The Hopkins Global Water Program (GWP) is a university-based organization that integrates researchers across Hopkins to address water issues and provide solutions internationally and domestically. It was developed through an innovations grant from the National Sciences Foundation under President Brody in 2009.
"Our mission is to provide quantity and quality for water to sustain the health of mankind and the environment," Program Director for GWP Kellogg Schwab said.
The Global Water Program addresses six divisions or "program themes" in their research including water policy and water infrastructure.
The name isn't an exaggeration: The GWP really does have projects around the world including an attempt to screen and improve water around the rural Peruvian Amazon.
"We were in remote villages, focusing on the city of Iquitos, trying to get more information about their water supply and developing recommendations," GWP Program Manager McDonald said.
The Peruvian Amazon has experienced major deforestation, mining and urbanization that has negatively impacted human health, water quality and the local environment. These changes have increased environmental and human exposure to pathogens and contaminants that cause sickness. Results of the research eventually showed that most drinking water in these villages is contaminated with E.Coli. In addition, the water contains unsanitary concentrations of aluminum and iron. This project has served as a launching pad for further research about water sanitation in the Peruvian Amazon.
The team that traveled to Peru in January 2011 was comprised of six Hopkins researchers including a student and field workers in teams of two to four. "We'll be in Peru again in 2012," McDonald said. Other international projects have taken place in South Africa, Ghana, Nicaragua, and India.
The Global Water Program also has projects in our own backyard, particularly with the Chesapeake Bay Environmental Observatory.
"We created a virtual observatory – meaning that it is centered around data, not microscopes and telescopes," Ball said.
The Chesapeake Bay suffers from a continuing problem with hypoxia (lack of oxygen in the water) despite long-term attempts to control the nutrients that are causing it.
"Basically we're asking why the Bay is not improving as much as it should be considering all the effort put into it," Ball said. "State managers have been pretty successful at removing a lot of the nutrients going into the bay... but the hypoxia has continued to increase. We really wanted to get to the bottom of this because we didn't want people to think controlling nutrients didn't help.
"We think there are other forces beyond our control that have to do with global climate change, sea level rises, and changing weather patterns in the North Atlantic that are involved."
The GWP is not just for graduate students and faculty – interested Hopkins undergraduates can become involved as well through internships and research positions. Students who want to present about a water issue can request funding from the Global Water Program. In addition, the organization offers a travel scholarship to those interested in conducting water-based research.
"We were also just awarded a National Science Foundation training scholarship that will allow us to bring in students to help us work," GWP member Kellogg Schwab said.
McDonald suggests that Hopkins students who are interested in becoming involved simply discuss research opportunities with faculty members.
With in progress projects around the world, the Global Water Project is keeping busy.
"The research descriptions on our website are only a small fragment of what's going on," McDonald said.
