Supplying Drinking Water to Third-World Mission Fields: Engineers Should Implement Today’s Best Technologies

About Supplying Drinking Water to Third-World Mission Fields: Engineers Should Implement Today’s Best Technologies

Abstract

Christian service in environmental technologies and animal science is deeply tied to God’s command in Genesis 1:26-28 for us to manage and preserve “all the earth and all the creatures.” Christian humanitarian service is similarly exhorted by our Lord in Deuteronomy 15:11: “Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your brothers and toward the poor and needy in your land.” As Christians, we have a special opportunity to obey these commands as we embark on the Great Commission to the third-world, meeting both spiritual and material needs of people. As an act of love and obedience to Jesus Christ to love others, we should implement the best technologies at our fingertips to help solve important drinking water problems. This paper briefly surveys past drinking water filtration systems implemented in the third world, highlighting limitations and exploring our growing knowledge of what constitutes healthy, potable drinking water. Engineering guidelines are given for designing drinking water systems that address comprehensive reduction of both natural and man-made contaminants in water supplies. Also presented is a recent case study with lessons learned in supplying drinking water to the peoples of Bangladesh. This case study shows that traditional solutions to providing potable drinking water actually exposed the peoples to water borne arsenic, a chemical and carcinogenic contaminant which precipitated a health emergency to approximately 100 million people in Bangladesh. Currently, high levels of arsenic have been detected in drinking water problem in many countries including Argentina, Australia, Bangladesh, Chile, China, Hungary, India, Mexico, Peru, Thailand, and the United States of America. May we listen to God’s voice in Proverbs 3:27 “Do not withhold good from those who deserve it, when it is in your power to act,” and in Matthew 25:34-35 “Then the King will say to those on his right, `Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink”.