Engineering Research Visioning Alliance’s (ERVA’s) latest report identifies engineering research priorities to address the complex issue of water security
July 13, 2023 – As drought, aging infrastructure, and increased demand strain access to adequate water for agriculture, manufacturing, and community use, developing strategies for a future with water security in mind is more important now than ever. That is why the Engineering Research Visioning Alliance (ERVA), an initiative funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF), has published a new report, Engineered Systems for Water Security, with critical research directions identified during a visioning session that convened engineering researchers in February 2023. The executive summary and full report can be found on ERVA’s website.
“Water is the essence of life, but our infrastructure around it is often disjointed and in disrepair,” said Stacy Lewis Hutchinson, associate dean for research and graduate programs at Kansas State University and chair of the thematic task force that developed the ERVA report. “The severe stress we’re seeing on water resources by warmer temperatures and overuse call for an ‘all-in’ effort by society to develop solutions to ensure future water security. Engineers, as designers and builders of the future, must take the lead and catalyze new research to enable water security.”
Hutchinson will moderate an expert panel during a public webinar to discuss the findings from the report on Aug 15 at noon EDT. See details and register for the webinar.
The report summarizes five key research priority areas for the engineering profession as it looks to secure and modernize our water security system:
- Increase affordability, reliability, and scalability of future components of water systems for unit operations, including membranes, sorbents, and sensors to aid in water harvesting, contaminant detection, and treatment;
- Create affordable, reliable, and scalable technologies to visualize, maintain, and track physical components and water infrastructure processes;
- Build new, resilient, and adaptable infrastructure with the flexibility to opportunistically integrate legacy systems;
- Improve data gathering and analysis and leverage predictive modeling and data-informed operations for daily systems to long-term management, maintenance, and integration of water systems (drinking water, wastewater, stormwater, natural water resources);
- Develop, test, and implement a water management framework that considers the nexus between engineered, natural, and human systems.
The report specifically discusses the importance of recycling rainwater into water for other uses, given the cycle of flooding and droughts in many locations. As with all ERVA reports, the findings also emphasize the importance of working with communities to meet their needs and concerns while building out better infrastructure.
Engineered Systems for Water Security is the fifth report released by ERVA, an initiative funded by the NSF to help identify future engineering research directions. Visit ERVA’s website to visit the previous reports: Sustainable Transportation Networks Engineering, R&D Solutions for Unhackable Infrastructure, Leveraging Biology to Power Engineering Impact, and The Role of Engineering to Address Climate Change.
ERVA is funded by an the National Science Foundation.
About The Engineering Research Vision Alliance (ERVA):
The Engineering Research Visioning Alliance (ERVA) is a neutral convener that helps define future engineering research directions. Funded by the NSF Directorate for Engineering, ERVA is a diverse, inclusive and engaged partnership that enables an array of voices to impact national research priorities. The five-year initiative convenes, catalyzes and enables the engineering community to identify nascent opportunities and priorities for engineering-led innovative, high-impact, cross-domain research that addresses national, global and societal needs. Learn more at www.ERVAcommunity.org.