Welcome to the Water Workgroup.
This workgroup’s objective is to draw upon the knowledge and expertise of the many individuals and organizations around the world who are active in the study of this planet’s water to make a plausible estimate of what would be required to meet the one-time goal of making clean and safe water universally available, and what would be needed thereafter to maintain its availability at that level.
The first step, therefore, is to identify those expert individuals and organizations. Below is the list as it has been developed thus far. If you happen upon additional information sources that you believe will assist in this effort, please let us know by way of the CONTACT form. Or, if you would like to engage in your own line of research, let us know the results. And finally, if you feel the concept of the Whole Earth Design Project is something that you may wish to become involved in, let’s get acquainted.
Bear in mind that the water issue involves more than drinking, cooking, and bathing. Water is also needed for agriculture, industry, and energy generation. It needs to be protected from contaminants. An infrastructure for disposing of waste is also required.
One of the development goals set by the United Nations for the new millennium was to halve the proportion of people without basic sanitation and a decent source of fresh water by 2015. Not ambitious enough!
The situation now:
780 million people lack access to an improved water source; approximately one in nine people.
3.41 million people die from water, sanitation and hygiene-related causes each year.
The water and sanitation crisis claims more lives through disease than any war claims through guns.
People living in informal settlements (i.e. slums) often pay 5-10 times more per liter of water than wealthy people living in the same city.
An American taking a five-minute shower uses more water than the average person in a developing country slum uses for an entire day.
Source: water.org
To let us know what you have to say about this subject, go to the discussion page where The Subject is WATER.
Here are some of the experts:
Water Encyclopedia (http://www.waterencyclopedia.com/)
(http://www.water.org): “We envision a day when everyone can have safe water.” Gary White is the Exec. Dir. Matt Damon is a supporter.
Chris Perry, an economist with the International Water Management Institute (http://www.iwmi.org)
(http://www.worldtoilet.org) based in Singapore
Kevin McGovern, “a self-described pro bono capitalist from New York wants to bring cheaper purifiers to the poor. His company: Water Initiative
Christopher Gasson of the Global Water Intelligence: (http://www.globalwaterintel.com)
Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development: OECD (http://www.oecd.org)
Tony Allan, professor at King’s College, London received an award from SIWI below:
Stockholm International Water Institute (http://www.siwi.org)
The World’s Water (http://www.worldwater.org)
UN FAO Aquastat (http://www.fao.org/nr/water/aquastat/main/index.stm)
Eurostat (http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu)
Clean Water Action (http://www.cleanwateraction.org)
The Water Project (http://www.thewaterproject.org)
WaterAid (https://www.wateraid.org/us/)
Drop in the Bucket (http://www.dropinthebucket.org)
UN Water (http://www.unwater.org)
World Health Organization (WHO) (https://www.who.int/teams/environment-climate-change-and-health/water-sanitation-and-health)
NAE Grand Challenges (http://www.engineeringchallenges.org)
Clean Water Fund (http://www.cleanwaterfund.org)
Circle of Blue (http://www.circleofblue.org)
UNICEF (http://www.unicefusa.org/work/water)
EPA (http://water.epa.gov)
Safe Water (http://www.safewater.org)
World Vision (http://www.worldvision.org)
Charity: Water (http://www.charitywater.org)
Center for Global Safe Water (http://www.sph.emory.edu/CGSW)
H2O for Life (http://www.h2oforlifeschools.org)
Millennium Water Alliance: (http://www.mwawater.org)
Water for People (http://www.waterforpeople.org)
Global Water Challenge (http://www.globalwaterchallenge.org)
Water Footprint (http://www.waterfootprint.org)
Pacific Institute (http://www.pacinst.org)
(http://www.watertechnology.net)
(http://www.drinking-water.org)
Food and Water Watch (http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org)
Global Drought Monitor: (http://drought.mssl.ucl.ac.uk)
The advisory group includes: • Jamal Saghir, Director, Energy, Water and Transport, Abel Mejia, Water Anchor Lead, and Michael Jacobsen, Senior Water Resources Specialist, World Bank Group • Anders Berntell, Director General, and Jakob Granit, Program Director, Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI) • Colin Chartres, Director General, International Water Management Institute (IWMI) • Dominic Waughray, Director of Environmental Initiatives, World Economic Forum (WEF) • James Leape, CEO, Stuart Orr, Freshwater Manager, WWF-International, and Tom LeQuesne, Freshwater Policy Officer, WWF-UK • John Briscoe, Gordon McKay Professor of the Practice of Environmental Engineering, Harvard University • Piet Klop, Acting Director, Markets and Enterprise Program, and Charles Iceland, Associate, People and Ecosystems Program, World Resources Institute (WRI) • Mark Rosegrant, Director of the Environment and Production Technology Division, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) • Michael Norton, Managing Director, Water and Power Group, Halcrow Group Ltd • Pasquale Steduto, Service Chief, Food and Agricultural Organization, Land and Water Unit (FAO) • Peter Börkey and Roberto Martín-Hurtado, Water Team leaders, Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) • Peter Gleick, President and Jason Morrison, Water Program Leader, Pacific Institute
Center for Environmental Systems Research at the University of Kassel: (http://www.usf.uni-kassel.de/cesr)
(http://www.worldwatercouncil.org)
(http://www.waterstandard.com)
Natural Resources Defense Council: (http://www.nrdc.org)
Environmental Protection Agency: (http://www.epa.gov)
Environment America: (http://www.environmentamerica.org)
Water Technology (http://www.watertechonline.com)
David Gray, “a water practitioner who has served the World Bank in almost every river basin on the globe and is now a professor at Oxford.”
Frank Ward, New Mexico State University
Charles Fishman, author of THE BIG THIRST, The Secret Life and Turbulent Future of Water
Jana Levison, University of Guelph – Water Resources Engineering and Morwick G360 Groundwater Research Institute (https://www.uoguelph.ca/engineering/people/jana-levison-phd-peng)
Sigrid Peldszus, Research Associate Professor at the NSERC Industrial Research Chair in Water Treatment in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Waterloo (https://uwaterloo.ca/civil-environmental-engineering/profile/speldszu)
Craig Criddle, Stanford University, “His specialty is microbial biotechnology for recovery of clean water, renewable energy, and renewable materials” (https://profiles.stanford.edu/craig-criddle)
Alexandria Boehm, Stanford University – coastal water quality researcher (https://profiles.stanford.edu/alexandria-boehm)
Michael Hanemann – Professor, Department of Economics; Director, Center for Environmental Economics and Sustainability Policy; Distinguished Global Futures Scientist, Global Futures Scientists and Scholars (https://search.asu.edu/profile/1630525)
Waterloo Climate Institute (https://uwaterloo.ca/climate-institute/)
Global Water Leaders Group (https://www.globalwaterleaders.org/)
Jonathan T. Overpeck, “interdisciplinary climate scientist and the Samuel A. Graham Dean of the School for Environment and Sustainability at the University of Michigan” (https://seas.umich.edu/research/faculty/jonathan-t-overpeck-phd)
Southwest Climate Adaptation Science Center – experts in SW region of U.S. (https://www.swcasc.arizona.edu/)
World Water Council (https://www.worldwatercouncil.org/en)
American Water Resources Association (https://www.awra.org/)
Circle of Blue (https://www.circleofblue.org/)
U.S. Geological Survey – collection of data on water (https://www.usgs.gov/mission-areas/water-resources)
Secure Water Future (https://securewaterfuture.net/index)
Massachusetts Clean Energy Center – covers the New England region (https://www.masscec.com/resources/water-innovation)
Water Quality & Health Council (https://waterandhealth.org/)
Water, Peace and Security (https://www.waterpeacesecurity.org/)
University of Michigan Center for Sustainable Systems – research areas cover water, energy, food, transportation, and more (https://css.umich.edu/research)