Tag: water

Clean water and sanitation: Five facts to becoming informed and engaged global citizens

Toilets are probably not one of the first things most people think about when they are considering ways they can help make the world a better place, but lack of access to clean water and sanitation is a major global issue affecting billions of people around the world every year. Leaders from 193 countries have agreed to ensure access to water and sanitation for all people by the year 2030, which is Goal 6 of the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals. The Sustainable Development Goals are 17 interconnected goals that seek to transform our world by ending all forms of poverty, eliminating inequalities and improving the state of the world’s natural and human-made environments through sustained multinational cooperation and efforts in the next 15 years.

By learning about, teaching about and taking action on the state of clean water and sanitation around the world, young people can play a valuable leadership role in helping to accomplish the Sustainable Development Goals. Here are five important facts and some educational resources related to Goal 6 of the Sustainable Development Goals that can help youth learn and engage as global citizens, according to the UN.

  • Globally, 2.4 billion people do not have access to toilets or latrines. Earlier this year, the UN declared that access to clean sanitation is a basic human right. Without access to clean sanitation, people are not able to pursue and enjoy their other human rights, such as their right to health, life and education. The UN has found that “more than 443 million school days are lost every year due to sanitation and water related issues. Inadequate sanitation facilities are a common barrier for school attendance, particularly for girls.”
  • Approximately 1.8 billion people use a source of drinking water that is fecally contaminated. That means one in four people around the world have to use water that has been contaminated by human waste, which is a potential source of deadly pathogens and diseases.
  • One thousand children die every day due to preventable water and sanitation-related diarrheal diseases, which continue to be a major source of death in children under 5. “Worldwide, more than two million people die every year from diarrheal diseases. Poor hygiene and unsafe water are responsible for nearly 90 percent of these deaths and mostly affect children,” according to the UN.
  • Approximately 663 million people live without access to improved drinking water sources. “An improved drinking-water source is defined as one that, by nature of its construction or through active intervention, is protected from outside contamination, in particular from contamination with fecal matter, according to the WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply and Sanitation.
  • Water scarcity affects more than 40 percent of the global population and is projected to rise.

Goal 6 of the Sustainable Development Goals seeks to improve the global populations access to clean water and sanitation by the year 2030 by ending open defection, reducing water pollution, increasing water-use efficiency, implementing “integrated water resources management,” protecting and restoring water-related ecosystems and expanding water harvesting, desalination, wastewater treatment and water recycling and reuse in developing countries.

Researchers at Michigan State University are engaged in efforts that will help reach the targets set out in Goal 6 of the Sustainable Development Goals. MSU professor Joan Rose, the 2016 Stockholm Water Prize Laureate, along with other university researchers, are studying innovative new materials for use in water filters as a way to make it easier and less costly for people to access clean and safe drinking water.

Adult and youth leaders can help other youth and children learn about global water quality, clean water access and sanitation issues in order to be informed and active global citizens. Here are some activities and lesson plans that can be used to help teach others about these issues:

  • There’s No New Water! A National 4-H curriculum designed for high school aged youth, There’s No New Water is a high quality set of resources and activities to help young people learn “that water is a finite natural resource whose quantity and quality must be responsibly preserved, protected, used and reused.” In addition to learning about the natural water cycle and the impact of human activity on water quality and quantity, the curriculum helps youth plan and conduct a service learning project as the local level.
  • Water Conservation with the Water Lion. For younger learners, Pennsylvania State Extension provides a set of resources on youth water conservation to help elementary, middle and high school-aged youth develop knowledge about the water cycle, water quality and ways to use water responsibly in their home.
  • Clean Water For All. Available as a free download from World’s Largest Lesson website, Clean Water for All is a lesson plan and set of resources for helping youth ages 8-14 learn about the topics of global water pollution and clean water access. The set of activities can be led by older youth leaders or adults, and is designed as a 60-minute learning session with opportunities to extend the learning beyond the activity.
  • Plan for Change: Water Toolkit. This resource and set of activities is available as a free download from Plan Canada’s website. The toolkit includes information and activities to help youth and children learn about access to safe water and clean toilets in other parts of the world.
  • Get Involved and Take Action! Ready to help make a difference in the world around the issue of clean water and sanitation? Get a group of youth together to start planning a service activity for World Toilet Day (Nov. 19) or World Water Day (March 22).

MSU Extension and the Michigan 4-H Youth Development program helps to prepare youth as positive and engaged leaders and global citizens by providing educational experiences and resources for youth interested in developing knowledge and skills in these areas. To learn about the positive impact of Michigan 4-H youth leadership, civic engagement, citizenship and global/cultural programs, read our 2015 Impact Report: “Developing Civically Engaged Leaders.”

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This article was published by Michigan State University Extension. For more information, visit https://extension.msu.edu. To have a digest of information delivered straight to your email inbox, visit https://extension.msu.edu/newsletters. To contact an expert in your area, visit https://extension.msu.edu/experts, or call 888-MSUE4MI (888-678-3464).

CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION https://www.canr.msu.edu/news/clean_water_and_sanitation_five_facts_to_becoming_informed_and_engaged

Groundwater Declines in the U.S. Southwest

Record snowfall in recent years has not been enough to offset long-term drying conditions and increasing groundwater demands in the U.S. Southwest, according to a new analysis of NASA satellite data.

Declining water levels in the Great Salt Lake and Lake Mead have been testaments to a megadrought afflicting western North America since 2000. But surface water only accounts for a fraction of the Great Basin watershed, which covers most of Nevada and large portions of California, Utah, and Oregon. Far more of the region’s water is underground. That has historically made it difficult to track the impact of droughts on the overall water content of the Great Basin.

A new look at 20 years of data from the GRACE (Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment) and GRACE-FO satellites shows that the decline in groundwater in the Great Basin far exceeds stark surface water losses. Over about the past two decades, the underground water supply in the basin has fallen by 16.5 cubic miles (68.7 cubic kilometers). That’s roughly two-thirds as much water as the entire state of California uses in a year and about six times the total volume of water that was left in Lake Mead, the nation’s largest reservoir, at the end of 2023.

The map above shows changes in stored water between April 2002 and September 2023. Notice that some of the largest rates of loss (red) occurred across parts of Southern California, which has been severely affected by water declines in the Great Basin region. Data for this map and the chart below were derived from the joint German DLR-NASA GRACE missions. GRACE-based maps of fluctuating water levels have improved recently as researchers have learned to parse more and finer details from the dataset.

2002 – 2023

The satellite-derived data show a seasonal rise in water each spring due to melting snow from higher elevations, visible as the bumps in the chart above. But University of Maryland Earth scientist Dorothy Hall said occasional snowy winters are unlikely to stop the dramatic water level decline that’s been underway in the U.S. Southwest. This decline is apparent in the chart’s overall downward trend, especially after 2012. The finding came about as Hall and colleagues studied the contribution of annual snowmelt to Great Basin water levels.

“In years like the 2022–23 winter, I expected that the record amount of snowfall would really help to replenish the groundwater supply,” Hall said. “But overall, the decline continued.” The research was published in March 2024 in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.

“A major reason for the decline is the upstream water diversion for agriculture and households,” Hall said. Populations in the states that rely on Great Basin water supplies have grown by 6–18 percent since 2010, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. “As the population increases, so does water use.”

Runoff, increased evaporation, and the water needs of plants suffering from hot, dry conditions in the region are amplifying the problem. “With the ongoing threat of drought,” Hall said, “farmers downstream often can’t get enough water.”

According to the new findings, Hall said, “The ultimate solution will have to include wiser water management.”

NASA Earth Observatory images by Wanmei Liang, using data from Hall, Dorothy, et al. (2024). Text by James R. Riordon/NASA’s Earth Science News Team, adapted from a story first published on June 17, 2024.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/152970/groundwater-declines-in-the-us-southwest

OXBRIDGE STUDENTS ROCKED IT!!! The SWFL Water Research Conference at Florida Gulf Coast University 2017

The Oxbridge Research Team performed very well today at FGCU! For the undergraduate research poster competition:   1st  Place                        $400 Quantifying Heavy Metals in Public and Private Drinking Water Systems:  Testing South Florida’s Public and Private Water Systems Using a Community-Based Environmental Monitoring Program 2nd Place                       $300  Necrosis in the Caloosahatchee Watershed … Continue reading “OXBRIDGE STUDENTS ROCKED IT!!! The SWFL Water Research Conference at Florida Gulf Coast University 2017”

The Oxbridge Research Team performed very well today at FGCU!

For the undergraduate research poster competition:

  •   1st  Place                        $400

Quantifying Heavy Metals in Public and Private Drinking Water Systems:  Testing South Florida’s Public and Private Water Systems Using a Community-Based Environmental Monitoring Program

  • 2nd Place                       $300

 Necrosis in the Caloosahatchee Watershed and Lower Can Carlos Bay:  Using Computer Models to  Compare Precipitation Runoff to Lake Okeechobee Releases

  • 3rd  Place (tie)            $200

Evaluating the Knowledge of Self-Reported Environmentalists’ Regarding Incentives and Enforcements of the Everglades Federal Mandates

  • 3rd  Place (tie)            $200

Using the RamTest-APP™ Handheld Raman Identifier Gun (BioTools, Inc) to Detect Contaminants in Public and Private Water Systems

Once again we were the ONLY high school there and for the third year in a row beat all the undergraduates to take home all the awards!

Well done!

Also very well received were:

  • (Quantification of the Herbicide Atrazine in the Canals of the Eastern Everglades and in the Caloosahatchee Watershed),
  • (Surface Water Quantification of a Carcinogenic Herbicide (2,4D) in Water Hazards on Public Golf Courses and the Subsequent Exposure Awareness of the South Florida Junior PGA),
  •  (Quantifying Fish Populations of the Grassy Waters Preserve to Determine Overall Health of the Drinking Water Source for West Palm Beach, FL),
  •  (The Potential for Carbon Sequestration in Grassy Waters Preserve: Quantifying the Carbon Sequestration Ability of the Hydric, Incepticols, and Calcitic Mud Soils in the Drinking Water Source of West Palm Beach, FL)

SAVING WATER THROUGH PASSION AND EDUCATION!