They are known to have cradled civilisations, all over the world. They bathed, fed and helped carry humans. What are we talking about? Rivers, of course! With a twist to their modern profile, though, today they also serve as water suppliers for grand industries…

The inability to provide safe drinking water to communities features at the very top of our list of developmental failures, with the disastrous consequence of high mortality rates. In 1996, the World Health Organisation (WHO) stated that each year, more than five million human beings died from illnesses linked to unsafe drinking water. It is further estimated that, by 2020, 135 million people will die from water-related diseases unless they are not only provided adequate water but access to clean drinking water.