With the rapid pace of urbanization in South Asia, there is a critical need to improve not only the current inadequate water supply and sanitation services but also plan and meet future demand. As this demand increases at an accelerated pace, the issues to connect the supply and demand are being mired in various questions related to water availability, water quality, public health and hygiene, and cost-effective water provision and management. urbanWASH is a recently launched initiative by ISAS designed to showcase various events and speakers focused on addressing the urgent need of urban water and sanitation issues in South Asia. UC Berkeley water specialist Prof. Isha Ray, is the lead faculty of this initiative.
Award
ISAS won the prestigious Obama-Singh Award for Sustainable Indian Water Infrastructure Project: A Systems Approach (2014-2017): A collaboration between UC Berkeley water experts Isha Ray and Kara Nelson and Centre for Technology Alternatives for Rural Areas (IIT-Bombay). Papers & Articles published/accepted under this collaboration are:
- Commentary | Economic & Political Weekly | Accepted 6 October 2017 It has to be done only at night: human waste disposal in Bangalore by C. Sharada Prasad and Isha Ray
- Commentary | Economic and Political Weekly | Accepted 28 November 2017: When you start doing this work, it is hard to eat dal”: Life and work in a manual scavenger familyby C. Sharada Prasad & Isha Ray
- Research Paper | Journal of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene for Development | Accepted Winter 2017. Towards sustainable urban sanitation: A capacity-building approach to wastewater mapping for small towns in India. By NC Narayanan, Isha Ray, Govind Gopakumar, Poonam Argade
- A photo-essay | India Water Portal | November 19, 2017: Where There are no Sewers -- The Toilet Cleaners of Lucknow by CS Sharada Prasad, Isha Ray. (Republished by Counter Currents (11/14/2017); The Wire (11/19/2017); Athena Infonomics (11/21/2017); Youth Ki Awaaz (11/21/2017)). This phopto essay was selected by India Water Portal -- the largest water & sanitation portal in India, operating out of Rohini Nilkekani's Arghyam Foundation -- as one of their seven "Best of 2017" features.
Media
- Gender Equality: A View from the Loo. TEDxBerkeley talk by Isha Ray on Feb 16, 2016. Too often, we think of gender equality in terms of associated “hot button” words—education, pay, civil rights. But we neglect an essential part of the female experience—dignity in access to toilets, which has profound implications for achieving gender equality. In this talk, Isha Ray, Co-Director of the Berkeley Water Center, shares the experiences of women worldwide and why we need to revolutionize our understanding of women’s issues.
- An ISAS Report on safe water related cutting edge research work and projects going on at UC Berkeley.
Key Talks:
- Shift from Public Health to Urban Infrastructure Building: Urban Water and Sanitation Services in India - Talk by Professor NC Narayanan on his work from IIT-Bombay on October 6, 2016.
- Addressing the largest mass poisoning in recorded history: Arsenic in drinking water in Bangladesh and vicinity - a lecture by Ashok Gadgil, Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at UC Berkeley on September 15, 2016 on the most recent breakthroughs in his research.
- Reinvent Growth without Pollution: Can India do it? - Talk by Indian environmentalist, political activist, and the 2005 Stockholm World Water Prize, Sunita Narain On April 10, 2014.
- Dealing with the largest mass poisoning in the history of mankind: Locally-affordable arsenic remediation of drinking water for South Asia - a lecture by Ashok Gadgil, Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at UC Berkeley on November 17, 2011. Webcast of "Dealing with the largest mass poisoning in the history of mankind".
- Urban Water Futures - Can India's Small Towns Show the Way? -- The 2nd Sarah Kailath Memorial Lecture on "Women and Leadership," on October 30, 2012, was delivered by Rohini Nilekani, chairperson of Arghyam, a foundation working on water and sanitation issues in India. Video of Urban Waters Future.
Media coverage of the event.
Conferences
- 2017 Bay Area WASH Symposium: On Water, Health, and Sanitation - A student-led conference on water, health, and sanitation on Wednesday, April 5, 2017
- urban WASH: Safe Water for South Asia, a day-long program held on Saturday, April 20, 2013, that showcased UC Berkeley's cutting edge research on water availability and quality, sanitation and hygiene, and cost-effective water provision & management methods for South Asia. Events held on this day were: UC Berkeley water expert, Isha Ray on "Safe Water for South Asia - Water & the Millennium Development Goals." And, author Cheryl Colopy read from her book, " Dirty, Sacred Rivers: Confronting South Asia's Water Crisis."
- urban WASH: Paradigms for Water, Sanitation & Hygiene for the 21st Century South Asian City, a graduate student symposium held on April 25, 2012, which focused primarily on urban water management.
Professors at UC Berkeley working in Urban WASH
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UC Berkeley Safe Water, Sanitation, & Urbanization Projects
- Berkeley Water Center
- Blum Center Water Initatives
- Lawrence Berkeley National Lab
- and Water Purifiers
- Berkeley-Stanford Cities Group
Information Centers on Water and India
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Independent Research and Project
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International Banks and their Water Initiatives
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 The Asian Development Bank & Water |
Water Related Events' Calendar
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