Water is life – something we learn as children. Water, air, and sustenance are critical to survival. This blog was created as a place to share and learn information about my passion – h20. A few years ago, I also recognized the importance of incorporating sanitation into the conversation. Over 2.4 billion humans lack safe toilets, and many of us with toilets pee and poo in potable water. Primary subjects in this blog will include:
- Water Availability
- Water Management
- Water Technologies
- Gender and Water Issues
- Water and Sanitation Issues
My name is Abby. In late 2010, I finished a master’s degree in Water Resources Policy and Management at Oregon State University. In 2012, I moved to Santa Cruz, California to attend a PhD program in Environmental Sociology. I am thankful to have the opportunity to pursue higher education (be in the right place, at the right time based on timing and social factors), and feel dedicated to use this knowledge to make our participate in a world more equitable and fair. I believe:
- it is imperative global water supplies are managed to ensure availability for current and future generations;
- access to clean water and adequate sanitation are fundamental human rights, and;
- the current “global-framework” is not functioning for preservation of this precious resource but within this “global-framework” the opportunity exists to ensure fair use of water throughout the world.
To understand more about my passion in the field, a brief bio might be helpful. I grew up in East Tennessee. As a kid, my sense-of-place was realized during barefoot adventures on moss-covered forest floors, running through cow-fields to evade the neighborhood bull, and swimming in local creeks with friends. I did not realize at the time what lasting reverberations these experiences would cause in my life as an adult. For the last few years, I have been working in the watershed field. Beginning as an environmental educator in Tennessee, continuing to study sustainable agriculture and forest restoration in Central America, leading to writing water-right permits in Washington, volunteering with an awesome sanitation organization in Oregon, attending graduate school in Water Resources Policy and Management in Oregon, interning and conducting research on gender, water, and sanitation in India, and attending graduate school again in Environmental Sociology in California. My primary interest areas are: 1) environmental justice in relation to water and sanitation and 2) empowerment and gender equality in relation to water and sanitation.
This is going to be a GREAT blog..Good going Abigail
this blog is getting better and better way to go Abby!
Wow, this site is so great, I thought this site was a huge organization! Nice work. Thank you for sharing information on this topic. You are my personal hero- As I am not as connected with water, I appreciate your passion…Thank you!
By the way, this is the first blog I’ve ever commented on…
OMG, what a cute pic and well written “about” section!
Great material – let me encourage you to keep on going!
Hey Abby…
this is the only blog I have ever seen, and thus the best (though paradoxically NOT the worst) I must say that I am impressed… I am very lucky in that I live on an 8 mile long peninsula and the well water is excellent as well as plentiful. The rest of the world does not have that luxury.. I recently heard that the mighty Colorado River no longer reaches the Gulf of Mexico.. It is used up before reaching its natural destination. How sad. I will definitely explore this site when I get back home.. thanks Abby
Hi. I’m an editor at http://www.alternet.org and am interested in being able to repost some of your blogs for our newly launched Water section. Please let me know if this is possible.
Thanks,
Tara
Great blog!!!
Hi Abigail – great blog.
You might be interested in a blog where you can follow an experiment which is spending at least 10!!! times less water to grow vegetables in dry or very dry regions. Not only that, the solar dripping system (Kondenskompressor) purifies ‘bad’ water, which means that you can grow plants and vegetables sensitive to brackish water. The best : It doesn’t need electronics nor any other technical know-how, it’s recycling and doesn’t cost anything! Gratis for the entire world.
The blog is written in Spanish, and an English translation will be coming.
http://kondenskompressor.blogspot.com
regards
Hi Abigail,
Feelin’ lucky to have stumbled across your chunk of the internet here.
A very thoughtful compendium of resources and news. Water’s a topic very close to my heart as well–I also have a background in watershed management, with a bit of groundwater contamination and public drinking water management tossed in for good measure.
Cheers!
Bravo, Abby,
This blog is great. Hope you will have the juice to keep it up while you move on.
I know you won’t forget us up here in the Chehalis watershed.
Pete
Thanks Pete.
I will most definitely never, ever, ever, forget about all the wonderful people affiliated with the Chehalis River Basin Land Trust (http://www.chehalislandtrust.org/) and the Chehalis River Council (http://www.crcwater.org/). You all are doing such amazing things in the tranquil (and, at times, tumultuous) Chehalis River watershed. From you all, I have learned that volunteer citizen groups master accomplishment.
Future generations thank you.
There’s lots of information in what you have written, but you skipped nimbly over exactly what you replaced your faucets with. I didn’t do well on e-searching for replacement bathroom faucets that are low-flow. Can you direct us to more resources for this?
Also, eventually you will have to mention garden irrigation–I don’t mean LAWN, I mean the edible landscape. I grew up during a drought in Texas and endured the drought starting in ’75 in California before moving to…drought here in Knoxville, TN. It is raining steadily here and has been since mid-December, but this is the first really serious rains we’ve had in about 4 years (not quite normally wet for a few before that). The rainbarrels were empty and I was beginning to be seriously concerned about all the trees, not to mention the native plants adapted to 48″ a year. Otherwise, our water use is quite low, deeply sensitized by all that dry experience.
thanks also for postiing the public domain art. what a great site this is becoming.
You are welcome, Margaret. I would like to have time to add more sometime.
g-r-e-a-t——-!!!!!
I am very fascinated by this blog. Recently, I was searching about water journalism, but I didn’t get any authentic information about water journalism. Your blog is very helpful to anyone who interested in water and water-related issues. I don’t know why you have not mentioned the invasion of multi-national companies on natural resources.
Hi, Abigail
This is a really unique, exciting, blog. I am just beginning my studies of environmental engineering at Lane/OSU and will be utilizing your blog for a writing class I’m taking. Thanks for your hard work and dedictation. Dena
Hi, Dena. Thanks for your comment, and I’m sorry about the delay in reply. I’m not sure that my blog is the best to use for a writing class – ha – but I’m so excited to hear about your studies in environmental engineering at OSU. Go Beavs. If you ever want to chat about h20, send me a message on my blog. Cheers.
Hi Abby,
I’m loving your ideas here! I’m currently the social media intern for a very small and very nimble non-profit organization called Bank-On-Rain (http://www.bank-on-rain.com/). We are working towards grassroots solutions for clean water access in developing countries with World Water Partners (WWP: http://worldwaterpartners.org/) and Peer Water Exchange (PWX: http://peerwater.org/). Right now we are working on a rainwater catchment system for a school in Rwanda.
Sounds like these are the kinds of projects you are interested in? You should definitely check out our blog. Our latest post is on WWP’s project to get water filters in all the health clinics in Haiti (http://bank-on-rain.posterous.com/will-we-still-be-talking-about-access-to-clea).
Let me know what you think
Emily Berg for Bank-On-Rain
Thanks for sharing these links Emily. You’re right. I’m super interested in these types of projects. I’ll check them out for sure.
Hi Abby,
Great website, we will reccommend it on mine. Your story is very similar to mine, I am a recently graduated Masters student who is passionate about water. If you have time check out my website, http://www.tastethewater.co.uk , which is similar to your blog, except it focusses soley on water and sanitation in developing countries. I would be happy to work with you in some way.
Kind regards,
Tastethewater
Hi Jack. Thanks for sharing your website. Sorry about my long delay in reply. I’m often not aware when comments are posted to my blog pages. Anyhow, cool efforts with the map. I’m linking your website to my blog. See you later!
This is the best look yet for Water for the Ages. It’s clean and very professional and yet completely accessible. I’m eager to let other people know about it.
Hi, I am Wang from China. Remember me? We see each other in OSU. Nice to talk to you by this way. Hope see you this year at Oregon.
Good to hear from you Wang. Yes, I remember you from the international waters course and your blog. Hope you are doing well these days. Are you going back to Oregon State University this summer? I am now studying at University of California Santa Cruz looking at water and sanitation in Environmental Sociology.
I wii be at OSU this From this Sep.to next Sep. I think I would go to Colifornia at the end of this year or next summer. Hope see you then.
Maybe we can have you do a visiting lecture at University of California Santa Cruz? Please let me know your current research areas, and I’ll try to arrange something. Cheers.