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Which idea in those two articles do you think is the most important to the profession? Briefly explain your choice in about 300 words.

Improving the "quality and quantity of water" is the most important to the profession, as mentioned in the article, "Introduction to the Grand Challenges of Engineering". While engineering is pushing the frontiers of almost all areas of life, the most important aspect of life should be engineering a solution towards improving the environmental situation of the earth. Though advancements in medical science (researching a cure to previously incurable diseases), gaining insights on how the brain works (discovering how it absorbs and recalls information more effectively) are important to the engineering profession, urgency demands the saving of the earth as top priority.

The earth is currently facing many problems, from global warming, to the depletion of natural resources. However, the conditions of the other elements are not as urgent as water shortage. The world’s freshwater supply is depleting at an unsustainable rate and by 2025, it is estimated that almost three-quarters of the world’s supply may be used up. (www.panda.org, 21st Aug 2008)

Without water, human beings will die. However, the amount of water we consume for our daily survival is miniscule compared to the amount of water we use for societal needs, mainly agriculture, which takes up nearly 70% of earth’s freshwater supply. While the human body needs about 8 litres of water a day, crops require a lot more (to produce a kilo of rice takes about two cubic metres). Due to the large requirement of water in this industry, famers are pumping up groundwater at a rate 160 billion cubic metres more than what the earth can replenish in an entire year. (www.wateryear2003.org, 21st Aug 2008) Other industries that use large volumes of water include manufacturing, where water is used to cool machinery.

There are two ways to solve the water crisis. The first is to increase the supply of freshwater in the world. This currently done through desalination processes, reverse-osmosis, and most recently, nano-osmosis, but engineering can strive to make these processes more effective and affordable. The second is to increase the efficiency of water in societal uses. Through more effective cooling systems for manufacturing industries, to possibly genetically-modifying crops that require less water, the water situation on earth could improve.

With the eventual depletion of water supply looming, the onus is on the engineers to tide us through one of earth’s biggest problems yet again.

[References]

Jamie Pittock (31 Jul 2002). "Fixing the global water,"

Retrieved from http://www.panda.org/about_wwf/what_we_do/freshwater/news/index.cfm?uNewsID=2628

International Year of Freshwater 2003 (Nov 2003). "Facts and Figures: The Different Water Uses,”

Retrieved from http://www.wateryear2003.org/en/ev.php-URL_ID=1607&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html


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