DC Environmental Film Festival on Global Water Crisis, Pakistan, China, Bangladesh, Chattahoochee | Pulitzer Center

DC Environmental Film Festival on Global Water Crisis, Pakistan, China, Bangladesh, Chattahoochee Pulitzer Center

Let's watch a series of cool water movies in DC on March 21 - please join if you can.
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Event date: March 21, 2011 - 6:00pm


Carnegie Institution for Science, Elihu Root Auditorium, 1530 P St., NW (Metro: Dupont Circle)

RSVP with Eventbrite

The Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting presents films on water and population to mark World Water Day, March 22.

Discussion with Katherine Bliss, Director of the Global Water Policy Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and filmmakers Stephen Sapienza, Rhett Turner, Jonathan Wickham and Fred de Sam Lazaro follows screening. Moderated by Pulitzer Center Executive Director Jon Sawyer.

DHAKA’S CHALLENGE: A MEGACITY STRUGGLES WITH WATER, SANITATION AND HYGIENE (Bangladesh, 2011, 7 min.) Over 1,000 people move to Dhaka everyday, but almost two-thirds of Dhaka’s sewage is untreated and left to seep into waterways and the ground. Tens of thousands of people die each year of cholera, diarrhea, and other waterborne diseases in Bangladesh—but the country is also an innovator in promising new approaches to providing clean water and decent sanitation for all. Produced by Emmy Award Winner Stephen Sapienza.

DONGTING HU: A LAKE IN FLUX (China, 2011, 5 min.) The surface area of Dongting Lake has fallen by half in the last 70 years. Lying off of the great Yangtze River, it is one of China's most important lakes. Land reclamation, pollution and overfishing threaten its existence. Produced by National Geographic China photographer Sean Gallagher.

WATER SCARCITY ON THE INDUS RIVER (India and Pakistan, 2010, 7 min.) The recent Indus flood put attention on too much water but Pakistan's real problem is too little—and too many people. This PBS NewsHour segment investigates how the impending water crisis might be related to population growth and poorly planned development. Reporting by PBS NewsHour Correspondent Fred de Sam Lazaro.

CHATTAHOOCHEE: FROM WATER WAR TO WATER VISION (USA, 2010, 8 min. excerpt) For 20 years Alabama, Florida and Georgia have been locked in a fierce battle over one river—the Chattahoochee. Through the eyes of ordinary people up and down its banks, the film explores what's at stake and asks the question: Can differences be resolved before the waters run dry? Produced by Rhett Turner and Jonathan Wickham for Georgia Public Broadcasting.

Event / CSIS / Water and Sanitation Program / The Economic Impacts of Inadequate Sanitation in India

This will be a worthwhile event for those of you in DC.

The Economic Impacts of Inadequate Sanitation in India

An event with the Water and Sanitation Program (WSP)

Friday, February 11, 2:30 - 4:00 pm
B1 Conference Center, Room B
CSIS 1800 K. St. NW, Washington, DC 20006

In December, WSP reported that the economic impacts of inadequate sanitation in India amount to $53.8 billion a year, or over 6% of the nation's 2006 GDP. The findings were released in the report "Economic Impacts of Inadequate Sanitation in India," which calculated a comprehensive range of economic losses, including those related to health care, tourism, and productivity. Please join us for a discussion with the report authors on the implications of their research and plans for future work of the Economics of Sanitation Initiative.To read WSP's report, please click here.

Please RSVP to Katryn Bowe at kbowe (AT) csis (DOT) org.

CSIS / Global Water Futures / Universities and Water, Sanitation

Below is information about the next important step in the work of the Center for Strategic and International Studies' Global Water Futures program. 

Universities and International Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene

The mission: To strengthen the response of U.S. institutions of higher education to the global need for drinking water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) internationally.

The CSIS Global Water Futures Project is in the initial stages of hosting a consortium of U.S. universities involved in international water, sanitation, and hygiene activities. One initial purpose of the consortium would be to promote the expansion and greater coordination of WASH activities in higher education, as well as to strengthen universities’ WASH linkages with the U.S. government, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and academic institutions and governments abroad.

Many U.S. universities and colleges are already engaged in addressing global WASH concerns, or are seeking to expand WASH initiatives, in ways that include the following activities:

- Implementing practical, on-the-ground, WASH projects involving faculty and students;

- Partnering with colleges and universities in developing countries on training programs and other approaches to increase in-country capacity;

- Training the next generation of WASH professionals with an emphasis on experiential learning;

- Initiating and evaluating WASH-related technologies;

- Assisting the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and U.S. Department of State, including individual USAID Missions, as well as other U.S. government agencies working internationally, in researching and developing evidence-based WASH strategies and in analyzing and evaluating outcomes;

- Promoting awareness beyond public health and engineering programs of the economic, gender equity, national security, social, and environmental benefits of advancing activities to address the global WASH crisis;

- Developing public-private partnerships with corporations, civil society, foundations, and faith-based organizations.

A consortium would allow universities and colleges engaged in WASH activities abroad not only to work together in a more coordinated fashion, but also to encourage additional technological innovation, strengthen academic, philanthropic and governmental support, and increase momentum for the global WASH sector generally. A consortium would also facilitate a clearinghouse of information and best practices, which could easily be shared with counterparts outside of academia. As demands grow for effective foreign assistance in the WASH sector, U.S. college and university faculty, staff, and students can respond with technical expertise, knowledge, and personnel in host countries to achieve the goals of sustainable WASH-related development programs.

The eventual purposes of such a consortium will be determined by those choosing to participate in coming years.  So start participating! Contact details:

Katryn Bowe, Project Coordinator, Global Water Futures and Research Assistant, Global Strategy Institute

(202) 775-3156 

March 3: Capitol Hill Briefing on a New Water & Universities Initiative

Please join us for a Capitol Hill Briefing on a New Water & Universities Initiative

March 3, 2010. 2:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m
Room SVC 203/202
U.S. Capitol Visitors Center
E Capitol St NE & 1st St NE
Washington, DC

Join the CSIS Global Water Futures Project, Water Advocates, and prominent university and college leaders working on international water, sanitation, and hygiene (“WASH”) issues for a congressional briefing on a new University-WASH initiative. Presentations will feature the variety of ways in which U.S. colleges and universities are already addressing the global WASH crisis and will highlight how their role can be enhanced, especially through a new informal collaboration among U.S. institutions of higher education. The presentations and briefing are open to Members of Congress, congressional staff, and interested members of the public.

Please RSVP to universities.wash.rsvp@gmail.com.

Please direct all questions to Katryn Bowe at kbowe (at) csis.org or (202) 775-3156.

See you there!

Smart Power and Water

I'm not entirely convinced by the whole concept of "smart power," and if/how water can be an effective tool in this new arsenal.

That's why I'm hitting this event in DC this week:

You are invited to a CSIS Briefing for World Water Day with the

Bipartisan House Water Caucus

Water: A Strategic "Smart Power" Tool

Tuesday, March 31st, 2009
10:00 - 11:00 a.m. Rayburn Gold Room 2168

Speakers will include:

Krishna Jafa
HIV Director and Former Deputy Country Director of PSI/Zimbabwe
Population Services International

Greg Allgood
Director, Children's Safe Drinking Water
Senior Fellow in Sustainability
Procter & Gamble

Howard Passell
Water Resources Ecologist
Senior Member of the Technical Staff
Sandia National Laboratories

Ladeene Freimuth
President, The Freimuth Group, LLC
former Deputy Director, Tel Aviv Office, Friends of the Earth Middle East (FoEME)

Please RSVP by emailing chall [at] csis.org

This event is supported by: Population Services International (PSI), Procter & Gamble, the American Chemistry Council, PATH, the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), and the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

PLEASE NOTE THIS EVENT WILL BE HELD IN THE RAYBURN GOLD ROOM 2168