Ashley Howren– Undergraduate– General Studies
Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene in Fiji, Samoa, and Kiribati

W.A.S.H. is a program that supports safe water, toilets, and good hygiene. W.A.S.H. tries to help people around the world live healthier lives. Growing up and having access to a healthy and safe environment can be considered every human’s right; having clean drinking water, access to toilets, and good hygiene is an important part of that safe environment. Several of the Pacific Island Countries lag behind in terms of providing safe water, sanitation, and hygiene for their citizens. Some key factors that are preventing the Pacific Island Countries, specifically Fiji, Samoa, and Kiribati from providing safe water, sanitation, and hygiene are the extreme weather conditions, seismic events, cultural factors, and governance structures. Some extreme weather conditions include storms, droughts, and floods. During interventions in these countries, it is also important to have an understanding of people’s actions and to be appropriate and respectful towards traditions and cultures. If the cultures and traditions are not respected, the interventions will be unsuccessful and unproductive. In this paper, I examine research on W.A.S.H. in Fiji, Samoa, and Kiribati to better understand factors that caused and are continuing to contribute to the current situation with water, sanitation, and hygiene and discuss what steps are being contemplated to address these issues.

Austin Jastrab - Undergraduate- Environmental Science
Water Challenges Faced by Rural Peruvian Households and Communities

Water is a central element and carrier of hydrosocial relations and in rural communities’ Peruvian cultural values are important with respect to water. However, urbanization processes associated with rural-urban water transfers in Peru have created water control hierarchies that align the municipal drinking water company, hydropower plants, and rural communities in unequal positions. As a result, much of the water infrastructure is designed to provide water supply to Lima, while some rural residents live without potable running water and rely on private trucks for water delivery. This is extremely expensive for them and often has poor water quality. Moreover, much of Peru’s irrigation infrastructure supports large-scale commercial production, leaving rural communities and poor residents with little water. A number of rural communities feel neglected by the Peruvian government because they do not have regular, affordable, safe quality access to running water within their homes. In this paper, I examine challenges faced by rural Peruvian households and communities in accessing water, both in terms of their cultural impact and how this influences material access to water for rural households.

Billi Parsons - Undergraduate-Geography
Clean Water Access Relating to Maternity Care in Kenya

Clean, readily available water is crucial to general hygiene and even more so within clinical environments. In particular, there are repercussions from a lack of readily available, clean water for maternity care in Kenya. Few people in Sub-Saharan Africa have access to clean water in their homes, and even fewer have this access in Kenya. In Sub-Saharan Africa, “…fewer than 15% of women who delivered at home…had access to water and sanitation infrastructure” and in East African countries, even fewer households have acceptable water access. Hospitals and clinics also may lack running water and without readily available, clean water, hospitals and makeshift clinics have a difficult time keeping mothers and babies safe from infection and disease. This risk is especially high for the many women in the region who give birth at home. Many of the most impoverished in the region are forced to birth at home for various reasons, including the distance from medical facilities/clinics and cost of medical care. Kenya, located in East Africa, has one of the world’s highest maternal death rates. Even at established medical facilities, access to clean water is not guaranteed and the reliability of water supplies tends to get worse during droughts, and with the negative effects of climate change beginning to take hold across the planet, these issues are likely to get worse without intervention. Poor infrastructure is another factor that complicates the issue, and the poor infrastructure in Kenya often leads to issues such as faulty water pipes, which increases disease and infection risk. This paper examines how access to readily available, clean water influences maternity care in Kenya, including the measures that are being taken to improve the situation.

Jessica Taylor- Undergraduate - Atmospheric Science
Impacts of Flooding in Nepali Communities Caused by Increasing Snow Melt and Climate Warming

Nepal is located within the Himalayan region in Asia. As a result, the country has had to deal with monsoons, heavy rainfall as well as snow melt run off from the Himalaya Mountains. Flooding is a serious issue that causes some severe damages to the communities. With the warming climate, snow melt has been occurring sooner than it would in the past and there has been an influx of glaciers lakes forming in the mountains. The floods in Nepali communities can cause damage to their agriculture, infrastructure, and personal security (Fort, 2015). Nepal’s government has been trying to create an action plan since 1996 and in 2014 the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) in Nepal called for increasing resilience within the country to climatic risks and hydrological hazards. In this paper I examine the main causes of flooding in Nepal, which communities have been impacted, and the effects on
agriculture, infrastructure, personal security, and water security. The paper concludes by discussing how the Nepali government is planning to address these floods.