WATER, SANITATION & HEALTH

Course description: This course focuses on understanding water, sanitation and health from the global south to high income countries and how the necessities of water and sanitation can interact to affect people’s lives. Specifically, what are the options for providing cleaner water and improved sanitation in order to reduce the incidence of waterborne diseases, geogenic contaminants, and anthropogenic contaminants and how do these vary across the globe. The class will begin by examining the urban and rural water cycles, how water moves through the environment and then how individuals obtain drinking water. The emphasis will be on water quality and what impacts water quality. The second section will focus on understanding types of sanitation, how they work, and how they can be improved. Approximately half the population in the global south is without improved sanitation and infrastructure throughout high income countries needs updating and replacing. The third section will examine all types of water contaminants including: anthropogenic, geogenic, and microbial. This will include an introduction to public health and epidemiological studies and how different contaminants can impact health. The final portion of the class will integrate the three areas to understand how they interact and how interventions can improve health outcomes. We will use case studies from the US, Africa, Southeast Asia, and Latin America.