, it is treated with ultraviolet light and chemicals such as chlorine, and it undergoes around 600,000 health and water quality tests annually. Copepods can survive these cleaning agents, flow through the system and often end up in a glass of New York’s best tap water. Despite the benefits of copepods, their existence has raised concerns among religious Jewish communities that ban shellfish consumption. However, water quality engineers and biologists report that copepods are found throughout the world. in almost all types of water and are completely safe for consumption. Note that the creatures can be easily removed using home water filters.

Not every community has immediate, unlimited access to clean drinking water, so some resort to unconventional methods of collecting water—such as fog harvesting. The process has proven effective in arid regions with heavy fog, such as coastal countries like Eritrea, Israel, and Chile. Fog harvesting systems use mesh nets or screens to collect tiny droplets of water from low-lying fog clouds, which then flow into pipes leading to storage tanks. In Peru, a single fog net can capture between 200 and 400 liters of fresh water per day (about 52 to 105 gallons). While this simple technology is a groundbreaking advance in water harvesting, scientists say it’s a recycled idea; evidence of ancient fog harvesting systems has been unearthed in Egypt, Israel, and the Atacama Desert in South America.

Water scarcity is one of the five biggest global risksImpacts on human wellbeing. In water-scarce areas, the situation is dire. Conventional sources such as snowfall, rainfall, river runoff and easily accessible groundwater are being impacted by climate change, and supplies are shrinking while demand is increasing.

Water-scarce countries need a fundamental change in planning and management. We explore how this can be achieved through the creative use of unconventional water resources.

From the seafloor to the Earth’s upper atmosphere, we have a wealth of water resources at our disposal. However, making the most of them requires a variety of technological interventions and innovations.

Water embedded in fog is increasingly being considered as a source of drinking water in arid areas where heavy fog occurs regularly. Fog can be collected using a vertical net that intercepts the droplet stream. This water then flows into a water collection, storage and distribution system.

Different types of screen materials can be used in fog collectors, such as aluminum, plastic, plexiglass and alloys. The success of such a system depends on the geography and topography, which must be conducive optimal fog interceptionHowever, this could work in dry mountain and coastal regions.

With the active involvement of local communities and technical support from local institutions, fog water harvesting is a low-maintenance option and environmentally friendly technology for drinking water supply. Fog water harvesting projects have been implemented in various parts of the world, including Chile, Eritrea, Israel and Oman.

Under the right conditions Rain amplification through cloud seeding has the potential to increase the amount of water captured from the air. This technology involves dispersing small particles in or near clouds. These particles serve as a starting point for raindrops or ice crystals and encourage their formation. This in turn increases the likelihood of rain or snow.

Since there is little rainfall in dry areas, micro rainwater collection can help capture rainwater on the ground where it would otherwise evaporate.

There are two main types of micro-collection systems for rainwater. One is Water extraction via roof systems where the runoff water is collected and stored in tanks or similar devices. This water is used in households or for watering livestock.

The second is Water extraction for agriculturein which rainwater runoff from a catchment area is collected in a small reservoir or in the root zone of a cultivated area. The surface of the catchment area may be natural or treated with a material that prevents the soil from absorbing water, especially in areas with sandy soils. Since runoff is irregular, it is necessary to store the maximum amount of rainwater during the rainy season so that it can be used later.

The process Desalination removes salt from seawater or brackish groundwater to make it drinkable. This allows us to extract more water than is available in the water cycle and thus ensure a climate-independent and constant supply of high-quality water.

More and more places are expected to rely on desalinated water as costs fall and the cost of conventional water resources rises. While desalination currently covers about 10% of the municipal water supply of urban coastal centers worldwide, by 2030 This figure is expected to reach 25%.

Moving an iceberg across the ocean is technically possible, based on a theoretical four-part processThis would require identifying a suitable source and supply, calculating the required towing power, accurately predicting melting during transport, and assessing the economic viability of the entire venture. Countries such as the United Arab Emirates and South Africa are considering iceberg towing as a way to fill gaps in their water demand and supply.

Water and climate change are closely linked. Climate change therefore increases the likelihood of extreme droughts in dry areas. Harnessing the potential of unconventional water resources can help increase the resilience of water-scarce communities to climate change while diversifying water supply resources.