ABSTRACT
It is impossible to imagine a world without water. We use water for drinking and cooking; we shower, wash dishes, clean clothes, flush the toilet, water our lawns, and wash our cars with clean freshwater. Water is cheap, accessible, plentiful, and relatively safe to drink. If tap water is not safe for drinking, it is usually simple enough to buy clean water at a store. We are rarely faced with any day-to-day difficulty in obtaining clean water. However, not everyone in the world has this luxury. In many areas of the world, freshwater is scarce, and tremendous time and resources are required to obtain freshwater. All too often, that water is contaminated with waterborne disease agents owing to lack of proper purification or water treatment systems. This situation results in thousands of cases of waterborne illness every year in countries with inadequate clean water.
