We all need clean water every day. However, more than 700 million people around the world have difficulty (get) clean and safe water.
On the one hand, treating waste water is a good way (provide) fresh water for us. And it also improves the environment keeping waste out of rivers and oceans. 80% of waste water around the world is not treated at all, and it is running into oceans (direct). But now we have got the technology to treat and recycle the waste water.
On other hand, desalination(水淡化) can also be a useful way. Although 75% of our planet (cover) with water, only 2% is fresh water coming from rivers, lakes, ice and snow. The rest, 98% of the water, is in seas and oceans. It is too salty to drink, more than 19, 000 factories have been built around the world to make water drinkable(可饮用的). Every day, they process more than 92 million (ton) of water. But the technology they use (require) a lot of energy. Scientists hope they can create a new technology to work better with less money in the future. They want to produce 20 times more than clean water, to make sure everyone can have enough water in the future.