Tuesday, April 13, 2010: 11:45 a.m.
Tabor Auditorium (Westin Tabor Center, Denver)
Faith R. Sternlieb
,
Geosciences, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO
Melinda Laituri, Ph.D.
,
Forest, Rangeland, and Watershed Stewardship, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO
Reagan Waskom, Ph.D.
,
Colorado Water Institute, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO
Drinking water, sanitation and hygiene (WaSH) are at the forefront of hydro-philanthropic and political agendas. Goal 7, Target 3 of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) is ‘to halve, by 2015, the proportion of the population without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation.’ This goal is far from being met causing heightened awareness over public health and environmental issues related to WaSH activities across both private and public water sectors. National policies such as the Paul Simon Water for the Poor Act of 2005 have been responsible for on-the-ground initiatives overseas. However, the academic community also plays an important role in research and development. Faculty and students from public and private universities and colleges across scholastic departments are engaged with international communities and non-governmental agencies to counteract the incidents of death and disease from lack of access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation.
This paper outlines a call to action to the academic water community to create a consortium with the aim to harness this energy by collaborating and coordinating solutions, projects, and policies with special attention to WaSH education, teaching, and technical capacity. Such a consortium encapsulates the intersection of health, engineering, entrepreneurship and integrated water resources management. There exist several higher education organizations that are poised to address WaSH activities abroad including: the Association of Schools of Public Health, the National Institutes for Water Resources, the University Council of Water Resources, American Water Resources Association and the National Ground Water Association. This is both a critical and opportune time for the academic community to lead international outreach for WaSH by: 1) encouraging inter and trans-disciplinary activities, 2) increasing constructive broader impacts through collaboration, 3) furthering educational opportunity through well-established networks and 4) fostering international partnerships to help realize the MDGs.
