The Visioning the Future of Water & Energy Research symposium will bring together program directors from Federal agencies and leading researchers from national research facilities and academia who focus on water research. The participants will explore the issues facing water and energy production in the coming decades and discuss the national research agenda that is critical to addressing those issues. As part of the symposium, the next generation of water researchers within WaterCAMPWS will be given the unique opportunity to present their research to, and gain valuable feedback from, these leading researchers.
Topics addressed include:
-- Challenges and Federal Policies Driving Water and Energy Research -- Water/Energy Research at NSF ? Environmental Sustainability -- Water/Energy Research in EPA?s Office of Research and Development -- Water/Energy Research at Sandia National Laboratories -- Water/Energy Research Supporting Our Nation?s Armed Forces -- Science and Technology for Safe Global Water -- Water /Energy Research at ARPA-E -- Water/Energy Dual Purpose Plants and Sustainability -- The Global Water/Energy Landscape: Where does the US Fit? -- The role of nanotechnology: intelligent integrated microfluidics and nanofluidics -- STC's and Cultivating the Next Generation of Researchers -- The WaterCAMPWS legacy: its mark on the water research landscape and path forward
Ensuring the availability of clean, abundant fresh water for human use is among the most pressing issues facing the United States and the world. The Oct. 10, 2005, Nature web editorial Global Water Crisis declared "More than one billion people in the world lack access to clean water. Over the next two decades, the average supply of water per person will drop by a third, possibly condemning millions of people to an avoidable premature death." In the United States, water has broad impact on our economy, health, food, and energy. Aquifers throughout the U.S. are suffering from declining water levels, saltwater intrusion in coastal areas, and inadequately replenished fresh groundwater. Many of these aquifers are being overdrawn and will experience severe supply problems in the next 20 years. Major rivers and watersheds are also being overdrawn and are becoming saltier downstream.
Safe Global Water & Sanitation Summit By bringing together world renowned water experts with diverse cultural perspectives and professional backgrounds, the Safe Global Water & Sanitation Summit in Arusha, Tanzania, created the ideal context for future collaborations reaching across geographic, political, and disciplinary boundaries. Moving forward from the inspiration and interactions of the Summit, participants are already engaging in partnerships that take innovative approaches to helping East Africa and the developing world build a future with safe water and adequate sanitation. New global partnerships of academic institutions, government agencies, industrial affiliates, innovators, non-governmental organizations, and practitioners are embarking on synergistic activities to maximize the impact of their efforts in the region. Here are representative activities by one of the key Summit sponsors, the Safe Global Water Institute (SGWI). SGWI-Tanzania Program: Assessment Phase The SGWI will collaborate with Oikos East Africa, Population Services International (PSI), Community Based Health Care Center (CBHCC) and Netherlands Development Organization (SNV) on the activities of a student design course sponsored by the SGWI and WaterCAMPWS, a NSF Science and Technology Center. Graduate and undergraduate students from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (USA), Nelson Mandela African Institute of Science and Technology (Tanzania), and the University of Nairobi (Kenya) have already visited three communities in Tanzania that have safe water and sanitation issues. The students tested source waters, distribution points, in-home purification systems, alternate energy sources for cook stoves, and conducted assessment surveys with villagers to better understand their local priorities and needs. Students will work on solutions for these communities. This effort is supported by the Honorable Mizengo Pinda Prime Minister of Tanzania and receives additional financial support from the U.S. Office of Naval Research (USA) and King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (Saudi Arabia). SGWI-Tanzania Program: Market Literacy / Advanced Water Testing In collaboration with our partners at Instituto Oikos and PSI, researchers from the SGWI will return to the test-bed communities in Tanzania visited by design course students during the Assessment Phase. The goal of this visit is to gain additional seasonal water quality data, explore additional communities, and develop an economic sustainability plan for our efforts based on microfinance and market literacy research. SGWI-Uganda Program: Safe Water & Nutrition Researchers from SGWI, Tufts University, and Mekerere University will be broadening existing nutrition and health activities to include a better understanding of the impact of safe water and sanitation on community health in Uganda. Water and Health has become an important component of the USAID global effort; SGWI is honored to have been chosen to help address these needs. Beyond this small sampling of SGWI projects, a broad range of real-world, solutions-oriented collaborations are under development among the academic, innovation, and implementation partners who attended the Safe Global Water & Sanitation Summit.
