Water is the most essential resource to our existence (secondary to oxygen), yet >8M people die annually because of water related illnesses. Local filtration/treatment is good, but we need more cost effective and easier to deploy methods to treat water at a mass scale. We're trying to protect the worlds water, but there is a lot more research that needs to be done to solve this problem. Research can include cheap sensors to monitor bacteria in water, cost effective modular treatment facilities, better potable water routing methods and local treatment and disposal of wastewater.