Editing Water (section)

====Water industry====
The [[water industry]] provides drinking water and [[wastewater]] services (including [[sewage treatment]]) to households and industry. [[Water supply]] facilities include [[water well]]s, [[cistern]]s for [[rainwater harvesting]], [[water supply network]]s, and [[water purification]] facilities, [[water tank]]s, [[water tower]]s, [[water pipe]]s including old [[Aqueduct (watercourse)|aqueducts]]. [[Atmospheric water generator]]s are in development.

Drinking water is often collected at [[spring (hydrosphere)|springs]], extracted from artificial [[Boring (earth)|borings]] (wells) in the ground, or pumped from lakes and rivers. Building more wells in adequate places is thus a possible way to produce more water, assuming the aquifers can supply an adequate flow. Other water sources include rainwater collection. Water may require purification for human consumption. This may involve the removal of undissolved substances, dissolved substances and harmful [[microbe]]s. Popular methods are [[filter (water)|filtering]] with sand which only removes undissolved material, while [[Water chlorination|chlorination]] and [[boiling]] kill harmful microbes. [[Distillation]] does all three functions. More advanced techniques exist, such as [[reverse osmosis]]. [[Desalination]] of abundant [[seawater]] is a more expensive solution used in coastal [[arid]] [[climate]]s.

The distribution of drinking water is done through [[municipal water system]]s, tanker delivery or as [[bottled water]]. Governments in many countries have programs to distribute water to the needy at no charge.

Reducing usage by using drinking (potable) water only for human consumption is another option. In some cities such as Hong Kong, seawater is extensively used for flushing toilets citywide in order to [[Water conservation|conserve freshwater resources]].

[[Water pollution|Polluting water]] may be the biggest single misuse of water; to the extent that a pollutant limits other uses of the water, it becomes a waste of the resource, regardless of benefits to the polluter. Like other types of pollution, this does not enter standard accounting of market costs, being conceived as [[externality|externalities]] for which the market cannot account. Thus other people pay the price of water pollution, while the private firms' profits are not redistributed to the local population, victims of this pollution. [[Pharmaceuticals]] consumed by humans often end up in the waterways and can have detrimental effects on [[marine biology|aquatic]] life if they [[bioaccumulation|bioaccumulate]] and if they are not [[biodegradable]].

Municipal and [[industrial wastewater treatment|industrial wastewater]] are typically treated at [[wastewater treatment plant]]s. Mitigation of polluted [[surface runoff]] is addressed through a variety of [[Surface runoff#Mitigation and treatment|prevention and treatment techniques]].
{{gallery
|align=center
|File:Water carrier in India.jpg|A water-carrier in India, 1882. In many places where running water is not available, water has to be transported by people.
|File:TapWater-china.JPG|A manual water [[pump]] in China
|File:Usine Bret MG 1648.jpg|[[Water purification]] facility
|File:Reverse osmosis desalination plant.JPG|[[Reverse osmosis]] (RO) [[desalination]] plant in [[Barcelona]], Spain
}}