CIERP Community Voices

From March 22 to 24, thousands of UN officials, delegates from across the world, and interested parties flooded the UN headquarters in New York City for the first UN Water Conference in 46 years. I fit into the last category of participants–a curious UEP student offered a temporary UN pass and the opportunity to take a front row seat to the international conversation on water action.

With dozens of events to choose from & topics from science diplomacy and youth water action to the role of the private sector in the blue economy, it was easy to get swept up in high-level dialogues between national representatives swapping commitments to sustainable water management. Given a seat at the table, I strove to find a common thread or a concrete lesson that, when the hustle and bustle of the conference calmed, I could carry with me into my academic and professional life. Listening to so many incredible stories and accomplishments from nations and organizations across the globe, the common thread became clear-–no one can do this alone.

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To say that attending the 2023 UN Water Conference was an exciting experience is an understatement. This was partly owing to the fact that this was the first UN Water Conference held in more than 40 years; thus, there was a palpable feeling of enthusiasm among stakeholders in the weeks before the conference. The intent of the event was not ratifying an international treaty or specific resolution, but rather to re-ignite the conversation about the importance of water in the context of climate change – a conversation that is often overlooked.

A fact that was frequently repeated at the conference was that extreme events relevant to the water cycle (whether floods, droughts, etc.) were responsible for around 70% of the impact humans experience as a result of climate change, yet the share of climate finance addressing water hovers around 3%. The conference repeatedly shed light on this gap and highlighted that climate action necessitates interventions in the water sector.

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Billions of people drink contaminated water. This is one of the leading causes of severe water-borne diseases that lead to 502,000 deaths each year and heavily burden healthcare systems, accounting for up to 80% of all hospitalizations in some regions in the world. Therefore, clean, safe, and affordable drinking water is a critical resource for public health and environmental sustainability. In recent decades, an increasing number of world regions are suffering from water scarcity. Thus, developing new technologies that enable cheaper, more efficient water treatment and reuse are in great demand.

Membranes are expected to play a progressively more significant role in providing clean drinking water from natural resources such as surface water (lakes, rivers, streams) and ground water (wells, aquifers). Membrane filters are more economic, energy efficient, and produce higher quality and more reliable effluent than most other water purification methods. However, current commercial membranes are not equipped with the required properties to perform many of these separations in an effective and enduring manner. This is largely due to fouling, the accumulation of unwanted material on the membrane surface and pores, which leads to lower productivity, declining effectiveness, and shorter membrane life cycle.

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