Everyone needs clean, fresh water to survive, but across the globe, hundreds of millions of people do not have this basic necessity. For others, access is threatened by aging infrastructure, politics and climate change.
Everyone needs clean, fresh water to survive, but across the globe, hundreds of millions of people do not have this basic necessity. For others, access is threatened by aging infrastructure, politics and climate change.
To tackle these problems, hundreds of the world’s leading water, sanitation and hygiene experts will come together Oct. 3-7 as the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill hosts its annual conference, “Water and Health: Where Science Meets Policy.” The event, taking place at the William and Ida Friday Center for Continuing Education, is convened by the Water Institute at UNC and the UNC Institute for the Environment.
Presenters and attendees will examine water-related issues in six areas:
- Freshwater availability and climate change adaptation;
- Human rights and ethics as related to water;
- Water, sanitation and hygiene in peri-urban areas (on the fringes of urban areas);
- Hygiene behaviors and household water treatment;
- Small-community water, sanitation and hygiene; and
- Water challenges facing North Carolina and the Southeastern U.S.
The event will highlight research, education and public outreach, both during the conference and at workshops before and after it.
“Solutions to these urgent problems can be found and implemented more quickly if experts from diverse locations and disciplines share ideas and information,” said conference co-chairs Jamie Bartram and Lawrence E. Band, both of UNC.
Participants already registered come from nearly 50 countries, including Bolivia, Cambodia, Cameroon, China, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Nepal, Palestine, Philippines, Switzerland and United Kingdom. Attendees represent diverse organizations such as the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, CARE, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Procter & Gamble, Samaritan’s Purse, Save the Children, The World Bank and others.
Registration is $225 for students and $450 for the public. Workshop-only registrations are available for $175.
Keynote speakers include:
- Catarina de Albuquerque, special rapporteur on the human right to safe drinking water and sanitation, United Nations
- Frank Rijsberman, director, global development program, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
- Jaehyang So, program manager, water and sanitation program, The World Bank
- Charles J. Vörösmarty, director, City University of New York environmental crossroads initiative, professor and distinguished scientist with the City University-based National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s cooperative remote sensing science and technology center
- Jeff Chapin, senior designer, IDEO
- Ellen Gilinsky, senior policy adviser, office of water, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
The conference, in its fourth year, represents an ongoing effort to bring UNC’s water resources expertise to bear on the growing challenges of providing safe water and adequate sanitation to the people of North Carolina, the nation and the world.
Bartram, Ph.D., professor of environmental sciences and engineering in the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health, directs the Water Institute. Band, Ph.D., Voit Gilmore Distinguished Professor of Geography in the College of Arts and Sciences, is a watershed hydrologist and ecologist. He directs the Institute for the Environment.
Conference sponsors include the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, Procter & Gamble Children’s Safe Drinking Water program, Pfizer Inc., International Association of Plumbing and Mechanical Officials, Aquatest, Environmental Science & Technology journal, FHI360, Neerman Research & Consulting, ProCleanse Water Filtration, Suez Environmental/United Water and Water and Sanitation Rotarian Action Group.
Conference website: http://whconference.unc.edu/
Conference program: http://whconference.unc.edu/program.cfm
Media note: To arrange media interviews with Band and Bartram, contact Katie Hall (details below).
Institute for the Environment contact: Katie Hall, (919) 962-0965, mchall@email.unc.edu
Water Institute contact: Margo Ginsberg, (919) 966-7302, margo.ginsberg@unc.edu
UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health contact: Ramona DuBose, (919) 966-7467, ramona_dubose@unc.edu
News Services contact: Patric Lane, (919) 962-8596, patric_lane@unc.edu