This collection delves into one of our global community's most pressing issues: clean drinking water. Around the world, access to clean drinking water (or lack thereof) is one of the most prevalent causes of conflict, illness, poverty, and death. The roots of the Syrian conflict have often been tied back to water, and water-bourn diseases remained in the top 3 causes of death in children in much of Central America. Even in Western nations, the effects of Climate Change are taking an ever-greater toll on fresh water resources. In February of 2019, NPR reported on the growing water crisis across the US, especially prevalent - seemingly ironically - around the Great Lakes region. Crumbling infrastructure and lack of funding around a largely-invisible problem suffered disproportionately by low income families has led to a dramatic spike in the cost of water in recent years, "forcing hundreds of thousands of people to perilously endure weeks or even months without an essential resource." (read the full article here: https://www.npr.org/2019/02/08/691409795/a-water-crisis-is-growing-in-a-place-youd-least-expect-it) Utility companies - facing austerity policies from the government - pass along the costs of repairs on an outdated system to consumers, a weight carried more heavily by the poor. Meanwhile, extreme weather and increased drought exacerbated by global warming to continue to strain water sources.

The solutions examined here include combating bacteria and disease at drinking water sources, building systems for improved access to fresh water, leveraging technology to help improve infrastructure, and ensuring best practices around our planet's most precious resource. 

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: 

1. How has climate change created additional challenges to clean water access around the world? How does involving the members of a community - particularly women - impact the success of a solution to drinking water? What intersectionality can be seen between issues of access to clean water and other challenges - such as safety and education - and how can a solution address multiple issues at once? 
2. In what ways must technology, regulation, education, and conservation intersect to create real, sustainable access to clean drinking water for any given community? How would approaches vary between a developed and a developing nation?  
3. The Flint Water Crisis brought to light many issues, perhaps most prevalent among them that access to clean drinking water is not a 3rd World problem. Communities across the United States and other industrialized countries are still struggling to access clean water, and climate change continues to heighten the challenges. But many of the technologies regarded as brilliant solutions for the developing world - such as the LifeStraw or a water ATM - would very likely be rejected by people in the West as insufficient, especially over the long-term. Individualized, "emergency scenario" solutions such as personal water filters make sense for communities where the situation is dire and urgent, but they arguably could not foster or sustain a growing economy. Even intermediate solutions, such as digging a well, would not - on their own - be logistically sufficient to meet the global goal of providing clean drinking water to all. So what does true access to clean drinking water look like? How long can an individualized technology such as a sand and stone filter be considered a "solution" before bigger steps must be taken? How do we identify which type of solution is appropriate for each water needs situation, while also ensuring progress towards larger-scale solutions? What entities play a role is it to help a community transition from short to long-term solutions and how?