Blogs & Utterings

SCOPE Wins Award

Global Water Alliance received some terrific news from the Dhruba DasGupta who tirelessly works to support the East Kolkata Wetlands project.  Dhruba reports: The Indian Rivers Forum has decided to award our organisation, the Society for Creative Opportunities and...

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Engineering Marvel: The East Kolkata Wetlands

The East Kolkata wetlands make up 12,500 hectares (about 48 square miles) of green infrastructure, creating a place where people can "live creatively with nature."  These wetlands treat millions of gallons of sewage per day.  The Best Management Practices (BMPs)...

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Happy 50th Birthday to the Clean Water Act!

A TRIBUTE TO USEPA REGION 3 EMPLOYEES PROTECTING WATER QUALITY FOR 50 YEARS! by Stan Laskowski     Retired EPA R3 Attorney Deane Bartlett celebrating clean water! In the early 1970s the waters of the Middle Atlantic States were polluted to the extent that swimming and...

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Are You Resilient (Yet)??

by Dr. Christiaan Morssink Some weeks ago,  Al Roker was again smiling, but with hesitation, as he forecasted another very hot day, way above normal, in our region. In Deventer, The Netherlands, they will, after two years of pandemic waiting, organize a “run for all”,...

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Quarantenting — in Idaho

Grand Teton Mountains, Wyoming © pam lazos I keep getting glimpses of little moments:  my daughter, Morgan, filling the plastic bag with water which she will then hang on a tree branch, allowing the gravity-fed system to drip water through the hose and carbon filter...

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Solving the Water Crisis — Some Final Thoughts

Thanks to Nicholaus Rohleder for penning his thoughts on the 9th WWF in Dakar.  This is part four of a four-part article.  The opinions expressed by Mr. Rohleder are his own and not necessarily representative of those of Global Water Alliance. by Nicholaus Rohleder...

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Technology Transfer and Local Economic Impact

Thanks to Nicholaus Rohleder for penning his thoughts on the 9th WWF in Dakar.  This is part three of a four-part article.  The opinions expressed by Mr. Rohleder are his own and not necessarily representative of those of Global Water Alliance. Technology Transfer...

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Water is Life??

Water is Life??

Water is Life?? by Christiaan Morssink Water is life as the saying goes. And indeed, H2O is an essential component of everything living. Water not only brings nutrients and removes dead matter, but it also combines with oxygen to create electricity for brain and heart...

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Infrastructure Financing

Infrastructure Financing

  Thanks to Nicholaus Rohleder for penning his thoughts on the 9th WWF in Dakar.  This is part two of a four-part article. Infrastructure Financing  by Nicholaus Rohleder In recent years, private infrastructure investment capital earmarked for impact investments...

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Wheels for Water

Wheels for Water

Wheels for Water by Dr. Christiaan Morssink The Wheels for Water bike ride was held on May 21, 2022. Our inaugural fun(d) raiser bike ride, organized in tandem with the Engineers Without Borders, was a success, a sweaty success (it was hot), but a success. We intended...

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May is National Wetlands Month

May is National Wetlands Month

May is National Wetlands month!  Why does that matter?  Because wetlands are tremendously important and among the most productive ecosystems in the universe -- okay, maybe not the universe, but the planet -- holding the space for a wide variety species to...

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The State of the Earth 2022

The State of the Earth 2022

The State of the Earth 2022 Not your typical Earth Day post by Pam Lazos There are only two roads in life, growing and dying. Tolbert McCarroll, Notes from the Song of Life Earth Day 2022.  If you want to know how it all started, you can read last year’s post on the...

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Fast Fashion

Fast Fashion

What could possibly go wrong?  How do we get it right?  An interview with fashion designer, Resa McConaghy. Three plus decades ago, my Aunt Marylou gave me two black dresses, both sheaths, both high-quality knit — if I had to guess, a blend of linen and cotton — one...

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Swamp Love Trifecta

Swamp Love Trifecta

Show me the money!   If I told you one-eighth of the world's inhabitants depend on wetlands for their livelihood you would probably say I'm crazy.  They're just swamps, right?  Yes they are swamps, and yet, the Chesapeake Bay, the Louisiana Bayou, the Okefenokee...

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Okefenokee

Okefenokee

Swamp Love, Redux The Okefenokee National Wildlife Area — a giant peat boggy swamp listed on the Ramsar Site of wetlands of particular ecological importance — is a swath of swamp approximately 438,000 acres in size and one of the largest intact freshwater ecosystems...

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May is National Wetlands Month

Swamp Love

Swamp Love by Pam Lazos Today, February 14th, is Valentine’s Day, a universal day of love. But is there something more to Valentine’s Day than overpriced roses and chocolates? Let’s discuss. The Greeks had seven different words for love which you can read more about...

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Groundswell Rising!

Groundswell Rising!

Groundswell Rising! A conversation with Renard Cohen. by Pam Lazos Let's start off this interview with an answer to the burning question you are likely asking yourself: what is a fractivist? Urban Dictionary describes a fractivist as follows: fractivist n. Person...

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New Year, New Project with EWB!

New Year, New Project with EWB!

Global Water Alliance (GWA) allies with Engineers Without Borders Philadelphia Professional Chapter (EWB-PhillyPro) to Bring Drinking Water to 4000 in Guatemala! by Debbie Heuckeroth Do you remember enjoying a camping trip without running water on a summer vacation?...

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The Return of the Light

Sunrise, Cape May, NJ It’s always been interesting to me how the holy days in the christian calendar overlap with the pagan holidays of old. Before we had Christmas, there was the Germanic Yule — which gave us things like yuletide caroling and the yule log — and...

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Happy Thanksgiving from Global Water Alliance

Happy Thanksgiving!  Here at GWA we have much to be thankful for, but most of all we are grateful for the gift of clean water!  GWA envisions a world where all people have access to safe drinking water and sanitation.  The UN and WHO estimate that around the world,...

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Today is the day…

World Toilet Day! How does a species evolve? For centuries, people lived side-by-side with their waste, throwing it into the streets, into the rivers, over the back fence, out of sight, out of mind. But that's never been the best solution since waste by definition is...

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The Crapper

World Toilet Day -- November 19, 2021 by Tom McKeon Friday, November 19th is World Toilet Day and what better way to celebrate than with a demonstration of The Crapper!  Details are as follows:  Friday, November 19th 3 to 5 p.m. Where: Tiny House, Temple University...

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Greenland’s Melting

Glasgow, Scotland, COP26 conference: While world leaders continue their debate over who needs to take responsibility for climate change and how much it's going to cost, the earth keeps heating up. If your plumbing breaks and you can no longer use your sink or toilet,...

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WeStillAlive — An African Story

When we talk about WASH -- water, sanitation and hygiene -- it's not just access to water that we are discussing but access to clean, safe, usable water.  The reality is that more children die each year from lack of clean water -- about 85,000 under the age of 15 --...

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Cryptocurrency

Ed. Please enjoy this article on cryptocurrency as a follow up to GWA's 14th annual conference, "Securing the Green to Make it Clean:  Funding for Sustainable Sanitation," held virtually on October 9th, 2021.  A recording of the event will be posted on our website...

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Vision 2030 — Funding WASH Into the Future

by Bubala Muyovwe-Mumba The NGO Water Sanitation and Hygiene Forum (“NGO WASH Forum” or “Forum”) is a coordination platform of international, local NGOs and community-based organisations working to improve WASH services in Zambia. It was formally established in 2011,...

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Cryptocurrency — The Rise of a New Asset Class

In anticipation of GWA's 14th Annual Conference on Saturday, October 9th, 2021, Securing the Green to Make it Clean: Funding for Sustainable Sanitation, we will be presenting a series of blogs on cryptocurrency and other funding mechanisms in the run up to the...

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Panyebar Water Project

Panyebar Water Project

Panyebar Water Project Project Summary Engineers Without Borders Implementation Trip May 2019 by Tony Sauder, P.E. Introduction The Penn Engineers Without Borders (PennEWB) team went to Panyebar, Guatemala to work on improvements to the existing water system from May...

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Financing WASH

GWA Annual Conference Securing the Green to Make it Clean: Funding for Sustainable Sanitation When:  Saturday, October 9, 2021 | 11:00 AM to 2:30 PM EDT (5:00 PM to 8:30 PM CET) Virtual Conference Program: Welcome address Dr. Lauri Romanzi, Consultant, Thomas...

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Get the Lead Out!

Get the Lead Out!

*** Copper pipe with lead bulb (left) and iron pipe (right) -- photo credit Center of Excellence in Environmental Technology   by Jazmin Ricks How many times a day do you think about your drinking water? If you’re like me, drinking enough water each day is a constant...

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WASH Needs New Leaders

Global Water Alliance is convening new leaders to explore funding approaches to achieve sanitation for all by Kelly Bridges, Conference Coordinator, Global Water Alliance 14th Annual Conference In September 2000, the United Nations Millennium Declaration (2000-2015)...

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Studying the Brain-Eating Amoeba

The unofficial end to summer is upon us and as we round the corner heading into Labor Day weekend, perhaps you will be interested in reading this post about the brain-eating amoeba that lives and lurks in our waterways, as told to you by 17-yr. old Janelle Fletcher,...

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The Great Pacific Garbage Patch

by Ewoma Okah-Avae The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is an area of marine toxic waste plastic pollution estimated to be 1.6 million square kilometers, twice the size of Texas and three times the size of France! As my writer friend put it, "it’s another continent on its...

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Tambien la Lluvia

También La Lluvia (Even the Rain) (2000), directed by Icíar Bollaín, tells the story of a small film crew making a movie about Christopher Columbus’ landing in the New World and the effect Spain’s arrival had on the indigenous Indian population. The movie crew travels...

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Oh Look — Another Learning Opportunity!

On Saturday, October 9, 2021, the Global Water Alliance in alliance with Thomas Jefferson University will convene its virtual 14th Annual Conference entitled, "Securing the Green to Make it Clean: Funding for Sustainable Sanitation." The conference—the theme of which...

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Water-Borne Disease Highlight: Schistosoma

by Thomas McKeon We all know how mosquitos cause more harm to humans than any other animal on earth. Nearly 1 million people die from mosquito-borne diseases a year and many more are injured from diseases like Zika virus, West Nile virus, Chikungunya virus, dengue,...

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Restoring Our Water Ecosystems

By Ewoma E. Okah-Avae  As a species, we can’t overemphasize the importance of water. Oceans, rivers, lakes and streams make up the water ecosystem on the earth’s surface.  Without water, human, aquatic, animal and plant life will become extinct. But when these natural...

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Happy World Oceans Day!

[Sunset Beach, Cape May, NJ] Today is World Oceans Day! Like humans who are about 70% water, oceans cover 70% of the earth. In all likelihood, life emerged from the primordial soup, from the oceans to the swamps, bogs, marshes and wetlands, first as single-celled...

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Water Literacy 5 — at the Community Level

[graphics - Arianna Rich] by Dr. Christiaan Morssink Water literacy at the community level is much more than measuring, assessing and improving the literacy of a multitude of households that together make up a community. Even if each household has it’s own water...

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Initiative Dakar 2022

Initiative Dakar 2022 We at GWA are pleased to announce that Dr. Arun Deb’s arsenic removal project in West Bengal, India has been chosen as a “flagship” project to be showcased at the World Water Forum in Dakar, Senegal. Known as Initiative Dakar 2022, something new...

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Making Maps: Reflections on Cameroon

[Six weeks of walking, but never a walk in the park] Project: Water Supply Problems in Nine Villages in the Bome-Ngyenmbo region, North Western Province, Cameroon Period: 2007-2014 Collaborations: In Cameroon: Mayor’s Office in Mbengwi, Meta Quality of Life...

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The State of the Earth – 2021

  photo of the original magazine   April 22 — Earth Day.  I was leafing through an oversized magazine a friend gave me when she retired entitled, Earth Week ’70, published in 1970 as the Official Publication of the Philadelphia Earth Week Committee.  At only 48-pages...

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Revenge of the Fatberg

Revenge of the Fatberg

Keep Fats, Oils and Grease in the Trash Where They Belong Keep water FOG-free In February 2021, a brewing toxic mess of waste comprised of such culprits as wet wipes, diapers, sanitary pads, cotton swabs and other detritus fused with fats, oils and grease from...

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Toilets, Latrines, and Everything in Between

by Corinna Wang [public toilet at Bryant Park in NYC © pam lazos] Most conversations around bodily functions can be uncomfortably embarrassing discussions, especially those concerning use of the bathroom. Everyone has a bathroom ritual they deem necessary, one that...

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We Are Water Protectors

Stories and prophecies surrounding Mother Earth and Father Sky are abundant in indigenous folklore where Indigenous People have long protected the earth from those who would seek to abuse her resources. That’s why it is so wonderful to see that storytelling tradition...

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Pass the PVA, Please

the infamous tide pod © pam lazos When the kids were little I think I did a hundred loads of laundry a week.  Okay, that’s an exaggeration, but I easily did a few loads every couple days, depending on their activity levels.  At that time, I was a big fan of the large...

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Here, There, and Everywhere

The Problem with Microplastics in Water and What Women Scientists are Doing to Solve It photo credit: wH2O Journal Read all about it in wH2O, The Journal of Gender and Water, Volume 8 (2021) right here: https://repository.upenn.edu/wh2ojournal/vol8/iss1/9/ Pam Lazos...

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Stunted Children from Stunted Mothers

And the Need for Improved Maternal Water Literacy. by Dr. Christiaan Morssink  stunted on the vine © pam lazos In the late nineties, the World Health Organization undertook a major international study to create a growth chart for children 0-5yrs....

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Water Literacy – 4

Measuring, Testing, and Educating at the Household Level by Dr. Christiaan Morssink © pam lazos The household is an important data point in the world of WASH -- water, sanitation and hygiene -- on many levels. In the home of my youth, the WC -- the water closet -- was...

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Water Literacy – 3

by Christiaan Morssink Definition: Water literacy is the scaffolding that empowers individuals, households, communities, nations, and regions to protect and utilize water resources and water quality through ecologically adapted change and strengthen water resilience...

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Water Literacy – 2

Constructing a Paradigm: Who Should Know What, Where, How and Why? by Dr. Christiaan Morssink Rockman in frozen water © pam lazos I watched in horror as the young French woman was transported by dug-out canoe (with outboard engine) across the river to the hospital on...

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Spotlight on Dr. Arun Deb

Founding Member, Global Water Alliance Those of us privileged to work with Dr. Arun Deb know he does his job with a quiet grace and determination and now the world, at least our Philadelphia portion of it, is finding out, too. Congratulations to Dr. Deb on the...

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Toilet: A Love Story

https://youtu.be/l3hdA3ZG5RM As comedies go... ... the lowly toilet has long been the brunt of many a comedic trope, potty humor being the universal go-to language when you need a sure thing.  We laugh at bathroom humor the same way we laugh when someone unexpectedly...

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The Case for Water Literacy

Toilet Cleaning is as Important as Toilet Building by Christiaan Morssink Tools of the trade Toilet cleaning and preventive maintenance are missing in almost all project proposals for WASH -- water, sanitation and hygiene -- in Schools or WASH in Health Care that I...

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The Case for Water Literacy

by Christiaan Morssink The Schuylkill River at Market Street It's a new year so time to roll up our sleeves and talk about the big topics like water literacy. Did you know the average flow rate of the Delaware river is 11,700 cu ft/s (cubic feet per second) at...

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In Memoriam

Ed Grusheski 1946-2020 by Chrisitaan Morssink Ever-smiling Ed Our founding board member and treasurer Ed Grusheski left the stage on December 22, 2020. We lost a great friend, most gentle colleague and socially engaging professional who inspired many. Before losing...

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EPA Turns 50!

An Interview with Former Deputy Regional Administrator and GWA Founder, Stan Laskowski EPA logo for the 50th Anniversary On December 2, 2020, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) turned 50.  GWA founder and current board member, Stan Laskowski...

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Water, Bugs, and Your Health!

Stonefly found during stream assessment at Climbers Run Nature Preserve, Pequea, PA At GWA, we support access to clean water for all people, but clean water isn't just about turning on the tap. Clean water begins at the water's edge, caring for water at the source at...

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More thoughts on World Toilet Day

by Christiaan Morssink a crappy photo of a crappy toilet I have seen it too often, in too many places. Toilets in disrepair. Toilets that were installed to improve the hygiene of the household, the village, the school, the railway station. Paid for by the customer, or...

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World Toilet Day – Nov 19th

The Throne Bathroom Loo Water closet, or WC Outhouse El baño Stall Porta-potty Latrine or pit latrine The Throne Whatever you want to call it, access to improved sanitation is a right due to all people. If you live in a place where having a toilet in your home is a...

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“Special Toilets” for Guatemala

A World Toilet Day Tale by Tony Sauder Handicap Accessible Bathrooms for Health Clinics in Cipresales and Panahachel, Guatemala The Global Water Alliance is proud to be supporting Acción Contra el Hambre (ACH) -- Action Against Hunger -- a Spanish NGO, working on WASH...

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Unsung Heroes of WASH

Press release from NYEWASCO, Nyeri, Kenya On November 12, 2020, Global Water Intelligence (GWI) reported the death of Peter Gichaaga, the General Manager of Nyewasco, one of Africa's most successful water utilities, a success roundly attributed to Gichaaga's...

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Shocked? You Should Be!

President Morssink, upon hearing the news... Of the 7.6 billion people that comprise the world's population, 74% -- a lucky 5.5 billion of us have basic sanitation or better, but an unlucky 2 billion of us still don't have even basic sanitation. Of those, 673 million...

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World Toilet Day and the East Kolkata Wetlands

And why working with nature is always best... inundated wetlands Before we talk about the East Kolkata Wetlands, let’s establish what wetlands are and why we should care about them. While the regulatory definition of a wetland is complicated, the average person...

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Blue Moon

[photo courtesty of NASA] Maybe the Man in the Moon has never been thirsty, but if he were, things are about to get better for him.  According to NASA, there is water, not only on the dark side of the moon, but on the sunny side, too.  Not much, still about...

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Water and Peace

by Mallory Rappaport Philadelphia at 30th St. Station along the Schulykill River Global Water Alliance conference on Water & Peace emphasizes need for collaborative and sustainable water management On September 24, 2020, the Global Water Alliance (GWA) hosted its...

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Hand Hygiene for ALL

by Christiaan Morssink In frustration, I am shaking my fist at the SARS-COV-2 and at a much too large bunch of dysfunctional politicians on this planet earth. But what good is shaking a fist if you cannot make it into an uppercut. SARS-COV-2 doesn’t care, and those...

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Janjay

So many of our GWA partners are writers, educators, academics, and leaders in their fields in addition to being Water Warriors. Chantal Victoria Bright is all of these. A first generation Liberian-American, she knows the woes associated with a lack of access to clean...

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Con-Census or Peace?

Philadelphia skyline - © pam lazos I saw a cartoon the other day.  A man and a woman hold hands at the water’s edge, an old gnarled tree to the right of them, while off in the distance is a small silhouette of another person standing on a bluff, the only other human...

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Water as a tool of oppression

Written by Kate French We all agree and understand that water is intrinsic to human existence and without it, life on earth will become extinct.  Simply put: water is life.  Less understood is that water has also been used a tool of oppression.  In the...

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Water Security Begets Food Security

Written by Christiaan Morssink. Reflections on the United Nations Sustainable Gastronomy Day, June 18 I grew up with the ritual of growing food in the backyard and on a small plot of land that my father, like so many others, “rented” from the railroad company. All in...

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Plastic-Free Life Redux

Single-use plastic in the kitchen Some months later… Plastic-Free Life Redux I am happy to report that I received a response to my plastics letter. Before I tell you what happened, let me relay a completely unnerving statistic that I read the other day, that is, only...

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Plastic-Free​ Life

A Story of Independence I think I'm just one of those people that needs a mission.  A few months ago, I decided that if I'm ever going to even approach a Zero Waste Life, I need to find ways to buy things with less built-in waste.  The problem with that is I don't...

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Be Like Water

by Pam Lazos When I was born, I shared the water on this planet with just over 3 billion people.  Today, I’m sharing it with 7.7 billion and growing at a rate of 85 million people per year, and it’s safe to say that no matter what year, each and every one of...

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When Fish Poop Feeds the World

by P. J. Lazos If you or your kids have ever won a goldfish at a carnival, chances are you took it home and stuck it in a glass bowl where it swam happily for years.  We had one live for six years until the little rascal finally called it quits.  Soon after we brought...

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Book Review: Thirst

THIRST: A Story of Redemption, Compassion, and a Mission to Bring Clean Water to the World by Scott Harrison, Founder and CEO of Charity: Water Publ: Currency, 2018, 336 pg. A Review by Stan Laskowski, co-Founder, Global Water Alliance This book is inspirational! I...

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Water Investigators: Dominican Republic

They asked us to go to the Dominican Republic, so we did. A travel report about our scoping exercise; facts, impressions, reflections. By Tom McKeon, Erica DePalma, Michelle Barakat, and Liz Pyshnik   We are four young professionals who are passionate about...

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Sponge Cities

By P. J. Lazos    As I made my way into work the other day, an announcement on the radio alerted me to a flood warning that would be in effect until later that evening.  It had rained the day before, and the day before that, the rivers, brown and agitated, running...

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Plastic Free July

   As the forefathers wrote in the Declaration of Independence, the unalienable rights endowed to men (and women) of this country are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. Fast forward 242 years and we are seriously messing with those rights as we clamor for a...

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I Just Want to Say One Word to You!

Are you listening? “Yes, Sir”               You’re on a beach. It’s hot. You’re thirsty and you pull a handy plastic bottle from your cooler, take a big swig. You know better than to try the water from the lake, and surely not the ocean ..It’s happy hour time;...

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A Global Man

            To me, Leonardo da Vinci is the greatest example of a Renaissance Man, a polymath with expertise in a wide variety of subject matter; a humanist (a person who values human beings and the autonomous, free-thinking self), supportive of critical thinking; and...

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Look Really Close: Bugs and Environmental Health

By Tom McKeon Benthic macroinvertebrates (macros) are spineless bugs, visible to the naked eye. They are often the nymph and larvae forms of many familiar creatures buzzing and crawling around you every day. Creatures like adult dragonflies, mosquitoes, crane flies,...

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When Chemicals Collide

by P.J. Lazos   It’s a tenet of the modern age that if you are alive and thriving on our planet, walking around in a “meat suit” — to steal a term from the TV show, “Supernatural” — you are likely composed of a cornucopia of pharmaceuticals, some of which you ingested...

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