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12% of the worlds upper class citizens use 85% of that available drinking water. Water is
more important than many people initially understand as it not used solely for drinking purposes.
Pure water must be used for sanitation; whether it be cleaning hands before meals or cleaning
wastewater from sewage. Areas of the world affected by both desertification and poverty have
the worst conditions to create sustainable purified water. This makes Sub-Saharan Africa a
prime candidate. Given that Lake Victoria, the third largest lake by surface area in the world
(Worldatlas.com), the opportunity for water purification through this body of water could have
potentially amazing affects on the country of Uganda. This research topic outline will focus on
what the most effective method for water purification is in Uganda, Africa.
According to The Water Project, 319,000,000 people who live in Sub- Saharan Africa do
not have access to improved reliable drinking water sources. Individuals living in developing, or
third world, countries do not have the economic ability to create sustainable water purifying
locations without some help. This is not a new problem, as water purification has always been
an issue since the beginning of time. However, since the beginning of the industrial revolution,
pollution of the environment has been a self-evident fact. Pollutionissues.com provides
information that shows pollution grew exponentially at the beggining of the Industrial
Revolution. It stands to reason that most developing countries will go through a micro-industrial
revolution in order to catch up, and compete with, the surrounding developed countries. The
pollution and waste from these new factories and products seriously hamper the advancement of
water purification.
UNICEF is one of the largest benefactors of Sub-Saharan Africas problem with water
purification. They have developed a new water filter that is economically cheap and uses lowwaste products. They also invest a lot of money and time in helping the extemporaneous
problems surrounding water purification. They will be an important group to be discussed
throughout the inquiry project.
best method for sustainable water purification in Uganda Africa? Are large scale water plants in
communities the best option, or small scale, mass produced, personal micro filters the most
effective method?
to such great lengths for such a terrible goal while I had dozens of bottles back in my room broke
my heart and showed me a problem that needed fixing. Upon coming to UNCC, I found out
about the environmental focus in Civil Engineering and realized there was a path I could take to
make a difference. I had always been interested in the natural environment and my math classes
so following this topic seemed like a plausible path to go on. I hope to learn more about the
political effects of resource control as war lords often take control of dugged wells, and other
resources such as food and land.
Next Steps
In order to further research this topic, I will make use of several resources. Atkins library
has several books and journals about the effects and causes of the lack of resource sustainability
in Sub-Saharan Africa. UNICEFs website also has a lot of information that has been validated
and will be used for statistical purposes. Finding different methods of water purification is
another path that I will take in order to find alternative methods of large scale vs small scale
water purification.