{"id":8959,"date":"2018-08-17T16:57:07","date_gmt":"2018-08-17T16:57:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/?p=8959"},"modified":"2018-08-17T16:57:07","modified_gmt":"2018-08-17T16:57:07","slug":"texas-am-to-lead-nsf-funded-water-insecurity-research-network","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/?p=8959","title":{"rendered":"Texas A&M To Lead NSF-Funded Water Insecurity Research Network"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u201cRethinking Household Water Insecurity: Methods and Metrics\u201d HWISE Workshop participants gather for a photo at Texas A&M University in September 2016. Photo courtesy of Dr. Wendy Jepson<\/p><\/div>\n

by Leslie Lee, Texas A&M University College of Geosciences<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

COLLEGE STATION \u2013<\/strong>\u00a0Water insecurity is a reality for vulnerable households everywhere from Flint, Michigan, to S\u00e3o Paulo, Brazil \u2014 from the Texas-Mexico border colonias, to Cape Town, South Africa.<\/p>\n

\u201cWater security means adequate, reliable, affordable water for a healthy life,\u201d said\u00a0Dr. Wendy Jepson<\/a><\/u>, professor in Texas A&M University\u2019s\u00a0Department of Geography<\/a><\/u>\u00a0in the\u00a0College of Geosciences<\/a><\/u>. Household water insecurity can result when those conditions are not met, and can happen almost anywhere.<\/p>\n

To address the complex and global problem of water insecurity, the\u00a0National Science Foundation<\/a><\/u>\u00a0(NSF) recently awarded a $500,000 grant to Jepson and several collaborators, for the formation of the Household Water Insecurity (HWISE) Research Coordination Network (RCN). Jepson will lead the five-year project, along with co-investigators\u00a0Dr. Justin Stoler<\/a><\/u>\u00a0at\u00a0University of Miami<\/a><\/u>,\u00a0Dr. Amber Wutich<\/a><\/u>\u00a0at\u00a0Arizona State University<\/a><\/u>, and\u00a0Dr. Sera Young<\/a><\/u>\u00a0at\u00a0Northwestern University<\/a><\/u>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will be consolidating our research resources and looking for new ways to study household water insecurity and impacts on health, well-being and livelihoods,\u201d Jepson said. \u201cWe\u2019ll be developing a geospatial perspective. And, using the toolkit we\u2019ve taken abroad, we will take a harder look at water insecurity in the U.S. and Canada.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even in highly developed counties, household water insecurity can result from aging infrastructure, poverty or other systemic problems.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Flint water crisis was not an anomaly. Water insecurity is experienced in many communities,\u201d Jepson said. \u201cWater insecurity among the homeless has been documented by Dr. Wutich. And, my previous research on Texas colonias underscored that despite massive investments, low-income families face hard choices about paying water bills, going to the grocery store, or putting gas in the car.\u201d<\/p>\n

The RCN will create research infrastructure, working groups, and engagement and participation training. The researchers are also planning to develop and test a water security metric \u2013 an analytical framework that could streamline water security measurements globally.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow do you measure this?\u201d Jepson said. \u201cThat\u2019s a key question, because once you measure it, you can look at causes and consequences in a more systematic way that\u2019s less anecdotal.\u201d<\/p>\n

Collaborating For Solutions To Water Insecurity<\/strong><\/p>\n

This group of household water insecurity researchers in the U.S. has been\u00a0collaborating<\/a><\/u>\u00a0since 2014, Jepson said. They have held three workshops and developed a proposal, led by Young, on\u00a0household water security metric development<\/a><\/u>. Current HWISE collaborators now include over 40 scholars from 24 U.S. and international institutions, spanning a variety of careers and social science disciplines. Their effort to-date is only the beginning of a productive, collaborative research network to advance conceptual and methodological frontiers in water security and environmental social science, Jepson said.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow we\u2019re building a global network,\u201d she said. \u201cThe RCN will be developing new approaches for studying these questions, and finding the causes and consequences.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have outlined three major workshops, including engagement with various stakeholders in the international water sector. We are also developing tools, webinars, podcasts, and a data platform for our research community.\u201d<\/p>\n

Texas A&M Water Management and Hydrological Sciences<\/a><\/u>\u00a0master\u2019s student Amy Truong will also be the program coordinator for the entire RCN.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the end, the Research Coordination Network is an investment in research infrastructure \u2014 and that infrastructure is human capital, because ideas and creativity and problem solving happen in collaboration,\u201d Jepson said. \u201cThe NSF is not just funding three workshops \u2014 it is about fostering organic growth, collaboration and mentoring in a community of practice, to advance discovery and research.\u201d<\/p>\n

The team will also include practitioners who have doctorates but work outside of academia, and the RCN\u2019s steering committee will include diverse professionals from multiple countries as well.<\/p>\n

More Than Just A Flowing Tap<\/strong><\/p>\n

Water security is a complicated concept to measure and study, Jepson said, because it means that water is \u201cavailable for various activities, for personal hygiene, cultural practices \u2014 not just for biophysical.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to recognize that it means more than just drinking water. It\u2019s about how water is part of our daily cultural activities. We try to think water not as a thing, but how we can secure ways people interact with water.\u201d<\/p>\n

The RCN will include experts in political science, nutrition, geography, anthropology, and more, equipping them to study these complex water security problems. Jepson said she is excited to see how the RCN grows and informs water policy and practice around the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is just the beginning.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Leslie Lee, Texas A&M University College of Geosciences COLLEGE STATION \u2013\u00a0Water insecurity is a reality for vulnerable households everywhere from Flint, Michigan, to S\u00e3o Paulo, Brazil \u2014 from the Texas-Mexico border colonias, to Cape Town, South Africa. \u201cWater security means adequate, reliable, affordable water for a healthy life,\u201d said\u00a0Dr. Wendy Jepson, professor in Texas […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":8964,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8959","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-state"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8959","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8959"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8959\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8965,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8959\/revisions\/8965"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8964"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8959"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8959"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8959"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}