In China
November 20, 2007
Bowling
Green, Ky. - A group from Western Kentucky University’s China Environmental Health Project (CEHP)
recently returned from Southwest University in Chongqing, China, where they presented an environmental and water resources training workshop for several hundred Chinese scientists and university students.
The “Current Technologies in Karst Water Resources” workshop was part of the China Environmental Health Project, a multi-year program of WKU’s Hoffman Environmental Research Project, with support from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the ENVIRON Foundation. The CEHP has been made possible through the support of Kentucky’s senior Sen. Mitch McConnell.
“This workshop was a major accomplishment to meet the goals of both USAID and ENVIRON Foundation support for the CEHP,” according to Dr. Chris Groves, director of the Hoffman Environmental Research Institute within WKU’s Applied Research and Technology Program. “The idea is to increase Chinese academic infrastructure for karst water resource development, of course ultimately to enhance environmental health in China in a sustainable way.”
The workshop was organized and implemented by Groves and Priscilla Baker, who works for the Hoffman Institute as an environmental research specialist.
Invited faculty who gave technical presentations for the workshop included scientists from WKU -- Groves and Baker, as well as Dr. Eric Conte and Dr. Kate Webb from the Chemistry Department -- and from other universities around the United States and world -- Will and Elizabeth White from Pennsylvania State University, Amelia Chung from the International Institute of Rural Reconstruction (China) and Yuan Daoxian from Southwest University (China), Nico Goldscheider of the University of Neuchâtel (Switzerland) and Michiel Dusar of the Geological Survey of Belgium.
Topics included technical issues associated with the development of water resources in limestone karst areas, including water quality, underground water tracing, and groundwater mapping, as well as information on social science aspects such as community, local government, and non-governmental organization (NGO) participation in water development efforts in rural China. A field groundwater dye tracing experiment was included in a nearby karst area at Qingmuguan.
More than 200 Southwest University undergraduate and graduate students participated in the weeklong workshop, as well as scientists from several southwestern Chinese provinces with karst water resources including Yunnan, Chongqing and Guangxi.
“These workshops are an important part of the international partnerships that are needed to address key human-environment issues such as water quality in rural areas,” said Dr. David Keeling, head of WKU’s Geography and Geology Department. “WKU’s China project is a wonderful example of how theoretical and practical knowledge can be shared across political and cultural boundaries for the benefit of all humankind.”
More WKU news is available at www.wku.edu. If you’d like to receive WKU news via e-mail, send a message to WKUNews@wku.edu.
For information, contact Chris Groves at (270) 745-5974.
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