IRES TRACK 1: US-Ghana Student Research Experience: Understanding and conceptualizing threats and solutions of onsite sanitation and sea level rise on coastal groundwater resources

在沿海地区，随着气候变暖导致海平面上升，支持数百万人的地下水系统的质量日益受到盐水侵蚀的威胁。对于普遍使用现场卫生设施的发展中国家沿海人口来说，化粪池系统造成地下水交叉污染的风险构成了额外的挑战。在整个撒哈拉以南非洲地区，城郊社区普遍缺乏饮用水，迫使家庭依赖浅层地下水，主要来自手挖威尔斯井。同样，这些社区也无法获得经改善的卫生设施，导致化粪池和坑式厕所等现场系统泛滥。然而，地下威尔斯井离厕所设施太近，增加了地下水交叉污染的风险。这种双重威胁对人类健康的危害是毋庸置疑的。然而，污染物在底土介质中的迁移途径以及导致污染的因素往往是复杂的，并因地点而异。因此，必须充分了解一系列物理、化学和生物参数以及自然地理因素，以概念化和推进可持续解决方案。与此相关的是，对能够应对当前和未来水资源挑战的训练有素、具有全球能力的科学家和工程师的需求从未如此之大。该项目将通过以下方式满足这两种需求：（1）开展高影响力的水质研究，以广泛评估盐水入侵和现场卫生设施对加纳海岸角沿海地下水水质的影响，这是一个典型的双重挑战，以及2）加强美国学生的专业准备，作为未来全球参与的水资源科学家和工程师。希彭斯堡大学（SU）和南佛罗里达大学（USF）的教师将与加纳海岸角大学（UCC）的同行合作，将三批美国学生（格拉德和本科生）带到加纳，并通过研究水质，卫生和气候变化让他们参与变革性的学习体验。该项目将战略性地招募包括女性在内的代表性不足的少数群体，以鼓励他们扩大参与国际STEM研究，并提高他们在STEM学科中的地位。现场卫生对地下水水质的影响：为了探索浅层地下水对现场卫生的脆弱性，学生参与者将对地下水样本进行实地评估和实验室分析，以确定特定的化学和微生物污染物。他们将评估现有的卫生基础设施（例如，化粪池系统的规模（每户用户数），计算化粪池系统密度，收集威尔斯和化粪池系统的GPS坐标，进行土壤测试，并评估其他相关因素，以帮助描述和归属可降解性的来源。海平面上升对地下水质量的影响：虽然据报告，在一些最靠近海岸线的社区，有证据表明盐水侵入了威尔斯井，但不清楚盐水侵入内陆的程度。美国学生将与他们的UCC合作伙伴合作，以确定该地区盐水入侵的空间范围。他们将对威尔斯井进行盐度/电导率/TDS的现场测量，在实验室测试水样，并对其结果进行空间统计分析。教育：该项目的一个重要组成部分是拟议的年度水、环境卫生和个人卫生博览会。不同的美国学生群体将与他们当地的合作伙伴，导师和当地高中（HS）的学生（和他们的老师）合作，以实施WASH公平，这将成为一个年度活动，提供WASH咨询服务，以当地社区超越本项目的生命。该项目还有另一个外展部分，美国学生将与社区成员进行知识共享。他们将与加纳的HS教师合作，为HS学生开发一个当地项目，以便他们在未来继续进行常规井水监测。总的来说，该项目将为美国学生提供发展中国家环境中关键水质条件的第一手经验，并提高他们的跨学科，解决问题和协作技能。通过与当地研究人员和社区的互动，美国学生将进一步了解使发展中国家水质挑战复杂化的社会文化基础，以及如何从全球范围内提出解决方案。该奖项反映了NSF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。

In coastal areas, the quality of groundwater systems that support millions of people is increasingly threatened by saltwater encroachment as sea level rises in response to a warming climate. For coastal populations in the developing world, where the use of onsite sanitation is prevalent, the risk of groundwater cross-contamination from septic systems presents an added challenge. Throughout Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), peri-urban communities commonly lack access to potable water, compelling households to rely on shallow groundwater, sourced largely from hand-dug wells. Similarly, these communities also lack access to improved sanitation facilities, resulting in a proliferation of onsite systems, such as septic tanks and pit latrines. Routinely, groundwater wells end up too close to toilet facilities, heightening the risk of groundwater cross-contamination. The risks to human health from this dual threat are not in doubt. However, contaminant migration pathways in subsoil media, as well as the factors that drive contamination, are often complex and site-specific. Hence, a litany of physical, chemical, and biological parameters, and physiographic factors, must be well understood to conceptualize and advance sustainable solutions. Relatedly, the need for a trained, globally competent scientists and engineers who can address current and future water challenges has never been greater. This project will address both needs by; (1) undertaking high-impact water quality research to broadly assess impacts of saltwater intrusion and on-site sanitation facilities on coastal groundwater quality in Cape Coast, Ghana, a location that typifies the dual challenge, and 2) strengthen the professional preparation of US students as future, globally engaged water resources scientists and engineers. Faculty at Shippensburg University (SU) and University of South Florida (USF) will work collaboratively with their counterparts at the University of Cape Coast (UCC), in Ghana, to bring three cohorts of US students (grad and undergrad) to Ghana and engage them in transformational learning experiences via research in water quality, sanitation, and climate change. This project will strategically recruit underrepresented minority groups, including females, as an incentive to broaden their participation in international STEM research and enhance their standing in STEM disciplines.The project will address three major themes:1. Effects of onsite sanitation on groundwater quality: To explore the vulnerability of shallow groundwater to onsite sanitation, student participants will conduct both field evaluations and laboratory analyses of groundwater samples for specific chemical and microbial contaminants. They will evaluate existing sanitation infrastructure (e.g., size of septic system & number of users per household), calculate septic system densities, collect GPS coordinates of wells and septic systems, perform soil tests, and assess other pertinent factors to help characterize and attribute sources of vulnerability.2. Effects of sea level rise on groundwater quality: Although evidence of saltwater intrusion into wells has been reported for some of the communities closest to the coastline, it is not clear how far inland the saltwater has encroached. The US students will work collaboratively with their UCC partners, to determine the spatial extent of saltwater intrusion in the area. They will conduct in-situ measurements of wells for salinity/conductivity/TDS, test water samples in the laboratory, and perform spatial statistical analyses on their results.3. Education: An important component of this project is a proposed annual water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) Fair. The different cohorts of US students will collaborate with their local partners, mentors, and local high school (HS) students (and their teachers) to implement a WASH fair, whichwill become an annual event providing WASH advisory services to the local communities beyond the life of this project. The project also has another outreach component where the US students will engage with community members for knowledge sharing. They will collaborate with Ghanaian HS teachers to develop a local program for HS students to continue routine well water monitoring into the future.Overall, the project will give US students first-hand experiences with the critical water quality conditions in a developing country context, and enhance their interdisciplinary, problem-solving, and collaborative skills. Through their interactions with local researchers and communities, the US students will further gain knowledge of the social-cultural underpinnings that complicate water quality challenges in the developing world and how to propose solutions from a global context.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.