The Health and FEWS Hubs have come together to form a global network to address the circular water economy for small and rural communities. The program is led by Dr. Matt Schrenk and linked to work by Dr. Wei Liao, director of the Anaerobic Digestion Research and Education Center (ADREC), with key leadership from Dr. Stephen Gasteyer, who is including the perspective through a social lens. (Mueller, J.T., Gasteyer, S. The ethnically and racially uneven role of water infrastructure spending in rural economic development. Nat Water 1, 74–82 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44221-022-00007-y ) A key group of faculty members have come together including Dr. Amber Pearson (public health ), Dr. Elizabeth Mack (economic development, water affordability ), Dr. Joan Rose (microbiologist), Dr. Sriram Narayanan (supply chain) and Dr. Leo Zulu (political ecology ). International partners include Dr. Roy Brouwer, water resource economics, Canada; Dr. Jiuhui Qu, water and wastewater technology, Chinese Academy; water technology groups from National University of Singapore and National Technological University of Singapore. Locations where resource recovery facilities are or will be located include Costa Rica, New Zealand, Nepal, South Africa. The team is also working in Michigan.
The circular water economy is “ where resources with the water use and treatment cycle are used optimally and recycled and recovered in a way that maximizes value for people, nature and businesses” (Water Environ & Tech June 2024 pg 51). Water in rural areas is complex and solving the water-food-energy problems has been neglected. The team will produce a global network for application of the CWE for small communities working with the Water Environment Federation and the International Water Association.