Increasingly frequent extreme weather events urge the development of point-of-use water treatment systems

Abstract

The frequency of extreme weather events, including floods, storms, droughts, extreme temperatures, and wildfires, has intensified globally over recent decades due to climate change, affecting human society profoundly. Among all the impacts of these extreme weather events, the consequences to our reliable water supply have gained increasing attention as they exacerbate the inequities in health and education, especially in marginalized populations. In this perspective, we emphasize that extreme weather events are able to undermine a stable supply of drinking water through a number of approaches, and conventional centralized water treatment is insufficient at addressing these challenges. We urge that greater recognition, increased public awareness, and more efforts on technological innovation on decentralized, especially point-of-use (POU), water treatment should be prioritized to better help tackle the challenges faced by increasingly frequent extreme weather events.