Laurra Olmsted's UniWater Education: 'An Africa-Centric Approach to Water Education'

Here is another article from the July-August Water Resources IMPACT issue on Hydrophilanthropy:

An Africa-Centric Approach to Water Education
What if you went to Africa to provide locals with clean water. Fine. But what if you helped them create groundwater programs in their own universities? Wow!
Laurra Olmsted

You might see a correspondence between Stuart Smith's work and Laurra's:
Training the locals to do the hydrogeology.

Here is a PDF of the entire magazine:

Download AWRA JulyAug 2022_IMPACT

For a flipping-book version click here.

Here is Laurra's article as a four-page PDF:

Download L Olmsted_Water Resources IMPACT July-August 2022 

The first three paragraphs:

Sub-Sahara Africa face an accelerating crisis of water poverty. The population of the region continues to grow, even as climate change spells more frequent and intense droughts. The water infrastructure in many areas is woefully underdeveloped, and the shortage of water professionals in the region makes addressing these challenges a tall order.

Many people continue to lack access to clean water, especially in rural areas. A 2019 report by the World Health Organization indicates that most recent improvements to the African water supply have been concentrated in urban centers, where many more people have benefited from services than in rural areas where the population density is much lower. Indeed, because of the steep costs and difficult hydrogeological terrain in the center part of the continent, many funders have stopped programs to develop rural water supplies altogether. As droughts become more frequent and intense, rural populations migrate to the cities, which puts more strain on existing supplies and infrastructure. On the coast, where most African cities are located, seawater intrusion is an ever increasing to risk to groundwater sources.

Taken together, these problems constitute a growing threat to the people and economies of Sub-Saharan countries. If new ideas are not explored for rural water users of Sub-Saharan Africa, this situation will only worsen. UniWater Education, a small Canadian charity, is partnering with African universities to address these challenges by supporting water education for Africans, in Africa.

Consider a donation: click here.

Enjoy!

"For the cost of sending one person to university overseas, an entire classroom could be educated in Africa" - Laurra Olmsted