While I was at the University of Oklahoma's WaTER Center for water prize deliberations, a half-day symposium featuring the five jurors was held. We each gave 15-minute presentations, then participated in a 75-minute Q&A session.
Here's a PDF of my presentation, Rural Water and Sanitation in Central America: View From The Ivory Tower:
Download uok_water_symposium_31oct2008_campana.pdf
Daniele Lantagne of CDC and LSHTM gave a great presentation on household water systems (HWS):
Here is Greg Allgood's (Procter & Gamble) presentation on safe drinking water:
Read Julianna Parker's article about the symposium in The Norman Transcript.
Juror Malcolm Morris of the Millennium Water Alliance, Living Water International, and the author of the original Water For The Poor Act, told an interesting story. Here's how Parker reported it in the aforementioned paper:
Clean drinking water should be a focus for this and many other reasons. For one, purifying water can prevent a slew of diseases, Morris said.
He said Living Water International was once turned down for a grant in favor of spending money on development of a vaccine for certain disease. Morris looked up the disease and found that it was carried in unsanitary water.
He said he kindly wrote the foundation back and pointed out that there already was a vaccine for the disease: clean water.
I won't tell you which foundation it was, but it's one founded by a guy who made a LOT of money in software.
Morris said he also told the foundation that this same "vaccine" - clean water - was effective in preventing a whole bunch of diseases, and he listed them (he used his son's medical books - he is an MD in Honduras).
His story got me thinking: why seek a vaccine for something that is preventable? Simple. Vaccines are "sexy". Clean water is not particularly sexy and we know how to "do" it. There's no big mobilization of research teams to find a "cure". The medical-pharmaceutical research establishment and their benefactors are powerful. And don't forget that there is the potential for lots of money to be made selling vaccines to NGOs and governments.
Cynical? Moi?
Now here's my 15 minutes of fame:
Michael Campana, a hydrologist who is the director of the Institute for Water and Watersheds at Oregon State University, said he is optimistic that clean water can be provided for needy communities, because he's seen a lot of people practicing "hydro-philanthropy." And these workers aren't just coming in to a community and providing quick fixes, they are working to solve problems in every aspect of clean water and sanitation, Campana said.
"We need all people working on this problem, and that's why I'm optimistic," he said.
Randy Kolar expressed what many of us felt at the conclusion of the event: bummed out. Lots of energy and enthusiasm were evident, so we all felt a letdown once it was over. I usually feel this way when some type of hydrophilanthropic event wraps up: a real high because of all the enthusiasm and excitement, then a real crash. The high may last a few days, but like all highs, it doesn't persist. These past few days have been no different, especially since I encountered some people I had never met who are doing exciting work and making a difference.
I'm still down.
"Statistics are people with the tears wiped away." - Speaker at a post-Katrina conference.
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