IRES Track 1: Convergent research to support provision of safe water in eastern coastal Madagascar

无论是在美国还是在世界其他地方，人们往往无法获得安全可靠的公共饮用水供应。在美国，这可能是由自然灾害或基础设施的暂时故障造成的，例如2017年波多黎各飓风María或2021年德克萨斯州电力危机，这两次危机都使美国公民在数天、数周或数月的时间里无法获得安全用水。在世界上许多其他地方，缺乏安全饮用水可能是生活的一部分。在这种情况下，人们可能被迫定期收集非饮用水，自己处理以提高其质量和安全性，然后将处理后的水储存在家中。然而，一个重要的挑战是，目前尚不清楚应该采用何种做法来处理和储存水，以尽量减少健康风险。例如，在马达加斯加，水通常是从分散的水源获取，然后在使用点（例如家庭）进行处理，以提高其安全性。在这个项目中，来自南佛罗里达大学（USF）的美国学生将前往马达加斯加的Toamasina进行研究，以支持通过使用点处理和合理储存方法提供安全用水。该项目有三套相互重叠和互补的驱动目标：(1)促进环境工程和社会/行为科学（社会心理学/社会营销）融合领域的学科知识；(2)培养一批美国学生的全球技能和能力，以支持具有全球竞争力的美国劳动力；(3)为马达加斯加东部沿海缺水地区提供安全用水。虽然本项目研究的直接结果将最直接地使Toamasina的民众受益，但这些结果可能适用于广泛的环境（无论是国内还是世界范围），在这些环境中，使用点消毒的水被部署，水被储存在使用点消毒或不使用点消毒的地方。在这个为期3年的项目中，每年有5名美国学生（4名本科生或早期研究生，外加一名博士生或候选人）将在夏季前往马达加斯加旅行7周。在马达加斯加，学生将得到非政府组织Ranontsika主席和副主席的指导，该组织旨在通过社会商业服务特许经营模式促进获得高质量饮用水，从而改善公共卫生。USF和Ranonstika已经建立了成功的合作伙伴关系，我们之前在Toamasina家庭用水中存在铅（Pb）的几个重要倡议上进行了合作。这个项目的智力价值来自于环境工程和社会心理学（社会营销）互补学科的融合研究的完成。环境工程专业的学生将(a)制定方法/程序，在原水质量差异很大的环境中，估计饮用水使用点消毒的适当氯剂量，以及(b)制定控制家庭储水容器中细菌再污染的方法/程序（特别强调没有使用使用点消毒的家庭）。同时，社会/行为科学专业的学生将使用社会营销来了解当地社区与使用点消毒和家庭储存相关的知识、态度、信仰和行为，包括社区对特定产品和技术的重视程度，他们在哪里寻求信息，以及何时/如何/为什么采用特定做法。这两个互补的研究方向的结果将结合起来，制定一项战略，鼓励或修改行为，以最大限度地提高水安全。该项目的更广泛影响将包括在国际环境中进行研究的学生群体中发展全球能力和技能。在这个项目中，通过与一个基于独特商业模式的非政府组织合作，学生们将观察低收入国家成功企业的其他模式。这里提出的工作将加强USF和Ranontsika之间现有的合作伙伴关系，并将通过调查水的消毒和微生物质量以及家庭用水的铅污染来扩大我们的合作研究组合。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Both within the U.S. and throughout the rest of the world, people often lack access to a safe, reliable supply of publicly provided drinking water. In the U.S., this may result from natural disasters or temporary failures in infrastructure, such as Hurricane María in Puerto Rico in 2017 or the Texas power crisis in 2021, both which deprived U.S. citizens from access to safe water for days, weeks, or months. In many other parts of the world, lack of access to safe water may be a regular part of life. In such contexts, people may be forced to periodically gather non-potable water, to treat it themselves to improve its quality and safety, and then to store the treated water within their homes. However, an important challenge is that it is not clear what practices should be employed for treating and storing water to minimize health risks. For instance, in Madagascar, water is commonly acquired from decentralized sources and then treated at the point of use (e.g., the household) to improve its safety. In this project, cohorts of U.S. students from the University of South Florida (USF) will travel to Toamasina, Madagascar, to conduct research in support of providing safe water via point-of-use treatment and sound storage practices. The project is motivated by three sets of overlapping and complementary driving objectives: (1) to advance disciplinary knowledge in the convergent fields of environmental engineering and social/behavioral sciences (social psychology/social marketing); (2) to develop global skills and competencies in a cohort of U.S. students in support of a globally competitive U.S. workforce; and (3) to contribute to the provision of safe water in a water-stressed area in eastern coastal Madagascar. Although the immediate results of this project’s research will most directly benefit the populace of Toamasina, those results are likely to apply to a broad array of settings (both domestic and worldwide) where point-of-use disinfection of water is deployed and where water is stored with or without point-of-use disinfection.During each year of this 3-year project, 5 U.S. students (four undergraduates or early graduate students, plus one PhD student or candidate) will travel to Madagascar for a period of 7 weeks during the summer. In Madagascar, students will be mentored by the President and Vice President of Ranontsika, a non-governmental organization (NGO) that that aims to improve public health by promoting access to high-quality drinking water through a social business service franchise model. USF and Ranonstika have a successful existing partnership, and we have previously collaborated on several important initiatives related to the presence of lead (Pb) in household water in Toamasina. The intellectual merit of this project derives from the completion of convergent research in the complementary disciplines of environmental engineering and social psychology (social marketing). Environmental engineering students will (a) develop methods/procedures for estimating proper chlorine dose for point-of-use disinfection of potable water in an environment with widely varying raw water quality, and (b) develop methods/procedures for controlling bacterial re-contamination in household water storage containers (with particular emphasis on households not practicing point-of-use disinfection). Simultaneously, social/behavioral sciences students will use social marketing to understand the local community’s knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors related to point-of-use disinfection and household storage, including the importance the community places on specific products and techniques, where they seek information, and when/how/why they employ particular practices. Results from these two complementary lines of research will be combined to develop a strategy that encourages or modifies behaviors to maximize water safety. Broader impacts of this project will include the development of global competencies and skills within the cohort of students who conduct research in an international setting. In this project, by partnering with an NGO that is based on a unique business model, students will observe alternative models for successful enterprises in low-income countries. The work proposed here will strengthen an existing partnership between USF and Ranontsika, and will expand our collaborative research portfolio by investigating disinfection and microbiological quality of water as well as Pb contamination of household water.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.