texas a&m to lead nsf-funded water insecurity research networkdr wendy jepson will lead international interdisciplinary network of water insecurity experts aug 9 2018water! preserve our greatest good reads a banner in fortaleza brazil (photo by flavia bonolo dantas texas a&m geography graduate student)water insecurity is a reality for vulnerable households everywhere from flint michigan to são paulo brazil from the texas-mexico border colonias to cape town south africa water security means adequate reliable affordable water for a healthy life said dr wendy jepson professor in texas a&m universitys department of geography in the college of geosciences household water insecurity can result when those conditions are not met and can happen almost anywhere to address the complex and global problem of water insecurity the national science foundation (nsf) recently awarded a $500 000 grant to jepson and several collaborators for the formation of the household water insecurity (hwise) research coordination network (rcn) jepson will lead the five-year project along with co-investigators dr justin stoler at university of miami dr amber wutich at arizona state university and dr sera young at northwestern university we will be consolidating our research resources and looking for new ways to study household water insecurity and impacts on health well-being and livelihoods jepson said well be developing a geospatial perspective and using the toolkit weve taken abroad we will take a harder look at water insecurity in the us and canada even in highly developed counties household water insecurity can result from aging infrastructure poverty or other systemic problems the flint water crisis was not an anomaly water insecurity is experienced in many communities jepson said water insecurity among the homeless has been documented by dr wutich and my previous research on texas colonias underscored that despite massive investments low-income families face hard choices about paying water bills going to the grocery store or putting gas in the carrethinking household water insecurity: methods and metrics hwise workshop participants at texas a&m university in september 2016 (photo courtesy of dr wendy jepson)the rcn will create research infrastructure working groups and engagement and participation training the researchers are also planning to develop and test a water security metric – an analytical framework that could streamline water security measurements globally how do you measure this jepson said thats a key question because once you measure it you can look at causes and consequences in a more systematic way thats less anecdotal collaborating for solutions to water insecurity this group of household water insecurity researchers in the us has been collaborating since 2014 jepson said they have held three workshops and developed a proposal led by young on household water security metric development current hwise collaborators now include over 40 scholars from 24 us and international institutions spanning a variety of careers and social science disciplines their effort to-date is only the beginning of a productive collaborative research network to advance conceptual and methodological frontiers in water security and environmental social science jepson said now were building a global network she said the rcn will be developing new approaches for studying these questions and finding the causes and consequences we have outlined three major workshops including engagement with various stakeholders in the international water sector we are also developing tools webinars podcasts and a data platform for our research community texas a&m water management and hydrological sciences masters student amy truong will also be the program coordinator for the entire rcn in the end the research coordination network is an investment in research infrastructure and that infrastructure is human capital because ideas and creativity and problem solving happen in collaboration jepson said the nsf is not just funding three workshops it is about fostering organic growth collaboration and mentoring in a community of practice to advance discovery and research the team will also include practitioners who have doctorates but work outside of academia and the rcns steering committee will include diverse professionals from multiple countries as well more than just a flowing tap water security is a complicated concept to measure and study jepson said because it means that water is available for various activities for personal hygiene cultural practices not just for biophysical we have to recognize that it means more than just drinking water its about how water is part of our daily cultural activities we try to think water not as a thing but how we can secure ways people interact with water the rcn will include experts in political science nutrition geography anthropology and more equipping them to study these complex water security problems jepson said she is excited to see how the rcn grows and informs water policy and practice around the world this is just the beginning by leslie lee 09