and so is the way we treat it
Our planet is covered by 71% water, yet less than 2 percent is stored as fresh and groundwater of which less than 1/3 is safe to drink and the figure is declining. Every day, 2 million tons of sewage, industrial and agricultural waste is discharged into the world’s water, the equivalent of the weight of the entire human population of 6.8 billion people. The UN estimates that the amount of wastewater produced annually is about 1,500 km3, six times more water than exists in all the rivers of the world. Lack of adequate sanitation contaminates our water sources and is one of the most significant forms of water pollution.
Aqua Unique in East Africa is a sister company of Aqua Unique in Norway which has more than twenty three years experience in the water sector. We specialize in innovative Norwegian and European designed water purification and wastewater solutions.
The water cycle
Water moves constantly around the earth. But it can take up to ten years to replenish our groundwater naturally.
When rain falls to the ground, the water does not stop moving. Some of it is used by plants, trees, animals and humans. Some evaporates and returns to the atmosphere. Some flows along the land surface and down to streams and lakes and ends in the oceans.
And some water will take the long journey and slowly trickle down through the layers of soil, sand and clay; meeting in rock formations called aquifers, replenishing our groundwater.
Clean drinking water is a challenge, even in developed countries
Drinking water quality in developed countries is not always assured. In France, drinking water testing uncovered that 3 million people were drinking water whose quality did not meet WHO standards, and 97% of groundwater samples did not meet standards for nitrate in the same study.
Human waste enters our watercourses
Lack of adequate sanitation contaminates our watercourses and is one of the most significant forms of water pollution. Worldwide 2.5 billion people live without improved sanitation. Sub-Saharan Africa is slowest of the world’s regions in achieving improved sanitation: only 31percent of residents had access to improved sanitation in 2006.
