The Drinking Water Tool: A Community-Driven Data Visualization Tool for Policy Implementation.

The Drinking Water Tool (DWT) is a community-driven online tool that provides diverse users with information about drinking water sources and threats to drinking water quality and access due to drought. Development of the DWT was guided by the Community Water Center (CWC) as part of the Water Equity Science Shop (WESS), a research partnership integrating elements of community-based participatory research and the European Science Shop model. The WESS engages in scientific projects that inform policy change, advance water justice, and reduce cumulative exposure and disproportionate health burdens among impacted communities in California. WESS researchers conducted qualitative analysis of 15 stakeholder interviews regarding the DWT, including iterative feedback and the stakeholder consultation process as well as stakeholder perceptions of the tool's impact on California water policy, organizing, and research. Results indicate that the DWT and the stakeholder engagement process which developed it were effective in influencing policy priorities and in promoting interagency coordination at multiple levels to address water equity challenges and their disproportionate burdens, particularly among rural and low socioeconomic status areas and communities of color.

Elevated levels of arsenic in the sediments of an urban pond: sources, distribution and water quality impacts.

The discovery of significantly elevated levels of arsenic (As) in the sediments of Spy Pond motivated us to identify the principal As source and to investigate the extent of contamination within the pond. Spy Pond is located in Arlington (MA, USA), a residential and commercial town with no known history of As use by industry or agriculture. Spy Pond is a kettle-hole pond composed of two basins (north and south) separated by a shallow sill. Sediment cores from the two basins were analyzed for As content by instrumental neutron activation analysis and dated by measuring 210Pb activity. The As concentration profiles for the north and south basins had maxima that dated to approximately 1962 and approximately 1956, respectively. These dates are consistent with records of arsenical herbicide use, which indicate that between 1960-1968 sodium arsenite (NaAsO2) and arsenic oxide (As2O3) were applied to the pond to control aquatic macrophytes. Estimates of As loadings to the two basins-- approximately 410 kg ( approximately 32 kg ha(-1)) to the north and approximately 5800 kg ( approximately 580 kg ha(-1)) to the south--are consistent with the range of application rates reported for other lakes treated with arsenical herbicides. To determine the extent of As contamination in the pond, 68 surface sediment samples were analyzed by energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence. Arsenic levels ranged from 1 to 2600 ppm in the north basin (n = 49) and from 120 to 1100 ppm in the south basin (n = 19). Background sediment-As levels for the area are 10-40 ppm. The highest concentrations of As in the sediments of Spy Pond are comparable to levels measured in lakes contaminated with chemical manufacturing and mining wastes. These results are discussed with respect to As remobilization and sediment treatment measures planned for the pond.

Environmental education and socioresponsive engineering. Report of an educational initiative in Hyderabad, India.

A recent initiative at Muffakham Jah College of Engineering and Technology, Hyderabad, India, has resulted in setting up a program called Centre for Environment Studies and Socioresponsive Engineering which seeks to involve undergraduate students in studying and solving environmental problems in and around the city of Hyderabad, India. Two pilot projects have been undertaken--one focusing on design and construction of an eco-friendly house, The Natural House, and another directed at improving environmental and general living conditions in a slum area. The paper describes our attempts and experience of motivating our students to take interest in such projects. In an interesting development we invited a member of a student-faculty team at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T.) that is doing a project in Nepal on safe drinking water. We report in our paper how the presentation by the guest from M.I.T. served as a catalyst for generating interest among civil and mechanical engineering students in our own projects. The paper includes contributions from one of our students and the M.I.T. staff member, reporting on their experiences related to the slum development project. We also discuss the Natural House project and its international and educational significance as a means of inculcating sensitivity and interest in nature among engineering students. We propose a pledge for engineers similar to the Hippocratic Oath for medical professionals.