January 22, 2008
Bowling
Green, Ky. - Members of Western Kentucky University’s China Environmental Health Project (CEHP) are
in Yunnan Province China this week to explore underground rivers in a deep cave system an effort to enhance water resources in a dry, poor area of the country.
WKU’s CEHP receives major support from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the ENVIRON Foundation. The program’s goal is to improve public health in China through activities promoting access to potable water and clean air. USAID establishes academic partnerships with Chinese universities to achieve these objectives, in a project that was made possible through the support of U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).
The expedition is underway in Yunnan’s Honghe Prefecture, in a rural area of southern China about 100 miles north of the border with Vietnam. There, on a high limestone plateau, rural residents are very poor and many must walk to get water during the winter dry season associated with the area’s monsoon climate. The purposes of the expedition are to better understand the plateau’s hydrogeology and to serve as a training vehicle for Chinese students and scientists in the specialized methods used to study these water resources.
The team is led by Pat Kambesis, assistant director of WKU’s Hoffman Environmental Research Institute within WKU’s Applied Research and Technology Program.
Because of the remote location and difficult nature of the area’s caves, some of which are entered through vertical shafts more than 500 feet deep, highly experienced cave surveyors from around the United States and Great Britain have been recruited. The team includes Hoffman Institute graduate student Erin Lynch and recent WKU graduate Andrea Croskrey.
Dr. Chris Groves, who directs the CEHP, visited the Yunnan province project site several times in 2007 during the course of the project has been deeply impacted by the challenges to quality of life there.
“While it’s true that there continues to be explosive economic growth in China, most of this has been realized in the country’s urban east,” Groves said. “The price of a latte at Starbucks in Beijing is equal to more than three weeks of income for more than 100 million rural Chinese.”
In the karst areas of southwest China, where the CEHP’s water programs are focused, this poverty is exacerbated by water shortages and other environmental problems.
Dr. David Keeling, head of WKU’s Department of Geography and Geology, noted that “the Hoffman Institute’s China project is helping to focus both scientific and policy attention on one of the most pressing issues for the 21st century – access to potable water. The research headed by Chris’ team is critical not only for solving local water access problems but for helping us to understand the broader implications of global climate change for water resources generally.”
Photo caption: This large cave was explored and mapped by a 2007 WKU CEHP expedition in collaboration with Chinese colleagues. To the lower right of the entrance CEHP Director Chris Groves can be seen with USAID’s John Pasch and John Hill of the U.S. State Department.
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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