Public provision of water and wastewater services in urban India has been a noteworthy failure. Open defecation, mixing of untreated wastewater with stormwater and drinking water supplies, and unreliable water services have added up to a severe health and economic crisis. Recent government...

Overflows in the sanitary sewer systems due to factors such as pipe blockages and insufficient capacity are termed sanitary sewer overflows (SSOs). The USEPA estimates that 23,000-75,000 SSOs occur every year nationally in the United States. SSOs are largely monitored by state governments and...

Onsite wastewater treatment systems (OWTS) serve 20 to 25 percent of the households in the U.S., and large parts of rural Canada, Australia and Europe. Urbanization and newer environmental standards are leading many communities that currently rely on OWTS to think of alternatives. We study this...

Urban India is struggling to provide adequate water and sanitation services to its citizens. Open defecation, insufficient wastewater treatment, and mixing of untreated wastewater with stormwater and drinking water supplies are contributing to a severe health and economic crisis. Recent...

We investigate the interactions between natural resource-based poverty traps and food security for smallholder farms in highland Kenya using a recently developed system dynamics bio-economic model. This approach permits examination of the complex interactions and feedback between farm-household...

Water and wastewater infrastructure (W&WI) in the U.S. is in need of immediate capital investments. Support from the federal government has declined significantly in the last two decades, forcing state and local governments to contribute a larger share. With increased decentralization of...

Water infrastructure in the United States is aging. Budgetary constraints of federal, state and local governments have resulted in the delay or deferral of critically needed investments. Infrastructure failures such as water main breaks are a daily occurrence in many cities across the U.S....

Water infrastructure in the United States is aging and vulnerable to extreme weather. In August 2011, Tropical Storm Irene hit the eastern part of New York and surrounding states, causing great damage to public drinking water systems. Several water supply districts issued boil water advisories...

While much of the desalination activity in the U.S is concentrated in southern and western states, the last decade has seen an unlikely location emerge for desalination – the Northeast. With precipitation often exceeding evapotranspiration, the Northeast generally maintains abundant surface...

We investigate natural resource-based poverty traps using a system dynamics model of smallholder farms in highland Kenya. System dynamics modeling is well-suited to examining the complex interactions and feedback between farm-household economic decision making and long-term soil dynamics which...